,
Festus Mogae (right), a TeachAids advisor, helped bring the tutorials to Botswana. TeachAids began in 2005 as a research project at
Stanford University. From 2005 to 2009, a new
interdisciplinary approach to HIV/AIDS education was developed through
IRB-approved research by
Piya Sorcar. Key advisors included professors Shelley Goldman (
Learning Sciences), Martin Carnoy (
Comparative Education),
Cheryl Koopman (
Psychiatry), Randall Stafford (
Epidemiology), and
Clifford Nass (
Communication). The project's goal was to find a way to address the frequently
taboo subjects associated with sexual issues and HIV/AIDS specifically. One major finding was that
2D cartoon figures were the optimal balance between comfort and clarity in terms of visual representation for sex-related topics. On that basis, animated storyboards were created which emphasized the biological aspects of
HIV transmission and used cultural
euphemisms to overcome
social stigma. In addition, specific pedagogical techniques (e.g.,
instructional scaffolding) were utilized to create a coherent conception of HIV transmission for learners, as opposed to the fragmented knowledge created by
mass media campaigns. Early research versions of the software were sponsored by
Time Warner, the
Government of South Korea, and
Neeru Khosla, and used custom illustrations drawn by Sorcar's father, award-winning animator
Manick Sorcar. TeachAids was spun out of Stanford in 2009 as an independent 501(c)(3) organization, co-founded by
Piya Sorcar,
Clifford Nass,
Shuman Ghosemajumder, and Ashwini Doshi. ==Celebrity partners==