Leveraging Technology to Increase Student Effort and Improve Learning Outcomes

This project aims to leverage a technology-based learning model to both increase the supply of high quality education and to increase the demand for learning (through incentives for student effort).  The Nalanda project is developing and deploying a scalable and cost-effective model of a technology-based learning platform (KA Lite) and hardware configuration, which is fully integrated into the local math curriculum.  KA Lite is unique in that it is free, designed to be downloaded anywhere, by anyone, and used without an internet connection. An integrated student performance incentive leverages the instant feedback component of KA Lite to reward day-to-day effort.  The first phase of the project (for which we are applying for funding) will cost under $50,000 and provide a high-quality RCT of the impact of student incentives (demand-side intervention) and also serve as a pilot for the next phase that will conduct a full-scale RCT of the technology-enabled curriculum itself (a supply-side intervention).

*To learn more about key findings from this evaluation read Incentives for Effort or Outputs? A Field Experiment to Improve Student Performance