Technology development
Building speech recognition, translation and classroom interfaces that work together during live teaching.
Who We Are
A Kenyan initiative building Kiswahili support for university science
About AI254
Where our work began
AI254 is a Kenyan educational technology initiative developing live Kiswahili lecture support for university education. Our work began with a specific question: how can university students access accurate scientific explanations in Kiswahili while participating in English-medium lectures?
We are combining software development with specialist work on Kiswahili scientific terminology. Our development process includes classroom testing, feedback from students and lecturers, and technical evaluation of the system's performance.
Our Mission
To make university-level scientific knowledge more accessible in Kiswahili through accurate, real-time lecture support developed with educators, language specialists and students.
Our Vision
A university learning environment where students can access and understand complex academic knowledge in the languages they use with confidence.
Our Approach
Three strands of work that depend on each other
Language resource development
Working with Kiswahili language specialists and subject experts to develop and review scientific terminology.
Classroom evaluation
Testing the technology with lecturers and students, documenting performance, identifying problems and improving the system using evidence.
Classroom pilots
Early-stage testing at Maasai Mara University
AI254 has completed two early-stage classroom pilots at Maasai Mara University with Biology 101 students and lecturers. Across 9 lecture sessions there were 108 student participations (68 in Pilot 1 and 40 in Pilot 2). Some students took part in both pilots, so this figure is not a count of unique individuals.
The pilots looked at translation accuracy, student experience, comprehension, participation, confidence and technical performance. Their main purpose was to find out how the system behaves in a real lecture hall and what needs to improve.
What the pilots are, and what they are not
The pilots were classroom tests carried out with participating students and lecturers. They do not represent a formal endorsement, adoption or partnership agreement by Maasai Mara University, and we do not report examination results or learning-outcome gains from them.
Our team
The people behind AI254
Team profiles will be published here.
AI254 brings together software developers, Kiswahili language specialists and subject experts. Individual profiles are added by authorised team members.
Work with us
We welcome conversations with universities, lecturers, language specialists and research partners.