Take Note: Resource Levelling Access to Educational Opportunity

HOW CHANGEMAKERS HELPED BUILD A GLOBAL STUDENT-LED COMMUNITY ENSURING QUALITY EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE

ZNotes strives to level accessibility to educational resources and empowers students to lead their educational journey.

Designed for students, by students, ZNotes provides high-quality educational resources, along with live learning experiences, connecting a diverse community of learners 🇬🇧

HOW WE MAKE CHANGE

ZNotes were looking for volunteers to help them with Design, Fundraising and Web Development in order to address their main Sustainable Development Goal of Quality Education (SDG 4).

We connected them with ChangeMakers from four different countries. Here’s how a few of them have helped 🙌

“I HAVE GAINED FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE IN A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE WITH A VISION TO REDUCE THE STARK INEQUALITIES IN THE ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION RESOURCES WORLDWIDE”

Biyya Mansoer 🇮🇩

‘My name is Biyya Mansoer and I am from Indonesia. I have lived in Saudi Arabia for 12 years before enrolling at King's College London in the United Kingdom. I have a background as a fundraising intern at the Indonesian Mediation Centre and an editorial and sustainable curation intern at Renoon, a sustainable fashion startup.

At ZNotes I am volunteering as Corporate Partnerships Coordinator. I am building and developing the ‘Supporting ZNotes’ initiative which involves identifying corporates for grant funding and also building a credible image of ZNotes for corporates, universities as well as public and private institutions. I have done so by designing and writing public relations material.  I am also involved with the design and content of ZNotes's very first impact report. Using metrics and data on reach, user experience, partnerships and social media presence, the impact report aims to showcase the progress and achievements that ZNotes has accomplished since they were founded in 2014.

The experience has been very fulfilling because I have gained first-hand experience in a social enterprise with a vision to reduce the stark inequalities in the access to quality education resources worldwide. This has become more apparent during the COVID-19  pandemic because schools around the world have operated differently. This has impacted learning outcomes for many students that have been preparing for their international examinations. My experience in identifying potential corporates and building a credible image for ZNotes will bring greater opportunities to expand the ZNotes's offerings, increase the reach of the educational resources and fulfill the vision of ZNotes.’

“HAVING THE CHANCE TO BE PART OF A BIG PROJECT AND TO CONTRIBUTE IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF MY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS”

Lucian Iernye 🇷🇴

‘My name is Lucian Iernye and I am from Romania, but I currently live in the United Kingdom. I have a degree in Computer Science and I recently finished a 12 week Coding Bootcamp with Nology in Bristol. The bootcamp provided me with valuable insight into the effective operation of developing and creating web applications using the latest technologies in software development. I am very passionate about software development and I am keen to learn more and to grow as a software developer. My goal is to become a full stack developer.

At ZNotes I have been using my previous experience with React and I have contributed to the project by adding reusable functional components, hooks and styled components. I also added and incorporated Material-UI components into the project and used Trello to manage my tasks. I have been creating the UI interface for the components and pages as well.

My experience volunteering for ZNotes has been great so far, the team is friendly and helpful. This opportunity gave me more confidence in coding in pair programming as well as individually. Having the chance to be part of a big project and to contribute is an important part of my development process as I can add working as a Front-end developer to my experience. It will increase my knowledge and skills working in software development.’

“WORKING ON THIS PROJECT MADE ME REALISE AGAIN THAT WANTING TO GIVE IS WAY BETTER THAN WANTING TO RECEIVE”

Elvera Strydom 🇿🇦

‘My name is Elvera Strydom and I live in Cape Town, South Africa. I studied psychology, I have a certificate in major event management and completed multiple courses provided by the Interaction Design Foundation. Since 2005 I’ve been involved in everything from market research, marketing and communications, events and projects management to UX design and product management.

At ZNotes, I used my passion for UX on user-, product- and competitive research to understand and fill the gaps of the 'bigger picture' - asking the why and answering the how. The 'challenge' was to find and create solutions that are focused on optimizing the user’s experience of the ZNotes platform - with design tailored to integrate both user and product needs. With the goal to create designs that make users happy, I took the information gathered from the research and created information architecture that's now being used to design and develop the user interface.

I really enjoyed this experience! Collaborating with others that are passionate about giving the users of ZNotes the best platform possible is a great honour. I think ZNotes is doing an amazing job helping students around the world with their education, also creating a community of students that help each other! Working on this project made me realize again that wanting to give (and giving) is way better than wanting to receive.’

BOGDAN NICULESCU 🇷🇴

‘I work as a junior software developer and I like to build and solve problems both on front-end and back-end. At ZNotes I am currently working on developing its front-end side. I created content which has been used in the project so far. Being involved in ZNotes have helped me a lot. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from my friends and colleagues, and it has helped me learn new things related to software development.’

MANASVI SHAH 🇮🇳

‘I am a visual designer with a BFA in Graphic Design from California College of the Arts. At ZNotes I have been improving UI of the current website. I have also been creating illustrations and icon set for the same. The experience has been good. I have learned a lot from my team members who come from various backgrounds.’

RESULT

“We Make Change made it easy for us to amplify our mission with an incredible set of volunteers from around the world. We have been able to bolster our resources and are excited to be rolling out some anticipated improvements thanks to the volunteers who joined!”

ZUBAIR JUNJUNIA
FOUNDER, ZNOTES

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