CramBuddy – It’s Cool not School ( Gamified Revision Facilitator )

By ojasvI Bhatia on November 18, 2014 4 Comments / 1489 views

The Problem

Over time, the environment in which a child grows has changed drastically but the methods of learning remain the same. Textbooks have hardly changed over the last 2 decades. Children are taught in digital classrooms but end of the day still depend on rote learning. Over a period of time, the fun in learning has just evaporated and has turned out to be rather boring and mundane. It is very important to learn to apply one’s learning than just spending time and energy on becoming a database of information.

The major problem area includes :

Students spend over 80% time in memorising dates / formulae / events / names / laws / theorems / diagrams / values / etc., rather than applying their learning.
70% of the high school subject content requires memorization
60% of the examination question paper pattern is based on memorized/remembered content

Solution : CramBuddy (Gamified Revision Facilitator)

CramBuddy is a mobile based content delivery framework, spiced with social networking and gamification that delivers educational and generic content. CramBuddy is centred on concepts of Flash Card learning and Active Recall Learning (ARL) principles. It also acts as a collaborative learning platform with crowd sourced content.

Contributing to CramBuddy’s uniqueness is our mobile first approach with the integration of features like crowd sourcing, social networking and gamification.

We believe in “Giving it to them the way they like it”

Medium: Mobile Phone

Presentation: Game

Access: Anytime, Anywhere

Drive Factor:Social Networking

Content: Crowd Sourced (Unlimited Choices) & Premium Content

Motivation: Rewards – Corporate Sponsored

Along with that, CramBuddy also focuses on :

Provide flavoured & capsuled content that eases the burden of cramming.
- Create a platform to share and trade content contributed by students, teachers and parents.
- Presentation in an intuitive gaming format and slick user experience.
- Constant content updates
- A forum to connect and constantly keep tab on your buddy’s activities.
- Notifications and alerts regarding information of their area of interest, events, etc.
- Recognition and rewards for quality content providers.

The “Eureka“ moment..

During a casual chat with his high school son Rushil on using time more effectively, Chirag advised him to work smart and not just hard. He, like most children of today gets less time to study at home as most of it is spent at school, commuting and his involvement in sports and outdoor activities etc.

Chirag gave him his used visiting cards and asked him to jot down bullet points on the back of it which he can refer during his commute to school and his sports activities. It would reduce the burden of subjects that only test ones ability to be a good storage device of information. He could then spend more time on subjects that need him to apply what’s learnt. He did create flash cards for a few units for History, Biology etc. but they never got used. That got him thinking…

He realised that there were numerous other distractions that children face today. They are constantly being engaged by various devices and platforms. In such a situation paper based cards were just not intuitive enough. It was also not cool to use paper based flash cards. Children today need to be constantly entertained, challenged and want to stay connected with others around the world.

At the same time a survey done on the usage of mobile phone by teens stated – ‘teens aged between 12 and 17 of which 78 per cent have a cell phone, with nearly half of those being smart phones’.

Then the thought of ‘why not give it to them they way they like it’, came up in his mind. Let’s try and get the boring and mundane part of learning onto the mobile phones and add in flavours of social networking and gaming.

These are the initial thoughts and ideas that led to CramBuddy being conceptualized.

For more details visit : https://www.mobitatva.com

Read Chirag’s interview on trhs

Follow @CramBuddy

Download the app at https://bit.do/CramBuddy

More Screenshots of CramBuddy :

Flash Cards that contain the bullet points of a particular chapter ( Crowd Sourced Content)

- This is the Shouts section which is the INBOX of the user. Buddy requests / shot questions/ Gang requests, etc come in this section.

A user can track the activities on the packs that he has contributed .

It would be great if you can try CramBuddy and give your feedback on the same. Waiting eagerly to hear from the ‘Rodinhoods’ out there..(the app currently works on android and can be downloaded from https://bit.do/CramBuddy

Thanks!!

Comments

ojasvI Bhatia

4 Comments

asha chaudhry November 23, 2014, 4:56 am

ojasvi – alok shared your post over social y’day – pls check fb comment and respond:

Subrata Bera I just wish if a progress bar can be added to the syllabus or a book which will show the percentage progress of that book/syllabus.

14 hrs · Like · 2
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal November 23, 2014, 12:46 pm

Not sure about this. There are too many platforms out there. Udemy etc are default now.

Look at Khanacademy – they are the ‘platform’.

If I were you, I would take content from Khan (YouTube) and GAMIFY EXISTING CONTENT.

If you gamification is successful, then all the content will come rushing in

Creating a platform AND content is like fighting 2 wars…
ojasvI Bhatia November 25, 2014, 5:40 am

Thank you Mr. Subrata for exploring CramBuddy and sharing your interesting observation.

Progress percentage or progress status will definitely add a lot of value and the sense of completion to the users. As you know, CramBuddy provides a platform for crisp & capsuled content which is crowd sourced in which various users contribute on the same/similar topics or subjects. Our focus till now has been to provide varied options for the users on a particular topic.

However, our alignment towards syllabus and grade will help to track and understand the progress being made by the user. As a part of product evolution, we will have this as one of the priority inclusion to come in the near future.

Thanks again for your feedback.
ojasvI Bhatia November 25, 2014, 5:43 am

Thank you Mr. Alok for your feedback. We understand your perspective when it comes to a platform as a learning tool (conceptual learning). The platforms that you mentioned are the trend setters and we always look up to them.

The positioning of CramBuddy is to complement the learning process which may be delivered in the traditional manner (classroom) or through these wonderful platforms.

Most of the students these days can perfectly understand / comprehend the concept or topic that they are thought but still, they are evaluated / graded based on what they are reproduce in the test or an exam.

Typically 60% of assessments are directly or indirectly based on the dates / formulae / events / names / laws / theorems / diagrams / values etc. which needs to be reproduced either in the written form or verbally.

for e.g., Name the Signatory countries of the Triple Alliance (1882). State the rival bloc that was formed? (okay, we can imagine the reaction ;-)…we all have experienced this at some point of time.)

The nature of remembering or recollecting these highlighted / important / key points are mundane & boring. These students spend a lot more time doing this activity rather than applying their learning.

CramBuddy adds spice to this process and delivers the experience of being a full filled platform through gamification and social networking (Social Gaming).

It delivers the right amount of content in a capsuled manner and the principles of Active Recall Learning (ARL) in it takes care of the efficiency.

We are a platform company. Unfortunately, we will to have fight the content war as well till we build enough traction & self sustainability (like youtube) which will bind the content provider/contributor to content seeker. Currently, we are following the below mentioned approaches to win small battles.

– We are working with students to put up their own notes so that they and their classmates/schoolmates can benefit from it.

– Teachers use this platform to provide key points & pointers rather than dictating it in each sections/classes

– Parents revisit these subjects/topics quickly to teach their children & sometime it helps to save their face as well 😉

Awaiting for your thoughts / comments.