TUMO’s online learning platform brings roughly 10,000 students around Armenia and Artsakh together through self-learning activities, workshops and learning labs.
Since the declaration of the state of emergency, TUMO has transitioned into a distanced learning program. Over the past four months, the TUMO team has shifted each component of TUMO’s curriculum online. As part of the TUMO from Home program, teenagers have been participating in self-learning activities, workshops, learning labs and, even, live events, in addition to using the recently launched myTUMO mobile app.
Workshops and learning labs across all 14 of TUMO’s learning targets are being conducted with both TUMO’s in-house lab and workshop leaders and with roughly 50 experts from all over the globe. Specialists from Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Columbia University and other leading organizations are working closely with all of our students, from Argentina all the way to Finland, with roughly 10,000 students participating in over 400 workshops and learning labs.
Surveys taken within our student community reveal that most can participate in online workshops and learning labs with only a smartphone. In order to maximize accessibility and convenience, workshops and learning labs have been set up in which students can participate using either a smartphone or a computer.
For the past three months, TUMO Live (a public online event) has been held once a week, with prominent figures from the technology and art communities, including musicians Serj Tankian and Misho, Facebook Oculus Quality Engineer Galya Harutyunyan, blogger Ilya Varlamov, Marvel and DC Comics illustrator Dan Panosian and more, connecting with our community online.
The ongoing pandemic has increased the urgency to make changes to our educational program. Thus, the myTUMO mobile app was launched to alleviate accessibility concerns. Using the app, TUMO students can continue along their educational path, chat with learning coaches, sign up for workshops and learning labs and more. One day after being released to major app stores, it became the most downloaded educational app in Armenia.
TUMO’s annual summer camp, Camp TUMO, will soon shift into a new format. This year, about 80 young learners living in remote villages throughout Armenia will be able to participate in the camp. Thanks to the support of the Izmirlian Foundation, IGEFA, Linda Azaryan and AEF, our new participants will be provided with computers and the opportunity to join TUMO’s online workshops and learning labs for two weeks.
Despite the new working conditions, construction on TUMO centers both in Armenia and abroad continues apace. Once on-site activities resume, the new TUMO Gyumri will open its doors in the historic Gyumri Drama Theater. Meanwhile, renovation and expansion of TUMO Dilijan is nearing completion and construction of TUMO Koghb is in full swing. Concurrently, ongoing work to launch TUMO Boxes in Gavar and Berd continues. Designed for young learners living in rural communities, these TUMO Boxes will allow them to complete their self-learning activities before traveling to TUMO Dilijan for workshops and learning labs.
TUMO centers in Moscow, Berlin, Kyiv and Tirana will open later this year. Shortly after the launch of the TUMO program in Armenia, the model was adopted abroad, with centers springing up in Paris and Beirut. Meanwhile, TUMO Moscow, where construction has not been completed, has already launched its online learning program.
Closely following the guidelines laid out by the Ministry of Education and Science while taking into consideration the safety of our students, TUMO will probably open its doors in September. Prior to then, the team is weighing the possibility of a new learning format that combines virtual and on-site components.
