Izibac: learning made fun
Developing a mobile solution that transforms high school education into a pleasant, multimedia, gamified experience
Description
A major social problem in the Romanian educational system is the low rate of graduation in the baccalaureate exam (with a historical minimum of just 44% of high school students passing the exam in 2012). But this is only a symptom of a much deeper problem - the Romanian educational system, under-financed and underdeveloped, no longer offers a pleasant learning experience compatible with the mental structure of the new generations, modelled from an early age to enjoy video content and interactive / game type applications. The focus intervals for reading and conventional lectures has decreased and the segmented nature of the specialized curriculum does not facilitate the creation of connections between various bits of information. Also, the lack of transdisciplinary integration of the curriculum and very little or no digitized availability of educational content limits learning to a rigid series of contexts.
We would like to change this and to offer the pleasure of study for the new generations of students.
We are doing this because we strongly believe that education is the foundation on which a society is built. Helping pupils of all ages to find the passion and pleasure of learning through a modern and fun method, we aim not only to have a positive impact on an important social group (230,000 pupils per year), but we are targeting ambitious long-term goals such as reducing social disparities insufficient education, reducing the number of young people in the NEETS category, stimulating the development of economic sectors with higher added value, etc. Using the solution provided, we want to create a pilot project to highlight the beneficial social impact in a disadvantaged community by building a partnership with a high school with modest educational performance in that community.
Beyond the immediate addressable social impact (potentially 230,000 user annually), the horizontal scaling potential covers the entire learning cycle from pre-school to university
Target
The social impact area is across Romania, as we digitally target the Romanian high school pupils from the terminal years with access to internet (totaling to the amount of 230.000 pupils per year).
The way we identified the target group and it’s needs:
Raluca Stratulat, the project lead and manager is an architect by background and a teacher by heart. With over 6 years of teaching to high school students (in both public and private schools), helping them prepare for the admission exam into the Architecture University in Bucharest and abroad, she had the chance to collect their complaints about the faults of the standard high school educational system and to understand their educational needs.
The company's vision, focusing on the idea that the learning process should be fun, can simply be summed up to support the reform of the national and international educational system through the use of 21st century technology.
Competencies
The sole mission of our organization is to find/develop and implement a solution to the posed challenge and to help in any possible ways the solution provider.
For our involvement, we won the big prize at Social Impact Awards Romania for positive impact in society.
The team:
General manager: Raluca Bacinschi-Stratulat: Architect, professor, education expert, trainer, entrepreneur. Currently a teacher at Learnity and Little London International Academy. She owns a private school where she teaches English, architecture, web design and Photoshop.
Marketing Director: Adrian Mihai Stratulat, Diplomat, Entrepreneur, Social Innovation. Vocational entrepreneur with over 5 years experience in project management, business development, digital marketing and innovation management.
MVP developer: Eduard Lache, fresh graduate of the Faculty of Automation and Computers, graduate of BEST Bucharest, where he was involved as Vice President for Relations with Companies.
Innovation
Our organization lacks the financial means to further a solution past the prototype phase.
Commitment
We aim to provide the complete picture to the solution provider: the scope of the features, the grand strategy and the minute educational details, design and visual identity, etc.
We will also offer:
● Pro-bono consultancy / coaching of the selected SPs
● Connections to potential partners / investors
● Funding for increased support of the SPs to further develop the product
● Access to our own distribution channels or supply chain
● Endorsement and promotion for the scope of the project
The project is thought as a fully functioning and self-sustainable business model. There will be multiple revenue streams and once the first phases of implementation will be underway, there will be resources to continue the development of the project on a commercial basis.
Compliance
Our challenge complies 100% with the ethical standards of the project agreement and it does not raise any ethical issue at societal level.