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My Experience at
Muskaan Dreams
(a non-governmental & non-profitable organisation)
Internship Report
by
Kuldeep Umaraiya
17U130001
Acknowledgment
I did my internship from 1st June to 30th June at Muskaan Dreams. Its a
non-governmental and non-profitable organisation working for the betterment of
the Rural Child Education. They facilitate enjoyable digital learning to the
students of Government schools. They also design digital learning courses as well,
it is mostly Hindi medium for now and will be focusing on English as well. They
install these course in the computer system and then implement these systems in
the local Government schools at no cost. The only thing in return they ask from
the school is that they take care of the system with best of their abilities. These
curriculum help teachers to improve the learning outcomes as the children
engage with during the presentations, all thanks to the interesting image based
learning in the digital courses. The NGO provides all the support to the school
regarding the digital systems may it be financial, or regarding the maintenance,
or assessments, or training of the teachers. This NGO is based in Gwalior city,
Madhya Pradesh, and have four branches in total, Bhopal, Indore, Delhi and
Gwalior itself.
I did this internship as the part of my B. Des course at the Industrial Design
Centre (IDC), School Of Design, IIT Bombay.
During the internship I was exposed to the importance of education in rural
areas, I experienced by visiting the areas where the government schools are
located all thanks to Mr. Saif Jeelani (Field manager at Muskaan Dreams). I
learned about the causes for which children do not go to schools, or in other
words, their parents do not make them go. I thankMr. Rishabh Arya (HR at
Muskaan Dreams) for arranging frequent meetings with the teachers and
Principals of Government Schools, which really helped me a lot in the project, as I
was able to make user study very easily. I thank all the teachers for cooperating
with me, and coming on time (which is not the case in most of the cases, however,
it makes me really happy that you all made this case a di erent one by being
punctual). I thank Hans Raj (Programme Manager at Muskaan Dreams) for
arranging vehicles for my frequent visits to schools. Apart from this, I helped
Harshvardhan Parihar (Creative Head at Muskaan Dreams) in making of the
posters for the NGO as well.
I thank each and everyone who helped me make this project a success. I
would also like to thank the Muskaan Dreams and all the people working there,
the Administration, Employees and my co-Interns. Thank you all for making my
experience a memorable one and full of learning.
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Contents
Acknowledgement.................................................................................................1
1. Description of the Internship.................................................................. 3
2. Muskaan Dreams Foundation............................................................... 3
3. Internship Activities at Muskaan Dreams.......................................6
4. Primary Research..............................................................................................7
5. Secondary Research..................................................................................... 9
6. Identification of the Problem................................................................. 12
7. Ideation.................................................................................................................. 13
8. Designing..............................................................................................................14
9. Conclusion............................................................................................................15
Certificate of Appreciation.......................................................................... 16
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1. Description of the Internship
I was looking for an internship in which I can explore my interests
areas and can get exposed to the courses which I will be taking in my fifth
semester i.e., interaction design and product design. Then I met Mr.
Abhishek Dubey, the CEO and founder of Muskaan Dreams Creative
Foundation, and coincidentally, he was also looking for someone to design
an application for mobiles. He was in the need of someone who can design
the interface of the applications which can help teachers and their
administration to communicate better. I gave an interview and showed him
my previous work and skills. He agreed to give me this job as he was very
pleased with my work. And as he was pleased he was willing to support me
in any form in this project. As they work in four cities and they have one one
o ce for o cial work, they were facing many problems in the
communication of the tasks to the volunteers and the sta working in
other cities.
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They majorly focus in following areas:
1. Audio Visual Learning:
The organisation provides audio and visual content to the
government schools. The content is related to the course structure
of the students and is di erent for every class. And all the help
regarding the systems (hardware and software), course and interface
is provided by the organisation immediately either via phone call or
skype video call.
And talking about funds, even the organisation is in the
shortage as they are trying to provide these services to as many
schools possible. So, they have installed only one system in every
school. However they have made very simple and easy to use
interface for them to make it easily accessible.
And not only content, Muskaan provides the school with the
internet facility as well, so that the school does not feel that they
have another thing to take care of, because we all are aware of the
fact that the government is always in the shortage of money.
Muskaan conducts regular interactive activity sessions for the
students to make them comfortable with the software in the systems.
They also train higher class students to operate the systems in case
of any need regarding their subject, also if in case the teacher is
absent, the elder students can take care of the systems and teach
the younger ones.
2. Infrastructure Renovation:
Not only digitally, Muskaan Dreams also help the school in
infrastructure as well. They make a separate place for the students to
read stories, where they keep many story books and is completely
accessible to each and every student in the school. Apart from the
story section, they make libraries in the school out of the stock of
donated books and sometimes the new ones as well.
They just not limit to the bookish knowledge, they focus on the
creative brains as well. The organisation arranges the workshops
regularly related to art and craft as well.
As we all know, self study is more important than the classroom
study, Muskaan Dreams identified it and made room named 'student
corner’ where students can go and study by their own, all the art and
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craft work is also kept there. This room becomes the common area in
case of any gathering or activity or workshops.
Muskaan Dreams take care of the furniture as well. They collect
all the donated furniture and delivers it to the adopted schools.
3. Teachers Training:
In most of the government schools, the teachers are not much
educated or have very low knowledge about the digital media. So
training them becomes the first priority for anything to deliver to the
students. All the teachers have to attend a workshop conducted by
the organisation, in which all the teachers are trained for the
hardware operation and pedagogy.
4. Classroom Delivery Model:
The digital courses are scheduled on a monthly basis and the
teachers are asked to maintain the schedule. The organisation keeps
direct contact with the teacher on duty to make sure that the
schedule is not lagging behind. The teachers make sure that the
students are actively participating and are understanding
everything.
As we all know, learning by doing is the best way to remember
it for life time. Therefore there are activities in each chapter of the
digital system to make sure students learn better. To make sure each
activity is done up to the mark, Muskaan Dreams send one
(sometimes two) representative(s) with equipments required in the
experiments or activities.
After so much investment, the organisation needs to know
about the status of the students; about their rate of improvement;
and the feedback of course. therefore , keeping all this in mind,
Muskaan Dreams conducts regular feedback and assessments
sessions by the students and teachers.
Children are children, and they need an incentive to do
anything. Sometimes these incentives are given by the school, like if a
student performs well, he/she will become the class monitor for one
month. And on some bigger events, these incentives are given by the
organisation, which majorly includes either price money as a
scholarship, or any stationary, or books.
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5. Innovation Box:
In innovation box, Muskaan conducts various activities and
events which help students to be motivated towards the education
provided by Muskaan Dreams.
Movie screenings. Muskaan Dreams conducts an event where
all the students of the school are called to get inspired by the movies
and documentaries.
Fun fair. An event where everything is managed by the
students by the financial support and guidance provided by the
organisation.
Story telling. A session where any student can perform in front
of the gathering consists of all students. This makes students get the
motivation to write poetry and prose, and perform which increase
their confidence and public speaking.
Painting competition. Competition is the thing which makes us
competitive in nature, which again raises motivation of the students,
and hence confidence.
Problem solving assignments. We all know that the person
living in a place knows more about it than the person whose is from
outside. Therefore the students are given fun problem solving
assignments to solve actual problems faced in the village.
Student leadership program. In this program all the students
whose performance is high are chosen for the project to transform
the school for betterment.
Preparation of pitching. In this the students are trained to
improve their communication and presentation skills.
Intra school competition. This again help students to build
their competitive skills and let the students express their talent to
everyone.
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in the starting at the time of interview. This made me really happy that I'm in direct
contact with the highest authority. Therefore I had no complaints regarding the
miscommunication or the cases where HR says to correct something then you do
it and then his boss asks you to do a totally di erent thing.
The working environment was great there. We all used to come to the o ce
at 10:30 am. I do not know how, but everyone was very enthusiastic about what
they were doing that none of them came late, ever. Everyday after 5-10 mins
refreshment we used to start our work. The environment was very fun to work as
we used to chat a lot while working. This really helped me in thinking as the vibes
were very positive. We used to take a lunch break of around one hour at 2 pm. And
then resumed our pending work for the day. This was our daily schedule except
Sundays.
The primary brief given to me was to design the application interface for
the better communication among everyone working in the NGO, however, it
changed to just teachers and Muskaan Dreams administration afterwards.
4. Primary Research
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focusing on English also in the coming years. They install these
course in the computer system and then implement these systems in
the local Government schools at no cost. The only thing in return
they ask from the school is that they take care of the system with
best of their abilities. These curriculum helps teachers to improve
the learning outcomes as the children’s engagement becomes high
with the teacher during the presentations, all thanks to the
interesting image based learning in the digital courses. The NGO
provides all the support to the school regarding the digital systems
may it be financial, or regarding the maintenance, or assessments, or
training of the teachers. This NGO is based in Gwalior city, Madhya
Pradesh, and have four branches in total, Bhopal, Indore, Delhi and
Gwalior itself.
Field Visits
To understand anything better, one needs to go near it. More
the interaction, better the assessment. Therefore I decided to get to
know the place first. by visiting the villages where Muskaan Dreams
has adopted the schools.
My first visit was to Sirol. I interacted with the students and
teachers there. Their responses moved me a bit. They all in some way
or other, were saying that before Muskaan Dreams adopted their
school, that is around six years ago, the condition of the school was
pathetic. The school did not have any furniture or resources to make
a proper environment to study and learning and almost the whole
school was unclean. I was pretty surprised to know that what was
government doing by now then.
I did my second field trip to Ramua. And this time I was not at
all shocked to hear almost the same opinion and views about the
status of the school before Muskaan Dreams. They added that they
are very happy and satisfied with the work Muskaan Dreams is doing
for them and that too without taking any money from them.
Both the schools (and their members, of course) were satisfied
and happy with the help Muskaan Dreams is giving to them. However
the main thing that what was missing was the communication
between the o ce administration and the school management, and
hence Abhishek, the founder and CEO of the organisation, came up
with the idea of making an app for the better communication
between the teachers and Muskaan Dreams. During the interactions
with the teachers in both schools, I also asked them to show me their
phones so as to understand their digital language about the font
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size, interface size, language of understanding, etc. By now I had
understood the level of understanding the teachers have, which
helped me make a decision of choosing the language and interface
for the application.
5. Secondary Research
In this research, I mainly focused on learning the workflow and the
administrative hierarchy of Muskaan Dreams. And to understand that, I asked my
HR, Mr. Rishabh Arya to sit with me for a week or so. He used to tell me all the
existing data and system management and I used to make notes of it.
As my primary brief was to design an application for everyone working in
Muskaan Dreams, it was necessary for me to know who all work there at the first
place.
Muskaan Dreams works by the tireless e orts of the following:
1. Founder
2. Co-founder
3. Human Resource
4. Administration Head
5. Programme Manager
Passes all the programmes to the City Managers, Fellows and
Volunteers after the meeting and discussion with all the
administration employees. Also deals with all the support given to
the adopted school and looks after all the financial requirements.
6. Finance Head
7. Field Associates
There is a field associate for each locality or region. There job is to
take care of all the requirements and need of the adopted schools in
their region or locality.
8. City Director
There is a city director for every city. This director is from the
administrative department of Muskaan Dreams. He/She gives
command to all the workers working in the city. This person is the
direct contact from the administration.
9. City Manager
The manager’s job is to deliver the orders and tasks from the
administration and take care that if all the fellows are working
properly.
10. City Fellows
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They work under the city manager, gives tasks to volunteers and
makes sure if they’re doing it sincerely.
11. Volunteers
They volunteers in all forms of activities or events or tasks given and
handled by Muskaan Dreams.
Areas for Volunteers and Fellows
Who are Volunteers? What are their roles?
Volunteers can be anyone who is willing to help by
joining Muskaan Dreams. There is no specific
requirement or eligibility for being a volunteer.
Who are Fellows? What are their roles?
To keep a track on volunteers, there has to be
someone, that someone is a fellow. For all the
departments there is a fellow in every city. These fellows
are in direct contact with the administration and work
under the city manager.
There are following areas for volunteers and fellows to be a
part of Muskaan Dreams:
1. Programmes Team
2. HR Team
3. Fund Raising Team
4. Media Communication Team
5. Finance Team
6. Events and Campaign Team
Programmes Team
They take care of all the events and activities performed
in the adopted school by the organisation. All the volunteers
work under the supervision of their fellows who keeps direct
contact with the administration. They give fund records to the
accounts, funds and finance department.
Human Resource Team
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The management of all the people working is taken care
by this department. Fellows and volunteers working here focus
on hiring and looking for new volunteers. They make them
register to the organisation by giving their application to the
HR, Muskaan Dreams administration.
Fund Raising Team
As clear by the heading of it, they look for people who
can donate any amount of money in Muskaan Dreams so as to
provide Government school with better services. Not all in the
urban cities are aware of an NGO which works in the benefit of
the Government local schools, so spreading awareness is
another major area that they look in.
Media Communication Team
Apart from other teams, this is the sole team which
works in the publication for the organisation, may it be digital
or hard media communication. All the events and activities get
their audience driven by them only.
Finance Team
Every organisation has to keep a record of every
transaction they make, and to maintain that we need a team to
handle it. Finance team looks into the budget and funds of the
organisation.
Events and Campaign Team
Their primary work is to manage all the work in the
events, campaigns and activities done. Rest of the time they
also help the fund raising and media communication guys.
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Revised Design Brief
After two weeks, they came up with a changed idea of
connection only the teachers and associates with the administration.
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7. Ideation
I went in the field for more teachers interviews and also took more
information from the administration about what all is a priority for them.
The major information what they wanted the app should have are as
follows:
1. Data Record Keeping of all sorts
2. A Schedule Planner
3. A Task Planner
4. Announcements
Keeping all this in mind, firstly, I tried to make a flowchart in which I can see
that everything is covered.
These are almost all the things I thought of before starting to make the
application interface. I came up with ideations which got changed on a daily
basis.
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8. Design
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9. Conclusion
I spent almost one month with Muskaan Dreams, and learnt many things.
The experience was full of fun and knowledge all the time. It was really great to
know people from this close, whom I never thought I’ll encounter. The regular field
visits helped me understand the people in the rural area in a better way. Another
major thing that I encountered was how an organisation this big is able to
manage many school just by sitting at one place.
The happiness was when the students and teachers in the school were not
only satisfied but happy as well the the work done by the organisation. I have
decided to always be in touch with them and every time when I go to Gwalior, I’ll
get in touch with them and try helping them or volunteering with anything that I
am capable of doing.
From this internship, I learnt professionalism and time management.
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Certificate of Appreciation
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