Kolibri

End-to-end suite for offline-first teaching and learning.

Past and Current Partners

UNHCR, UN Women, Vodafone Foundation, Shoulder to Shoulder, Agami, Hewlett Foundation, Bylo Chacon Foundation, Humanity for All Foundation Uganda, Amal Alliance, Fast Forward Accelerator, Dalio Philanthropies

Active Countries

Over 220 countries and territories

Thematic area(s)

Gender, Crisis, Other

Technology

Open Source

Organisation Name

Learning Equality

The Problem

Kolibri focuses on addressing seven challenges to ensure more equitable access to quality education for all learners, even in the world's most marginalized communities, including those in crisis. These seven challenges are; Lack of easy-to-find, useful, and affordable teaching and learning materials; Limited support for educators to enable student-centered learning; Large class sizes with few pathways for supporting diverse individual and group needs; Lack of community ownership in the design and integration of edtech into learning spaces; Barriers to affordable technology infrastructure and reliable Internet access, preventing engagement with digital learning tools and resources; Limited sense of possibilities and constraints around innovative use of edtech in low-resource environments; and Legacies of oppressive structures in education that perpetuate inequities in learning.

The Solution

Kolibri is an end-to-end suite of open-source tools, content, and support materials, designed for offline-first teaching and learning.

How it works?

Step 1: After identifying the need for an offline-first learning experience, organizations review the guidance materials in the Kolibri Edtech Toolkit to support their implementation.
Step 2: Curriculum designers select the content to be used for the program.
Step 3: Relevant sets of materials can then be seamlessly imported into the offline platform, with simple workflows for managing and keeping it updated. Learning materials can be updated from the Internet, from a USB thumb drive, or from another device over a local network.
Step 4: These materials can then be accessed by learners offline, without the Internet. Learners can watch videos, read documents, play games, interact with simulations, and practice using exercises with real-time feedback. Within the platform, learners can be grouped into classes and be assigned lessons and quizzes by an educator.
Step 5: Once learners have engaged with a lesson or a quiz, educators can then track learner progress, and identify learners who are struggling and may need additional support.
Step 6: In a model where Kolibri is used at home or away from the central classroom server, they can use Kolibri with relevant content and still receive support from teachers. When they return to school, learner data is synchronized to an offline server in the school so an educator can provide further support, all without the Internet.
Step 7: Organizations can aggregate learner data from multiple installations of Kolibri for review to inform future decision-making. This data can be synced to the online Kolibri Data Portal, where reports and data can be visualized.

Bridging the digital divide

Kolibri is designed for the needs of teachers and learners within the infrastructure, digital literacy skills, and available digital learning resources that may be found in places with unreliable, uneven or no Internet connectivity.

Impact and highlights

3M+ learners access quality learning opportunities without the Internet across the world.

Plans for expansion

Kolibri is currently installed in 220+ countries and territories through an organic, do-it-yourself adoption model, and it is iteratively improved based on feedback from a global user community. Learning Equality works directly with organizations in a subset of those countries, including Uganda, Jordan, Libya, Honduras, Ghana, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and the DRC through strategic partnerships with UN agencies, governments, and NGOs. In 2022, they plan to expand their efforts in Mexico and Guyana.

contact solution provider