Mindspark

Mindspark is an adaptive-learning program (ITS) built by Educational Initiatives (EI), a private company based out of Ahmedabad, India. It is a cloud-based application that can run on computers, tablets, mobile phones and allows users to connect to Mindspark servers via a web browser.^[2]

Mindspark is currently available in Gujarati, Hindi and English languages. It is used by the majority of students online, although some schools use the software offline due to internet connectivity issues. Mindspark is used by children in India, UAE and the United States. Besides products for schools, Mindspark is also available for sale to individuals through its retail platform

Philosophy

Mindspark was envisaged as a self-learning tool which would not require constant supervision of a teacher. It has been adopted by schools in India as a cost-effective, scalable solution that reduces the cost on teachers and imparts better quality of instruction.

While using Mindspark, students learn math and language by employing a constructivist theory of learning by answering questions that are appropriate to their current understanding. Mindspark also diagnoses misconceptions using its educational database. The questions are ‘finely-graded’ i.e., there are about 45,000 questions of gradually increasing levels of difficulty. Questions are specifically designed to test understanding and to help students clear misconceptions. Apart from constructivism, Mindspark employs strategies like gamification and behaviourism to improve student results

Results

Mindspark currently has an annual usage of around 80,000 students across India (with around 172,000 students since 2009). Mindspark remediates misconceptions identified through 10 years of ASSET tests with more than 2 million answer data points per day.^] Mind spark can pick on some patterns of error and suggest remedial learning exercises. An independent impact evaluation of Mindspark by a third party (IDinsight) was done for two consecutive years (2012 and 2013) which showed an impact of 0.19 standard deviations.

In a 2017 study over four and a half months, pupils in language and maths had achieved progress comparable or better compared to other similar education studies in poor countries, while also reducing cost.

How Mindspark adapts to every child’s Level

Mindspark adapts itself to every student’s learning level and progressively questions students for a particular concept. If the student responds correctly, the next question presented is marginally-difficult compared to the previous one which enable the student to self-learn the concept gradually and thoroughly.