From Classroom Experiences to Shared Stories: Understanding Prayas

Every teaching experience has a story

Teaching is filled with small experiments, unexpected challenges, adaptations and moments of learning. A new activity may work better than expected. A teaching strategy may need to change midway. Students may respond differently from what a teacher anticipated. These experiences are valuable, not only to the person who lived them but also to other educators facing similar situations.

What is Prayas?

Prayas is a new educational periodical by EdTech Society, created to bring such experiences to the wider education community. As a periodical, it does not focus on research or evidence the way a journal or conference does. Instead, Prayas focuses on real educational experiences, impromptu innovations in classrooms, and the reflections of teachers and educators.

The aim is simple: to create a space where educators and practitioners can describe what they actually did, what happened and what they learned.

You do not have to invent something completely new

A contribution to Prayas does not require inventing a new technology or teaching tool. An existing resource, textbook, worksheet or technology can become meaningful when it is used or adapted in a new way for a particular learning context.

What matters is the experience behind the practice. What problem were you trying to address? Why did you choose that approach? How did you implement it? How did learners respond? What did you learn from the process?

Success is not the only story worth sharing

Educational practice does not always produce perfect results. An intervention may work only partially, need further changes, or even fail to achieve its original goal. Such experiences can still be useful when they are thoughtfully reflected upon.

Prayas therefore makes room for honest accounts of practice: experiences that help others understand not only what worked, but also what was learned along the way.

Who can contribute?

Prayas is not limited to one type of educator or one setting. Anyone who sees themselves as an educator or teacher is welcome to submit: tuition teachers, school teachers, teacher educators, faculty, ed-tech practitioners, NGO and social-sector workers, independent educational practitioners, and people working in ed-tech companies or in niche and non-formal teaching contexts.

The focus is on having an educational experience, observation, practice or idea that is worth sharing.

Start with one concrete experience

Writing does not have to begin with a polished write-up. A practical way to start is to think of one specific experience and jot down keywords from memory. You may also sit with another teacher and simply share your experiences over tea or coffee. You will be surprised how ready you already are to write it down and submit.

Ask yourself: What was the problem? What was the context? What did I try? What resources or tools did I use? What happened when I implemented the approach? How did students respond? What did I learn?

Once these points are clear, they can be developed into a structured narrative. For more details, see the Prayas submission guidelines.

Turning an experience into a contribution

A typical submission includes a title and author information, followed by a short abstract or summary. The main discussion can explain the problem and background, describe the teaching practice, intervention or tool, discuss what happened during implementation, and end with reflection and learning.

The writing does not follow a rigid scientific style. It should describe the experience clearly enough for another educator to understand the context and the decisions made.

Let the experience speak through visuals

Educational experiences can sometimes be understood better through the materials used in practice. Worksheets, classroom resources, shapes, diagrams or other teaching-learning materials can be included to show what was actually used.

For example, if students struggle to visualise three-dimensional angles, a teacher might use printed 3D figures, real-world examples or adapted worksheets. Showing these materials alongside an explanation makes the experience more concrete and useful to readers.

You do not have to write alone

Having an idea is the most important first step. If you are unsure how to organise it, or are not comfortable writing in English, the Prayas team can help you shape and organise your article. Language should not become a barrier to sharing a valuable educational experience.

A space for educational experiences

At its heart, Prayas is about giving educational practice a place to be documented and shared. It recognises that valuable knowledge is created not only through formal research, but also through everyday teaching, experimentation, adaptation, observation and reflection.

By bringing these experiences together, Prayas can help educators discover ideas from contexts similar to their own, and encourage a culture of sharing what happens in real educational settings.

Contribute your story

The inaugural issue deadline discussed in the session was 30 September, with a tentative release on 1 November. The submission link remains open for future contributions throughout the year.

If you have tried something in your teaching or learning context, adapted an existing resource, observed an important challenge, or learned something through an educational experiment, that experience may be worth documenting. Prayas invites educators and practitioners to turn those experiences into stories that others can read, reflect on and learn from.