Education – Page 2 – Integra LLC

Mobile Learning Week: Paving the Way for Policy Development

Nearly 200 mobile technology experts and international education leaders met at the first annual UNESCO Mobile Learning Week last month, December 12-16, at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris. This was the first such UNESCO meeting in which mobile technology took center stage.

Ministry of Educations’ officials, along with other experts from the fields of mobile technology and education, discussed the potential uses and benefits of mobile technology within the field of education in developing countries which has been informally debated and discussed the world over, the technology’s limited accessibility often hindering sustainable policy-changing actions. The meeting was prompted in part because of the growing access to mobile networks now available to 90% of the world’s population and 80% of the population living in rural areas, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in its “The World in 2010” report.

These figures have certainly gained the attention of top-policy makers. Discussions on how to use mobile technologies to transform educational processes will contribute to the anticipated Guidelines on Mobile Learning Policy which is currently being developed by UNESCO and due to be released in 2012. The guidelines will help to develop the future of mobile learning beyond the UNESCO global movement of Education For All (EFA) goals.

The weeklong meeting was split into two events. Leading officials in the ICT field gathered for the International Experts Meeting on Mobile Learning which was limited to selected attendees. Following the meeting, representatives from Nokia, Pearson Foundation, SK Telecom, ISTE, iLearn4Free, ICTP, Microsoft, Commonwealth of Learning, Alcatel-Lucent, Orange, Intel, Ericsson, KERIS and the Mobiles for Education (mEducation) Alliance showcased recent developments in mobile technologies and projects on mobile learning from the field during the UNESCO Symposium on Mobile Learning.

Several keynote speakers at the symposium identified and discussed major challenges to implementing policies and innovative ideas for creating sustainable solutions. Stephane Boyera, Lead Program Manager of the World Wide Web Foundation, stressed the importance of considering the sustainability, scalability, and replicability of mobile learning initiatives during his presentation, “Mobile Technologies, Education and Socio-Economic Development”. He indicated that the main obstacles to development are directly linked to policy makers’ understanding of specific cultural needs.

Dr. Paul Kim, Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Dean for Stanford University School of Education, spoke about the contextualized innovations in education and mobile empowerment design in his presentation, “Future Trends in Mobile Technology Development: What Can We Expect in the Next 5, 10, and 15 Years?”

The event achieved UNESCO’s goal of promoting the potential contribution of mobile technology to education and promises to lead to positive changes in policy development. Working papers that were developed during the event are due to be released sometime in early 2012.

January 18, 2012/by actualize

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

Brookings: 7 Principles for ICTs in Ed

Photo Credit: National University of Singapore

A new working paper released by the Global Economy and Development at Brookings concludes that if smartly and strategically deployed, modern information and communications technology (ICT) holds great promise in helping bring quality learning to some of the world’s poorest and hardest-to reach communities.

As part of the Brooke Shearer Working Paper Series, the paper entitled “A New Face of Education Bringing Technology into the Classroom in the Developing World” focused on the potentials of using information and communication technologies to improve teaching and learning in the developing nations.

Using two examples of ICTs application in education from Peru and Pakistan – “failed” and “successful”, the paper stated that experience shows that while there are numerous examples of how technology is used to the great benefit of teachers and learners alike, there are also many cases in which it does little to impact educational processes and outcomes.

The example from Peru, South America recalls a number of colorful laptops sitting in a corner of a classroom covered with dust. It argues that the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program which was arranged by the Ministry of Education, had the good intention of improving students’ information communication technology (ICT) skills, as well as their content-related skills through the laptops. But because there was no proper support for teacher training in how the laptops are to be used; no follow-up or repair and maintenance contingencies; and with outdated and bug-infested software, the laptops are seen as unusable and serve little purpose.

On the other hand, the successful example recalled a young girl in the small village of Hafizibad in Pakistan using her mobile phone to send an SMS message in Urdu to her teacher. After sending, she receives messages from her teacher in response, which she diligently copies by hand in her notebook to practice her writing skills. She does this from the safety of her home, and with her parents’ permission. The girl is part of a Mobilink-UNESCO program to increase literacy skills among girls in Pakistan which has shown some positive improvements so far.

Based on the above examples, the authors identified some barriers to quality education in the developing world.

Barriers to Learning for All – Primary, Secondary & Higher Education

Distance and Cost – limited availability of schools in remote, inaccessible, or particularly impoverished regions of developing countries with direct and indirect costs barriers.
Quality of Faculty/Teachers – poor quality of teacher training programs, lack of in-service training for those on the field, and lack of graduate level faculty members affect how much time teachers spend and how they teach.
Resources, Materials and Language – limited budget for tertiary education leads to poor quality teaching and learning materials, in appropriate format and language are barriers especially to the early learners.
Management – poor education system management including unwieldy teacher payment systems, limited information collection and management capabilities, and poor learning assessment processes.
Students Academically Unprepared – due to the poor quality of education at the basic and secondary levels, students entering higher education are unprepared and usually with poor performance.

The paper continues that even with the extraordinary growth in access to ICT, its use in multiple sectors of society is uneven because of certain interconnected conditions that needs to be taken care of including the following:

Enabling Conditions for Effective Technology (ICT) Use

Access to Electricity – the use of ICTs requires access to power such as electricity, solar power, batteries, etc.
Internet Connectivity – access to the Internet and wireless capabilities is key for the use of ICTs in classroom
Human Resource Capacity – the need to attract, recruit and train skilled and qualified IT professionals
Political will and Management – development of national and institutional ICT policies and the will to act on them
Financial Resources – most of the developing countries need external support in implementing successful ICT projects in the educational sector
Link between Infrastructure Availability and Ability to Integrate – these countries also need to effectively integrate ICTs into the various sectors once the infrastructure is in place.

The paper then mentioned different types of ICTs for use in education in the developing nations.

Technology Types and their Prevalence

Radio – Even though is being referred to as “old technology,” radio and radio instruction such as Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) has been utilized across the developing world as a tool to help facilitate learning and increase access to educational opportunities.
Television – Television is used to supplement classroom instruction with educational videos that teach and support lessons in language learning, mathematics, history, life skills and among other subjects.
Computers – Personal computers (PCs) are one of the most frequently cited and used forms of technology in education in the developing world and act as indicators of technological progress.
Mobile Phones – Cell phones and smart phones have been seen as increasingly useful educational tools in developing countries.
Tablets and E-readers – Tablet PCs like the iPad and ereaders are becoming a trend in education technology, and many experts see an important future for them in developing countries, due to the relatively low procurement cost.
Multimedia Projectors – These are devices used to project documents and/or computer images onto a wall in an effort to display the image to an entire classroom and allow the teacher to interact with the material along with the students, etc.
Open Educational Resources (OER) – OER are “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use and repurposing by others”.
Cloud Computing – Cloud computing allows organizations to increase computing capacity or add computing capabilities without needing to invest in infrastructure or train additional personnel.

The paper suggests seven guiding principles for the use of ICTs in education to be able to achieve the intended teaching and learning goal.

Seven Principles for Smart use of Technology in Education

Educational Problem First – First, identify the educational problem that needs to be addressed, and then assess which, if any, is the best technology to do the job.
Added Value – make sure that the technology will add value to other existing solutions.
Sustainability – Carefully consider the full range of enabling conditions such as the total cost of ownership, the ultimate relevance of the technology to the particular location, access to appropriate infrastructure, and human resource capacity.
Multiple Uses -Where possible, select a technology and design an intervention so that the technology can be used for multiple purposes.
Lowest Cost – While there may be many different types of technologies that can provide the assistance sought, other things being equal, it is best to select the least expensive option for the job(s) desired.
Reliability – Before deploying a technology, ensure it is reliable and will not rapidly break down. Nothing slows a project down more than unresolved problems.
Ease of Use – Finally, in educational interventions, technology should be easy to use.

It concludes that, if these principles are followed it can help avoid many future problems and, more importantly help leverage the power of ICT in educating young people in some of the poorest regions of the world.

The full paper can be accessed here.

January 6, 2012/by actualize

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

Using Blogs to Raise Funds for Education in Mali

Alberto Arzoz

In order to finance education for the children of Touareg tribe of Mali, Moussa, a writer sells his books through his blog, and then donates part of his profits and royalties for the funding of École des Sables residential schools.

Selected as one of the “Success Stories 2011”, by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) during its 2011 stocktaking, Moussa’s case study will help transfer knowledge, experiences and models for project implementation in the strategic use of ICTs for development. It confirms how the Internet is enabling cultural exchanges and the sharing of ideas on teaching methods between the Touareg community and schools in France. Such exchanges aim to develop a winning partnership between Écoles des Sables and schools from other countries around the world.

The nomadic Touareg community is one of the oldest communities in the world, but the absence of education for Touareg children restrains the development of the region. In 2002, the Ag Assarid brothers decided to create the École des Sables to offer nomadic children access to high-quality education. École des Sables gives children an education at a residential school which is open all year around while their parents continue with their nomadic lives.

At the beginning of the school year 2010–2011, 110 pupils attended the school, of which 86 were nomadic boarders. There are three classrooms and six teachers — three women and three men remunerated by the Malian government. The school applies a teaching method that targets excellence and respects local cultures. The rate of success at elementary school is 99% and at high school is 100%.

A decade after the creation of the École des Sables in Taboye, the project was expanded to two other schools in the regions of Timbuktu and Kidal. All three schools are supported by the Ministry of National Education and local communities, demonstrating the credibility of the project. For the two new schools, classrooms have been rebuilt and a residential school and high school have been set up. The three schools are all located in northern Mali.

While ICTs are being used in several ways globally to raise awareness about education, Moussa’s story is innovative and needs the necessary support for scaling up across Mali.

January 4, 2012/by actualize

Education, Family Planning, Health, HIV/AIDS, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Youth Development

Computer-based Sex Education Program Proves Effective in HIV Prevention

A recently released paper looking at systematic approaches to program adaptation of evidence-based health promotion programs focused on the computer-based sexuality education program, The World Starts With Me (WSWM), for a case study.

WSWM, introduced in 2003 by the World Population Foundation, was developed for a priority population in Uganda and adapted for use in Indonesia this year. The program’s target population includes both school-going young people and early school leavers, generally ages 12-19, and is complemented with teacher-led activities. It utilizes a comprehensive approach that includes building IT-skills and creative expression, aiming to contribute to sexual and reproductive health as well as social and economic development.

Student using The World Starts With Me program

Photo Credit: The World Starts With Me

The program provides introductory computer skills lessons as well as 14 lessons on adolescent development, decision making and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The lessons employ effective sex education methods, including practical applications to increase knowledge, develop attitudes, and help youth recognize and cope with social influences.

The paper’s authors, all public health professionals and academics, chose WSWM as their case study because of its proven success. In 2004, the program received the Golden Nica Award by Prix Ars Electronica in the digital communities category, and UNESCO used WSWM’s digital curriculum as a guideline for implementing effective sexuality education.

A meta-analysis revealed that computer technology-based programs like WSWM have similar results to traditional human-delivered interventions in terms of HIV/AIDS prevention behavior adoption. In particular, they proved to have positive results in increased condom use and reduced sexual activity, numbers of sex partners and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Computer-based assignments also allow programs like WSWM to be student-driven, which means teachers are less burdened to talk about sensitive sexuality issues which may be uncomfortable for students. According to the meta-analysis, given computer-based programs’ “low cost to deliver, ability to customize intervention content, and flexible dissemination channels, they hold much promise for the future of HIV prevention.”

http://www.theworldstarts.org/

This research paper reveals that ICT-based HIV-prevention programs like WSWM can be effectively adapted in other contexts, which could lead to widespread reduction in HIV rates among young people.

December 1, 2011/by actualize

Education, Higher Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Is Virtual Education Worth the Money? The Case of Syria

In an effort to bring education to the most remote corners of Syria, and to allow those in rural areas who cannot leave their families behind, the Syrian Ministry of Education started the Syrian Virtual University in 2002, the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). SVU offers various degrees, including a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology.

Though, admittedly, SVU degrees may not be as highly esteemed as traditional degrees, they are certified by Edexel and other many universities have recognized their validity. For example, the University of Greenwich awards SVU graduates with Honors Degrees from their own university. These partnerships are crucial in order for the SVU alumni to qualify for international jobs and bring economic growth and investment back to Syria’s economy.

Photo: AMEinfo

Other nations have followed Syria’s example; Tunisia, Libya and Egypt’s ministries of Education have established distance-based learning options for their citizens. In summary, hundreds of thousands of citizens have enrolled in courses and received diplomas.

The question to be answered is to what extent does increased educational achievement through virtual universities bring increased human development to these nations? The citizens are more educated, more connected to the global landscape, and less ignorant. Perhaps, their increased literacy and knowledge capacity was in part a leading cause in the Arab spring uprisings. Or, at the very least, the increased educational achievement ushered in heightened political awareness to the region.

What isn’t clear, though, is whether these virtual universities have led to any increase in economic growth or life expectancy. Difficult laws to start businesses, or government corruption and bureaucracies to open organization, slows entrepreneurship and business uptake in the region, making economic growth much more difficult. I can’t help but wonder how many citizens the Syrian government educated only to lose their increased human capital to foreign businesses, since the job market is too scarce within Syria. In order to these nations to capitalize on their investments in virtual education, they will have to ease business restrictions on startups, allow for more tolerance for failed businesses, and subsidize the expenditures of local business owners.

August 30, 2011/by actualize

Education, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Workforce Development

Gender, Humanitarian Workers and the Drought in the Horn of Africa

Photo: Jerome Delay/AP

Two different e-learning courses on gender-based violence awareness and policy are now available for humanitarian workers thanks to the WHO, and the UNFPA and World Education Inc. The course is particularly relevant for areas with strong gender roles, like the Horn of Africa.

The present crisis in the Horn of Africa has shifted the attention of development workers in the region to food security. Education, healthcare, and even shelter are after-thoughts for now. Particular cultural distinctions, including gender roles in the region, remain unknown to many humanitarian workers, as they are too busy focusing on in-the-moment food needs. However, the experience of humanitarian agencies helping with the natural disaster in Haiti was that gender-based violence (GBV) only increased during the crisis, leading the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to issue recommendations to refugee camps regarding privacy, claims of domestic violence, etc.

In the Horn of Africa, particular gender issues are important to take into account, especially during humanitarian crisis. Genital mutilation and domestic violence are both relevant issues, and so is the overall role of women as primary caretakers of children.

Though humanitarian workers have experience working with people of all sorts of backgrounds since they are deployed to different regions around the globe throughout their career, they often come into a new situation with relatively little knowledge about the local customs and challenges. Such is the case for many in the Horn of Africa right now. The best way for them to prepare for these cultural challenges before they even know where they are going to be posted next, is through awareness courses.

In order to educate humanitarian workers worldwide, the UNFPA and World Education Inc partnered to produce a new e-learning course on GBV. The e-learning nature of the course makes it possible for workers to participate in the course remotely anywhere in the world and at any time.

The WHO has also created their own e-learning course in 2010 entitled “Different Needs—Equal Opportunities: Increasing Effectiveness of Humanitarian Action for Women, Girls, Boys, and Men.” The course helps humanitarian workers consider how gender factors into their humanitarian programs. In a sense, it gives the worker a list of checks to evaluate how their program will impact both women and men differently, and how to guard against possible discriminations. To watch a trailer for the course, click here.

Both of these e-learning courses are quality options for humanitarian workers. They will be better equipped to handle those tough gender issues after receiving this education via the Internet. What is pertinent in addition to taking the course, however, is applying the lessons learned and being held accountable. This is an aspect of education where e-learning lacks, and for now, it will be simply up to senior humanitarian officials to hold their workers responsible for doing this course and applying the principles taught.

August 25, 2011/by actualize

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

Changing Teachers’ Pedagogical Beliefs with ICT Programs

Photo: OLPC

In a pursuit to understand the core principles in successful M&E of ICT-based education programs, I spoke with Daniel Light, M&E expert at the Education Development Center (EDC). Light has evaluated EDC and USAID tech-related education programs for around twenty years. As he explains, ICT education programs are only effective to the extent that the teachers utilize ICTs for learning activities and make the student the center of focus. In other words, ICTs cannot add to education much unless the teachers utilize the tools correctly.

Traditional evaluation of education programs focuses on easily quantifiable indicators, such as teacher and student attendance, and student test scores. Though these indicators are important, Light argues that the quality of teaching and learning is not fully captured in these statistics.

Instead, evaluation should consider what researchers know about education quality, namely teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices. In education, teachers that focus on rote memorization and lectures are generally less effective than teachers who engage the students in activities and who adapt their lessons to meet particular students’ needs and interests.

Student-centered pedagogical beliefs are especially important in education programs that include ICTs. For example, computers are most likely to be effective tools when each student has access to a computer, and has a teacher to direct their usage. If the students aren’t the ones controlling the mouse, then much of potential knowledge to be gained is lost; they need to direct their own learning.

Photo: Microsoft

Many development funders now require randomized control trials (RCTs) to evaluate the impact of their development program. There is a problem with the emphasis on RCTs, Light argues. RCTs measure specific behaviors, but education is inherently unpredictable in its outcomes, and technology is similar in that regard. Combined, ICT education programs have many unexpected consequences. Many funders want to secure a particular impact, like increased mathematics scores, and want to do so by increasing students’ ICT usage. Light, however, contends that ICT education programs can improve mathematics scores, especially when they are directed to do so, but they will always have other impacts, unforeseeable before the start of the program.

A better way to measure the impact of ICT education programs, says Light, involves a series of phases, lasting about one year per phase. The first phase should be exploratory, to see what is actually happening in a program compared to what was originally planned. Since outsiders design many development programs, implemented programs often turn down different pathways over time. After exploring the program implementation, evaluators should fine-tune their methods, progressively tightening their measurements. They should engage in group observations, participant observations, and focus groups. Through these methods, they can design interview and survey questions, eventually measuring particular behaviors amongst the population under study. RCTs at this stage in the research process are appropriate, since the researchers should have outlined the behavior methods through their observations and discussions with participants.

When used effectively, ICTs increase educational achievement and change teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices. In fact, they can change teachers’ role from talking heads to activity facilitators. ICT programs, then, can easily highlight the need for pedagogical teacher change. When they are then applied to national education policy, they can bring about national curriculum changes, affecting all education practices, not just for ICT programs.

August 22, 2011/by actualize

Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Youth Development

A $35 Computer? It Might Not be the Bargain You Think it is.

Photo: BBC

A few weeks ago, the ministry of ICT in India publicly announced the completion of a $35 laptop. The product is aimed at students, and will be rolled out at educational institutions this upcoming school year. Furthermore, the laptop’s price will hopefully fall to $20 over time, and then later to $10. Additionally, the minister said that over one million of the laptops would be mass-produced to be used in rural areas, designed to bridge the digital divide. The $35 laptop was India’s answer to One-Laptop-Per-Child’s $200 laptop, which over three million children in 41 countries utilize, according to OLPC’s website.

The price war between low-budget laptop producers, however, is missing a key element to the argument about what is the best option. Price, durability, and usability are all important to consider when assessing the laptop’s potential impact to increase educational and economic opportunity. Though too much emphasis on these indicators often causes one to forget about additional costs ICT development work. After all, a lot more goes into making a laptop a useful education and development tool and a helpful instrument for an individual that simply purchasing one.

There are more financial, social, and human costs to making laptop computers successful development tools than its price. As ICT4E experts at Vital Wave consulting explained, this is more complex than asking price:

“Governments need to consider the entire cost of school computing solutions, rather than merely the initial expenses. A total cost of ownership model takes into account recurrent and hidden costs such as teacher training, support and maintenance, and the cost of replacing hardware over a five-year period.

Support and training are recurrent costs that constitute two of the three largest costs in the total cost of ownership model. They are greater than hardware costs and much higher than software fees.”

Some governments have learned this lesson the hard way, including Panama. Their “Internet for Everyone” project at the beginning of the century brought computers to hundreds of schools around the country, but then failed to provide connectivity to the schools or trained staff to educate the teachers or the students about how to use the technologies. As a result, many computers ended up gathering moss (not dust—it’s too humid there) and going unused.

If the goal is to increase educational achievement and empower youth with more opportunity, than computers can be a resourceful tool when youth are taught how to use them for productive means, and when they have access to them. Cheaper computers answer the questions of access, but how to use them is still a lingering issue that requires significant attention and funding to solve.

In summary, then, those working in international education should celebrate cheaper technologies, as high costs often close the door of opportunity from the onset. Yet, lower and affordable prices does not mean that the technologies will lead to more opportunity, better quality of life, or economic development unless they are paired with adequate funding for teaching, maintenance, etc.

August 12, 2011/by actualize

Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Workforce Development

Mobile Money to Pay Rwandan Teachers

Ange is a teacher at the Rubona Public School living too far from the nearest branch of the Rwandan Teachers’ Credit and Savings Cooperative, or the Umwalimu SACCO, to receive her monthly salary.

She relies on her payment each month to put food on the table.

To resolve this problem, Umwalimu SACCO announced last month commencing a mobile money transfer service to pay members living in areas where the cooperative has no branches.

Currently, the cooperative has 16 branches countrywide, with about 57, 000 members.

Teachers living in rural areas similar to Ange, complain of having to trek long distances to access their salaries and loans, which is costly and time consuming, so SACCO decided initiate a mobile money transfer system.

Umwalimu SACCO, is a Rwandan cooperative of credit and saving which gives out loans and salaries to teachers, allowing them to set up income-generating activities to complement their measly monthly pay

The typical salary for Rwandan teachers is $40 per month. To supplement this, requests for start-up loans to engage in activities such as making mandazis (donut-like pastries) and selling them to other teachers on school grounds, is standard.

Jean Marie Vianney Nzagahimana Photo Credit: Rwandan Patriotic Front

Jean Marie Vianney Nzagahimana, the Chairman on the Board of Directors of the cooperative, recognizes that mobile payments allow teachers to be paid on time, while spurring further economic development and growth.

“We knew about the problem and that’s why we came up with this system to further address teachers’ needs. We cannot do it at once but we will be addressing them beginning with priority areas,” Nzagahimana says.

Although MTN and Tigo are currently offering money transfer services in Rwanda, Nzagahimana said that the SACCO money transfer system is to be implemented in partnership with South African company, MFS. Teachers will be able to get overdrafts through the same process.

The cooperative is also looking to expand beyond merely providing fiscal provisions for the teachers, aiming to meet the demand for new services from one of the biggest cooperatives in the country.

The Umwalimu SACCO cooperative has experienced rapid growth. Their financial assets have nearly doubled in a year from 3b Rwandan franc (Frw) in 2009, to Frw 7.3 billion in 2010.

The cooperatives financial budget for the next fiscal year worth Rwf 11.7 billion, converts roughly to $US 18 million.

“We are committed to at least establish a permanent SACCO office in every district by the end of July,” Nzagahimana asserts “This (is) done to get close to teachers and facilitate access to our services, which we also want to expand beyond financial ones. We are working on one laptop per teacher and solar energy at every teacher’s house.”

The financial services provided by SACCO are encouraging more teachers to educate Rwandan children in the classroom, while the cooperative’s new mobile payment system ensures that educators receive the money they deserve—in the time and place they need it.

July 19, 2011/by actualize

Basic Education, Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

3 Million Malawi Children

This post was co-written by Jeffrey Swindle

To improve education quality in Malawi, USAID Malawi implemented the Tikwere Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) program. The IRI program has affected over three million children and 22,000 teachers since it began in May 2007. Furthermore, management and financing of the program is now moving to the hands of the government, letting USAID allocate its efforts to additional endeavors.

Despite promising increases in primary education enrollment (54% to 70% from 1999 to 2006) in Sub-Saharan Africa, the quality of education is quite low. High teacher and student absence rates, as well as low achievement scores, plague education systems. When researchers make unannounced visits to schools, teachers are absent on average 19% of the time, with higher rates in rural areas.

In Malawi, the situation is particularly grim. According to the Southern Africa Consortium on Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ), fewer than 25% of eligible Malawian children remain in school by grade 8. In addition, only 9% of primary school students were found to have reached a minimum level of mastery in reading in English, and a mere 2% of pupils possessed skills beyond basic numeracy.

Teacher at the chalkboard speaking with students. Radio on a chair nearby

Photo credit: USAID/Malawi

To address these challenges, USAID Malawi began the IRI program. In the program, schools are provided with radios, and they listen to a thirty-minute national broadcast each day. Teachers receive text messages on their phones telling them the weekly schedule for the in-service broadcasts prior to the beginning of the term, and through lesson plans produced by Tikwere teachers are informed about what materials they will need to prepare beforehand (posters, pencils, textbooks, etc.). The broadcast focuses on one of three topics: the local language Chichewa, English, and life skills. The broadcasts are prepared professionally and incorporate ideal teaching strategies, including group work, learner-focused discussions, and gender balanced teaching. By listening to the broadcast, teachers learn how they can be most effective. And the students benefit because they receive training from an optimal teacher via radio each day.

Amongst these learners there have been increases in test scores for standard 1 learners in literacy (17% points higher in English and 9% points higher in Chichewa compared to non-participating students) and mathematics (12% points higher than non-participating students).

Teacher pointing at chalkboard, while radio plays.

Photo credit: USAID/Malawi

Additionally, they are particularly engaged during the radio broadcasts; the students anxiously look forward to this special time each day and enrollment has been rising in Tikwere schools which cover over 95% of the 5,300 schools nationwide.

To implement the program, USAID purchased 13,000 freeplay radios which are solar powered at a total cost of $386,400 over a course of three years. Additionally, printed materials to accompany the activities and radio airtime required additional funding. Using conservative estimates, over 2,000,000 children listening to the broadcasts for the first three years. If the same rate of expansion of the project continued, the IRI program affects far more than 3,000,000 million children in Malawi. The total cost per student per year is $0.16, a bargain for improved educational achievement and teacher effectiveness. Currently, the USAID mission to Malawi is working with the government to incorporate the program into the national education plan and finances, making the program financial sustainable without further support from USAID.

Table: Project Total Estimates from Macro International

The final impacts of the IRI program, however, are yet to be measured. Macro International conducted a mid-term evaluation of the project in 2009. Though the IRI program was able to reach approximately 75% of schools in Malawi, at least 10% do not have the connectivity for the radios to work, and the costs were too high and complicated for USAID to provide alternative technologies for IRI. In an ingenious strategy, Tikwere uses this 5% as a control comparison for the learner assessments of the IRI program. Thus far, schools with the Tikwere IRI program show a 17% gain in scores over the control schools.

Photo credit: USAID/Malawi

Originally Zambia implemented the IRI methodology for the out of school program. Because of IRI’s potential for success, the government there adopted it in the conventional schools. Malawi’s experience is adopted from the Taonga Market in Zambia, and other USAID missions have implemented similar programs as well. Hopefully, more missions around the world will implement similar radio programs and see equal impacts.

July 15, 2011/by actualize

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