Education – Page 4 – Integra LLC

Agriculture, Education, Education, Education Partnerships, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Leaders Education During Humanitarian Crisis: Aid & International Development Forum 2011, Day Two

Photo Credit: Teachers Without Borders

At the last workshop session of the AIDF 2011, international educators gathered to share lessons learned about education during humanitarian crises. The synthesis and common ground between the presenters was clear—education should continue in full force during humanitarian crises, and ICTs can help that happen.

Citing statistics that crises can last for decades during war-prone areas, the presenters repeatedly emphasized the need for education to continue despite the common excuse that “now’s not the time.” Given that we don’t know when crises will end, education should begin as soon as possible and continue during humanitarian crises, they argued. Additionally, the presenters explained that when education stopped, nations lost enormous amounts of human capital, which is essential to overcome crises in the future. Limiting education during crises, then, creates a poverty trap due to a lack of human capital.

Some of the best ways to continue education during a crisis include utilizing ICTs. Distance learning, accessing Open Educational Resources (OER) online, and radio-based educational programs all become increasingly relevant during crises.

Panelist Fred Mednick, of Teachers Without Borders, spoke on the importance of local cultural contexts in educational models. During natural disasters or military crises, international educators often forget about the ever-present cultural context that they must take into account in their curriculum and approach. This lessens the impact of their efforts.

Sergio Ramirez-Mena, Senior Program Director at AED’s Global Education Center, highlighted partnerships between NGOs, governments, and businesses to provide schools and education during humanitarian crises. The collaboration with businesses is especially innovative during a crisis, and, given that many crises extend for years, is quite helpful in terms for financial sustainability of programs, bridging the gap between humanitarian and development efforts.

Last, Lori Heninger from the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies, discussed the need for collaboration between organizations in the humanitarian education space. The materials are out there, thanks to the rise in OER, Heninger explained, but getting the right information to the right people is a pressing challenge.

June 10, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Basic Education, Education, Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

New Toolkit helps schools establish, maintain and expand computer facilities

Across the world, governments, donors, private companies, parents and schools are establishing computer facilities and connecting them to the Internet in an effort to improve education. Although well intentioned, a common result of these efforts is the challenge schools have in keeping their computers running, covering increased costs for electricity, paying for Internet connectivity and integrating the use of computers into the curriculum.

The Computer System Sustainability Toolkit is designed to help staff, students and parents at schools gain the skills needed to develop and implement plans to establish and/or sustain their computer systems. The Toolkit is written so that members of the school and community can create and implement their plans without additional external support.

Does this Toolkit work? Can computer facilities at schools really become self-sustaining entities? Can schools really generate sufficient income from their facilities to keep their systems running, to buy new equipment, and to build the capacity of their staff to use the computers? Can schools really learn to integrate the use of their computers across their curriculum? And can they do all this on their own?

The short answer to these questions, at least according to the initial evidence, is YES!

The content from the Toolkit was first used with the staff and students at five rural schools in Southern Sumatra as part of a small project that was funded by Qualcomm Wireless Reach. Before this effort, most of the computers that had been installed at these schools a year earlier were not working, the schools were no longer connected to the Internet and the IT teachers were the only teachers at these schools who were using the computers with students. Now, three years later, all the computers at these schools are fully functioning, the labs are well maintained, most teachers at these schools now use the labs with their students and each school has a well established Student Support Technicians Club (SSTC). And all this has been done with funds generated through the use of their computer facilities.

Digital copies of the toolkit in color and grayscale, along with a variety of tools and templates can be downloaded online at: http://aed.org/Publications/computer-system-sustainability-toolkit.cfm

March 23, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Connectivity, Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Closing the Urban-Rural Digital Divide: Connectivity Success in Macedonia

Cover for the Macedonia Connects project

Photo Credit: AED

Within the context of USAID, most often rural connectivity initiatives are undertaken within the context of a sector-specific program/project. This was the case case with Macedonia Connects, or what is more frequently referred to as MK Connects. This project may well be one of the more successful Last Mile Initiative (LMI) project undertaken by USAID.

In fact MK Connects is much, much more. The LMI project was undertaken as but one component of a unique national commitment to improve education, as well as a unique partnering of a significant number of both public and private sector partners.

The foundation for the success of MK Connects was the government of Macedonia’s commitment to a program for delivering a computer for every child. The result was a nationwide broadband network providing broadband into every primary and secondary school—many of which were in remote rural locations. Further, the project incorporated native language education content being delivered over this network to over 460 primary and secondary schools nationwide.

The journey started in 2002 when China donated 5,000 personal computers to support what soon became the e-Schools Project of the Ministry of Education and Science–a project that ran between 2003-2008. The MK Connects project was a piece of this larger initiative, which in 2006 was augmented by the Primary Education Project (PEP). Both MC Connects and PEP were USAID supported initiatives executed through the Academy for Educational Development (AED).

While focused on supporting Macedonia’s commitment to improve and modernize their education system top to bottom, MK Connects went well beyond connecting the 460 primary and secondary schools along with university campuses.

Picture of students in school crowded around a computer

Photo Credit: AED

As the project got started in 2003, it was estimated that only 4 percent of the Macedonia’s population had access to the Internet. As the project concluded in 2007, Macedonia was the first country on the planet to achieve universal nation-wide wireless broadband coverage. Not only were all the nation’s schools connected, but the project design also provided coverage for access by private sector businesses, the government, individuals, etc.

This connectivity was undertaken through a competitive process where a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) was able to build this nation wide network in just 4 years. Motorola provided the wireless technology solution set, Canopy, a pre-WiMAX solution.

MK Connects, along with a number of important partners, was a unique experience with regards to modernizing Macedonia’s entire education system. However, the fundamental approach taken in Macedonia holds promise for application to countries around the world. The MK Connects model has been applied in neighboring Montenegro to bring more than seventy percent of the country on-line. A similar project has been constructed in Georgia. And Senegal is the first African country seeking to replicate this model.

For more information, refer to the information on Macedonia contained in the GBI project database and MK Connects case study in the document library.

March 3, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Cross Cutting, Economic Growth & Trade, Education, Humanitarian Assistance, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

NetHope Academy Haiti Internship Program

The NetHope Academy‘s ICT Skills Capacity Building Intern Program will give Haitian university students and recent graduates the opportunity to gain significant IT skills that will allow them to directly participate in the reconstruction of their communities and increase their economic opportunities.

During the course of this internship, candidates will work in the IT departments for participating humanitarian organizations and private sector companies. Program highlights include:

Six month internship program for Haitian computer science and engineering students/graduates that provides real world “on the job” training along with focused classroom and self-study learning opportunities
Internships will be geared towards desktop support, network administration, and telecommunications jobs
Participating organizations will increase capacity of their IT departments and contribute to the development of IT labor pool in Haiti

March 2, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Cross Cutting, Democracy & Governance, Economic Growth & Trade, Education, Environment, Environment, Health, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Apps for Development

Apps for Development.

Voting is open for the World Bank’s apps for development competition.

“The Apps for Development Competition aims to bring together the best ideas from both the software developer and the development practitioner communities to create innovative apps using World Bank data.”

I like the idea. But many of the apps appear to be solutions looking for a problem, probably due to the requirements that entries use World Bank data and address the Millennium Development Goals. Many entries were not meant to address field-level development needs, which is disappointing. But it is a great initiative, which can be adjusted in future efforts.

The Microsoft sponsored ImagineCup 2011 student IT competition is under way too. Its theme is imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems, also based on the Millennium Development Goals. Deadlines loom so pass the word to interested students.

It will be very interesting to see what comes out of these contests, and if someone can analyze them, see what we can learn about ramping up efforts to develop technologies to solve real-world problems.

Personally, I would like to see the GBI portal become a clearinghouse for practical apps for development – an app store for development, if you will.

March 1, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

CGD Finds Success in Niger Mobile Literacy Project

The Center for Global Development, released a paper indicating that mobile phones can impact literacy skills, and a sustainable model may have been found. The paper is the result of an evaluation of a mobile education program, called Project ABC in Niger.

Projet d’Alphabetisation a Base Cellulaire, or Project ABC, works with non-formal education centers established by the Catholic Relief Services Niger Food Security and Nutrition Program (2007-2011), is funded by USAID/Food for Peace, and is implemented with CARE and Helen Keller International.

The project uses multimedia phones that have been programmed with a digital curriculum in the local languages of Hausa and Zarma, and incorporates a practical literacy component tied to obtaining market information via text message.

In the first year of ABC, participants learn basic cell phone technology, including SMS. In the second year, interactive multimedia phones and a digital curriculum that includes phonetic activities and varied texts are used to further develop literacy skills. Participants also use skills in literacy, numeracy, and basic cell phone technology in a companion program that teaches them how to request and retrieve market information via SMS.

According to the report:

Overall, students demonstrated substantial improvements in literacy and numeracy test scores, suggesting that the adult education curriculum is effective in increasing learning. Students in mobile phone villages showed substantial additional gains in literacy and numeracy exam scores.

There is also evidence of persistent impacts: eight months after the end of the first year of classes, students in ABC villages retained what they had learned better than the non-ABC students. These effects do not appear to be driven by differences in the class time devoted to students, teacher experience or teacher and student attendance. Rather they can be partly explained by the effectiveness of mobile phones as an educational tool: Students in ABC villages used mobile phones more frequently to make calls, write SMS and search for price information as compared to their nonmobile phone counterparts. The program suggests that simple and relatively cheaper information and communication technology can serve as an effective and sustainable educational tool for rural populations.

According to Isbrandt, the program is operational in 56 literacy centers in the rural regions of Dosso and Zinder, in primarily agricultural villages. As is the case in most rural settings in West Africa, local language reading materials are otherwise scarce. Participants in the program include 1,400 learners, half of whom are women

References

Aker, Jenny C., Christopher Knoll and Travis J. Lybert, “ABC, 123: The Impact of a Mobile Phone Literacy Program on Educational Outcomes,” Center for Global Development Working Paper, September 2010

Isbrandt, Scott (2009) Cell Phone in West Africa: Improving Literacy and Agricultural Market Systems. Retrieved September 1, 2010.

February 9, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Education, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

The Impact of a Mobile Phone Literacy Program on Educational Outcomes: Literacy Learning in Niger

This is a research paper compiled by the Center for Global Development, an independent, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality and to making globalization work for the poor. The paper evaluates and draws conclusions about a mobile education program, called Project ABC in Niger.

The pilot phase of Project ABC began with the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), in partnership with UC Davis, Tufts, and Oxford University and shows how SMS can turn mobile phones into a platform for adult literacy and market information for agricultural communities.

Projet d’Alphabetisation a Base Cellulaire, or Project ABC, works with non-formal education centers established by the CRS Niger Food Security and Nutrition Program (2007-2011), is funded by USAID/Food for Peace, and is implemented with Care and Helen Keller International. The project uses multimedia phones that have been programmed with a digital curriculum in the local languages of Hausa and Zarma, and incorporates a practical literacy component tied to obtaining market information via text message.

The final research paper indicates that mobile phones have had an impact on participants’ literacy skills, and the model could be sustainable in the long run:

Overall, students demonstrated substantial improvements in literacy and numeracy test scores, suggesting that the adult education curriculum is effective in increasing learning. Students in mobile phone villages showed substantial additional gains in literacy and numeracy exam scores.

There is also evidence of persistent impacts: eight months after the end of the first year of classes, students in ABC villages retained what they had learned better than the non-ABC students. These effects do not appear to be driven by differences in the class time devoted to students, teacher experience or teacher and student attendance. Rather they can be partly explained by the effectiveness of mobile phones as an educational tool: Students in ABC villages used mobile phones more frequently to make calls, write SMS and search for price information as compared to their nonmobile phone counterparts. The program suggests that simple and relatively cheaper information and communication technology can serve as an effective and sustainable educational tool for rural populations.

For the full research paper and the evaluations in the PDF format, please visit this link.

References

Isbrandt, Scott (2009) Cell Phone in West Africa: Improving Literacy and Agricultural Market Systems. Retrieved September 1, 2010.

January 18, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

There Are No Technology Shortcuts to Good Education

This article by Kentaro Toyama on the Educational Technology Debate website argues:

“There are no technology shortcuts to good education. For primary and secondary schools that are underperforming or limited in resources, efforts to improve education should focus almost exclusively on better teachers and stronger administrations. Information technology, if used at all, should be targeted for certain, specific uses or limited to well-funded schools whose fundamentals are not in question.”

January 13, 2011/by actualize

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