LEARNING LAUNCH

Challenge: I work for a digital education company. We provide digital modules to schools, which are  used in-class, on interactive boards. We map these modules as per the textbooks that are used by  the schools. After being in this business for nearly a decade, we had enough data about the  textbooks being used in the schools.  In India, the primary education space is less regulated;  therefore, there are hundreds of publishers and thousands of books available. However, these  textbooks are not designed for direct use by children. The language used is way too high for a 7- year-old; the pages quite text-heavy, with very few pictures. Our challenge was to create textbooks  that would please both teachers and children. There should be no compromise on the learning  content, and at the same time, children should love to pick up the textbook and engage with it. We  had many brainstorming and Design Thinking sessions. We organized an internal competition to  create prototypes for one chapter. The prototypes were presented and analyzed by a team of  internal experts and marketing team head. The best aspects of all the prototypes were noted and  implemented to create the ideal prototype. This prototype was shared with a Publishing Company to  get an external viewpoint. After that exercise, it was further refined. Here is a comparison of a  common publisher’s textbook and our prototype.

Common publisher’s textbook  Our Prototype

Selection: After a series of Design Thinking workshops, we created prototype books for EVS, Maths  and English – one chapter each.  Then we decided to use the Learning Launch tool to quickly test the  idea and the prototype.

Application: We contacted our existing customer schools, and 6 of them agreed to help us with the  Learning Launch. ‘We asked for the following:

•  Give us one period for one subject – EVS, Maths and English for Grade 3

•  The teacher to teach a part of the chapter using our textbook (we provided a copy for each  child)

•  Give a 10-minute independent Read and Do activity using the exercises given in the book to  check if students were able to understand the language or find it interesting

•  Allow a representative from our team to sit at the back and observe

We also created an observation matrix.

Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g.,  how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly).  Both the teachers and the students loved the visual design of our textbook pages and appreciated  the activities. However, we had some interesting insights:

•  Since children were so used to the structured, text-heavy content, some of them faced  difficulty in deciphering the flow of content.

•  A few teachers mentioned that some more content details were required. This forced us to  rethink the balance between content requirements, graphic design, and the real estate  available on the page.

Approach: Since we had already gone through several Design Thinking activities, the learning launch  was a natural progression. We gained a lot of useful insights to make our product saleable and  market-ready.  We incorporated most of them and just completed our entire production and bagged  the first big order in February 2013.


LEARNING LAUNCH Challenge : I work for a digital education company . We provide digital modules to schools , which are used in - class , on interactive boards . We map these modules as per the textbooks that are used by the schools . After being in this business for nearly a decade , we had enough data about the textbooks being used in the schools . In India , the primary education space is less regulated ; therefore , there are hundreds of publishers and thousands of books available . However , these textbooks are not designed for direct use by children . The language used is way too high for a 7- year - old ; the pages quite text - heavy , with very few pictures . Our challenge was to create textbooks that would please both teachers and children . There should be no compromise on the learning content , and at the same time , children should love to pick up the textbook and engage with it . We had many brainstorming and Design Thinking sessions . We organized an internal competition to create prototypes for one chapter . The prototypes were presented and analyzed by a team of internal experts and marketing team head . The best aspects of all the prototypes were noted and implemented to create the ideal prototype . This prototype was shared with a Publishing Company to get an external viewpoint . After that exercise , it was further refined . Here is a comparison of a common publisher ’s textbook and our prototype . Common publisher ’s textbook Our Prototype Selection : After a series of Design Thinking workshops , we created prototype books for EVS , Maths and English – one chapter each . Then we decided to use the Learning Launch tool to quickly test the idea and the prototype . Application : We contacted our existing customer schools , and 6 of them agreed to help us with the Learning Launch . ‘ We asked for the following : • Give us one period for one subject – EVS , Maths and English for Grade 3 • The teacher to teach a part of the chapter using our textbook ( we provided a copy for each child ) • Give a 10 - minute independent Read and Do activity using the exercises given in the book to check if students were able to understand the language or find it interesting • Allow a representative from our team to sit at the back and observe We also created an observation matrix . Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . Both the teachers and the students loved the visual design of our textbook pages and appreciated the activities . However , we had some interesting insights : • Since children were so used to the structured , text - heavy content , some of them faced difficulty in deciphering the flow of content . • A few teachers mentioned that some more content details were required . This forced us to rethink the balance between content requirements , graphic design , and the real estate available on the page . Approach : Since we had already gone through several Design Thinking activities , the learning launch was a natural progression . We gained a lot of useful insights to make our product saleable and market - ready . We incorporated most of them and just completed our entire production and bagged the first big order in February 2013 .