It a time when the world is witnessing the devastating effects of COVID-19, young people as well as educators are utilising the opportunity to produce content that responds to the current circumstances.
Since the pandemic has continued to change the way students access education, educators have had to adjust and adapt their curricula not only to accommodate online student learning, but to keep their students active and inspired.
Such is the essence of Stori Africa, an innovative platform that allows local authors to publish their content in order to enable young people who are currently studying from their homes to keep them with a motivation of reading.
The initiative is a mobile application that was built by a team of Rwandan tech-enthusiasts.
Mugabo says the platform enables Rwandan authors and illustrators to publish their content. Olivier Mugwiza.
"Stori Africa, is not just about writing the stories locally, but our main aim is to facilitate young people develop the culture of reading and possibly writing in such dreadful times,” says Jerome Mugabo, the brain behind the innovative application.
According to Mugabo, Stori Africa has already been registered and approved on the Google play store "which means all Android smartphones can easily access it. We are also working on the iOS version, for the Apple customers to be able to use it too.”
Additionally, the audio visual expert points out that the initiative is incredibly powerful to have a digital platform that enables Rwandan authors and illustrators to publish their content.
"Rwanda undeniably has very many talented authors, but the stories are hiding in plain sight. Hence, we have creatively built Stori Africa so that content can be an inspiration for the students and writers who are interested in the story telling industry,” he adds.
For instance, the platform has plenty of stories in different categories in a format of photo novel, which makes the innovation the first of its kind in Rwanda.
A photo novel, according to Mugabo is a medium which is comprised of photos and a storyline in which the photographs are accompanied by texts. "This way of narration is an interesting strategy of attracting readers.”
Besides, Stori Africa also publishes content that is in a format of comics, illustrated narrations, texts and dialogues among others. "Our next phase will be the audio book and some other podcasts, along with chat stories.”
Like Mugabo, young people who are currently spending more time in their homes told the Education Times that navigating a new world in this time of crisis is not easy.
"Today, everything is wholly consumed by the global stories of coronavirus, from the cancellation of various events, new work-from-home policy to school closures.” says Paola Ingabire, a student who has currently been using the application to read stories.
"This has exposed the necessity of being thoughtful and innovative to some of the strategies that can enable us to proceed with learning even when institutions are locked. But also, it is enabling us think of other creative content to make space for imagination when we need it the most.”
Glimmer of hope
Cherish Nkurunziza, a teacher at Kigali City School, says, "Reading heart-warming stories in all of this turmoil can provide a bit of hope and levity, which almost everyone needs. This also helps to offer distractions.”
During this undeniably stressful time, Nkurunziza says students need to relax their minds off class notes and possibly find time to read other books.
"It is not advisable for students to spend the whole day in calculations yet they can learn from other different stories,” she adds.
Mugabo emphasises that COVID-19, requires brands to rethink their storytelling drastically. And while many companies see this crisis as an economical low point, there are also opportunities to grasp in these unusual times.
"And for young people and educators looking to tap into arts as a way to find insight, expression and connection through this crisis, storytelling could be among the best opportunities,” Mugabo says.
Incentive to distance learning
For Olivier Minani an IT expert, the fact that the number of institutions offering e-learning is increasing day by day is a clear indicator that if implemented in the right way, providing online education would be as effective as face-to-face lectures.
Therefore, he is of the view that "Online education, while keeping most of the core features of traditional classrooms, provides several additional advantages which include providing greater flexibility and convenience for both the teachers and students to take a more flexible and dynamic approach towards education, it gives the opportunity for students to do self-paced learning among others.”
Conversely, so far, Mugabo has observed that mind-set remains a clear set back of innovation among young people.
"Besides the financial challenges, I have seen that young talented people are scared of being creative because they are scared of making losses, which is a poor mind-set.”
"Personally, I have not made the most profit from this app but I know the impact is going to benefit almost everyone. The mobile app which is already in a number of languages including Kinyarwanda, English, French and Kiswahili is already employing a good number of staff that includes software developers and writers,” he reiterates.