Tabtor Partners with Via Afrika Publishers To Improve Math Education in South Africa
Personalized, Tablet-Based Math Tutoring Set to Reach Hundreds of Thousands of Students
PRINCETON, N.J. and MENLO PARK, South Africa, Jan. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Tabtor, a tablet-based learning solution that is redefining education through data driven intelligence and personalized learning, today announced a partnership with Via Afrika Publishers, a leading publisher of quality educational textbooks and materials in South Africa. The companies will work together to replicate in South Africa the dramatic math performance improvements achieved by Tabtor students in the US and elsewhere in the world. The Via Afrika Tabtor Math program will be available immediately in South Africa for students in grades R through 8 and will follow the South African CAPS curriculum.
Tabtor's groundbreaking concept that provides powerful student level Point-of-Learning Analytics along with time stamped Proficiency Matrix to teachers has attracted widespread adoption among consumers as well as media attention in the US because it delivers results.
Tabtor's approach to learning makes the partnership with Via Afrika a natural fit: The South Africa-based publisher is a leading advocate of digital education. Via Afrika released a report last June outlining the challenges and opportunities associated with eLearning in South Africa, detailing how the emergence of technology platforms can change the role of teachers. Via Afrika's ultimate goal is to make learning more personalized and less transactional, leveraging technology to deliver affordable new tools to students and teachers.
"Some view digital technologies as a platform that educators can use to extend the reach of traditional teaching methods – a new venue to transmit lectures to students," said Christina Watson, CEO of Via Afrika. "We believe new technologies such as Tabtor will drive positive change in teaching methodologies, providing a new educational future in which teachers serve as facilitators, coaches and guides to give students a personalized learning experience."
"We are excited to be working with Via Afrika in expanding the immense opportunity for personalized learning for students in South Africa. With Tabtor, on an average we see a 50% improvement in learning speed and a 65% improvement in answer accuracy within a few months," says Raj Valli, CEO of Tabtor. "We've also observed a dramatic increase in math confidence amongst students and near elimination of students' perceived fear of math. We are excited to work with Via Afrika to deploy technology and instructor resources to achieve similar results in South Africa."
Balraj Suneja, CTO of Tabtor said, "we are leveraging mobile technology with data analytics to create a GPS of learning that guides students along their own personalized learning pathways." He added, "scalability often comes with technology and this is no exception. Our ability to offer Tabtor on Android for South Africa as well as offer support for math learning in Afrikaans language is proving both the flexibility of the platform as well as our ability to expand learning opportunities for all students globally."
Having played a key role in improving education in South Africa for more than 60 years, Via Afrika Publishers is uniquely positioned to launch an innovative new approach. Via Afrika is part of the Media24 group, Africa's leading publisher, which has many international and local affiliated companies in the media industry through its holding company, Naspers. Founded in 1915, Naspers is a broad-based multinational Internet and media group offering services in more than 130 countries. Naspers is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (NPN.SJ) and has an ADR listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: NPSN).
Via Afrika serves the needs of students of all ages, from early childhood learning to adult education. Working in cooperation with Tabtor, Via Afrika has made this groundbreaking tutoring technology available to the public on both iOS and Android tablets.
"We believe Tabtor can be a game-changer for South African parents, teachers and students," Watson observed. "It can help students who are struggling develop a love for math and the skills to succeed. It can challenge our brightest students to reach higher. And it can help educators and parents transform the education system by combining 21st century technology with the human touch needed to spark learning and academic growth."
Sundi Natarajan, Tabtor India CEO added, "the availability of Tabtor on Android tablets significantly enhances our ability to reach all students across the world and make it available for both consumers and schools at very affordable levels. As a platform, we are well poised to add subjects outside of Math very quickly as well."
The Via Afrika-Tabtor personalized learning solution is now available at the iTunes App Store for iPads and at Google Play for Android tablets. Via Afrika plans to eventually work with educators to integrate Tabtor tools into school curricula, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands of students. Learn more at http://tabtor.viaafrika.com.
About Via Afrika Publishers
Via Afrika Publishers is a leading publisher of quality educational textbooks and related material for South Africa and southern African countries. With 65 years of experience, the company publishes materials that meet the needs of learners from early childhood development to Grade 12, and FET (vocational) Levels 2 to 4, as well as Adult Education learners in print and electronic formats. The high-quality educational material is currently being used by thousands of learners and teachers country-wide. Via Afrika Future, a division of Via Afrika, has been developing digital content for more than a decade. Visit www.viaafrika.com for more information.
About Tabtor
Tabtor is a flagship educational technology platform from PrazAs Learning, Inc., and is designed to completely transform the way the world looks at learning. The platform, designed for tablets, provides teachers and students with a highly personalized learning experience, which focuses on data driven proficiency improvements tied to individual topics/curriculum and point of learning for each student. Tabtor combines best of personalized teaching with a fun and engaging learning program that supports multiple subjects. It is tailored to every student using a combination of patent-pending digital-paper technology that allows data visualization of student performance using proficiency matrix that is tracked each day, sharing and review of handwritten work, automatic grading, video tutorials, and adaptive analytics. For more information, visit www.tabtor.com.
SOURCE Tabtor
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