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How might we increase the availability of affordable learning tools & services for students in the developing world? Read the challenge brief

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Shared chalkboard posters

Kids love picture books because images bring life to humdrum black and white text. On top of that, images are helpful as learning tools because they are much easier to remember than words. However, many children lack visual stimulation because their schools do not have textbooks or classroom posters. The solution? PosterShare! PosterShare rotates educational posters among schools. The posters are stuck on chalkboards with magnets and serve as temporary classroom posters - imagine different sets to learn fractions, shapes, human anatomy, etc. Since the posters are posted on chalkboards, students can draw and write around them in a non-permanent way. Teachers can switch posters as they move through the curriculum.

Who would implement this?

  1. A local entrepreneur or small organization
  2. NGOs and Foundations

Cost

Schools can pay a subscription fee to have access to a wide range of posters that they can use when they need them.
Without PosterShare, they would have to buy all the posters upfront; this might be out of their budget. Also, posters lose relevance as teachers introduce new topics. In a sense, the irrelevant posters are being wasted - why not bring posters to where they are needed, when they are needed?

Distribution & Delivery

The role of the entrepreneur:
- help schools set up chalkboards by providing magnetic paint, chalkboard paint, magnets and chalk
- develop relevant posters
- deliver and pick up the posters from the schools

Adoption

Local social entrepreneurs or NGOs could take on the project. Maybe we could also look at current local school suppliers (e.g. for chalkboards and chalk!) and integrate the initial chalkboard set-up with that supply chain.

1

What sort of potential do you think this concept has to be a sustainable business?

Very high potential
it's good but it needs a lot of work before going much further
it's got too many open questions right now to say either way
2

How well do you feel it meets the local needs enterprising schools has identified? (English language, Math, Libraries, Technology, Professional Development)

It fulfills really well on the need its chosen to serve
It will help, but other solutions might serve the needs better
It doesn’t really address any of the needs that Enterprising Schools identified.
3

How well does this concept meet the needs of extreme affordability?

Really well. There are likely ways we can make this concept low cost.
Fairly well. It has good potential for an affordable cost, but more work would need to be done here.
Unsure. I can't yet see the ways it could be made to be low cost, but maybe it's possible.
Doubtful. I just don't believe this can be made low cost.
1

What sort of potential do you think this concept has to be a sustainable business?

2

What are your ideas for how this concept can be expanded into a sustainable and valuable business?

3

How well do you feel it meets the local needs enterprising schools has identified? (English language, Math, Libraries, Technology, Professional Development)

4

How well does this concept meet the needs of extreme affordability?

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Ashley Quackenbush

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October 05, 2010, 09:38PM
This solution is great because it addresses the way we learn and retain information. Children learn differently and visualization is key. One of the greatest strengths of this proposal is that its very economical and practical. I think having the posters up on the chalk board with magnets and a sharing system, like the one you proposed, is a great solution that would take little individual effort on that of the teacher/school but have a large potential impact on the learning of students.

I agree that since some chalkboard's, especially older ones, aren't magnetic, there needs to be another way to attach these posters. Velcro is a good possible solution, but maybe it should be less permanent—like that blue putty as temporary adhesive?

I also like the idea of central mailing, "like Netflix" that Vincent proposed. I think that would make the system easier for everyone. Although, like others, I'm not sure of the logistics and how that would work cost-wise, but I think its something worth looking into.
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Jennifer Chong

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September 18, 2010, 04:08AM
@Sandy: how about MadLib-style posters? Teachers could randomly put different sentence-starters on the board and children would fill in the text in-between, creating their own stories!
@Ember: Velcro is an interesting idea - also much hardier than magnets! My understanding is that chalkboards can be made magnetic with magnetic paint (akin to chalkboard paint). I like magnets because they provide flexibility and let kids draw/write right around the posters, which I think gives them more ownership of the material. Velcro magnets? :)
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Ember Lynne

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September 17, 2010, 05:39PM
One small thing--the chalkboards here aren't always magnetic, so I propose sticking velcro to the back of each poster and then to the walls. that way, chalk board space isn't taken up and the posters are still interchangable.
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Jennifer Chong

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September 17, 2010, 04:48AM
A quick brainstorm of ways an entrepreneur could charge schools for this service:
- subscription fee
- pay-per-use
- charge advertisers but provide posters for free, like websites. Ads could be on the entrepreneur's vehicle, or simply other posters that get put up in classrooms.

Of course, the last point is problematic because you give some organization direct access to impressionable children (and risk propagating consumer culture), but maybe we could find more benign "advertisers"? Take development organizations, for instance. Some economists have found that simply telling children about the returns to education is an incredibly cost effective way to keep them in school. They could use the PosterShare entrepreneur to spread socially-beneficial information and do so credibly if the entrepreneur is connected to the organization!
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Sandy Speicher

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September 16, 2010, 10:45PM
I like where smriti is pushing this... how can this be built into an entrepreneurial model. what are the ways that locals might be employed to create or distribute these?
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Sandy Speicher

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September 16, 2010, 10:44PM
This is really cool. It makes me think that they could be like poster-sized worksheets. ... many posters in schools already give students the answers, and yet some of the most powerful learning happens when kids create it themselves. i like the idea of combining the chalkboard with a poster... what's the prompt on a poster to help a kid create a thought?! Great idea!

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smriti mehrotra

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September 16, 2010, 06:29PM
its like instead of providing book to every kid , we are reducing the amount of stationary which needs to be transported to the rural sector at the same time making the activity more interactive and encouraging collaborative learning

personally do not think mail pricing would be an issue but with reliability the goods with robust exteriors/approach do best in rural setting that needs to be kept in mind while developing the concept (like meena had mentioned maybe painted murals which can not be vandalized), i was also wondering as to what incentive could be given to the entrepreneur to provide this service ?
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Vincent Cheng

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September 16, 2010, 02:04PM
Interesting idea, especially since posters are relatively low cost & light to transport. Perhaps posters could even be mailed to & from a central distribution point, ala Netflix? Anyone know whether this makes sense in terms of mail pricing/reliability in India?
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