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Yazmi Concept Paper- SR

Rangarajan Srinivasan
Rangarajan Srinivasan

This document describes a new education ecosystem called Yazmi that uses satellites to deliver educational content across over 120 countries. The key components of the Yazmi system include satellites that broadcast content, tablet devices that receive the content, and classroom servers that distribute content locally via WiFi. The system aims to improve education outcomes by providing one tablet device per student, enhancing teacher training through just-in-time coaching delivered via satellite, and facilitating instructor-led learning and assessments to monitor student performance.

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A new Ecosystem for Governments to deliver Quality Education to Everyone S.Rangarajan Yazmi USA, LLC 8515 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 USA
Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1. ANALYSIS OF NEEDS OF THE MINISTRIES OF EDUCATION ................................................................... 4 2. YAZMI SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE .................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 THE SPACE SEGMENT ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 2.2 THE 2 SATELLITE COVERAGE ................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 CONTENT DELIVERY .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 2.4 RECEIVE DEVICES .................................................................................................................................................................. 6 2.5 CLASSROOM RECEIVER/SERVER ......................................................................................................................................... 7 2.6 SOLAR-足POWERED CHARGING STATION FOR ODYSSEY ................................................................................................... 8 2.7 YAZMI COMPONENTS AND TYPICAL USE CASES ................................................................................................................. 9 3. UNIQUENESS OF YAZMI EDUCATION SOLUTION .................................................................................... 11 3.1 ONE STUDENT, ONE DEVICE .............................................................................................................................................. 11 3.2 ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHERS ........................................................................................................... 12 3.3 INSTRUCTOR-足LED LEARNING ............................................................................................................................................. 13 3.4 ASSESSMENT DATA FOR ANALYTICS ................................................................................................................................ 14 4. ADVANTAGE YAZMI .......................................................................................................................................... 14 4.1 DISTINGUISHING FEATURES ............................................................................................................................................... 14 4.2 IMPORTANCE OF ALWAYS-足ON SATELLITE CONNECTIVITY ............................................................................................ 16 4.3 YAZMIS SOLUTION CONTRASTED WITH OTHER OPTIONS ............................................................................................. 16 4.4 YAZMIS VALUE PROPOSITION ........................................................................................................................................... 18 4.4.1 BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 18 4.4.2 BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS ...................................................................................................................................... 18 4.4.3 BENEFITS FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND ADMINISTRATORS .................................................... 19 5. APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................................ 20 5.1 CONTEXTUALIZATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 20 5.2 PROCUREMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF HARDWARE AND DEVICES .............................................................................. 20 5.3 CONTENT ADAPTATION ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 5.4 INITIATING TEACHERS INTO THE YAZMI ECOSYSTEM ................................................................................................... 21 5.5 SETTING UP THE BACK END ................................................................................................................................................ 21 5.6 LOWEST COST OF OWNERSHIP ........................................................................................................................................... 21
3 Executive Summary Countries across the developing world are looking for the right technology enablers to improve educational outcomes. Yazmi provides a unique and highly cost-effective technology ecosystem for this need. Yazmi's solution is offered to Ministries of Education for improving student performance as well as teacher motivation, using individual student devices, instructor-led learning, Just-in-Time coaching of instructors and built-in feedback mechanism for administrators. Unparalleled Reach, Directed Delivery to Student, Teach the Teachers, Just-in-Time Coaching, Infinite Scalability and Uniform Improvement in Performance are some of the salient features of the Yazmi ecosystem. Yazmi's solution does not place any requirements on availability of Internet, power connections, or a specific student consumption device. One of the key challenges faced by governments in providing uniform quality universal education is the variance in the quality of the teachers. Yazmi provides an answer to this by teaching the teachers Just-in-Time and by providing scripted teaching materials. As the live sessions via the satellites can be organized as often as needed and with very little notice, it is possible to tightly control the teaching and learning processes from the Center and ensure steady progress. Governments can rely on Yazmi to make sure that any child - even those in remote areas, out of school, or without access to electricity or the Internet - can obtain advanced learning tools, official curriculum materials and structured classroom teaching to improve their educational outcomes. All these learning tools are periodically updated for security enhancements, along with over-the-air delivery of new features to all applicable recipients via Satellite. This way, recipients can always be up to date with latest technology and features via the 'Yazmi Store'. The combination of a high-quality, low-cost tablet and always-on reception anywhere in the Yazmi satellites footprint (covering over 120 countries and 5 billion people across Africa, Asia and the Middle East) is a powerful enabler of universal access to education and information for all.
1. Analysis of Needs of the Ministries of Education Global agencies and local governments recognize the link between education and progress. More and more countries are increasing their priority to grow a large population of skilled workers. However, governments are also learning that spending money alone does not solve the structural problems that they are facing, such as: Rising class sizes mean less attention is paid to improving learning outcomes. Teacher shortages are exacerbating the problem of attention to students. Enough teacher training colleges cannot be built to meet the rising demand for teachers, and it is logistically difficult and expensive to deliver ongoing teacher training on a regional or national scale. Providing uniform quality education across the country when there is such a large variation in the teacher's skill and motivation. There is also a shortage of basic textbooks and library books, which means books for pleasure and knowledge are more of a luxury. Electrification of rural areas is not universal, and even in urban areas blackouts that last for hours are not uncommon. There is little or no access to computers and even less access to the Internet at home and school. The basic education priorities governments within Yazmi's service area tend to include: Reach out to each and every student Provide uniformity of Quality, Access and Equity in education despite: o Widely varying performance of Teachers; o Constraints of non-availability of guaranteed power in the schools or in student homes; o Widely varying levels of connectivity (Postal Mail, Telecom, Internet) in the regions; o Geographical constraints and natural calamities; and o Limited resources (manpower, money) 4
Technology should not unduly disrupt the conventional pedagogic system built around the schools, teachers and the curriculum Quantifiable gains should be achieved and sustained within the span of a government's term of office, typically 4 years. 2. Yazmi System Architecture 2.1 The Space Segment The Yazmi satellite constellation includes the AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites currently in orbit. The satellites were designed for digital broadcast direct to a personal receiver and feature onboard processing, error control and high power. With its extensive geographical coverage, inherent multicast capabilities, low-cost terminals, limited demand on infrastructure, and accessibility by an unlimited number of terminals, the Yazmi ecosystem is an ideal candidate for mass information delivery. Yazmis mission is to leverage its unique satellite infrastructure to create an ecosystem for governments, organizations and corporations to broadcast educational materials, government information, news, weather and other content to students, workers, households, and schools across in a way that is universally accessible, universally affordable and tailored for local use. 2.2 The satellite coverage The most important advantage of the use of Yazmi satellites for delivery of Education is its geographical coverage. The combined reach of the two Yazmi satellites covers over 120 countries, and both the satellites are available for immediate use. 2.3 Content Delivery Yazmi uses Multicast IP technology that makes it possible to reach a large number of recipients with a single transmission. The architecture supports: 5
Selective Addressability: The originator decides and directs the contents to be delivered to a particular group. Synchronous mode (Live): The content originator and the recipient are simultaneously present for session duration e.g., Lectures delivered in real-time sessions on a pre-determined schedule. Asynchronous mode (Offline): The originator posts updates and the recipient consumes content non-simultaneously e.g., update of course material, pre-recorded 6 lectures, App upgrades via Yazmi Store, etc. 2.4 Receive Devices One of the recent trends in the education sector is the introduction of a wide range of hand-held laptops and tablets that can serve as personal media consumption devices for the student. These devices enable multimedia consumption (audio, video, images and text), allow the students to store contents, and enable note taking. This is a quantum jump from the traditional classroom where the students carry books and notebooks, and the teachers deliver the contents using time-consuming chalk and blackboard. Hence Yazmi created the world's first satellite-enabled tablet computer, Odyssey, which combines its Direct-to-Person satellite technology with benefits of powerful yet inexpensive tablet computers. Odyssey is a compact customized satellite-integrated Android速 tablet with embedded educational tools, packed with field-tested educational apps and can be recharged using electrical mains or the Yazmi solar-power charging station. Yazmi has also developed an USB-based mini receiver that enables satellite reception to any other notebook computer or tablet and provide the Odyssey-type services, a sample of which is given below:
2.5 Classroom Receiver/Server As tablets have a good capability for media consumption and storage, it is best if the students can use them everywhere, especially during class. However, as with virtually all types of satellite services, the standard Odyssey tablet antennas require line-of-sight to obtain the Yazmi satellite signal. The logistics of each student running their own antenna to a window or using their own tablet in class without any sort of teacher-operated management software could cause disruptions. Yazmi has therefore created a configuration for use of the tablets in a classroom. The Yazmi Classroom Server is a last-mile mini-HTTP server that connects to a Yazmi satellite via a USB satellite receiver and can provide connectivity and backup functions for Yazmi-enabled devices in the classroom. The Yazmi Classroom Server functions in the capacity of a localhost server for relaying content via Wi-Fi to the students' tablets during school hours. It is also useful for delivery of live remote sessions to students in class (alleviating teacher shortages or skill deficiencies). Moreover, the Yazmi Classroom Server is a content library for students to browse large volumes of content that have been received via the Yazmi satellites specifically for that class (using the 7
selective addressability feature of the satellite transmission) and residing locally on the server. It results in an experience similar to the world wide web, with the added advantage of avoiding unwanted/undesirable contents. It can also back up a student's work on a regular basis, ensuring that educational continuity occurs even if the student loses his tablet. Furthermore, the server picks up the student test performance data Machine-to-Machine (M2M) whenever the student logs into the server. This data forms part of the Database for assessment analytics at the back end. 2.6 Solar-Powered Charging Station for Odyssey The Odyssey utilizes a high-performance but ultra-low-power CPU plus separate GPU. Together with an extra-large 4500mAh lithium battery, the Odyssey is capable of operating at least a full school day running intensive applications such as video streaming. In view of the unreliability/unavailability of mains power supply in much of the targeted service area, Yazmi has developed a stand-alone low-cost solar-powered charging station as an accessory to rapidly recharge the tablet battery. A solar charge controller charges the tablet battery offline and the charging station battery pack capacity is sufficient to recharge a tablet for 3 consecutive days between its own need for a recharge, which is valuable for users where long cloudy or rainy periods are common. 8
9 2.7 Yazmi components and typical use cases
10 The typical use cases are listed below: Activity From To Connectivity How Often Comments Teacher Preparation Center Teachers Satellite Live 2-way At least once a week JITCOVY Classroom Teaching Teacher Student Live in person Daily Student Note Taking in Odyssey Remote Teacher into virtual classroom Center Students in classroom Satellite Live Occasional For Teacher shortage/ absence Classroom e- Library Center Classroom Receiver/ Server Satellite Offline Daily Updating material for Students local browsing Classroom Teaching Material; Center Classroom Receiver/ Server Satellite Offline As often as necessary Under Teachers control for student access Question Banks & Tests e-Library use in School Classroom Receiver/ Server Students Local WiFi Outside class hours Browsing downloaded contents Tests Classroom Receiver/ Server Students Local WiFi As often as necessary Under Teachers control for the timing Test Taking - - Students Home As often as necessary Results captured in Odyssey Assessment Data Transfer Student Classroom Receiver/ Server Local WiFi Whenever Student logs on Machine-To- Machine (M2M) Assessment Data Centralization Classroom Receiver/ Server Center Suitable Terrestrial means As often as necessary For back end analysis Supplementary Notes; Software upgrades Center or Teacher Student Satellite Offline Pre-decided time slots Delivered at home Revision; Center or Teacher Student Satellite Live One-way Pre-decided time slots Delivered at home Special Coaching JITCOVY
3. Uniqueness of Yazmi Education Solution The Yazmi solution is built around a personal educational computing device for each student. But in the Yazmi ecosystem the local teachers are not bypassed. Instead they are given better tools to improve their classroom performance and reduce rote blackboard and test marking demands. Yazmi's scheme is a two-step process of imparting learning to every student: First, by teaching the teachers Just-in-Time; Then, facilitating Instructor-led Learning for the students. This results in an overall improvement of student performance despite a widely varying skill set of teachers. The Yazmi ecosystem also provides Ministries of Education and local school/district administrators a way of aggregating and analyzing the performance of each student, class, grade and school in every test that they undertake. Thus, Yazmi's satellite-based education system goes beyond the delivery of one-time content to remote areas of the world; it constantly works towards improving their quality of education through periodic updates and assessment. The most important building blocks of the Yazmi solution are presented in this section. 3.1 One Student, One Device The Yazmi solution proposes a personal device for each student. It could be Yazmi's Odyssey satellite-enabled tablet, or any other tablet or laptop with Yazmi satellite connectivity through Yazmi's USB-port mini-receiver with external antenna. In either case, the computing device has a Yazmi satellite link for delivery of live and offline contents, as well as Wi-Fi that could be used in the classroom or wherever there are Internet hot spots. 11
This device is designed for use by a student with customized educational apps. It allows students to gradually replace the traditional approach without displacing the conventional pedagogic paradigm and facilitates: 12 Consumption of multimedia content (audio, video, ebooks); Participating in live virtual classrooms at home or in the school; Creation of a personal library of text books, teachers notes, worksheets; Taking personalized notes; Taking tests; Storage of assessment data for an offline transfer to back end; and Accessibility of additional educational resources from the Yazmi Classroom Server. 3.2 Enhancing the effectiveness of Teachers In the Yazmi ecosystem, teachers continue to play the predominant role in education delivery, and their passion and capabilities are important factors in the students achieving higher educational outcomes. There are significant issues worldwide with teachers having insufficient training, limited oversight and difficult working conditions, all of which combine to limit the effectiveness of their teaching. Teachers' unions are understandably cautious that technology may eventually displace them. Several countries have attempted to enhance the pre-service and in-service training of teachers with little success, not least due to logistical and financial issues of requiring teachers from rural or remote areas to travel to a centralized location for in-person group training outside of their normal working term. This, combined with the shortage of teachers, has been the prime reason for the inability to significantly increase the quality of the teacher-led learning environment. Yazmis solution provides a unique way to improve teaching skills in the classroom by using Just-in-Time Coaching via Yazmi (JITCOVY). In this technique the Education Center drives the process by creating good lesson plans and scripted teaching materials, delivering them to teachers' Odyssey tablets via Yazmi satellite, and also engaging those teachers in short, live interactive sessions providing them tips to optimize their performance and confidence lesson-by-lesson. Once the teachers gain this confidence and do better after the JITCOVY, their acceptance in the class should improve, students should begin to positively respond, and the
teachers should be more motivated to continue this mode, starting a positive chain of events. The Yazmi satellite system can deliver live lectures and other training aids to teachers across a province or country without an internet connection and without any limit on the number of recipients. These lectures can cover classroom management, basics of difficult courses, implementation of tablets into lesson plans, etc. It is recommended that the teachers get the same tablets as their students, but with the additional feature of Internet access via a 2G/3G cellular USB dongle. This would help to improve their motivation and performance, as they can use the spare time to go through other web-based references provided to them during the JITCOVY sessions. 3.3 Instructor-led Learning The Instructor-led Learning scheme keeps the facilitation of the learning process in the hands of the teachers. It is the teachers who can decide what goes into the students' tablets, as well as when and how long it stays. In contrast to "self-directed learning" schemes using a broadband internet connection where the student is left on their own to select and download content, Yazmis scheme delivers the required (and government-approved) content and this means: 13 o No student initiation required;
14 o Access to undesirable content avoided; o No network congestion; and o No limit on number of recipients. 3.4 Assessment Data for Analytics The Yazmi ecosystem also features capture of performance of students in assessment tests. This data is transferred to the backend via a classroom receiver/server for detailed analysis at a global level on the performance of students, teachers, schools, and curriculum on a regular basis. The feedback helps administrators assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system and focus on key areas of improvement. 4. Advantage Yazmi 4.1 Distinguishing Features There is no dearth of valuable educational resources available for free on the web. However, these cannot by themselves lead to betterment of student performance, even if one were to increase availability of Internet access - which is time-consuming and expensive. Likewise, the distribution of handheld computers to the students in developing countries is not by itself sufficient to achieve the goals of the education stakeholders.
In contrast, the Yazmi solution combines the device and one-way connectivity to offer guided education by teachers using multicast via satellite to students tablets. Government provides the curriculum contents and Yazmi can categorize it into static, dynamic and live materials. Yazmi has created an easy-to-use content management system (CMS) so that the content originator can easily connect to our uplink, decide on the recipients and transmit. The CMS allows live as well asynchronous contents. In younger grades of basic education (e.g. Primary) there is a lot of commonality in what needs to be delivered to the different students and the times at which they have to be delivered. Besides this, primary education is also characterized by more asymmetric traffic (much more from teacher to student than in the opposite direction). Yazmis connectivity matches this perfectly. The Odyssey tablet is pre-loaded with approved curricular content and more importantly the tools and Apps for improving the ease and efficiency of the teaching/learning process. Among all the tablet computers in the market, Odyssey stands out as the only device that has been purpose-built to support the educational needs of students and teachers in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The salient features of the Yazmi solution are depicted below: 15
4.2 Importance of always-on satellite connectivity One of the key components of sustainable development is the availability of the right information to the right persons at the right time. It is important that the technology for the information delivery should cover every part of the region, especially the rural and remote regions where the options for timely delivery are rather limited. Satellites play an important role in providing this uniformity of geographical coverage, as exemplified by the Direct to Home (DTH) delivery of entertainment channels. However, for critical sectors of sustainable development, the rendering of the information cannot be on TV channels. What is required is Direct to Person satellite connectivity. Yazmi's solution is characterized by: Large one-way bandwidth to all devices for synchronous and asynchronous delivery; No segment of students left out based on geography; Complete addressability & multicast functionality; Not affected by the fact that a large segment of students have poor or no access to grid power, Internet and even telecom; and Classroom extension of the service to allow student access to live lectures and additional contents. 4.3 Yazmis solution contrasted with other options There are many initiatives underway around the world to leverage technology to improve educational outcomes. These include the setting up of computer labs in schools, the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative, distributing tablets to students, providing eBooks to learners, etc. Compared to these, the Yazmi solution described in this paper has several advantages including: 1. As Yazmis solution is built around an individual student's device, the problems of setting up a computer lab in the school, making sure it has power, and training people to use and manage these computers are eliminated; 2. The tablets consume much less power (typically 1 watt) and almost invariably would be powered by its battery when the student is using it; 3. Recharging a tablet can be done offline either by mains power at home or, if that is too unreliable, via the Yazmi solar-powered charging station; 4. The portability of the tablet makes it the student's constant companion, be it at home or at school or anywhere else; 5. Tablets let students consume multimedia on it, take notes using them, take 16
tests etc.; 6. Thanks to rapidly increasing penetration of Android-based smartphones across the Yazmi coverage area, the Android-based Odyssey tablets require only limited student training to help them get started; 7. As the teachers get the same tablets, the Central department (Administration) can use it very efficiently to improve the teacher's knowledge, and could provide assistance on lesson plan delivery (e.g., a live session of an hour on each Sunday can introduce the topics for the next 6 days); 8. This scaffolding of low-skill teachers not only would improve their technical skills/performance, but also motivate them and bring in more uniformity in the learning outcomes; 9. In areas of low performance, the tight control of teaching and learning process from the Center would reduce variation across classrooms; 10. In Yazmis ecosystem teachers are not minimized nor eliminated; but rather it strives to make them more proficient and in turn more impactful; 11. The teacher's tablets can access Internet via Wi-Fi or by using a 2G/3G USB dongle connected to their tablets via tablet's OTG USB port; and 12. The capture of the Assessment data in entirety and bringing it to the back end would allow the Administration to assess the students, the teachers, the school and the curriculum and allow them to initiate appropriate corrective measures in advance of national exams or the end of the school term. 17
18 4.4 Yazmis Value Proposition 4.4.1 BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS Every student can have all the tools to maximize their education regardless of wealth, access to electricity or internet, or location; A personal device for each student that is used by the student for storing his text books, notes taking, test taking, content browsing, rendering of live sessions, automatic update of course contents, upgrading the tools, etc.; Participate in live classrooms from the convenience of students' home; Take assessment tests and get feedback from the teacher; Review presentation and supplementary information offline, at home and at school; Gain a basic knowledge of using computers, which can improve the baseline skills of the future workforce; Apps and educational games makes learning more fun; Just-in-Time Coaching via Yazmi better prepares students for tests and exams; and Solar-powered charging station ensures tablet is available for use when needed at home or school. 4.4.2 BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS In the two-stage process of Yazmi, teachers receive coaching on the optimal way to teach a lesson and in turn quickly impart that learning to the students; Just-in-Time Coaching via Yazmi (JITCOVY) allows teachers to perform better in every class; Teachers gain confidence, improve skills and gain greater acceptance with students; Teacher is in control of what gets into and resides in student devices; Can reduce amount of time used for writing on a blackboard and increase classroom interaction;
Tests can be taken by students on the tablet with reduced marking requirements; and Capability to deliver selective supplementary content critical to students learning. 4.4.3 BENEFITS FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND ADMINISTRATORS Extend reach beyond Internet and mail-based delivery of courseware; Provide uniform quality of contents to all students without any restrictions on student location; End-to-end solution can be deployed with little to no extra investment in school infrastructure or data fees; Delivery of digital content can minimize the need to purchase and distribute paper textbooks, workbooks and library books; 19 Ensures uniform quality despite variance in the skill levels of teachers; Teachers can be provided training at minimal cost and without having to travel; Feedback and assessment tools permit usage and performance tracking at the student, class, teacher, school, grade and district levels - ensuring the tools for maximum program transparency in real time; Non-dependence of electric power supply as the tablets have sustainable solar chargers; Immediate implementation, Infinite Scalability and Sustainability; Lowest total cost of ownership of any one-to-one tablet solution; and Can create local spinoff jobs for creating digital content;
5. Appendix We consider a hypothetical case of a province with 300 schools, 1,500 classrooms, 3,500 teachers and 100,000 students to illustrate the steps required to implement a Capacity-linked Education Service Package from Yazmi for this province. 5.1 Contextualization We work out with the government agency and collect details of the curriculum, the availability of curriculum (text books, work sheets, lesson plans) in a digital form, the grades, languages, locations, number of students who may need a solar charger, teacher skills, and possible teacher shortages. We then arrive at first-cut values: Number of groups/tiers: 25 Required Hardware: 100,000 Odyssey tablets; 3,500 Odyssey tablets with 2G/3G cell dongle, 1,500 Classroom Servers, 5,000 Solar Chargers Live Sessions per week: 65 (for JITCOVY for Teachers - 25; for Teacher Absenteeism -25; Revision/Student Coaching at home - 15) Offline Content Delivery per week: 5 GB (for Teachers - 3 GB; Classroom Library - 1GB; Worksheets, Test papers - 1 GB) All the above synchronous and asynchronous transmissions can be accommodated with one dedicated 128 kbps channel for this entire province. Furthermore, Yazmi allows total flexibility between allocations for synchronous and asynchronous use. For example, at the start of a semester there could be much larger asynchronous use for downloading text books etc., whereas the day prior to an exam there could be several JITCOVY sessions for revision. 5.2 Procurement and deployment of hardware and devices This phase is always specific to each customer, and requires partnership with a strong local partner/team on the ground. Yazmi will train the trainers for creating a sufficient knowledge base in each locality. The fault reporting and correction procedures will be established. 5.3 Content adaptation Educational content is segregated into categories, including pre-loaded content prior to initial distribution, live sessions, offline content and supplementary 20
material. Yazmi will train the content originators on the Content Management System and also ensure the required internet connectivity between the content provider and Yazmi uplink station. 5.4 Initiating teachers into the Yazmi ecosystem Yazmi will help prepare the teachers for the incorporation of tablets and digital content into the classroom environment. Teachers will be shown how the JITCOVY service would help them, the importance of participating in JITCOVY sessions, tablet usage in the class, how to utilize the Classroom Server (for live lectures, transferring/syncing contents, gathering assessment data, etc.). 5.5 Setting up the back end The customer will be trained to create and control the groups, setting up the live sessions, delivering test papers, analyzing the test performance data, initiating mid-term 21 corrections etc. 5.6 Lowest cost of ownership Yazmis business model for governments is based on a one-time fee per student that includes the cost of the tablet, technical support & maintenance, train the trainers and lifetime satellite usage. Based on a typical tenure of a student, the cost per student will be less than just ten US cents a day!

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Yazmi Concept Paper- SR

  • 1. A new Ecosystem for Governments to deliver Quality Education to Everyone S.Rangarajan Yazmi USA, LLC 8515 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 USA
  • 2. Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1. ANALYSIS OF NEEDS OF THE MINISTRIES OF EDUCATION ................................................................... 4 2. YAZMI SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE .................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 THE SPACE SEGMENT ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 2.2 THE 2 SATELLITE COVERAGE ................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 CONTENT DELIVERY .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 2.4 RECEIVE DEVICES .................................................................................................................................................................. 6 2.5 CLASSROOM RECEIVER/SERVER ......................................................................................................................................... 7 2.6 SOLAR-足POWERED CHARGING STATION FOR ODYSSEY ................................................................................................... 8 2.7 YAZMI COMPONENTS AND TYPICAL USE CASES ................................................................................................................. 9 3. UNIQUENESS OF YAZMI EDUCATION SOLUTION .................................................................................... 11 3.1 ONE STUDENT, ONE DEVICE .............................................................................................................................................. 11 3.2 ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHERS ........................................................................................................... 12 3.3 INSTRUCTOR-足LED LEARNING ............................................................................................................................................. 13 3.4 ASSESSMENT DATA FOR ANALYTICS ................................................................................................................................ 14 4. ADVANTAGE YAZMI .......................................................................................................................................... 14 4.1 DISTINGUISHING FEATURES ............................................................................................................................................... 14 4.2 IMPORTANCE OF ALWAYS-足ON SATELLITE CONNECTIVITY ............................................................................................ 16 4.3 YAZMIS SOLUTION CONTRASTED WITH OTHER OPTIONS ............................................................................................. 16 4.4 YAZMIS VALUE PROPOSITION ........................................................................................................................................... 18 4.4.1 BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 18 4.4.2 BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS ...................................................................................................................................... 18 4.4.3 BENEFITS FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND ADMINISTRATORS .................................................... 19 5. APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................................ 20 5.1 CONTEXTUALIZATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 20 5.2 PROCUREMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF HARDWARE AND DEVICES .............................................................................. 20 5.3 CONTENT ADAPTATION ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 5.4 INITIATING TEACHERS INTO THE YAZMI ECOSYSTEM ................................................................................................... 21 5.5 SETTING UP THE BACK END ................................................................................................................................................ 21 5.6 LOWEST COST OF OWNERSHIP ........................................................................................................................................... 21
  • 3. 3 Executive Summary Countries across the developing world are looking for the right technology enablers to improve educational outcomes. Yazmi provides a unique and highly cost-effective technology ecosystem for this need. Yazmi's solution is offered to Ministries of Education for improving student performance as well as teacher motivation, using individual student devices, instructor-led learning, Just-in-Time coaching of instructors and built-in feedback mechanism for administrators. Unparalleled Reach, Directed Delivery to Student, Teach the Teachers, Just-in-Time Coaching, Infinite Scalability and Uniform Improvement in Performance are some of the salient features of the Yazmi ecosystem. Yazmi's solution does not place any requirements on availability of Internet, power connections, or a specific student consumption device. One of the key challenges faced by governments in providing uniform quality universal education is the variance in the quality of the teachers. Yazmi provides an answer to this by teaching the teachers Just-in-Time and by providing scripted teaching materials. As the live sessions via the satellites can be organized as often as needed and with very little notice, it is possible to tightly control the teaching and learning processes from the Center and ensure steady progress. Governments can rely on Yazmi to make sure that any child - even those in remote areas, out of school, or without access to electricity or the Internet - can obtain advanced learning tools, official curriculum materials and structured classroom teaching to improve their educational outcomes. All these learning tools are periodically updated for security enhancements, along with over-the-air delivery of new features to all applicable recipients via Satellite. This way, recipients can always be up to date with latest technology and features via the 'Yazmi Store'. The combination of a high-quality, low-cost tablet and always-on reception anywhere in the Yazmi satellites footprint (covering over 120 countries and 5 billion people across Africa, Asia and the Middle East) is a powerful enabler of universal access to education and information for all.
  • 4. 1. Analysis of Needs of the Ministries of Education Global agencies and local governments recognize the link between education and progress. More and more countries are increasing their priority to grow a large population of skilled workers. However, governments are also learning that spending money alone does not solve the structural problems that they are facing, such as: Rising class sizes mean less attention is paid to improving learning outcomes. Teacher shortages are exacerbating the problem of attention to students. Enough teacher training colleges cannot be built to meet the rising demand for teachers, and it is logistically difficult and expensive to deliver ongoing teacher training on a regional or national scale. Providing uniform quality education across the country when there is such a large variation in the teacher's skill and motivation. There is also a shortage of basic textbooks and library books, which means books for pleasure and knowledge are more of a luxury. Electrification of rural areas is not universal, and even in urban areas blackouts that last for hours are not uncommon. There is little or no access to computers and even less access to the Internet at home and school. The basic education priorities governments within Yazmi's service area tend to include: Reach out to each and every student Provide uniformity of Quality, Access and Equity in education despite: o Widely varying performance of Teachers; o Constraints of non-availability of guaranteed power in the schools or in student homes; o Widely varying levels of connectivity (Postal Mail, Telecom, Internet) in the regions; o Geographical constraints and natural calamities; and o Limited resources (manpower, money) 4
  • 5. Technology should not unduly disrupt the conventional pedagogic system built around the schools, teachers and the curriculum Quantifiable gains should be achieved and sustained within the span of a government's term of office, typically 4 years. 2. Yazmi System Architecture 2.1 The Space Segment The Yazmi satellite constellation includes the AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites currently in orbit. The satellites were designed for digital broadcast direct to a personal receiver and feature onboard processing, error control and high power. With its extensive geographical coverage, inherent multicast capabilities, low-cost terminals, limited demand on infrastructure, and accessibility by an unlimited number of terminals, the Yazmi ecosystem is an ideal candidate for mass information delivery. Yazmis mission is to leverage its unique satellite infrastructure to create an ecosystem for governments, organizations and corporations to broadcast educational materials, government information, news, weather and other content to students, workers, households, and schools across in a way that is universally accessible, universally affordable and tailored for local use. 2.2 The satellite coverage The most important advantage of the use of Yazmi satellites for delivery of Education is its geographical coverage. The combined reach of the two Yazmi satellites covers over 120 countries, and both the satellites are available for immediate use. 2.3 Content Delivery Yazmi uses Multicast IP technology that makes it possible to reach a large number of recipients with a single transmission. The architecture supports: 5
  • 6. Selective Addressability: The originator decides and directs the contents to be delivered to a particular group. Synchronous mode (Live): The content originator and the recipient are simultaneously present for session duration e.g., Lectures delivered in real-time sessions on a pre-determined schedule. Asynchronous mode (Offline): The originator posts updates and the recipient consumes content non-simultaneously e.g., update of course material, pre-recorded 6 lectures, App upgrades via Yazmi Store, etc. 2.4 Receive Devices One of the recent trends in the education sector is the introduction of a wide range of hand-held laptops and tablets that can serve as personal media consumption devices for the student. These devices enable multimedia consumption (audio, video, images and text), allow the students to store contents, and enable note taking. This is a quantum jump from the traditional classroom where the students carry books and notebooks, and the teachers deliver the contents using time-consuming chalk and blackboard. Hence Yazmi created the world's first satellite-enabled tablet computer, Odyssey, which combines its Direct-to-Person satellite technology with benefits of powerful yet inexpensive tablet computers. Odyssey is a compact customized satellite-integrated Android速 tablet with embedded educational tools, packed with field-tested educational apps and can be recharged using electrical mains or the Yazmi solar-power charging station. Yazmi has also developed an USB-based mini receiver that enables satellite reception to any other notebook computer or tablet and provide the Odyssey-type services, a sample of which is given below:
  • 7. 2.5 Classroom Receiver/Server As tablets have a good capability for media consumption and storage, it is best if the students can use them everywhere, especially during class. However, as with virtually all types of satellite services, the standard Odyssey tablet antennas require line-of-sight to obtain the Yazmi satellite signal. The logistics of each student running their own antenna to a window or using their own tablet in class without any sort of teacher-operated management software could cause disruptions. Yazmi has therefore created a configuration for use of the tablets in a classroom. The Yazmi Classroom Server is a last-mile mini-HTTP server that connects to a Yazmi satellite via a USB satellite receiver and can provide connectivity and backup functions for Yazmi-enabled devices in the classroom. The Yazmi Classroom Server functions in the capacity of a localhost server for relaying content via Wi-Fi to the students' tablets during school hours. It is also useful for delivery of live remote sessions to students in class (alleviating teacher shortages or skill deficiencies). Moreover, the Yazmi Classroom Server is a content library for students to browse large volumes of content that have been received via the Yazmi satellites specifically for that class (using the 7
  • 8. selective addressability feature of the satellite transmission) and residing locally on the server. It results in an experience similar to the world wide web, with the added advantage of avoiding unwanted/undesirable contents. It can also back up a student's work on a regular basis, ensuring that educational continuity occurs even if the student loses his tablet. Furthermore, the server picks up the student test performance data Machine-to-Machine (M2M) whenever the student logs into the server. This data forms part of the Database for assessment analytics at the back end. 2.6 Solar-Powered Charging Station for Odyssey The Odyssey utilizes a high-performance but ultra-low-power CPU plus separate GPU. Together with an extra-large 4500mAh lithium battery, the Odyssey is capable of operating at least a full school day running intensive applications such as video streaming. In view of the unreliability/unavailability of mains power supply in much of the targeted service area, Yazmi has developed a stand-alone low-cost solar-powered charging station as an accessory to rapidly recharge the tablet battery. A solar charge controller charges the tablet battery offline and the charging station battery pack capacity is sufficient to recharge a tablet for 3 consecutive days between its own need for a recharge, which is valuable for users where long cloudy or rainy periods are common. 8
  • 9. 9 2.7 Yazmi components and typical use cases
  • 10. 10 The typical use cases are listed below: Activity From To Connectivity How Often Comments Teacher Preparation Center Teachers Satellite Live 2-way At least once a week JITCOVY Classroom Teaching Teacher Student Live in person Daily Student Note Taking in Odyssey Remote Teacher into virtual classroom Center Students in classroom Satellite Live Occasional For Teacher shortage/ absence Classroom e- Library Center Classroom Receiver/ Server Satellite Offline Daily Updating material for Students local browsing Classroom Teaching Material; Center Classroom Receiver/ Server Satellite Offline As often as necessary Under Teachers control for student access Question Banks & Tests e-Library use in School Classroom Receiver/ Server Students Local WiFi Outside class hours Browsing downloaded contents Tests Classroom Receiver/ Server Students Local WiFi As often as necessary Under Teachers control for the timing Test Taking - - Students Home As often as necessary Results captured in Odyssey Assessment Data Transfer Student Classroom Receiver/ Server Local WiFi Whenever Student logs on Machine-To- Machine (M2M) Assessment Data Centralization Classroom Receiver/ Server Center Suitable Terrestrial means As often as necessary For back end analysis Supplementary Notes; Software upgrades Center or Teacher Student Satellite Offline Pre-decided time slots Delivered at home Revision; Center or Teacher Student Satellite Live One-way Pre-decided time slots Delivered at home Special Coaching JITCOVY
  • 11. 3. Uniqueness of Yazmi Education Solution The Yazmi solution is built around a personal educational computing device for each student. But in the Yazmi ecosystem the local teachers are not bypassed. Instead they are given better tools to improve their classroom performance and reduce rote blackboard and test marking demands. Yazmi's scheme is a two-step process of imparting learning to every student: First, by teaching the teachers Just-in-Time; Then, facilitating Instructor-led Learning for the students. This results in an overall improvement of student performance despite a widely varying skill set of teachers. The Yazmi ecosystem also provides Ministries of Education and local school/district administrators a way of aggregating and analyzing the performance of each student, class, grade and school in every test that they undertake. Thus, Yazmi's satellite-based education system goes beyond the delivery of one-time content to remote areas of the world; it constantly works towards improving their quality of education through periodic updates and assessment. The most important building blocks of the Yazmi solution are presented in this section. 3.1 One Student, One Device The Yazmi solution proposes a personal device for each student. It could be Yazmi's Odyssey satellite-enabled tablet, or any other tablet or laptop with Yazmi satellite connectivity through Yazmi's USB-port mini-receiver with external antenna. In either case, the computing device has a Yazmi satellite link for delivery of live and offline contents, as well as Wi-Fi that could be used in the classroom or wherever there are Internet hot spots. 11
  • 12. This device is designed for use by a student with customized educational apps. It allows students to gradually replace the traditional approach without displacing the conventional pedagogic paradigm and facilitates: 12 Consumption of multimedia content (audio, video, ebooks); Participating in live virtual classrooms at home or in the school; Creation of a personal library of text books, teachers notes, worksheets; Taking personalized notes; Taking tests; Storage of assessment data for an offline transfer to back end; and Accessibility of additional educational resources from the Yazmi Classroom Server. 3.2 Enhancing the effectiveness of Teachers In the Yazmi ecosystem, teachers continue to play the predominant role in education delivery, and their passion and capabilities are important factors in the students achieving higher educational outcomes. There are significant issues worldwide with teachers having insufficient training, limited oversight and difficult working conditions, all of which combine to limit the effectiveness of their teaching. Teachers' unions are understandably cautious that technology may eventually displace them. Several countries have attempted to enhance the pre-service and in-service training of teachers with little success, not least due to logistical and financial issues of requiring teachers from rural or remote areas to travel to a centralized location for in-person group training outside of their normal working term. This, combined with the shortage of teachers, has been the prime reason for the inability to significantly increase the quality of the teacher-led learning environment. Yazmis solution provides a unique way to improve teaching skills in the classroom by using Just-in-Time Coaching via Yazmi (JITCOVY). In this technique the Education Center drives the process by creating good lesson plans and scripted teaching materials, delivering them to teachers' Odyssey tablets via Yazmi satellite, and also engaging those teachers in short, live interactive sessions providing them tips to optimize their performance and confidence lesson-by-lesson. Once the teachers gain this confidence and do better after the JITCOVY, their acceptance in the class should improve, students should begin to positively respond, and the
  • 13. teachers should be more motivated to continue this mode, starting a positive chain of events. The Yazmi satellite system can deliver live lectures and other training aids to teachers across a province or country without an internet connection and without any limit on the number of recipients. These lectures can cover classroom management, basics of difficult courses, implementation of tablets into lesson plans, etc. It is recommended that the teachers get the same tablets as their students, but with the additional feature of Internet access via a 2G/3G cellular USB dongle. This would help to improve their motivation and performance, as they can use the spare time to go through other web-based references provided to them during the JITCOVY sessions. 3.3 Instructor-led Learning The Instructor-led Learning scheme keeps the facilitation of the learning process in the hands of the teachers. It is the teachers who can decide what goes into the students' tablets, as well as when and how long it stays. In contrast to "self-directed learning" schemes using a broadband internet connection where the student is left on their own to select and download content, Yazmis scheme delivers the required (and government-approved) content and this means: 13 o No student initiation required;
  • 14. 14 o Access to undesirable content avoided; o No network congestion; and o No limit on number of recipients. 3.4 Assessment Data for Analytics The Yazmi ecosystem also features capture of performance of students in assessment tests. This data is transferred to the backend via a classroom receiver/server for detailed analysis at a global level on the performance of students, teachers, schools, and curriculum on a regular basis. The feedback helps administrators assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system and focus on key areas of improvement. 4. Advantage Yazmi 4.1 Distinguishing Features There is no dearth of valuable educational resources available for free on the web. However, these cannot by themselves lead to betterment of student performance, even if one were to increase availability of Internet access - which is time-consuming and expensive. Likewise, the distribution of handheld computers to the students in developing countries is not by itself sufficient to achieve the goals of the education stakeholders.
  • 15. In contrast, the Yazmi solution combines the device and one-way connectivity to offer guided education by teachers using multicast via satellite to students tablets. Government provides the curriculum contents and Yazmi can categorize it into static, dynamic and live materials. Yazmi has created an easy-to-use content management system (CMS) so that the content originator can easily connect to our uplink, decide on the recipients and transmit. The CMS allows live as well asynchronous contents. In younger grades of basic education (e.g. Primary) there is a lot of commonality in what needs to be delivered to the different students and the times at which they have to be delivered. Besides this, primary education is also characterized by more asymmetric traffic (much more from teacher to student than in the opposite direction). Yazmis connectivity matches this perfectly. The Odyssey tablet is pre-loaded with approved curricular content and more importantly the tools and Apps for improving the ease and efficiency of the teaching/learning process. Among all the tablet computers in the market, Odyssey stands out as the only device that has been purpose-built to support the educational needs of students and teachers in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The salient features of the Yazmi solution are depicted below: 15
  • 16. 4.2 Importance of always-on satellite connectivity One of the key components of sustainable development is the availability of the right information to the right persons at the right time. It is important that the technology for the information delivery should cover every part of the region, especially the rural and remote regions where the options for timely delivery are rather limited. Satellites play an important role in providing this uniformity of geographical coverage, as exemplified by the Direct to Home (DTH) delivery of entertainment channels. However, for critical sectors of sustainable development, the rendering of the information cannot be on TV channels. What is required is Direct to Person satellite connectivity. Yazmi's solution is characterized by: Large one-way bandwidth to all devices for synchronous and asynchronous delivery; No segment of students left out based on geography; Complete addressability & multicast functionality; Not affected by the fact that a large segment of students have poor or no access to grid power, Internet and even telecom; and Classroom extension of the service to allow student access to live lectures and additional contents. 4.3 Yazmis solution contrasted with other options There are many initiatives underway around the world to leverage technology to improve educational outcomes. These include the setting up of computer labs in schools, the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative, distributing tablets to students, providing eBooks to learners, etc. Compared to these, the Yazmi solution described in this paper has several advantages including: 1. As Yazmis solution is built around an individual student's device, the problems of setting up a computer lab in the school, making sure it has power, and training people to use and manage these computers are eliminated; 2. The tablets consume much less power (typically 1 watt) and almost invariably would be powered by its battery when the student is using it; 3. Recharging a tablet can be done offline either by mains power at home or, if that is too unreliable, via the Yazmi solar-powered charging station; 4. The portability of the tablet makes it the student's constant companion, be it at home or at school or anywhere else; 5. Tablets let students consume multimedia on it, take notes using them, take 16
  • 17. tests etc.; 6. Thanks to rapidly increasing penetration of Android-based smartphones across the Yazmi coverage area, the Android-based Odyssey tablets require only limited student training to help them get started; 7. As the teachers get the same tablets, the Central department (Administration) can use it very efficiently to improve the teacher's knowledge, and could provide assistance on lesson plan delivery (e.g., a live session of an hour on each Sunday can introduce the topics for the next 6 days); 8. This scaffolding of low-skill teachers not only would improve their technical skills/performance, but also motivate them and bring in more uniformity in the learning outcomes; 9. In areas of low performance, the tight control of teaching and learning process from the Center would reduce variation across classrooms; 10. In Yazmis ecosystem teachers are not minimized nor eliminated; but rather it strives to make them more proficient and in turn more impactful; 11. The teacher's tablets can access Internet via Wi-Fi or by using a 2G/3G USB dongle connected to their tablets via tablet's OTG USB port; and 12. The capture of the Assessment data in entirety and bringing it to the back end would allow the Administration to assess the students, the teachers, the school and the curriculum and allow them to initiate appropriate corrective measures in advance of national exams or the end of the school term. 17
  • 18. 18 4.4 Yazmis Value Proposition 4.4.1 BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS Every student can have all the tools to maximize their education regardless of wealth, access to electricity or internet, or location; A personal device for each student that is used by the student for storing his text books, notes taking, test taking, content browsing, rendering of live sessions, automatic update of course contents, upgrading the tools, etc.; Participate in live classrooms from the convenience of students' home; Take assessment tests and get feedback from the teacher; Review presentation and supplementary information offline, at home and at school; Gain a basic knowledge of using computers, which can improve the baseline skills of the future workforce; Apps and educational games makes learning more fun; Just-in-Time Coaching via Yazmi better prepares students for tests and exams; and Solar-powered charging station ensures tablet is available for use when needed at home or school. 4.4.2 BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS In the two-stage process of Yazmi, teachers receive coaching on the optimal way to teach a lesson and in turn quickly impart that learning to the students; Just-in-Time Coaching via Yazmi (JITCOVY) allows teachers to perform better in every class; Teachers gain confidence, improve skills and gain greater acceptance with students; Teacher is in control of what gets into and resides in student devices; Can reduce amount of time used for writing on a blackboard and increase classroom interaction;
  • 19. Tests can be taken by students on the tablet with reduced marking requirements; and Capability to deliver selective supplementary content critical to students learning. 4.4.3 BENEFITS FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND ADMINISTRATORS Extend reach beyond Internet and mail-based delivery of courseware; Provide uniform quality of contents to all students without any restrictions on student location; End-to-end solution can be deployed with little to no extra investment in school infrastructure or data fees; Delivery of digital content can minimize the need to purchase and distribute paper textbooks, workbooks and library books; 19 Ensures uniform quality despite variance in the skill levels of teachers; Teachers can be provided training at minimal cost and without having to travel; Feedback and assessment tools permit usage and performance tracking at the student, class, teacher, school, grade and district levels - ensuring the tools for maximum program transparency in real time; Non-dependence of electric power supply as the tablets have sustainable solar chargers; Immediate implementation, Infinite Scalability and Sustainability; Lowest total cost of ownership of any one-to-one tablet solution; and Can create local spinoff jobs for creating digital content;
  • 20. 5. Appendix We consider a hypothetical case of a province with 300 schools, 1,500 classrooms, 3,500 teachers and 100,000 students to illustrate the steps required to implement a Capacity-linked Education Service Package from Yazmi for this province. 5.1 Contextualization We work out with the government agency and collect details of the curriculum, the availability of curriculum (text books, work sheets, lesson plans) in a digital form, the grades, languages, locations, number of students who may need a solar charger, teacher skills, and possible teacher shortages. We then arrive at first-cut values: Number of groups/tiers: 25 Required Hardware: 100,000 Odyssey tablets; 3,500 Odyssey tablets with 2G/3G cell dongle, 1,500 Classroom Servers, 5,000 Solar Chargers Live Sessions per week: 65 (for JITCOVY for Teachers - 25; for Teacher Absenteeism -25; Revision/Student Coaching at home - 15) Offline Content Delivery per week: 5 GB (for Teachers - 3 GB; Classroom Library - 1GB; Worksheets, Test papers - 1 GB) All the above synchronous and asynchronous transmissions can be accommodated with one dedicated 128 kbps channel for this entire province. Furthermore, Yazmi allows total flexibility between allocations for synchronous and asynchronous use. For example, at the start of a semester there could be much larger asynchronous use for downloading text books etc., whereas the day prior to an exam there could be several JITCOVY sessions for revision. 5.2 Procurement and deployment of hardware and devices This phase is always specific to each customer, and requires partnership with a strong local partner/team on the ground. Yazmi will train the trainers for creating a sufficient knowledge base in each locality. The fault reporting and correction procedures will be established. 5.3 Content adaptation Educational content is segregated into categories, including pre-loaded content prior to initial distribution, live sessions, offline content and supplementary 20
  • 21. material. Yazmi will train the content originators on the Content Management System and also ensure the required internet connectivity between the content provider and Yazmi uplink station. 5.4 Initiating teachers into the Yazmi ecosystem Yazmi will help prepare the teachers for the incorporation of tablets and digital content into the classroom environment. Teachers will be shown how the JITCOVY service would help them, the importance of participating in JITCOVY sessions, tablet usage in the class, how to utilize the Classroom Server (for live lectures, transferring/syncing contents, gathering assessment data, etc.). 5.5 Setting up the back end The customer will be trained to create and control the groups, setting up the live sessions, delivering test papers, analyzing the test performance data, initiating mid-term 21 corrections etc. 5.6 Lowest cost of ownership Yazmis business model for governments is based on a one-time fee per student that includes the cost of the tablet, technical support & maintenance, train the trainers and lifetime satellite usage. Based on a typical tenure of a student, the cost per student will be less than just ten US cents a day!