Educational App in South Africa targets Afrikaans Speakers

Most students are not too keen on learning subjects such as maths or sciences. However, a South African company has found a way to make these subjects a lot more interesting!

Admire Moyo recently shard a piece of interesting information in his article on IT Web! He revealed that the South African company Rethink Education plans to provide content via mobile channels for maths and sciences in a number of different languages.

And the best thing? Their service will be free of charge for all South African students!

According to Moyo, Rethink Education, a technology company that focuses on education, has created this new product for the high school market because it wants to make new technologies more useful in high schools. The app, that can be found on Mxit, has been available in English for quite some time. However, Moyo states that Rethink Eduacation felt there was not enough digital content available in this language, which is why the decision was made to create an Afrikaans version of the app. This way, the company says, Afrikaans speakers can study maths and sciences more effectively.

The main forces behind Rethink’s new app are Douglas Hoernle, who is the main developer of the app’s technology, and Nishant Lalla, who has been responsible for the development of the Mxit application. Moyo states that Rethink’s main aim was to help disadvantaged youths in South Africa. The company is looking to expand both the subject range and the offered languages of the app, that has been used by more than 447,000 students since its launch in 2013.

Hoernle claims that many high school students don’t want to use technology for their studies in the traditional way. They aren’t interested in educational software or e-books, but are looking for more interactive ways to use technology. This is similar to their online behaviour outside the classroom, Hoernle says, where they use “chat”-style social media such as Mxit and WhatsApp. This is why his platforms have reduced the learning content to small pieces, which are presented in chat interfaces.

Moyo says that Rethink’s aim is to complement the teaching of the most important elements of maths and science. The app can be used at school, but at home as well and the mobile and Web platforms offer the curriculum for maths, physics, chemistry and natural science for grades 8 to 12. In the app, the usage data can be monitored and users can record the work they have done.

When students download the app from Mxit, they have to select their grade and subject choice. Next, an educator avatar guides the students through the content of their subjects by giving information and asking questions. Sounds good, right?