Two studios, eleven teachers, and students in seventeen atolls
Started in 2020 when nobody had a choice. Kept going because of where our students live.
Why this did not stop in 2021
We began teaching online in 2020 because the schools were shut, which is how a great many people began teaching online, and most of them stopped as soon as they could.
We kept going because of the register. Once we looked at where our students actually lived, the picture was not a temporary one. A third of them were on islands where their subject had no specialist teacher at all, and a good number were studying a science with nobody in the building who had studied it. That is not a problem the reopening of schools solved.
So we rebuilt the whole thing for that student rather than for a lockdown. Live classes in the evening because the school day is already full. Every class recorded and kept, because a connection on an island at seven in the evening is not a promise. Notes as small files. Lessons that can be downloaded and watched with no data at all. And work marked by hand by a teacher, because that is the part an automatic quiz cannot do and the part that makes the difference.
Eleven teachers now, two studios, and eleven hundred and eighty students in seventeen atolls. About one in six of them has never had a lesson from us that was not recorded, because they watch everything the following morning.
The teachers
Ibrahim Shiham
Taught secondary maths for fourteen years, including six on an island with no second maths teacher. Started teaching online in 2020 and did...
Fathimath Sana
Teaches both sciences to A level and writes most of the library's science lessons. Marks every A level script by hand.
Hussain Adil
Language, literature and the marked essays. Returns every piece with corrections explained and expects it rewritten.
Aishath Reesha
Answers the help desk until ten at night and will test your connection with you before you pay for anything. She built the audio and slides...
Connections, data and devices
My connection is poor in the evening. Can I still join?
Probably, in audio and slides mode, which uses a small fraction of the data and holds on a connection that would drop a video call. You still hear the teacher and watch the working appear.
Message the help desk with your island and we will test it with you before you pay for anything, including telling you when the honest answer is that it will not work.
How much data does a class use?
A video class is the heaviest thing we do and it is why we built the alternative. Audio and slides is a small fraction of it, and a downloaded lesson watched later uses nothing at all.
Students on the weakest connections download a week of lessons in one go on a good connection and watch them offline. That is a completely normal way to use this and it works.
What device do I need?
A phone is enough and it is what most of our students use. A tablet or a laptop is more comfortable for maths, because you will want to write while you watch.
You also need paper and a pen. Students who watch a maths lesson without writing anything down get very little from it, which is true in a classroom as well.
How do I pay, and can I stop?
By transfer or card, monthly, from your own account. Every payment gets a receipt automatically.
You can stop at the end of any month from the account page without ringing anybody, and nothing renews without telling you first. The library keeps your notes and marked work for a year afterwards in case you come back.
Talk to a person first if you would rather
The help desk answers from ten in the morning until ten at night, six days a week.