Ustad Mobile is the simplest and most cost effective way to monitor education results in real time, anywhere.
1. Fill in a sheet
Instead of requiring devices for every teacher or new hardware teachers can simply fill the class attendance records on pre-printed sheets marking a bubble for each student. Laminated sheets can be easily wiped and re-used the next day. Teachers don’t need to be tech savvy and can easily fill in the sheets in class. Thanks to these sheets you only need one phone per school. The app currently supports attendance records for teachers and students and will soon support gradebooks and exam sheet marking.
2. Snap it
Teachers simply push the attendance button in the Ustad Mobile app and hold the phone over the sheet. The app works offline, instantly recognizes what’s on the sheet, and then saves the information on the phone in seconds! The data will be automatically sent to the server as soon as a connection is available – any 2G mobile network is enough to send the data. Because the app decodes the information on the sheet offline it doesn’t need to send a picture of the sheet: only the text needs to be sent.
3. Monitor attendance in real time
With the data recognized the app sends the information to a Learner Record Store (LRS) online as soon as a connection is available. Teachers and principles can see reports directly on the phone using the app offline and decision makers, donors and even the public can be shown realtime information online. The attendance of each student is tracked individually not just as a total enabling correlation of attendance and effort with results.
4. Verify attendance (coming soon)
Knowing when classes are due to take place (Mondays 9-12, Tuesday 1-4, …) the app can generate random requests for class photos and optionally use a fingerprint scanner to check that data reported through the app is indeed accurate. With realtime information flowing from even remote sites teachers and parents can be linked to conditional progress payments delivered using mobile airtime and/or mobile money.
Still need convincing?
The data capture system has been in private beta testing since February 2016. The first deployment was in partnership with Study Hall Foundation in Lucknow India and the system is used to record attendance in informal education centers. If this sounds like something that your organization would be interested in piloting or using when the beta is complete, let us know!
