SchoolWiFi- 1000’s of books in your e-library for free!
Kareena Rachel Rogers is a Teach for India alumnus, currently working as the Chief of Staff at Zaya Learning Labs. She oversees all of Zaya’s intelligence inventory and dissemination. Apart from this, Kareena loves reading and doodling to keep herself occupied!
Now let’s hear from Kareena…
I’ve had the opportunity to teach students from diverse backgrounds in different schools. Eventually, I joined Zaya Learning Labs because I was quite fascinated with how technology tools could solve a lot of the problems teachers had in the classroom.
One of the first projects I worked on was a device called SchoolWiFi. The simplicity and versatility of this device is something that I was enthralled by.
As I reflected over the years I spent teaching, I thought about how SchoolWiFi could have actually solved almost all the problems I faced in the classroom, as a teacher.
I would like to share my experiences of three very different schools that I taught in and how the SchoolWiFi could have potentially been the answer to a lot of the problems I faced as a teacher.
I began my teaching journey through Teach For India’s fellowship programme where I taught 35 students in a government school. To inculcate the love of reading I had as a child, in my students, I raised funds to create a mini library. I did see the difference the books made in the classroom, every week, kids looked forward to the new books that were added to the collection. Soon enough, the limited space in the classroom made it difficult for me to add new books to the existing mini library. I even resorted to using e-books in class, but not all kids could get access to the books at the same time and it wasn’t economical.
The SchoolWiFi is a small portable box that could even fit in my handbag. It could be used in the classroom and then packed up and kept in a safe place so there was no issue of space constraints or it being stolen. Not just that but it holds 3000+ books by Pratham’s StoryWeaver and it contains educational videos, lesson plans, Wikipedia and almost everything I would use for my students on a daily basis. Best part? No data charges! The whole things works offline.
I went on to teach students in a remote village near Lavasa. The school did not have the infrastructure to support a library. It was also on the outskirts of the city which meant no access to the internet. But of course, the SchoolWiFi is offline! So I actually wouldn’t have even needed access to the internet. Plus, its a portable and connects to any wifi-enabled device, so there’s no infrastructure needed.
Finally, I taught at a private school, not only did the children have huge beautiful learning spaces and their own iPads but they also had access to the internet. However, all they would do it play games and browse the internet without adult supervision (which was quite scary for me as a teacher)
Once again, SchoolWiFi!
The students could access all the content I wanted them to on their cellphones, and on my Ipad/laptop too! And no, they couldn’t play games or browse anything other than the internet because the whole thing gave the feel of being online but it actually wasn’t!
All three types of schools had their own problems but the solution for all was this absolutely brilliant innovation, SchoolWiFi.
If you are a teacher in a low-income school, in a private school or in a rural school, the SchoolWiFi is definitely a blessing in disguise! At a fraction of the cost on what data charges you’d incur over an academic year, this is the most reasonably priced (not to mention COOLEST!) education tool ever.
Write to info@zaya.in to get your SchoolWiFi box today.
Originally published at http://zaya.in on January 24, 2018.
