Jamie Alexandre Transforms Education Through AI with Learning Equality
Imagine a world where one's internet connection, location, or economic status didn’t determine their ability to learn. This isn't just a pie-in-the-sky fantasy — it's the mission that drives Jamie Alexandre and his nonprofit, Learning Equality.
In 2012, Jamie wasn't just another tech idealist. As a PhD student in Cognitive Science at UC San Diego, he realized the scope of a stark global education crisis: “A full third of the world’s children and youth weren’t receiving quality education, and two thirds of the world didn’t have access to the internet,” he says. “I knew that just building standard education technology wouldn’t result in true equity.”
Most people might have seen this as an insurmountable challenge. But Jamie saw an opportunity. That realization became the foundation for Learning Equality, the nonprofit Jamie co-founded. Through its offline-first platform, Kolibri, Jamie and his team create tools to empower teachers and learners in disconnected communities worldwide.
Kolibri: Learning Without Limits
Kolibri isn’t just an education platform. It’s a lifeline for communities with limited or no internet access. Built for offline use, Kolibri runs on low-cost devices like Raspberry Pi and offers a massive library of multilingual educational content.
What makes Kolibri even more powerful is its chameleon-like adaptability. It supports peer-to-peer content sharing, works across different devices, and can be tailored for use in schools, homes, or correctional facilities. Administrators can also track program usage and adapt content to local curriculums, ensuring relevance and impact in diverse settings.
Picture a classroom in a remote village or a refugee camp. A teacher can now assign lessons, create assessments, and track student progress — all without worrying about connectivity. Students get instant feedback and can learn at their own pace. It's education democratization in its purest form.
Photo credits from left to right: Agami, New Arrivals Institute, Agami
AI as a Force for Good in Education
Learning Equality is also harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to solve tough challenges in education. Starting in 2019, the team trained AI models to align digital learning content with national education standards — a task that once required endless hours of manual work. By 2023, the introduction of generative AI allowed them to digitize and process entire curricula rapidly.
This technology isn’t just a timesaver. It’s a game-changer. AI can extract learning objectives, map them to frameworks, organize large sets of content, and make customization scalable like never before. That means educators can spend less time on logistics and more time doing what they do best: teaching.
Jamie emphasizes that rigorous evaluation and collaboration are crucial for leveraging AI effectively in nonprofit work. Learning Equality’s 2022 Kaggle machine learning competition, for example, invited ML experts to optimize Learning Equality’s AI models. This collaborative effort not only refined the organization’s tools but also strengthened their evaluation frameworks.
Jamie Alexandre’s advice for other nonprofits working with AI:
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Set Clear Goals: Experimentation with purpose. Don’t just throw spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks. Clearly define what success looks like.
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Measure Progress: Gut feelings might work for picking pizza toppings, but AI development requires solid test data and rigorous evaluation tracking.
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Collaborate: Two (or two hundred) heads are always better than one. Open calls for ideas, like competitions or partnerships, can drive innovation and uncover new solutions.
Looking Forward: The Future of Learning Equality
Learning Equality continues to explore emerging opportunities, including optimizing AI models for low-cost hardware, to enhance the offline accessibility of AI tools. With partnerships involving organizations like UNHCR and Vodafone Foundation, they aim to integrate AI innovations that can provide rapid responses to educational needs. Even in crisis settings.
Jamie’s vision is deeply personal: he believes education is a fundamental right. And through Learning Equality, he’s striving to create a world where every learner — online or offline — has access to the opportunities they deserve.
Get Involved
Learning Equality’s mission thrives on collaboration and community. Whether through partnerships, contributions, or volunteer efforts, supporters can help bring high-quality education to disconnected communities worldwide. To learn more, visit learningequality.org.