A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Qutuhal was a well-planned goal with defined strategies and rubrics. Introduced in the year 2018 in collaboration with external service providers which later was taken up by team GIIS introducing more sustainable hands on learning experiences, critical thinking opportunities and ideation of real time challenges. Under the concept of Design Thinking, the whole idea was developed and deployed through various stages.
The entire journey of Qutuhal started by empathizing the problems faced to achieve the 21st century skills. The challenge was deeply learned to understand the scenario and possibilities that can be introduced to overcome the situation in the best possible way. This was initiated by our Senior Director Operations by brainstorming the ideas with the Principal, Management, and the Academic Supervisors collaboratively and collectively. Each ideas were discussed with the pros and cons to invent the unique and smart solution for the challenge. Qutuhal was generated from the best solutions as a prototype which was agreed by the school management, Senior Leadership Team, GCIE (Global Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship), a visionary venture of the Global School Foundation along with the staff of the institution.
The launching of Qutuhal was taken forward in the initial days as weekend activities that developed into a more sustainable and continuous activities both within and outside the school hours. This was focused on each and every student of GIIS irrespective of the financial background.
Qutuhal became backbone of school with products that met the next generation necessities like Robot making, Automated task completion, coding development, Flying drones along with the entry towards the International competition MAKE X and the UAE’s most famous educational fare the MAKER FARE. The product played a vital role in reaching the minds of the parents and engraving in the responsibility list of teachers as its derivation from the most ancient language Sanskrit which means Curiosity.
The year 2019 marked Qutuhal with a Big Bang by winning the MAKE X trophy of the year, which created a high demand in the course and extended the skill development workshops within the school hours to reach the services to maximum number of students. Apart from the student benefits, the product started to focus on the skill development of the educators. School gave an opportunity for teachers to avail training free of cost this helped teachers to incorporate the activities into academic and classroom learning in school. One particular result has been a noticeable improvement in participation of girls in the program which is against the trend worldwide. Inculcating the program within the curriculum has helped GIIS Campuses in UAE to ensure that no child is left out of this program.
Taking a glance to the financial development of the product Qutuhal has helped in capital enhancement as it focus on paid after school and weekend activities for GIIS and Non GIIS students under the ADEK approval. The customers were financially satisfied with the selling price of the product as we have been successful in convincing the product advantages and worth of it. Marketing of the product was carried out in a wide range through various social networks such as hubs spot, Facebook, Instagram, My GIIS both by the institution and collaborated organization. This has made the publicity of the institution in well renowned manner. The enrolment of the students has increased to more than 50 % compared to 2018. Qutuhal has also demonstrated a remarkable increase in the academic admissions. The product has satisfied the school legacy and the brand enhancement through high quality learning experiences that exhilarated the 21st century skills.
Lessons Learned
- Understanding today’s student requirements and anticipating future desire
- Analysing marketplace potential to make a sustainable organisation is vital for business
- Intelligent risks and innovation are the key to success