design research, Design Strategy
Building a content and translation strategy for an ed-tech platform
Quest Alliance, is an ed tech organisation working with ITIs and VTIs across the country. To make sure their content reaches the final mile, we worked on evaluation and improvement of their impact through the lens of languages. To ensure the content reaches the learners in a more digestible format and language, we built a framework and toolkit to enable easy content delivery. Along with that, a toolkit for minimal translation in the local language was also developed which could be adapted across different states of India. This project also involved scoping of technology to solve the problem effectively.
What they say
मेरे बच्चे इंग्लिश सीखती है, मेरा हस्बैंड इंग्लिश में बात कर सकता है. एक मैं ही हूँ जिसे इंग्लिश नहीं आती, मुझे बहुत शर्म आती है”
“मैंने साड़ी अवेंजर्स देखि है| सब समझ आयी|”
“I have hello english in my phone”
“I want to learn english, but I want it to be simple
Background of learners
Mostly come from the neighbouring villages or slums travelling 35-40 kms everyday(one side)
In rural and semi urban -
father is a farmer
Some have a part time job
Help their parents to sell milk
Some are ambitious and want to achieve more
Some are not serious about learning at an ITI, only there for a certificate and to get qualified for a job (Mostly in ITIs with poor infrastructure.
Many are looking for a government job - railways, ISRO etc
In gujarat, many wanted to their own business
Consistent all through the target audience:
Whatsapp - use english keyboard but write in regional language
FB, Instagram
Youtube
PUBG
use google translate
Personas
Key findings
English is an aspirational language across all states.
The bigger problem is that these learners reject the language if they see overwhelming content
“They lack in Comprehension.
More than understanding, there is fear of English.”
Chunks of text in English cause cognitive overload to any person who is not from an English medium school.
Outcome
Based on the research findings with the end users and the Quest field teams. a need to define a guideline for the content writing was much more needed that the translation framework.
Content Guideline
After understanding the profiles of the users who are training under the Quest program, it was observed that the content developed at Quest needs to be simplified before it is sent out for translation. The content guideline was been created to help create and write content for content developers outside of Quest Alliance, keeping in mind the end-users.
“We don’t need word by word translation”
Translation framework
This document defined the different learner profiles training under the Quest Alliance program along with four translation approaches that can be adopted. for different cases.
Through this document, the Quest team could determine the most suitable approach of translation for different content formats and set guidelines for the translation agencies.
Testing and implementation
Testing of the concepts along with the first round of implementation was a part of the process.
There were a total of 250 students interviewed. The effectivity of each approach was calculated. The outcome was not just shared with one department of the organisation but also now being a part of all content deliveries at Quest.
Client: Quest Alliance