About DigiLab:

The DigiLab is a unique initiative pioneered by 17000 ft Foundation that brings the power of digital technology to improve learning, even in areas which are remote, inaccessible and truly off-grid. It assumes neither the presence of uninterrupted electricity, mobile connectivity nor existing infrastructure, and brings together all required components in an offline, but connected system to deliver customized and personalized content through a local internet to students. Not just this, it also provides actionable student performance data to teachers and officials via a dashboard that gets its near real-time data from a special “Facilitator App” which enables the last mile connectivity through the presence of travelling teachers.

As part of the program, each School is provided with:

• Solar Infrastructure comprising of Solar Panel and Gel Battery
• Digital Infrastructure comprising of a Content Server & 30 nos of 8” Tablets
• Personalized and Adaptive Digital Learning App in every tablet in multiple subjects with interactive and gamified content (off-the-shelf App)
• DigiLab Server Engine to create a local internet and deliver content to tablets
• Furnishings in the DigiLab Room with wiring and charging ports for tablets
• Trainings for Teachers consisting of Bi-annual Multi-day & Quarterly in-school refresher workshops
• Facilitator App on the HM’s tablet to gather student analytics and sync to the cloud on connectivity
• Reporting Dashboard for the Headmaster & Education Officials accessible on the school system and the cloud
• In-School support and maintenance by trained 17000ft Facilitators

Pioneered and implemented by 17000ft in 120 villages of Ladakh in 2018, 2019, the DigiLab Solution has impacted over 5000 students with over 93% students actively learning through it. 17000 ft has observed an average 12% improvement in student learning outcomes.The DigiLab Solution has also proved beneficial during the Covid Lockdown. Children living in villages without access to internet, were able to continue their education through the Tablets, that were issued to them to take home and learn. Children have shown an average improvement of over 19% in Science and 8% in Math during this period. The success of the project in Ladakh, arguably the most inhospitable and challenging of terrains of India makes it replicable and easily adapted for implementation in other geographies.

• The DigiLab is an architecture that enables deployment of regular off-the-shelf Ed-Tech solutions even in areas with neither electricity nor internet connectivity
• The DigiLab is designed as a fully offline system that works in areas without internet, but has the capability to connect to the cloud through a “travelling” connector app to enable stakeholders across the state to monitor performance
• The solar and digital infrastructure has been designed as a 12v systems to discourage household usage and keep power requirements minimum
• The Learning App is personalized and adaptive, enabling the child to learn at their pace
• It has been designed to work as a blended teaching/learning model with the teacher being able to use it with traditional teaching methods as well as for independent student learning making it also ideal for substitution periods and vacation learning
• Content can be periodically updated on the server through the last mile connectivity that is with the School Head Master who is required to travel to the Zonal Office periodically for administrative work.
• The solution is completely child friendly and requires minimal technological expertise, allowing even the maintenance of the entire solution onto the school
• The solution is future ready and can continue to be used even if better power infrastructure or connectivity becomes available
• The DigiLab solution has been built for schools but can easily be taken home for children to learn offline.