Malcolm once said, “Education is the passport to the future.” The civil rights activist could not have said it better. In the modern world, having the right set of knowledge and skills is all it takes to advance. EdApp is an educational platform poised to give people the very chance.
Adult Education, a Global Problem
The rate at which human knowledge is expanding is unbelievable. What young minds learn at the start of their professional education may not be relevant a few years into their career. Some people do not even have the chance of learning something because it did not exist during their learning phase of life.
According to a Global Report on Adult Education and Learning by UNESCO last year, in almost a third of countries across the world, less than 5% of adults (over the age of 15) take any part in education or other learning programs that can help them succeed in their lives. This is due to a number of challenges that include:
- Adults have been traditionally hard to reach, especially in places where getting education in adult life can lead to a social stigma of an elderly or old person sitting in a class with young people.
- Adults come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds. A course may be well designed, but it might be able to cater to all of the recipients, leading to adults avoiding the course altogether, believing it to be a waste of time and money.
- Financially speaking, adults will be more inclined towards providing food and other amenities to their families and would not like to spend on expensive education which may or may not have the perceived benefit.
- Technology had been lacking for creating a class or course that would be able to reach out to people at a global level evenly.
- The cut throat competition in the corporate world means that the actual and important knowledge is usually kept under wraps, depriving the people of the chance to learn.
How EdApp Brings Education for All
EdApp is a unique approach towards imparting education to people around the world. The use of micro learning is not new (where the course is broken down into bite sized parts for easy grasping and understanding), EdApp brings in a breath of fresh air with its approach. The educational platform combines micro learning with courses designed for small screens of mobiles, while the EdApp team connects personally with local communities and organizations that want education for adults.
Another unique feature that EdApp has is that its courses are crowd sourced. Anyone who has knowledge to share can sign up on the platform to provide education. EdApp has a wide variety of preexisting courses covering a dynamic range of areas. Users can create their own or use the existing ones to teach their prodigies. If a course is good but does not completely satisfy the exact requirements, the course can be edited to suit any particular need.
Once the course has been created or modified, the user can assign the course to the intended recipients, with related activities and timelines integrated. If the course creator feels that the course should not be limited to his or her students, the course can also be made public for all.
UNITAR’s Recognition
This unique approach to adult education and the concept of education for all by EdApp has not gone unnoticed. A meeting last year with officials of UNITAR, the United Nations Institute of Training and Research impressed them so much, they started using the platform for imparting education in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq in order to rebuild communities that were ravaged by wars.
A part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, #EducateAll is a plan which sees UNITAR and EdApp combining efforts to enable individuals, institutions and organizations to have access to EdApp courses for free. The Assistant Secretary General of UN and the Executive Director of UNITAR, Nikhil Seth have taken particular interest and publically approved of the EdApp approach and why the organization is using the platform.
Next week, Nigel Gan the Training Specialist and Program Manager at UNITAR, will be holding a webinar with CEO of EdApp, Darren Winterford.
Why EdApp
EdApp is an education specific platform that is designed to uplift communities and adults by giving them the education they missed out on. The courses at EdApp are provided by a range of large organizations, NGOs, industry leaders, teachers and anyone who is an expert on any specific knowledge.
Created for all, people who can benefit from the free education include small business owners who do not have the budget to train their employees, startups who face particular challenges, parents, children and in general, everyone who seeks knowledge.
Recording of a webinar with the EdApp CEO and Nigel Gan from UNITAR, can be found here.
