One of the startup initiatives launched on the StartupBus Africa 2013 is this nifty audio over GSM teacher/student bridge called Sterio.me. The founders Chris Pruijsen, Danielle Reid and Dean Rotherham figured that the issue of teachers engaging their students and tracking their students outside of the classroom in rural Africa without the added benefits of feature gadgets like laptops and smartphones could be addressed through providing a simple audio platform which both teacher and students could access through GSM.
The platform would allow teachers to pre record lessons and create USSD type quizzes which students could then access via triggering a VOIP call from Sterio.Me’s servers through SMS on even the most rudimentary cellphone. The real time and long term analytics that could be gleaned from such a platform if it was implemented on a national level ,which the team hopes could potentially happen soon in Zimbabwe, would empower stakeholders in the education sectors with important data to allow for better comparisons and curriculum development to mention a few benefits.
Sterio.Me hopes to launch as a free platform and use local celebrity generated content to drive some of it’s marketing. We are anxious to find out what the adoption rates for this solution will look like. It does seem like a viable solution given strong marketing and smart partnerships, it could take off.
As with any tech/digital solution which aims to come to the rescue against a given problem, the proof is in the deployment pudding and the user experience will most definitely have a major role to play in getting positive results. We wish the guys and their local counterparts the best of luck in getting things going. Check out more about StartupBus Africa here and follow Sterio.Me social links:
http://Sterio.me
Tweets by Steriome
https://www.facebook.com/pages/SterioMe/368037560009672?ref=hl
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