Episode will air February 4, 2023 at 10 AM Eastern. (Please note different time).
Designing experiential learning at scale in India
The dominant schooling system in India today is a product of the colonial era. It follows the factory model of education and emphasizes rote learning. But in a future where many routine tasks can be performed by machines, there is a need to transform the education system and focus on foundational critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Inspirit VR and MakerGhat are two organizations grappling with this challenge by engaging youth in experiential learning at the K12 level, virtually and in-person. To enable change, they have been working on scaling through school partnerships, public and private. In this episode, the founders will talk about their vision to build a movement towards experiential learning in India, as well as challenges faced when working at scale. More about the organizations and our guests below the video.
MakerGhat is a non-profit organization that aims to create a movement of grassroots making and entrepreneurship across India. Our programs nurture a sense of agency and confidence among underserved youth through tinkering and making. Along with our team of researchers from Stanford University, Georgia Tech, IIT-Bombay, and partner non-profits across India, we implement curricula, teacher training, and assessment rubrics around hands-on learning in classrooms and community spaces across the country. MakerGhat has worked with over 500,000 youth till date across six states, through nonprofit as well as national and state government partnerships.
Inspirit VR seeks to build the platform for anyone to teach and learn with virtual reality. Students like to call them the “Magic School Bus” for STEM education. Inspirit seeks to bring the power of immersive & experiential learning to today’s STEM classroom. Inspirit was started by the founders while doing research in VR & education at Stanford University, and have grown the company into a community of 600K+ students and teachers in the last 12 months. Built by K12 educators, designers, and researchers, and backed by founders & operators at Oculus, Yahoo, Duolingo, Pear Deck, and Edmodo, Inspirit aims to build the global STEM education platform for learning in 3D & VR.
More about our guests below.
Azra Ismail
Azra is a researcher, engineer, and lifelong maker. As co-founder and CEO of MakerGhat, she is building a movement of hands-on making and community leadership led by underserved youth in India. Azra is finishing her PhD in human-centered computing and global development at Georgia Tech, as a GVU Foley Scholar and WAIM (Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines) Fellow. She has previously worked with Google AI, Microsoft Research, Philips Research, and Wadhwani AI. Azra has also been recognized as an Exceptional Leader of Excellence by the Women Economic Forum, and one of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. She brings her extensive experience working with underserved communities, operating in makerspaces, and conducting gender-focused research to MakerGhat.
Aditya VIshwanath
Aditya is an education technology researcher and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Inspirit, where he builds immersive 3D & VR tools for STEM education. He’s also a doctoral researcher at Stanford University and works at the intersection of the learning sciences, media, and design. He has been awarded the Stanford Knight-Hennessy scholarship, the Georgia Tech 40 Under 40 award, the SXSW EDU launch award, and was nominated to the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Education. Aditya is also a social entrepreneur, and co-founded MakerGhat with Azra, a makerspace and incubator network for youth in India. Previously, he worked with the Google Education team where he explored strategies to integrate low-cost virtual reality toolkits into curriculum. Aditya aspires to continue to nurture a career designing education technology for diverse learning environments around the world.