eKidz.eu

Using digital platforms from an early age boosts the confidence and ability of children in computer literacy and increases the value they can extract from other digital tools. Using digital learning platforms such as eKidz, acquaints children, especially girls, (who have been shown to lag behind boys in benefitting from digital tools) and redresses the digital divide at a time when the gender divide in internet use is widening. This is a step towards empowering participation in society. Both boys and girls benefit from the flexibility and convenience of digital tools such as eKidz. Learning can take place at a time, place and pace that fits in with their lifestyle. Interacting dynamically is an engaging and motivating way of learning that helps lessons stick. In the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Utilizing digital technologies make education more equitable and inclusive, especially when the tool provides improved flexibility and capacity for personalization. This meets the needs of diverse boys and girls at the point where they need. Digital technologies offer benefits by diversifying not just what is learned but where, when and how it is learned.

eKidz was developed with a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in order to progress the education of students experiencing educational shortcomings as a result of language barriers. In the forefront of this development were families with diverse social and cultural backgrounds and migrant families, children marginalized through social, economic and/or relocation. For reasons of accessibility and reach, we focused on mobile technology (by the end of 2022, 68 percent of the world’s population were smartphone users). Mobile platforms meet the strong demand for technology that integrates both training and diagnostics, and makes education accessible to the most poorly served in rural communities, war zones and in socio-economic deprivation. eKidz facilitates the incorporation and education of non-native speaking students who are insecure in a school’s taught language medium by accelerating their reading, listening, comprehension, written and spoken language acquisition. These students can continue learning and practicing their new classroom language while at home without the teacher’s supervision or a supportive adult (or in class), guided by eKidz’ cutting edge AI technology, without fear of embarrassment or judgement. Scaffolded content which is easy and intuitive to navigate, allows children who have been distanced or excluded from education for whatever reason, to learn and progress their reading, listening, speaking and writing skills - crucial to be able to participate in life as an adult. eKidz is a holistic, language teaching and learning super tool which empowers reading, writing, listening, speaking and thinking in multiple languages, independent of the direct supervision of a teacher. It is both a classroom tool and remote learning tutor. Its vision is to reform education giving access to all children everywhere, empowering their future and enabling their potential. eKidz is an optimal tool for targeting underserved communities lacking access to qualified teachers and available teaching time in elementary education. This service is evidenced in Germany where, second language learners with migrant backgrounds benefit from eKidz. Likewise in Ukraine, for whom eKidz rapidly scaled up a Ukrainian language version in response to the emergency situation in education, resulting from the invasion which destroyed schools in close proximity to the combat area. We want to expand novel eKidz' AI empowered learning tools to children via the saturation of powerful, cheap mobile devices (McGreal, 2005). The internet allows us to reach many underserved young students globally, via schools and privately at home when in emergency the schools are operating online only. eKidz offers its innovative literacy and learning solution to school districts and governments, as well as international donors operating in emergencies, via subscription model. eKidz’ language mix includes English, Spanish, German (globally ranked as the most desired languages) and Ukrainian - introduced in response to emergency needs. The scalable and well architected solution allows short lead to market with new content languages and interchangeability of the AI models in place. The app is available in the form of iOS, Android and Web App. The learning outcomes of eKidz will enhance lives through improved academic results, expanding capabilities and greater employability - reducing poverty, and positively impacting on health and sustainable development.

*Accountability* : eKidz content incorporates cross-curricular themes and competencies, which portrays the positive and negative outcomes of behavior - modelling the acceptance of responsibility. *Challenge of Bias*: Through its characters, assertive, creative and confident female characters are created and promoted along with empathetic and thoughtful male characters. The plots to stories integrate several subjects, e.g. history, social studies, as well as STEM. Extracurricular activities are dealt with equally across genders, in contrast to age-old stereotypes. *Promoting Empathy and Intersectionality* : Characters are taken from a variety of geographic locations, cultures and indigenous communities as well as ethnic groups or national minorities - this is to foster a global understanding of shared loves, needs, aspirations and fears. *Inclusion and Accessibility* : The eKidz app incorporates specific facility to assist students with special education needs. For example, fonts, such as the dyslexia friendly type, allow easier access to content and the fully adjustable color scheme allows students with visual impairment to personalize the screen for optimal learning.

Historically, children found it difficult to interact with voice technology, due to the pitch, pronunciation and speed of their speech. By its very nature, eKidz in its drive to provide equity, developed its voice recognition technology (Automatic Speech Recognition) to not only understand but to also analyze and diagnose children’s speech. eKidz provides a unique student-centered, authentic, formative assessment that puts the progress and achievement in the hands of the students. eKidz is built for equitable access, independent of location. Data protection, privacy and security makes it a reliable and secure instrument suitable for children. eKidz uses secure data centers, its own encryption and data storage systems, isolating data according to local and federal legislation (federated Azure servers) ensuring the data compliance in each region of operations and works with researchers on two R&D project in the field of ASR (voice recognition) for children’s voices and adaptive feedback in Germany. eKidz practices digital responsibility and addresses risks. The ASR and AI functions remain non-generative, as it is students who generate the work and AI facilitates the diagnosis, feedback and prompts to guide students. This minimizes external risks. eKidz’ team believes that AI technology solutions must be locally driven and owned, and is focused on building an evidence base informed by the communities eKidz serves to ensure AI technology can improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.