Personalized EdTech and Gender Equity

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Dr. Karen Levesque, Celeste Lopez, Dr. Symon Winiko

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mEducation 2024

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Introduction

Motivation

All children have immense potential, but millions lack access to the learning they need — especially girls and other marginalized children.

Girls, in particular, receive long-term benefits from improved educational outcomes (WB).

Purpose

In this presentation, we summarize evidence on gender outcomes from several years of research on a personalized EdTech program that uses onebillion’s software, onecourse.

The research consistently shows that girls benefit as much as boys from the EdTech program and, in some cases, girls may gain more especially in mathematics.

The research also suggests EdTech program characteristics that contribute to this gender parity.

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Who We Are

We are a nonprofit organization that seeks to build the literacy and numeracy skills of children around the globe so they can achieve their full potential, starting in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Based on a foundation of rigorous research, we believe that personalized EdTech can help to achieve this vision.

We partner with governments, organizations, and communities to provide EdTech learning that is accessible, affordable, and effective.

We conduct ongoing research to ensure that the program achieves its potential as it scales and to inform continuous improvement of the software and implementation.

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The EdTech Program

A typical implementation of the EdTech program includes

Culturally appropriate software as supplemental instruction in literacy and numeracy with children learning at their own pace

Tablets are distributed to a whole class and sessions are scheduled into the school timetable

There are 4-5 tablet rotations per day where each child learns using the tablet for 30-60 mins per day, 5 days per week

Tablets work offline and are solar-powered

Data from tablets fuel continuous improvement of software and implementation model

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The onebillion Software

An earlier version of the software was co-winner of the 2019 Global Learning XPrize

onebillion continues to develop and improve the software with annual updates based on experience in the field, expert input, and research

Software teaches foundational literacy and numeracy (currently grades 1–4, with additional ECD material planned for next year)

A teacher avatar talks and demonstrates lessons and activities in the official language of instruction (Chichewa, English, Kiswahili, French)

Current adaptive software

• Begins with a short diagnostic assessment in either literacy or numeracy that then delivers instruction at the right level
• Then proceeds to next subject
• After completing the daily lesson, children proceed to the library

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Gender Equity in the Software

Both girls and boys experience a supportive learning environment

• They are able to learn at their own pace/level and can repeat instructions as often as necessary.

Girls do not experience biases that may exist in standard classroom settings

• Students receive instructions and continual feedback from a female, digital teacher as they interact with the content.
• Girls and women are represented positively in active roles, such as leaders, doctors and inventors
• The extensive library includes books that feature female protagonists and inspiring role models
• A large number of the books were authored by women or developed through co-creation sessions with children
• The library enables girls (and boys) to access a wide range of STEM-related content
• Books also show men and boys undertaking a variety of non-traditional roles, such as caregiving, cleaning and cooking
• The teacher training app also promotes principles of inclusive education, including videos showing both girls and boys participating in learning and contributing equally to setting up tablet sessions

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Prior Research

Imagine conducted five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on onebillion’s software in different countries, languages, and settings in Sub-Saharan Africa

• The RCTs consistently showed that girls benefited at least as much as boys from the program
• While some effect sizes appeared larger for girls than boys - especially in mathematics - differences were not statistically significant, possibly due to small sample sizes
• Research by Pitchford also found that the onebillion’s software reduced the attainment gap that typically emerges during the first 2 years of standard schooling to the disadvantage of girls

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National Rollout in Malawi

BEFIT Program

Building Education Foundations Through Innovation & Technology is an initiative of the Government of Malawi to improve foundational literacy and numeracy skills using onebillion’s software.

The program began rolling out to all 6,000 primary schools in Malawi with an initial launch in 500 schools during the 2023-24 school year. Ultimately, the program will serve all 3.8 million learners in Standards 1-4 annually over the next 5 years.

BEFIT Year 1 Research

Conducted by Imagine to ensure that quality is maintained as the program expands and to inform continuous improvement of the software and implementation. Collected quantitative and qualitative data through three main activities

1. Baseline and endline assessments of learning gains (using digital EGRMA)
2. An endline survey of stakeholder perceptions of impacts
3. Implementation research focused on identifying barriers to and enablers of quality implementation

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Gender-related Research Findings

Learning Gains

Both boys and girls made statistically significant gains on all outcome measures.

The gains made by boys and girls were statistically similar.

The gender gap in the % of learners who were emergent or fluent in mathematics at baseline (13% for boys vs. 8% for girls) was no longer statistically significant at endline.

• This suggests that the 20 percentage-point gain for girls on this measure, compared with the 18 percentage-point gain for boys, helped to close this mathematics gender gap by the end of the school year.

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Gender-related Research Findings Cont.

Stakeholder Perceptions

At endline, 90% of adult stakeholders (head teachers, classroom teachers, parents) reported that the BEFIT program helped girls as much as boys.

Some regional differences in this perception (80-97%) will be explored during Year 2.

Implementation Research

Interviews and observations during implementation research site visits found that girls participated equally with boys in the BEFIT program.

No barriers to girls’ access to the BEFIT program were detected.

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Program Characteristics Contributing to Gender Parity

BEFIT Implementation Model

Tablet sessions were time-tabled within the regular school day and were given to a whole class. All children who were present in school were seen to be participating in the scheduled tablet sessions.

onebillion Software Characteristics

Software content avoids gender biases and promotes positive gender role models, as described earlier, and keeps children moving forward at their own pace/level. This contrasts with a gamified approach used in other software; Imagine’s research showed that when using a gamified approach

• Facilitators reported that some children were avoiding more difficult math content and returned to more familiar content
• Gamified approach assumed that obtaining badges and awards would provide sufficient motivation to keep children progressing through the content
• Boys made larger gains in mathematics than girls, in contrast to onebillion
• Hypothesis: A gamified approach may not sufficiently counteract girls’ lower math confidence, which may have been undermined in standard classrooms

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Conclusion

Research conducted to date on onebillion’s software indicates that girls benefit at least as much as boys and that gender gaps in math may improve.

Software characteristics that may contribute to this outcome include

• In contrast to some regular classrooms, the software is agnostic to the child’s gender and girls and boys are given an equal chance to learn
• Content avoids gender biases and promotes positive gender role models
• Software moves children forward in supportive ways

Implementation characteristics that may contribute to this outcome include

• Offering the program during the regular school day
• Offering the program to whole classes at a time
• Promoting gender inclusiveness during teacher trainings

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Next Steps

As the program expands, Imagine will

Continue to monitor learning gains, stakeholder perceptions, and implementation quality, with particular attention to gender inclusion.

Explore some regional differences in stakeholder perceptions about the program helping girls as much as boys.

Monitor whether any variations in the in-school, whole-class implementation model emerge and whether such variations affect girls and boys differently.

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