When we ten years ago started our journey to develop a digital education for adults with limited school experience, we realized that it would not be an easy task as the target group often has limited access to educated teachers, support and infrastructure.
In order to somehow understand the difficulty of the task, we met several experts in various fields such as pedagogy, literacy and mathematics. After talking to several companies, we finally decided to work with Visiarc in Linköping, since we felt that they understood our vision and wanted to be part of the journey.
We meet Henrik Wännström, one of the owners of Visiarc, to hear their version of the journey.
- Hi Henrik, tell us a little about Visiarc and how the collaboration with Dispurse began.
- Visiarc started in 2002 with a focus on mobile applications and we worked on many projects for example Ericsson, SAAB and the Mexican government. An exciting and educational experience, but if you look back, we were a little too early considering that mobile phones were not as developed as they are today. In 2012 we met Dispurse and felt right from the start that this was an exciting initiative that we wanted to be a part of. Finding the way to a digital platform that was more or less self-instructional for people who couldn't read, write or count is a project for both brain and heart! Gert and the others at Dispurse had a clear picture of what was needed and a clear picture that we had to test the education in many steps to produce a platform that works.
- You say that this was a project for both heart and brain, can you elaborate on that!
- That the brain was needed in such an extensive project is not surprising but understanding the situation and context that the end users were in was extremely difficult. Several times we thought that we had found the right way but when it was tested in field, we realized that our way of thinking about for example guidance in the app did not work when the participants for example didn't understand what an arrow symbolized. We also realized several times that the pace was too fast and that we needed to be very explicit.
From the beginning we didn't think that the heart would become such an extensive part of the project, although we saw great value in being part of a project that made the participants' lives a little better. But when the first participants finished the education and told us how their lives had improved in so many ways, then it felt good in the heart. Over time, we have also understood how Dispurse reasoned when they talked about the possibility of scaling up the product and all its systems that work in the background, administration, student follow-ups, etc. in environments where there is hardly any access to internet.
- You give examples of the participants not understanding what an arrow symbolized on the app?
- Yes, icons in general naturally differ in different cultures and we probably assumed that the participants would be more curious and just press and test. But it is not like that, cultural differences and participants who were not used to dealing with digital tools meant that we had to rethink several times. Gert was clear right from the start that the platform should one day work all over the world, which meant that we from start had to build an underlying system that can change language, environment and for example icons. When we now see that we are well on our way to scale up and eventually also expanding to new languages, we conclude that this is a real "Feel good project"!
Beatrice (COO Dispurse) and many others in Dispurse have had a clear picture of what needs to be achieved in the project, which has been absolutely crucial for us to find the right way, simply a really good teamwork. So it must be, there is a reason why few or no one has taken on a project of this dignity. So now that Dispurse collaborates with the Peruvian educational authorities reaching more and more women that needs education, it is a wonderful feeling.
- Thank you Henrik, it feels like we will have reasons to come back to this more often!
- Thank you, you are welcome!
The event organized by Es Hoy, DVV International and Dispurse Foundation highlighted the joint efforts of companies, municipalities, educational institutions and civil society to close the educational gaps in youth and adults. In a context where 1 in 3 people in Peru have not completed their basic education, this event highlighted the importance of education as a tool for transformation.
In commemoration of International Literacy Day, Dispurse Foundation joined the awareness parade held in the city of Cajamarca. This event brought together students, teachers, organizations and local authorities to highlight the importance of literacy in personal and community development.
María Quispe Ito is a 51-year-old artisan who knits hats, gloves and booties with sheep's wool and sells them in the Plaza de Armas of her district Coata, in the Puno region. As a child she was forced to work, so she was taken away from school by her parents when she was very young.