An Ecosystem for Catching Up on Educational Losses Has Started in Ukraine

Given the pace of change in all areas of life, many educational institutions do not always keep up with the educational needs of children and adolescents. The global discussion on this has been going on for over 20 years, because the issues of updating schools, their equipment and, most importantly, approaches to education are relevant not only abroad, but also in Ukraine, especially during the war.

Currently, about 2 million children remain dependent on online or blended learning.

In response to the challenges, an Ecosystem for Catching Up for educational losses has been launched in Ukraine, which was first implemented in Digital Education Centers created by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Association for Innovative and Digital Education in Odessa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions.

“Our team has developed an Ecosystem for сatching up for educational losses, which will allow Ukrainian schools to widely apply the innovative “flipped classroom” format, using tools such as artificial intelligence, interactive case lessons, and Uber-School, which radically changes the learning process. We are currently using this system specifically to make up for educational losses, as this is a pressing problem for both the education system and students who were forced to miss a lot of educational material, first due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then due to a full-scale war," - says Maria Boguslav, Executive Director of the Association for Innovative and Digital Education.

The essence of the “flipped classroom” is that students work through the material independently, and teachers help them, acting as mentors rather than translators of knowledge. This principle of learning is currently widely used in the USA and EU countries.

The educational recovery ecosystem allows students to take tests based on Artificial Intelligence, which determines the level of knowledge of the selected subject, after which it shows in green, yellow and red colors which topics are well-learned and which need attention. After that, the student independently studies these topics using interactive case lessons on the same portal. 

Video instructions for using the Ecosystem for сatching up for educational losses

Since the launch of the "flipped classroom" technology, students have used video lectures for independent work, but studies show that after the fifth minute of watching any educational video, students lose concentration by 60%, meaning that from the sixth minute onward, they can no longer fully absorb the educational material.

Therefore, the Ecosystem of Сatching up for Educational Losses uses interactive case lessons, which are much more effective than video lectures, as they have a specific plot and characters, as well as test questions built into the lesson. This allows students to constantly interact with the content. In the process of learning in this format, students can ask questions to the teacher who is accompanying their learning, if necessary.

"During a lesson, one teacher can simultaneously and effectively interact with students from different grades, who master 80-90% of the material independently and ask for help from the teacher when they have a specific question, which the teacher answers individually during the lesson. Also, thanks to artificial intelligence-based testing built into the Ecosystem, students can be grouped by level of knowledge, which further increases the effectiveness of learning,” - notes Anatoliy Ignatovych, UNICEF Educational Projects Coordinator.

Currently, the Ecosystem is used in 16 Digital Learning Centres (DLCs) operating in Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions, and is implemented within the framework of a joint project of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Association for Innovative and Digital Education with the support of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

Over time, such a system may work in many schools in Ukraine, especially in those communities where offline learning is not yet possible due to security conditions. 

For example, if there is no possibility to provide in-person classes in a locality, the Ecosystem for Сatching Up for Educational Losses provides students with the opportunity to quickly ask questions to a teacher online. For this, the Ecosystem provides a module called “Uber-School” - thanks to this application on the portal, you can instantly request help from a teacher remotely, without using third-party services.

"This is exactly the algorithm: AI-based testing + self-study using interactive case lessons + live or online communication with a teacher according to the student's needs, we have now successfully started to implement when making up for educational losses for students in grades 9-11 in five main subjects: algebra, geometry, history of Ukraine, English and Ukrainian," - says Maria Boguslav.

The first months showed that teenagers like to take tests and explore certain topics on their own, involving the teacher only at their own discretion – when they experience difficulties that they cannot solve on their own.

"I like this format because I manage my own learning process: I take tests and understand what I need to catch up on. Then, at a pace convenient for me, I go through interactive case lessons, which are much more interesting than regular exercises at school, and the ability to ask for advice allows me to perceive the teacher as an assistant," – says Polina, a 10th grade student and visitor to the Myrolyubivka Digital Educational Center No. 7 in the Kherson region.

The ecosystem for making up for educational losses is free and is already available to all Ukrainian students in grades 9-11 living in Ukraine or abroad.   Photo gallery