Team WorldEd, a diverse, virtual community of adult education providers, today announced that it has been named the Tier 1 Achievement Winner in the Barbara Bush Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition presented by Dollar General Literacy Foundation. This national competition challenged communities and organizations across the country to empower adults with low literacy skills to use free mobile learning tools. Team WorldEd has been awarded $150,000 for enabling the highest number of adults to use field-tested mobile learning apps among the 24 teams competing nationally.
Team WorldEd is powered by the EdTech Center @ World Education that leverages technology to increase the reach and impact of education and workforce initiatives. The team comprises adult education programs and funders in six states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Texas. Members include adult education programs, libraries, school districts, tutoring programs, professional development organizations, career centers, workplace education programs, professional associations, and government and other public agencies. With a breadth of expertise across disciplines and states, the EdTech Center is uniquely poised to accelerate learning, digital literacy, and economic mobility for adult learners across the country. The prize funds enable the EdTech Center to continue to advance adult literacy through strategic partnerships and a human-centered approach to harnessing innovative technologies to improve learning and life outcomes.
For the competition, Team WorldEd promoted all four finalist Adult Literacy XPRIZE apps designed for low-literacy adults and English language learners: Amrita Learning, Cell-Ed, Codex: Lost Words of Atlantis, and Learning Upgrade. All four apps have been field-tested with thousands of adult learners and have resulted in considerable learning gains as measured by pre- and post-tests. They employ varied strategies in how they engage, teach, and support learners.
“Our team is thrilled to be selected as the Tier 1 Achievement Winner in this unprecedented and impactful competition. Team WorldEd came together to advance mobile learning to help adults with low literacy access and extend learning,” said Silja Kallenbach, World Education Vice President. “We are grateful for our community of educators, adult learners, professional development providers, and adult education policy-makers who joined our team.”
The EdTech Center will be leveraging the momentum of the competition in support of a broader Mobile Learning initiative; one that will provide open education resources and professional development to educators, practitioners and others in the field through an inclusive community of practice. Team WorldEd has invited the winners of the other tiers in the competition to join forces in advancing mobile learning for adults. Both ProLiteracy and Adult Literacy Partners of Houston have welcomed the invitation.
The Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition is the second stage of the $7M Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE presented by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, which culminated in February 2019 with the announcement of two grand prize winners. The first stage of the competition challenged teams across the globe to develop apps for existing, mobile devices that result in the greatest increase in literacy skills among participating adult learners. The Communities Competition incentivized organizations, communities, and individuals to recruit adult learners to download and use the four finalist apps. Teams competed in one of three tiers, where they needed to attain the minimum threshold of participant downloads for the tier in which it is competing. Team WorldEd received an Achievement award for having the highest number of adults to use field-tested mobile learning apps among the 46 teams competing nationally.
For more information about Team WorldEd, please visit edtech.worlded.org/team-worlded-xprize. Team visuals and images are available upon request. Learn more about the Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition.
About EdTech Center @ World Education
Team WorldEd is powered by the EdTech Center @ World Education, which was launched in October 2015 to leverage new digital technologies to increase the reach and impact of adult education and workforce initiatives. Housed at World Education in Boston, the EdTech Center designs and implements initiatives using educational technologies to improve the education, career, and life outcomes of lower-skilled adults and youth. The EdTech Center is one of the few centers promoting learning exchange and partnership between edtech leaders in the United States and international experts.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE and the $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE. For more information, visit xprize.org.
