Through a multi-year initiative called All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR), the Founding Partners will collaborate to achieve the goal of global action to improve child literacy.

While recognizing that there are many factors required to improve student learning outcomes in primary grade reading, the Founding Partners have established the All Children Reading Competition to focus on two needs that are both important and largely unmet in low- and lower- middle income countries: teaching and learning materials and education data.

The All Children Reading Competition will support innovative approaches that draw on current research findings related to effective instruction in primary grade reading as well as technology, information, and communication advances that may lead to substantial impact on student learning outcomes at scale. In this context, “innovation” refers to novel business or organizational models, operational or production processes, or products or services that lead to substantial and sustainable improvements in student reading in primary grades.

We seek innovations that produce development outcomes more effectively, cost efficiently, and that reach more beneficiaries. Innovative and potentially transformative solutions may be funded through grants to support new ideas as well as emergent practices, products, or programs.

The Founding Partners are calling on for-profit companies, non-governmental organizations and associations, academic/educational research institutions, faith-based organizations, civil society and foundations—together or in partnership—to take up this challenge. Applicants are encouraged to “think outside of the box,” using creative practices and methodologies to develop innovations clearly linked to improving student learning outcomes in primary grade reading.

Background

Over the past decade, governments in many countries and the international community have rallied around Millennium Development Goal 2: ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.2 As a result, there have been significant increases in primary enrollment worldwide, particularly in low income countries.3 However, learning levels are very low. In Mali, Pakistan and Peru, for example, more than 70% of children in the primary grades could not read at grade level and many could not read a single word after two or more years of schooling.4 One major international assessment, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), found that the average student in low-income countries is performing at the fifth percentile of the OECD distribution worldwide an estimated 35 million girls remain out of school compared to 31 million boys.

USAID has been working to close the gap between boys and girls by assessing the degree of educational disadvantage that girls face, identifying gender-related obstacles, and implementing remedies to remove and overcome these obstacles.

Learning levels of a country’s population are directly correlated with rates of economic growth. A 10% increase in the proportion of the population with basic literacy skills translates into a 0.3 percentage point higher annual growth rate for that country. Other research has shown that early grade reading competency is critical for continued retention and success in future grades. Though it is clear that children’s futures are not solely dependent on reading instruction, reading is a critical and necessary precondition for skill development. Children who do not develop reading skills during the primary grades are on a lifetime trajectory of limited educational progress and therefore limited economic opportunities.

In recognition of the importance of basic literacy for individual and national development, the first goal of the new USAID Education Strategy: Opportunity Through Learning (2011-2015) is focused on improving the reading skills for 100 million children in primary grades by 2015 (See Appendix 1). USAID will measure the performance of its programs primarily through the improvement of reading skills for primary grade students after two years of schooling, consistent with international measures adopted by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE, formerly the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative).

The new Education Strategy also specifically states that USAID education programs will take measures to increase gender parity and improve gender equity at all levels of education, with gender-sensitive interventions tailored to the specific gender issues present in a country’s educational system. The importance of this for gender equality extends beyond any single project in that it sets a clear strategic directive: USAID education interventions that target girls or boys should be based on sound gender analysis, meet an identified need or demand, promote learning outcomes, bring about systemic change, and work to transform the power dynamics between the sexes.

World Vision invests more than US $250 million per year in education and focuses on impact for children and youth ages 3-18 through four strategic objectives that foster the development of functional literacy, math and essential life skills as key outcomes of education: 1) increase children’s access to equitable, quality and sustainable early childhood education and primary education, with special attention to the most vulnerable groups; 2) strengthen community involvement in the education for all children; 3) increase youth’s access to quality educational opportunities, with focus on out-of-school youth; and 4) foster enabling environment for learning through partnership and advocacy with communities, governments, private sector, universities, donors and civil society organizations.

Education is the flagship sector of the Australian aid program. Australia’s commitment to education access and quality includes a clear focus on improving the quality of learning. Australia has three pillars for its investments in education:

1. improving access to basic education opportunities for all so that children and youth complete a basic education;
2. improving learning outcomes so that children and youth achieve the basic skills necessary for productive lives; and
3. driving development through better governance and service delivery so that partner governments support quality education for all.

Objectives

The All Children Reading Competition will encourage innovative thinking and design to bring new knowledge to the challenge of improving primary grade reading rapidly and at scale in certain countries (see Appendix 2 for a list of Eligible Countries). Applications from and relating to low- and lower-middle income countries are particularly encouraged. While recognizing that there are many factors required to improve student learning outcomes in primary grade reading, the All Children Reading Competition seeks innovations in two areas that are both important and largely unmet in certain low- and lower middle income countries.

Innovations in Teaching and Learning Materials to Improve Student Reading

Teachers and children must have access to appropriate teaching and learning materials, respectively, for classroom instruction and reading practice. Children who report having textbooks score higher on reading tests and those who report having other books at home score even higher.8 Recently developed programs supporting the development of materials to schools, communities and homes are beginning to report impact on student learning.9 However, textbook provision in developing countries continues to be inadequate, let alone provision of supplemental reading materials.

Innovative and affordable approaches are needed to overcome barriers to the design, production, distribution/delivery, and use of high-quality durable and consumable materials (narrative, expository, and instructional) in appropriate languages for the primary grades in developing countries.

Innovations in Education Data to Improve Student Reading

Education data is necessary to support decision-making, incentives, transparency, and accountability needed to improve reading. A lack of quality data on student learning and related issues (e.g., teaching methods, student and teacher performance, absenteeism, and school-level financing) hinders the development and implementation of effective educational policies and supportive classroom/school-level/community action. The potential impact of data on student learning has been very visible over the past few years, with the development of Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) approach to data collection by civil society, now used in India, Kenya, Mali, Pakistan, Uganda and Tanzania as well as USAID-supported Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) which has now been used by governments, civil society and donors in more than 40 countries.

These assessments have created widespread awareness of student learning levels and some efforts to improve learning in the countries where they have been implemented. But much remains to be done to prioritize and collect performance data, disseminate the data to varied audiences and make it easier to identify and use key data for decision-making.

Innovative and affordable approaches are needed to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the collection and use of education data. A particular need is cost-effective and streamlined approaches for the measurement and reporting of student learning data (classroom-based and system-level testing) to inform instruction, policy development, and resource allocations in developing countries.

Illustrative Areas of Interest

We are interested in funding innovations that will result in (1) widespread access to improved teaching and learning materials and (2) better education data to support decision-making, transparency, incentives and accountability; both of which are essential to advance the goal of All Children Reading in the primary grades. In this context, “innovation” refers to novel business or organizational models, operational or production processes, or products or services that lead to substantial and sustainable improvements in student reading in primary grades.

The illustrative areas of interest listed below are not meant to be exhaustive or limiting in any way.

Innovations in Teaching and Learning Materials to Improve Student Learning

• Support the production of and/or access to language and level-appropriate narrative, expository and instructional materials for emerging and beginning readers and their teachers;
• Support the development/editing/printing of texts of similar difficulty in two or more languages/scripts;
• Address the challenges of materials distribution in developing country contexts;
• Benefit children with special needs and/or learning disabilities;
• Foster parent and community involvement in children reading;
• Support large numbers of teachers in remote locations in their effective and continuing use of new materials;
• Help students, teachers and communities develop high quality materials locally;
• Bridge gaps between school and home and support a community reading culture in contexts where family literacy and school involvement levels are low;
• Leverage existing learning resources such as community libraries, digital libraries and
  other learning platforms; and
• Create differentiated learning experiences and support individual student practice in low-resource classroom settings with high student : teacher ratios.

Innovations in Education Data to Improve Student Reading

• Develop simple approaches to allow school and local level managers to prioritize, collect, analyze and use key education-related data at the school level to improve instruction and learning outcomes;
• Improve school, regional and national level resource planning to improve learning outcomes;
• Consolidate and analyze disparate sources of education data at the local, regional, national and international level;
• Widely disseminate education-related data in easy-to-understand ways to a variety of audiences;
• Deliver data and information to improve teacher preparation and professional development;
• Assist teachers and education officials with rapid and efficient student assessments and teacher evaluations; and
• Provide data to support the development of appropriate incentive systems for teachers and officials based on teacher performance and student results.

What We Will Not Fund

• Applications that are not focused on improving student reading in the primary grades;
• Applications that do not present a coherent plan showing links between the proposed
  innovation and the education system context
• Applications that do not propose program in eligible countries (see Appendix 2 – Eligible Country List for the full list of eligible countries); and
• Solutions that are not applicable, affordable, sustainable, and scalable in eligible countries.

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Let me begin by suggesting a different question than “Do Open Educational Resources actually increase the digital divide?” Instead, let me ask: How can OERs be used to reduce the digital divide? Or more importantly, how can OERs be used to increase the opportunities for everyone to maximize their potential? To me, that is the underlying criterion we should use to determine which innovations for learning are desirable, and which ones are not.

Let’s begin by stipulating that the deep divides that are increasing today throughout the world, between the “have’s and have not’s”, create dangerous instabilities that impact all of us. Let’s also stipulate that, as with free public education and free public libraries, OERs are, in and of themselves, a good thing. Widespread free access to basic information forms the foundation of a sustainable society. OERs may become a key driver for the next stage in the evolution of public knowledge and democracy.

However OERs require a delivery system and an environment that enables people to take advantage of them. To the extent these conditions are unevenly available, OERs can indeed increase the opportunity divide and destabilize societies.

To be effective, an educational system must involve a comprehensive, systemic approach. No one piece, by itself can do the job. First, we need learners who are fed, healthy, and safe. Then we need access to quality content that is aligned with the goals of the society’s educational system, including its examinations and certificates, plus teachers who are comfortable with and able to employ effective approaches to learning and the technical infrastructure required to sustain the physical and social learning system.

Let’s look at these three parts.

1. Content

Content can be divided into two categories: “Just in Case” –available in case you might want it, and “Just in Time” –available when you need it to learn something or do something. There are lots of “Just In Case” OERs in the Cloud. That is really nice to have.

Just in Time (JIT) materials, on the other hand, are scarce. They are essential for learning that is aligned with specific educational goals and outcomes. Materials that are engaging but lack such alignments are doomed to be ignored by everyone – except possibly the students. The development of JIT resources is inherently a local task that is difficult and expensive. In addition, such OERs conflict with the interests of for-profit publishers who traditionally have provided closed educational resources. Nevertheless, given the rapid global expansion of OERs in higher education, I believe there is a good chance that, in time, OERS will become the dominant mode for elementary, secondary and continuing education as well. We should strongly support the development of high quality JIT OERs for basic learning.

2. Teachers

There are simply not enough teachers, let alone effective ones, to meet the growing demand for them in the developing world. I recently heard of a region in Ghana where teachers may have over 100 students in their classes. Some elementary schools in Rwanda have two half-day sessions. Often the teachers have barely graduated from high school, frequently at the bottom of their class. Many require a second job because of their meager salaries. They tend to leave for a better job as soon as they can. However a quality educational experience requires teachers who are skilled at supporting learning, and who convey to their students that they are valued and are expected to do well.

To respond to this challenge, Open Learning Exchange Ghana is launching an innovative program for learning how to learn. The Ghana LITE program employs a low-cost multimedia digital library called a School BeLL (Basic e-Learning Library) containing videos and materials for coaching teachers and students together. The class will see videos of highly effective project-oriented learning and will be given the materials needed to try these new ways of learning. After practicing, they will video themselves trying it out and seeing the differences between their own efforts and the model. This is an example of how OERs using cost-effective ICT can improve teaching and learning.

3. Technology

Today the ICT systems needed for delivering OERs are not available to the vast majority of people throughout the world. Close to 90 percent of our world’s children have no access to OERs today. Most do not have electricity. So we have some work to do.

And it is not simply a matter of providing the hardware. Educational technology has a long history which is not that impressive. Many promises have been made but, so far, there is only scattered evidence of effectiveness. Teaching machines go back to Pavlov and the Skinner Box followed by a long list of mechanical and then computerized devices that were heralded as the “answer” to poor teaching and the different learning rates of students. I remember being entranced by the PLATO system developed in the 60s by the University of Illinois – a network of mainframes with dialup connections delivering elementary through graduate level course materials. Why did these approaches not survive? Because each of these innovations focused too narrowly on one piece of the puzzle rather than dealing with the whole learning system.

Yet many people persist in believing that technology pretty much by itself can be used to improve radically the quality of education. For many, ICT has become the “dream” solution. It has worked with telephones, why not education? Those “many” include people who manufacture ICT equipment, those who champion things like laptops for every child, and many frustrated public officials who eagerly grasp the lore of ICT as a way to leap frog traditional schooling and enable their students to develop “Twenty-First Century skills”. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent, believing in the ICT dream. This is despite the clear evidence that the hardware, by itself, comprises a small portion of the total cost of its effective use and, by itself, does not deliver on the dream.

The good news is that there are a few emerging examples where ICT, involving a more comprehensive systems approach are demonstrating significant improvements in basic learning. Innovation for Learning’s differentiated learning system, the TeacherMate, is one such example. In both the US and Africa the TeacherMate system has documented major increases in basic literacy over a short period of time using low-cost hand held devices. We need more such examples.

Nevertheless there is a real danger that the high cost and uneven availability of educational technologies will dangerously increase the opportunity gap among the most marginalized of our people.

A Challenge Prize

We don’t know how soon the prices of tablets and other devices that can be used for formal learning will come within reach of most children in developing nations. At today’s prices it is primarily those families and communities that do have reasonable incomes who have access to the hardware. Under these conditions, the opportunity divide will continue to increase.

But there may be another possibility.

We could create a Challenge Prize with specs for a $40 educational tablet that can be used, off the grid and the Internet, by poor children and their families to narrow their opportunity gap. That would address one of the requirements for enabling OERs to become gap-closers rather than gap-wideners. Who among us is interested in creating such a Challenge?

More than OER

In summary, I believe that OERs are a necessary and critical element for achieving our shared goal of ensuring every person on our small planet unfettered access to an ongoing high quality basic education. But, Tahrir Square not withstanding, there is no guarantee that a thoroughly digitized world infused with OER will increase meaningful opportunities for the 99% so long as the 1% are the sole deciders.

Thus, while dealing with some of the symptoms of unequal opportunity, we must also address their root causes by employing a total, democratic systems strategy – one that aligns the rules of our economies and our governments with our universal needs for food, health, a home and learning. Since everything is connected, only that will enable us to have the lives we want for ourselves and for the rest of us.

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Basically, I think there are two visions for free and Open educational resources and technology, that can be summarized by these two figures.

Scenario #1: Closing Gaps

In the left figure, we have the “closing gaps” vision. In this vision, everyone benefits from new educational technologies, but low-income students disproportionately benefit. The hope here is that as the ecology of education is flooded with new free and nearly free resources, low-income students will have access to resources previously only available to students in schools in affluent places.

Take Khan Academy as an example. It’s possible that students in wealthy schools have access to great instructors and plenty of content resources, so Khan Academy is just one more tool in their kit which only offers a minor benefit to these students. But maybe students in schools serving low-income kids have more novice teachers and fewer content and instructional resources, so Khan Academy with it’s free material represents a major boon for these learners. This is a hypothetical scenario of how Khan Academy might disproportionately benefit low-income students.

Scenario #2: Rising Tide

In the right figure, we have the “rising tide” vision. In this model, everyone still benefits, but now the wealthy disproportionately benefit. From a John Rawls framework, this is still a good thing–everyone is better off than before–but the opportunity gap between wealthy and poor has expanded. Consider Khan Academy again.

Maybe teachers in wealthy schools–with fewer students per teacher, more students passing tests, more prep periods, fewer classes to teacher, more curriculum support, more IT support, etc.–are better able to use Khan Academy videos not just to push content to students, but to reimagine pedagogical models. These teachers use the content to flip the classroom, differentiate and personalize instruction, release students from seat time requirements, etc.

Any of these new models are possible because teachers can assume that every kid has reliable broadband internet access at home and on their mobile device. By contrast, maybe teachers working in schools serving low income students simply can’t make as much use of the Khan Academy videos because they lack the planning time, broadband access, etc. In this model, schools with greater fiscal and human resources have more capacity to take advantage of even free and open resources.

This second model is actually quite troubling in its implications. If this model is generally true, then virtually every education technology initiative which does not specifically target the needs of particular populations will disproportionately benefit the wealthy, even if the materials are free.

The empirical reality: Scenario #2

We don’t necessarily have to sit around and guess which model is true, we can use research to answer these questions empirically. This is what I have tried to do with my research with wikis. My assessment of our findings is that in the case of wikis, the second scenario is certainly true.

Wikis are more likely to be created in wealthier schools, more likely to persist longer, and more likely to create opportunities for students to develop 21st century skills. Even within schools, wikis are more likely to be used with AP and honors tracked students (who in turn are more likely to be affluent) than with lower tracked students. I don’t think low-income students are harmed by the innovation of wikis, and I think there are plenty of instances where low-income students have had great opportunities with wikis to work collaboratively and create multimedia publications of their understanding.

But I am also very confident that wealthy students have benefited much more from these innovations. (This research is forthcoming in Educational Researcher this January, a pre-print paper is here.)

Of course, research about wikis doesn’t answer every question about these two models of ed tech and inequality. Are blogs any different than wikis? Possibly, though I can’t imagine why. Are Khan Academy videos different? Possibly, although again, it’s not clear why they would be. But these are empirical questions that we can answer with research.

Three suggestions for greater equality

So if education technology does disproportionately benefit the affluent, what should we do about it? Let me offer three suggestions for teachers, developers and funders.

Orientation towards inequality with technology

For teachers, the orientation towards inequality with technology is very important. Educators need to make a commitment to using social technologies with all their students, not just honors and AP students. Many teachers working with at-risk youth are concerned about inequities with technology access within their classrooms, but urban school teachers need to be more concerned with inequities between schools.

We need to ensure that urban and rural students have the same opportunities as their suburban peers. We can’t make it so no students in a class have a tech-rich learning experience because some students have difficulty with access. That’s fair within a classroom, but not within a society.

Develop technology initiatives that specifically target the neediest students

Technologists, designers and researchers need to develop technology initiatives that specifically target the neediest students. TechGoesHome is a fabulous program that provides netbooks and internet connections to students, along with computer training for the entire family. The Glitch Game Testers in Atlanta, have built a program that hires African-American male students as game testers, teaches them the AP Computer Science curriculum, and has an incredible placement rate in not only getting these kids into college, but into engineering and CS majors.

Bootstrap is a terrific program that teachers students to program their own video games, developing algebra and computer science skills at the same time. . The Leadership Public Schools use CK-12 Flexbooks to develop content for math and science courses that build literacy skills while teaching domain knowledge. These programs are much more likely to benefit the students who most need our support and investment.

Focus funding streams on students who most need support.

Finally, the big foundations supporting ed tech innovations: NSF, Gates, Hewlett, and MacArthur need to be sure to focus a considerable part of their funding streams on students who most need support. A terrific example of this are the Gates/Hewlett Next Generation Learning grants, which target specific kids in specific high-risk courses.

I’m sure down the line that all students will benefit from these kinds of experiments, but if we start by focusing on the kids with the most needs, then we’re more likely to create a scenario where education technology is vehicle for meliorating rather than exacerbating educational opportunity gaps.

Additional Thoughts

I have a video op-ed up on the Harvard Graduate School of Education website, where I address some of my concerns about the role of education technology in expanding educational inequalities. Here’s the video:

So those are some of my thoughts on the topic… obviously there is much more to say. If you are interested, I will be giving a Berkman Luncheon talk on the topic this January.

If you have questions or reactions, please leave me a comment!

This post first appeared as Will Free benefit the Rich?, and is republished here with Justin’s permission

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EGRA testing in Ethiopia

Experts agree that measuring reading progress early offers the benefits of informing remediation, taking a snapshot in time or showing progress over time of children’s reading abilities and informing stakeholders and policy makers about what programs or methods work.

Frequent diagnostic testing at national or classroom levels can serve to establish benchmarks; and monitoring progress against these benchmarks can be a key factor in motivating schools, teachers, students, and families (Davidson, Korda, & Collins, 2011).

The Education for All Fast Track Initiative recently set two indicators related to reading skills:

1. Proportion of students who, after two years of schooling, demonstrate sufficient reading fluency and comprehension to “read to learn”
2. Proportion of students who are able to read with comprehension, according to their countries’ curricular goals, by the end of primary school

These indicators are considered an effective measure of a school system’s overall health as well as a specific diagnosis of reading performance that can inform policy and implementation of curriculum and teacher training, among other things. According to Gove and Wetterberg (2011),

“The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) is one tool used to measure students’ progress toward learning to read. It is a test that is administered orally, one student at a time. In about 15 minutes, it examines a student’s ability to perform fundamental prereading and reading skills” (p. 2).

Over the past five years, we at RTI International, various donors, and experts in the field of early reading have worked to “develop, pilot, and implement EGRA in more than 50 countries and 70 languages” (p. 2). Assessments like EGRA help teachers focus on results, by describing what children know or do not know, and where instruction must focus in order to change that. For example, in Egypt, the first Arabic EGRA survey showed very clearly that children who knew letter sounds performed better on reading a short passage than children who only knew letter names; yet 50% of children tested could not identify a single letter sound. These findings signaled that a fundamental shift in instructional methods was required, and after schools adopted a phonics-based approach using letter sounds, performance increased nearly 200% over baseline one year later (Cvelich, 2011).

That said, to measure for results, teachers and their supervisors must find the tools accessible and easy to use to inform their own instruction. It also helps if the results underpin communication with parents and communities, as well as national politicians. (Crouch, 2011). Too often, results from national standardized tests remain at the national level, with teachers rarely getting feedback on performance, much less feedback that is more specific than classroom averages. Furthermore, it can sometimes be months, if not years, before the results of large national assessments are made available, at which time it is too late to change instructional practices – at least for that set of children.

How can ICT play a role?

Systematic use of mobile devices to assess early literacy and numeracy, especially in developing countries, remains limited to date. Reasons include:

• Initial procurement cost of the devices and the necessity for specific training in their use;
• Lack of robust cost-benefit analyses to inform sustainability of this type of approach; and
• Limitations in local capacity to develop or manipulate the necessary data collection software.

As we state elsewhere (Pouezevara & Strigel, 2011), there are several ways in which information and communication technologies (ICT) may be applied to the assessment process to make implementation and use of the results more accessible:

• Creating or tailoring tests
• Training data collectors
• Collecting actual field data
• Manipulating and managing the data to extract and present the most significant findings.

Among these, the greatest added value is in using electronic devices for data collection and rapid analysis in place of paper-based assessments.

• Electronic devices can reduce the amount of paper needed, as well as the associated costs. Expenses dispensed with include the actual purchase of paper, clipboards, pencils, timers and so on, as well as the labor involved in the lengthy processes of checking student sheets for copy quality, stapling individual packets, counting instruments out by team and school in advance of data collection in the field, and distributing the packets. Paper-related costs such as printing, supplies, data entry, and data cleaning can make up 5%–15% of the entire budget of an EGRA implementation, according to an RTI internal review.
• Collecting data digitally means that it can move directly from a device into a database for analysis. This has several benefits in terms of efficiency: less time for data entry, lower data-entry costs, and less time to report out results. Quicker access can encourage stakeholders to do such assessments even when they need data rapidly to make important decisions based on results.
• Electronic means have the potential to reduce the number of points for human error in moving from paper to database to analysis software. As with most sophisticated survey software, programmers can build in checks or stops to help assessors recognize data-entry errors immediately, at the time of administration.
• Electronic media can be less physically challenging than dealing with paper-related administration: “An electronic solution may also reduce measurement errors arising from problems in handling the timers and other testing materials. Difficulties include forgetting to start the timer, setting the wrong amount of time on the timer, or leaving student prompt sheets with the student when they should have been taken away” (Pouezevara & Strigel, 2011, p. 188).

What solutions are available?

In theory, there are many potential ways to transform paper assessments into an electronic equivalent, but a custom solution is required because of differences between oral reading assessments like EGRA and other standard surveys. For example, data have to be entered at the child’s pace on the subtasks, not that of the assessor. Therefore, survey data collection applications on the market for phones, PDAs, or portable computers typically are not appropriate.

After investigating a wide range of potential hardware and software platforms, we developed Tangerine™, a digital assessment interface for touch-screen tablet computers running the Android operating system (see photographs). It can be used for the standard EGRA approach, or customized for other types of surveys such as early math diagnostics or school information surveys.

Other organizations are also exploring a variety of solutions. Prodigy Systems, an organization that has partnered with RTI in Yemen, successfully developed iProSurveyor for use with Arabic assessments on the iPad. Its first large-scale implementation in Yemen in early 2011 confirmed many of the benefits of the digital approach.

• The database output was easily readable by any data analysis program, avoiding time-consuming manual data transcription and recoding before statistical analysis.
• Administration errors, such as forgetting to start the timer or enter a response, were minimized through built-in error control.
• Significantly fewer materials had to be transported in challenging terrain and an environment unfavorable to printed materials.
• No issues arose linked to poor printing quality or stapling.
• Total administration time was quicker relative to paper assessment (comparison conducted over one assessment administrator).

Cost-Benefit Analysis

At RTI we recently conducted a preliminary cost-benefit analysis using approximate costs from recent EGRA implementations in four different African countries. The analysis aimed to identify the point of cost recovery at which the digital approach would actually yield cost savings. We modeled not one, but three data collection rounds for each country, because it is common to repeat assessments  - e.g., for program baseline, midterm, and post-intervention evaluation, or annual monitoring of student outcomes.

In our cost calculation for the digital approach, we assumed hardware costs of USD300/enumerator plus a 10% contingency for spares and accessories, such as a wireless access point for field-based data back-up for the first data collection (e.g., baseline). For the cost of a second digital data collection, we assumed re-use of the tablets from the first data collection, but factored in a 15% contingency just in case replacements are needed.

To calculate the cost of a second paper-based data collection we multiplied the paper-related costs by two, as the same costs for printing, data entry, and data cleaning would incur again. We followed the same process for adding a third data collection to the calculation (assuming baseline, mid-term, and post-intervention assessments).

As shown in Exhibit 1, for most small-sample data collections or one-time assessments, the cost of the hardware may not be offset by the eliminated paper-related costs. The return on investment in repeated implementations, however, is clear in terms of cumulative costs.

Exhibit 1: Cost of EGRA implementation, paper vs. electronic, for three administrations

In addition to making large national assessments more efficient, the same devices can be adapted for use as classroom-based continuous assessment tools, or as data entry interfaces for situations that still require paper-based tests. With such devices in their hands, teachers or school supervisors can do regular mastery checks more frequently, and capture the results at student and classroom levels.

The resulting data set is a rich one, and if it is supported by built-in computer-based analytics, it can be analyzed in multiple ways to indicate not only whether the methods in place are improving reading ability, but also what areas of the curriculum need more attention, and which children or groups of children are falling behind. For example, detailed item analysis at the classroom or individual level might show a recurring problem with vowel sounds, or decoding. This subsequently provides clear instructional recommendations to focus on.

Limitations and pitfalls

However, electronic administration is not necessarily a cure-all:

Obviously, using electronic data collection at either national or classroom levels does not solve all the limitations of print-based testing; indeed, doing so might introduce new challenges. For example, although a digital solution would eliminate the risk of environmental damage to paper forms during difficult transport situations, it might pose a great risk that all assessment data could be lost at once through loss, damage, or theft of a single device, if proper backup procedures were not in place. Likewise, handling of the new device might prove to be more challenging than handling the timer and all associated materials. […] Thus, strong electronic quality control and supportive supervision during data collection would be crucial. (Pouezevara & Strigel, 2011, p. 188)

Furthermore, the EGRA approach is intended to be a simple solution that can be adopted by countries with minimum technical assistance. An electronic solution should be flexible enough that it does not create dependency of users on software programmers or hardware technicians to change test items and configuration as needed.

In terms of costs, clearly, initial investment costs for specialized hardware may be prohibitive in some situations, but our preliminary cost-benefit analysis indicated that over time the investment will pay off if used for multiple large-scale implementations. Additionally, implementers can leverage the initial investment by choosing tools that can be used for other purposes when not in use for assessment—for example, by loading tablet computers with other instructional materials, training resources, or literacy materials.

We can also foresee assessment software being linked not only to automatically generated analysis of results, but also to suggested instructional resources tailored to those results and a record of day-to-day time on task. It is also possible, using the same technologies that power Tangerine™, to adapt the assessment methodology to more common and less expensive handheld devices, such as mobile phones. These smaller devices might be particularly useful for the most rapid types of literacy assessments, such as Pratham’s yearly literacy and numeracy surveys, which involve fewer subtasks than EGRA and fewer items per test.

Another potential pitfall related to making national or continuous assessments more readily accessible is that they could be used for excessive assessment, and focus on “teaching to the test” at the expense of other higher order or student-centered activities. Too much focus on averages or aggregated results can draw attention away from the achievement of specific subgroups. Additionally, care must be taken that classroom-level results are not misused by aggregating small samples and reporting them up to the national level or attempting to generalize them.

This is a rapidly evolving field, with new technologies arriving on the market almost daily, and prices falling significantly, so it is expected that it will become increasingly feasible to implement electronic methods for literacy assessments in developing countries. Meanwhile, we are piloting various solutions and collaborating with other institutions that have similar goals. Further interest and ideas from the international development community are welcome.

References

Crouch, L. (2011). Motivating early grade instruction and learning: Institutional issues. Ch. 7 in A. Gove & A. Wetterberg, The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Applications and interventions to improve basic literacy (pp. 227–250). Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI Press. Available from http://www.rti.org/pubs/bk-0007-1109-wetterberg.pdf

Cvelich, P. (2011, September/October). Egypt shakes up the classroom. Frontlines. Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Available from http://www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines/fl_sep11/FL_sep11_EDU_EGYPT.html

Davidson, M., Korda, M., & White Collins, O. (2011). Teachers’ use of EGRA for continuous assessment: The case of EGRA Plus: Liberia. Ch. 4 in A. Gove & A. Wetterberg, The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Applications and interventions to improve basic literacy (pp. 113–138). Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI Press. Available from http://www.rti.org/pubs/bk-0007-1109-wetterberg.pdf

Gove, A., & Wetterberg, A. (2011). The Early Grade Reading Assessment: An introduction. Ch. 1 in A. Gove & A. Wetterberg, The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Applications and interventions to improve basic literacy (pp. 1–38). Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI Press. Available from http://www.rti.org/pubs/bk-0007-1109-wetterberg.pdf

Pouezevara, S., & Strigel, C. (2011). Using information and communication technologies to support EGRA. Ch. 6 in A. Gove & A. Wetterberg, The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Applications and interventions to improve basic literacy (pp. 183–226). Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI Press. Available from http://www.rti.org/pubs/bk-0007-1109-wetterberg.pdf

I will explain the project design and implementation below. First, however, I want to pose three questions to readers:

1. What funding mechanisms are most secure for telecenter sustainability?
2. Are videoconferencing training programs effective when trainees have no prior experience with these technologies?
3. What pedagogical assumptions are instilled into videoconferencing trainings and what repercussions do these assumptions cause?

THE NEED

For the first time, local schoolteachers in rural Mexico could receive teacher training, many of whom had never received formal teacher training. The non-profit planned to put these teachers through a 50-hour training course via videoconferencing tools and a satellite broadband Internet connection.

In a Mexican government program, and with assistance from the IDB, villagers from underserved areas in Mexico can receive a financial scholarship for college and a modest stipend in exchange for teaching elementary or middle school for two years in other rural communities. The program, CONAFE (which stands for National Council for to Promote Education), is a great asset to these communities who are otherwise without teachers.

The problem, however, is that the CONAFE teachers have not gone to college or received much formal training. Though the teachers are required to attend monthly seminars and receive a few weeks of training before entering the classroom, they are otherwise without preparation and come with no more than a high school education.

THE PROJECT

To solve this problem, a technology-focused LLC who provides Internet connectivity via satellite to rural villages worldwide partnered with a local NGO to open an Internet café in the largest village (about 80 families) in the area. A local social entrepreneur was selected, who bought the technological equipment from the local NGO at low interest rates, and the Internet café quickly opened. Then, the local NGO partnered with the non-profit who trains undereducated teachers to put the CONAFE teachers through a 50-hour training course via videoconferencing tools.

Considering the unfamiliarity with computers that the CONAFE teachers have, it was apparent that they would have to rely heavily on the local Internet café owner to help them connect to a videoconferencing platform and to use the computers. Some of the teachers had never used a computer before, and even the most advanced had only used them a dozen times. The idea was that through this training, the CONAFE schoolteachers would not only become better teachers, but they would learn the basics of computer and Internet usage, invaluable skills without which they would be lost once entering college.

DIFFICULTIES AND QUESTIONS

Unfortunately, however, the Internet service was cut after just three months of service to the café. The cost of the service increased ten-fold in the contract with the satellite service provider after three months, a key detail in the contract that the local NGO had overlooked. Now, it has been over one hundred days that the Internet café has been without service. The social entrepreneur feels disgruntled and embarrassed in front of the other villagers, and wants nothing to do with the local NGOs efforts to reconnect the café with new service providers.

Without this connection, the videoconferencing training obviously stopped. Consequently, it is unclear whether the training would have been effective. The first training took place just one week before the Internet was cut off. I was at the training and afterwards I had a series of question regarding the program. How would the mentor relationship between the teacher trainer from the non-profit and the recipient CONAFE teachers affect their self-confidence and later self-development efforts? How would the training affect the teachers’ actual actions in the classroom? How much freedom would the CONAFE teachers have to modify the national curriculums that they were mandated to teach? Was a certification from the non-profit organization enough to motivate the CONAFE teachers to participate in the program? Would the certificate actually prove to be helpful in securing future employment?

It is impossible to find these answers from the short-lived project in Mexico. What experiences have you, reader, had that could shed light on the effectiveness of videoconferencing training over international boundaries? And can telecenters be financially sustainable in rural villages as they are in urban cities in developing countries? What increases the probability of financial success? If not funded through user fees, what are implications of government sponsorship or subsidies in telecenter projects?

I’d appreciate your comments and feedback from your own experiences.

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SchoolNet SA is a not-for-profit NGO, operating in South Africa since 1997. In the early days we attempted to cover all aspects of ICT in schools by sourcing and providing hardware and software as well as training teachers. Our mission has always been to create communities of teachers using ICT to enhance teaching and learning. These days we concentrate on teacher development with a particular emphasis on ICT integration and on underserved schools. These two areas often appear to be incompatible, as I will try to explain.

What we do

Our most supportive funders are Intel and Microsoft but we also have other partners such as Oracle, Vodacom, Commonwealth of Learning, SITA, Nokia, Multichoice, Peermont, Adobe, Uniforum, provincial departments of education, and a number of universities. We could claim that SchoolNet has trained vast volumes of teachers, which we have, but we do not like to fixate on numbers. We would prefer to consider how effective our initiatives have been. Hit-and-run interventions are not our style; we like to prolong our relationships with schools.

Sadly we often fall into the trap of chasing numbers to satisfy funding targets, sometimes losing contact with schools after training. This is the reason why we have recently embarked on a SchoolNet SA premium membership drive with the intention of engaging with individual teachers and encouraging them to stay in touch with each other. Our focus on social networking through our Facebook page, newsletter, blog and twitter (@SchoolNetSA) accounts all contribute to this aim.

The biggest challenge we face is in encouraging teachers to improve the way they teach. This applies to teachers across a range of schools. At the e-Learning Africa conference, Tom Power from the Open University UK said that the only way there could be any hope of changing existing pedagogies was to provide new classroom activities involving new technologies. This is a philosophy to which SchoolNet SA has always subscribed.

Our strategy for growing teachers into more advanced stages of ICT use is an incremental one. Teachers are often unable to make the leap from their own ICT literacy to its classroom application where they engage learners in the use of ICT in the curriculum. To combat this, we designed a range of courses to cover each stage of maturity with ICT, from basic literacy to project-based learning and the higher levels of innovation.

The 3 key pillars that uphold this strategy and that should be in place from the moment that technology is introduced to the school are leadership, technical support, and a culture of professional development. The Partners in Learning ICT Leadership for Education Managers course introduces school leaders and local ICT government officials to a range of crucial educational ICT issues.

The Partners in Learning Student Help Desk course is an effective course for computer clubs of learners. This is relevant to schools where there is no option for first-level trouble-shooting other than costly companies which are even more expensive if the school is remote.

Schools that work hard at staff development find that the most effective method of sustaining teachers’ motivation in ICT integration is through peer coaching; pairs or small groups of teachers planning lessons together and sparking off ideas has an instant and positive effect on the quality of teaching and learning.

SchoolNet SA is just beginning to venture into m-learning, training teachers to track students who are participating in the NOKIA MoMaths project using MXit and Moodle. We see a viral uptake of any new project using MXit – e.g. HIV 360 had 39 000 teenage users within a couple of months.

SchoolNet has always tried to contribute towards national ICT discourse and policy and we are grateful that South Africa does have in place the e-Education White Paper (2003) and the Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in ICT (2007). Implementation of these policies on the other hand has been slow.

Lessons learned

1. Educational Technology interventions often forget about the “educational” part and consider it to be completed once they have installed the technology. This results in teachers not being trained and consequently hardware remaining unused.
2. We must split training sessions and revisit schools to allow for a period of practice and self study before the trainer returns to the school to consolidate.
3. Teachers complain that training sessions are too short and that they do not have enough time for training or for practice.
4. Cascaded training, where multiple training of trainers takes place, does not work; it dilutes learning and quality is jeopardised. If a project requires a high degree of scale, trainers should be trained by a national master trainer and thereafter train directly in schools themselves.
5. We are not reaching the knowledge deepening level of the UNESCO Framework. Intel Teach project based courses are at this level, where the emphasis is on higher order thinking skills. Insufficient teachers are completing Intel courses; only two provinces have invested seriously in Intel Teach. If we study the TPACK theory (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) it becomes clear that teachers in many of our schools have challenges in each of the 3 separate knowledge areas let alone in the 4 sections where these areas intersect.
6. Teachers are unaware of what is available. From the Gauteng Department of Education evaluation we conducted with SAIDE, it became evident that not only do teachers have little knowledge of what resources are available to them online, but they are unaware of the array of educational software provided on their own school networks. This is directly due to insufficient teacher professional development in initiatives that are technology driven.
7. Access for learners in high schools is reduced when schools decide to offer external exam subjects such as IT and CAT because these monopolise the computer rooms. Only schools with alternative access such as two computer rooms or a mobile lab should consider offering these subjects.
8. High school teachers often argue that they cannot integrate ICT because they have to complete their syllabus, instead of realising that ICT can greatly assist to achieve this.
9. The disconnect between teachers and learners is growing. Schools need to be connected and pedagogy has to adapt. Children are online and becoming more connected, living in an exciting world of communication and “instant” everything. Then in classrooms, teachers say, “open your books and turn to page …. “ A high dropout rate should not be a surprise. As the saying goes, “If children do not learn the way we teach then we must teach the way they learn.”
10. Beware of Interactive Whiteboards (IAW). IAW have proliferated in schools despite the expense and yet in many instances this has resulted in teaching methodology reverting back to being teacher-centred.
11. Sugata Mitra’s TED Talk, Child-driven Education, illustrates through the cognitive studies that he has conducted. that children learn more effectively through discourse in groups. Mitra takes “child-centred” one step further to become “child-driven”.
12. At SchoolNet we are sceptical of educational software that does not require 21st Century learning skills and wary that some m-learning projects use merely drill and kill content.
13. It is important to commence ICT initiatives with the school leadership because they have great influence over the future take-up of technology by teaching staff.

What we recommend

We recommend sustainable plans for staff development in schools; ICT planning that is focused on the teaching and learning needs of educators. Teachers require lifelong learning opportunities.
Connectivity in schools has to be provided and at a reduced, or no cost, to the school.

We are seeing the value of android handheld and mobile devices with charging trolleys because these satisfy the need for learners to be involved, hands on and not just one learner at a time; they have to share the technology and share ideas, just as Mitra advocates.

Mobile phone use in schools has to be accepted. Teachers can collect second hand phones and allow working in groups to ensure that learners without phones are not excluded.

Obviously the one recommendation that SchoolNet is going to make time and time again is that there has to be greater investment in teacher development. The business community has to be strategically involved; they must specify the skills they require school leavers to have so that teaching is forced to adapt to developing those skills.

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The Government has therefore outlined various policies that are aimed at creating an environment that will foster technology use and encourage investment in ICT , with the Education sector being one of the most critical areas. This is because narrowing the digital gap is more than just providing physical access to computers and the Internet; people must understand how to put it to good use. The ICT in Education Strategy comprises the following elements:

Focus on Professional Development

Policy makers within the Education sector recognized that – in order for the government to achieve its objectives – emphasis had to be placed on teacher professional development in the areas of ICT in education, and therefore looked at ways to contextualize and implement the process.

The National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) is the Department within the Ministry of Education tasked with delivering all Continuous Professional Development programmes for in-service teachers. The ICT Unit within NCERD, which is staffed by three people, is responsible for all teacher training projects. The mandate of the Unit is to:

• Train all teachers to the Basic Computer literacy level by 2012.
• Manage all schools with computer laboratories (65 Primary, 80 Secondary).
• Implement SuccessMaker Software into the 50 schools which includes training of 2,000 teachers in its use.
• Train all secondary school teachers to deliver the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Information Technology and Electronic Document Preparation and Management Syllabi (109 teachers).
• Research and develop modules for all aspects of ICT training within the Education sector.
• Identify, train and implement low cost technologies with the schools system example (Jolly Phonics, Television, DVD’s, White Boards, etc).

The Unit was brought on stream in 2009 and a five-year work programme was prepared that outlined the rollout of the various tasks as outlined below:

• Contracted local experts in ICT from the University of Guyana (UG) and sought permission from Microsoft to use materials from them to create the first set of training manuals for the Basic Computer Literacy Level.
• Once the Manuals were completed, 20 Master Trainers were trained in the delivery of the content. These master trainers were senior IT teachers from the secondary level, with degrees in computer science from UG and Trained Teachers Certificates from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
• On average, 15 training classes were held every week, all over the country and in Georgetown.
• The SuccessMaker Training Programme was ongoing in 14 primary schools and is being implemented in phases in additional 50 primary schools from October, 2011.
• A whole-schools approach to the training of the teachers in the Schools with IT Labs was adopted and training is being done in those schools in the afternoons by the resources persons. The training is a combination of the Basic Computer Literacy and the use of SuccessMaker.
• 109 secondary school teachers were trained in programming over a period of one year.

As part of the five-year work programme, it is expected that all 13,000 teachers in Guyana would be trained to at least a level of basic computer literacy.

To date:

• 3,500 teachers have been trained in Basic Computer Literacy;
• 30 schools are running SuccessMaker successfully;
• 109 Secondary School teachers are competent to deliver Computer Science syllabi and the number of students writing these subjects has tripled in 2 years.

The ICT unit has faced some challenges. The major ones were:

• Qualified personnel to help with module writing;
• Retention of resource personnel;
• Equipment – lack of computers for training programmes;
• Lack of financial resources for implementation of initiatives and associated travel requirements;
• Lack of connectivity.

After reviewing the options available and recognizing that there was a lack of direction, the Ministry decided to adopt the UNESCO ICT Competence Framework for Teacher in November, 2009. The Ministry then entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec) and Commonwealth of Learning (COL) to secure their help in applying the Framework in such a way that it would suit the needs of Guyana. Based on this, an ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers in Guyana was developed in March, 2010, within the UNESCO Framework presented below.

The long-term outcomes of this strategy will be to ensure that all Ministry of Education officials, teacher development management and staff, school principals, and teachers are competent to harness ICT effectively to support high quality teaching and learning in Guyanese schools, with:

1. Most able to integrate the use of basic ICT tools into the standard school curriculum, pedagogy, and classroom structures, knowing how, where, and when (as well as when not) to use technology for classroom activities and presentations, for management tasks, and to acquire additional subject matter and pedagogical knowledge in support of their own professional development; and
2. A critical mass able to use more sophisticated methodologies and technologies with changes in the curriculum that emphasize depth of understanding and application of school knowledge to real world problems and pedagogy in which the teacher serves as a guide and manager of the learning environment and students are engaged in extended, collaborative project-based learning activities that can go beyond the classroom and may involve local or global collaborations.

Description of the Strategy

The ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers in Guyana will provide a comprehensive framework and learning pathway for Ministry of Education officials, school principals, administrators, and teachers to become competent to harness ICT effectively to support high quality teaching and learning. This learning pathway will use the UNESCO ICT CFT as its guiding framework. It will seek to develop core competences for the key intended audiences for a suite of professional development initiatives, as mapped out below.

Thus, the Guyana ICT Professional Development Framework for Teachers will incorporate the following initial professional development options.

1. ICT components in the revised CPCE programme (which, according to current plans, will be a two-year programme leading to a two-year Associate Degree in Education):
   • Two compulsory courses to introduce teachers to technology – electronic and otherwise – and then in more detail to ICT in education, equivalent to six semester credits (these courses are anticipated to focus on the level of ‘Technology Literacy’, in terms of the UNESCO ICT CFT);
   • A dedicated focus in secondary subject options to enable teachers to specialise in teaching IT as a subject;
   • Subject-specific ICT integration specializations (incorporated into subject-specific courses, not delivered as separate modules).
2. ICT components in the revised UG programme (a further two years of study, which will lead to a Bachelor of Education Degree):
   • Two further compulsory courses on ICT integration in education, again equivalent to six semester credits (anticipated to focus on the level of ‘Knowledge Deepening’, in terms of the UNESCO ICT CFT)
   • A dedicated focus in secondary subject options to enable teachers to specialize in teaching IT as a subject;
   • Subject-specific ICT integration specializations (again incorporated into existing modules, not delivered as separate modules).
3. A suite of courses to be offered by NCERD, with the possibility that some may, through a licensing agreement, be delivered by one or more suitable third-party suppliers and quality assured by NCERD. In the next five years, the objective will be to:
   • Create a dedicated module on ICT Integration for school principals, to be integrated into the 18-month course for school principals. In addition, it will be important to offer this module as a stand-alone course for people who have already successfully completed the course without the ICT Integration module. This module will include a specific focus on ‘Using ICT in school administration’.
   • Re-package the four ICT Integration modules being designed for the new CPCE and UG ADE and B. Ed. programmes as into two stand-alone courses for qualified teachers, as well as designing a stand-alone course for qualified teachers who are teaching IT as a subject, but are not formally qualified to do so.
   • Develop a stand-alone course on using Success Maker in schools. This short course will require two versions, one for teachers who are already ICT literate and one for those who are not.
   • Design of a course for ICT Coordinators at schools.
   • Design of a course for ICT maintenance and support personnel.

Implementation

The Innovative and Communication Unit within NCERD has worked closely with a consultant appointed by COL and ComSec on all aspects of the strategy and agreed upon the following principles and assumptions:

• Integration of the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers into all ICT TD initiatives and the curriculum design of all courses;
• Focus on constructing clear learning pathways for Guyanese teachers aligned to the Framework;
• Use of appropriate technologies and online/offline applications – different models;
• Delivery of professional development will be timed to coincide with ICT infrastructure models and rollout into schools;
• Alignment of pre-service and in-service TD (CPD);
• Increase capacity to deliver and capacity building of all staff;
• Change management is central to the strategy;
• All courses will be competency-based and include appropriate blends of face-to-face and distance learning and use of e-learning/appropriate technologies;
• Seek international benchmarking for courses (e.g. submit relevant courses and modules that it designs to The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth for formal approval when this becomes possible);
• Seek to build on and adapt existing national and international courses and modules wherever possible;
• Facilitate sharing of courses and materials by releasing them as Open Educational Resources (OER) on the Connected Classrooms Repository.

In addition, the World Bank, in collaboration with the Government of Guyana, has launched a project for the re-structuring of the CPCE and the UG Faculty Of Education and Humanities. The decision was taken that the UNESCO Framework would also be the basic for all ICT Courses offered by the two Institutions and that they would be aligned with what was offered at NCERD.

The COL/ComSec consultant, working very closely with the ICT Unit at NCERD, has:

• Designed an instrument that is being administered to all Guyanese teachers, as well as personnel at CPCE, UG, and NCERD. This instrument is a baseline study that will be used to determine the ICT capacity of the respondents. The data analysis and results will be used for decision making within the MOE, and this analysis will be repeated annually.
• Begun developing the Modules for Technology Literacy and Knowledge Deepening. The existing modules from all ICT courses offered at the three institutions will be reviewed and modified to meet the standards of the UNESCO Competency framework for Teacher Professional Development. The first set of modules is expected to be piloted in August, 2011.
• Several proposals for the improvement of the ICT Infrastructure within the three institutions have been tabled and procurement is on-going.

Conclusion

In conclusion, recognising that it is people that drive ICT use to create change in societies, the Ministry of Education is of the notion that the integration of ICT into the learning and teaching process through teacher training and professional development will become the backbone to creating a knowledge society that will have impact on the way ICT is used in the Country.

The plans and initiatives outlined in this document are aimed at:

• Changing the education culture of Guyana by addressing one of the critical needs within the system – stimulating and inculcating the use of ICT by all educator at all levels thus moving them from the analogue mode of thinking and moving them to the digital age, which will bridge the digital divide between teachers and their learners.
• Creating a society of responsible ICT users who can effect change in the way ICT is currently being used in Guyana – teachers and students can make decisions and choices that are based on a social and moral responsibility to the country.
• Preparing teachers with the fundamentals to be the driving force behind all of the initiatives that are being implemented by the Government of Guyana.

The conceptualization and implementation of the UNESCO competency framework will equip the teachers to face the growing demands for Guyana to join the rest of the Caribbean and world in creating a global Knowledge Society.

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The Mobile landscape in Africa has rapidly evolved over the past decade with 380 Million mobile subscribers and 1 million added every week. This growth has been fueled in a large part by the liberalization effort resulting in the formation of independent regulatory bodies and increased competition in the market. This has enhanced numerous grassroots efforts to empower the poor and marginalized by providing access to knowledge through technology, more so a platform for communication. SMS and voice is being used in innovative ways to share knowledge and improve learning among students in Africa.

Text to Change: Best practices

Text to Change has over the years proven that SMS and Voice based applications can be used successfully in various interactive mobile health education programs reaching thousands of people across the African continent. Text to Change (TTC) uses text messaging (SMS) to encourage behavioral change and has proved that this approach is a highly effective communication channel for health education, encouraging testing and drug compliance and informing people of the choices available to them concerning their wellbeing.

For example in 2008, TTC in partnership with Zain and Aids Information Centre, Uganda, devised a six-eight week SMS behavioral change campaign which was advertised with the slogan ‘’Don’t guess, learn the truth about AIDS’’ and its aim was to encourage people to know about their HIV status and learn more about the disease. Today, TTC is active in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, the impact of these programs needs to be complimented by other media like Radio and posters to build an awareness platform.

Opportunities and challenges

60% of people in Africa are under the age of 24, a school going age, which is knowledgeable about new technologies (even the use of smart phones) and becoming very demanding. The youth are booming with lots of enthusiasm to explore and learn any technologies at their disposal in schools and communities. They learn fast and are inquisitive. Technology distracts youth- either positively or negatively. The idea is keeping it simple to encourage learning. Also, mobile is still a more affordable technology than a computer for the youth seeing that service providers always have subsidized packages that accommodate them.

Technology role out for learning is still stalled by a number of factors in Africa including:

• Poor ICT policy implementation especially in the areas of Health and Education. These two areas are complimentary – will you educate an unhealthy nation?
• Most schools in Africa still do not accept mobile phone possession in classroom or even at school. Aspects of high teacher absenteeism and quality of teachers are still apparent.
• Limited mobile coverage especially in the rural areas which has also led to poor internet connectivity. Mobile operators are always seeking a win-win market situation– how then should we package these programs to make them interesting to the operators?
• Africa is characterized by too many ICT pilots of which most have not materialized to ongoing impact generating programs.
• Technology is powered by Electricity, which is a challenge to most of rural Africa.

The bloggers reflections

The future of ICT/Mobile deployment in mLearning is encouraging, however, this cannot be substituted for a weak education system – a good quality education sector is vital. It should be understood that ICT/Mobile is just a tool or an enabler to development. Success stories and failures aside, we need to be unambiguous about the definition of M-learning which varies from country to country. I believe the biggest opportunities lie in the access to information and knowledge.

In my outlook, many of the mLearning initiatives are designed within a ‘’what if’’ scenario: “What if everyone in rural Africa has access to a smart phone and/ or has access to internet?” The fact of the matter is that, inspite the rapid growth of the mobile industry; we need to use that which is currently available and practical. In most parts of Africa, we are limited to SMS, and Voice; this is the only medium that works on most basic devices. Teaching how to read, write and to do simple arithmetic is the responsibility of the parents, teacher and the government. It is complex to replace that by applications and mobile technology. I encourage that ICT or mobile should always be used as an enabler and could never be successful if it is used in isolation.

Mobile operators could encompass the role of an incubator; where a commercially viable product is introduced that will encourage the deployment and uptake of the other operators. Competition drives innovation. It is undeniable that operators are an enabler of technology with good network coverage and infrastructure their primary role. Text to change has partnerships with most major mobile operators in East Africa from which we get subsidized tariffs. Our short codes run on all networks in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

For example, Orange is providing us with technical support in countries where they have operations; however, the partnership does not demand exclusivity- we are open to work with other existing operators within the region. I then must argue that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is always a short term association. To have a sustainable working relationship with the mobile operators we must ensure a win- win situation since the primary goal / core business of the operator is to provide network services and make profits. This is how it should be. I rather have premium services and pay for it than a CSR project that doesn’t have priority for the service provider because it is not profitable.

Very many pilots in developing countries are currently donor funded and have created vast impact. The question is if they are successful, why then doesn’t the government take them on and scale them up nationwide? It is a pity to say that if the government does not scale them up then we remain in a pilot cycle.

The role of government (education ministries) can never be over emphasized. Development of a strong regulatory framework involving a range of stakeholders with accent on end user involvement will bring us far. For example, in Uganda a technical e-readiness working group is in place with the aim to bring different stakeholders together to accelerate ICT implementations in Uganda. A national ICT policy is in place and an education sector ICT policy is before Cabinet. The Ministry of Education and Sports is taking steps to co-ordinate ICT development and has allocated resources to support implementation of its ICT strategy.

Nationwide deployment of a mLearning application programme could only be successful with the inclusion of government having a dedicated budget. That said, mLearning applications have the potential to improve and strengthen the current Education system if integrated into an existing ‘well functioning’ Education system. It is interesting to ask ‘’If the paper based system works; why replace it by mobile phones? ‘’

The fact that Mobile is the most widely used technology in Africa and more people have access to a phone than a computer or even to good quality educational material offers vast opportunities for mLearning.

Recommendations to policy makers, regulators and other stakeholders

My 2 cents lie in the need to develop a legal regulatory framework, mobilize resources to support development of programmes and applications for mLearning. The Ministry should also directly support the development of mLearning applications and or innovations. In addition, the use and deployment of proved programmes and applications in the Education sector.

Before supporting more pilots, donors should research on what already exists; what has worked and what hasn’t. This will help cub duplication. Since most pilots are funded externally, therefore, we need to be creative in sourcing funds and build new business models to ensure continuity. The role of government and other private sector parties cannot be undermined to ensure continuity or sustainability of the pilot projects after the donor has exited. However, we need to be mindful that the MLearning project objectives should therefore be able to meet the countries’ development goals to attract continual implementation by government.

Public private partnerships in the mobile industry need to be encouraged. Tax on Mobile technology, especially on mobile devices is very high in East Africa. In Uganda the VAT on Mobile products is high at 30%. A recent report on the GSMA shows that mobile subscribers across East Africa are highly taxed the world over. This has to be lowered to encourage mobile deployment in Africa. In order to encourage mLearning, the government needs to be creative with tax incentives that will encourage service providers to engage without incurring losses.

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Commonwealth of Learning has described OER as “digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and re-use for teaching, learning and research”. Knowledge and educational materials became accessible in ways that were hitherto extremely restricted. The value of such resources to educational institutions in developing countries is even more significant considering the many challenges they face as the resource constraints deepen and student intake increases.

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), like other institutions in developing countries, has had to deal with an ever increasing number of students, inadequate faculty, insufficient funding, resource constraints, limited infrastructural capacity, low research capacity, and basic ICT infrastructure among other challenges.

For example, the School of Medical Sciences which was originally expected to admit a maximum of 50 students per annum, has for the past 15 years enrolled more than 100 students a year without a commensurate expansion in resources and infrastructure. These challenges and the need to maintain the quality of the educational experience make the use of OER at KNUST attractive.

KNUST’s steps into OER

The first encounter of KNUST leadership with OER was at a workshop held in Accra in 2008 and jointly sponsored by the Hewlett and Soros Foundations. The potential of OER in addressing some of the challenges faced by the College of Health Sciences in delivering quality educational content to clinical students was highlighted. Subsequent workshops at the Institute of Medicine in Washington DC and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor the same year threw more light on OER.

In 2009, KNUST, through its College of Health Sciences (CHS), became part of an OER collaborative project funded by the Hewlett Foundation. The partners included the University of Michigan (UM), OER Africa, University of Ghana, University of Cape Town, and the University of Western Cape.

Under the project sensitization, policy and production workshops were organized for administrative heads and faculty members which brought together staff from the College of Health Sciences, the KNUST library, the ICT Directorate, the Department of Communication Design and other parts of the university. This was part of a strategy to build a multidisciplinary team for the development and use of OER at KNUST. The OER concept was embraced with a great deal of enthusiasm, demonstrated by the several pilot e-learning and OER projects that were proposed by the faculty members who attended the first production workshops. A professor of internal medicine was subsequently appointed to coordinate OER activities in the College.

Faculty members began creating instructional modules on self-selected topics in their areas of expertise using various formats. Authoring faculty proposed the specific subject and type of material to be developed. They received technical support from media specialists and web designers to create appropriate and user-friendly content and designs suitable for publication. Reviewers then checked the materials for copyright and other issues prior to their publication by the web administration team on KNUST’s dedicated OER website which serves as a repository for the university’s OER materials.

The process took advantage of the diverse expertise at the university to ensure efficient production of OER. The development of e-learning materials for teaching and learning in the College was also accelerated by the introduction of OER. The College benefited from the assistance of a visiting professor from the University of Michigan who spent one year at KNUST and dedicated most of his time helping faculty with OER development. Materials developed included medical, psychiatric, and obstetric case studies; clinical demonstrations as well as surgical and laboratory procedures using various formats such as videos, text and narrations; and the use of drawings, animations, graphs and other illustrations to enhance the learning experience. During the first six months, KNUST faculty completed seven (7) OERs from scratch with many more at various stages of completion.

Impact

Even though no sustained systematic evaluation has been undertaken regarding the use of OER the benefits of these locally produced materials as well as their impact on teaching and learning became evident even at the early stages. Students considered the productions as a valuable enhancement, but not a substitute, to the traditional forms of pedagogy. Combining the traditional in-class learning environment with OERs enhanced self-learning and resulted in more quality contact between learners and faculty as students were already familiar with the material. The use of videos, animations and other illustrations also made complex and difficult-to-grasp scientific processes such as PCR and laboratory procedures easier to understand.

The use of OERs promoted access on demand by students, better contact with the learning materials, learning at learner’s own pace and learner-centred approaches in teaching and learning. It facilitated the demonstration of clinical skills at the bedside and in the operating theatre to a large number of students. Students had access to a wide range of content outside the local resources. These benefits to both learners and teachers increased the acceptance of OER in the College of Health Sciences.

Challenges

The initial enthusiasm about OER was followed by a decline in the number of faculty actively producing them. This was attributed to a number of unanticipated challenges. For instance production required additional effort which was not rewarded. Other challenges included the lack of administrative, technical and infrastructural support for faculty; non-release of over-committed faculty from regular commitments to make time for OER related activities; and funding constraints which became more apparent as the programme grew.

The few faculty members who continued to produce OER were mainly self-motivated. Others engaged in it as a form of electronic “hobby”. As the OER efforts at KNUST were part of a project based in the College of Health Sciences, wider institutional awareness, interest and support were lacking. It became evident therefore that the existence of an OER policy of the university was necessary in order to ensure its growth and sustainability.

Policy Environment

Establishing an overarching policy framework which is conducive to the creation and use of OER in KNUST was identified as a critical step if the OER initiative was to succeed. During the early stages, a workshop was held for the relevant administrative heads at KNUST to introduce the concept. Additionally, a review of the current institutional policies identified the need for an appropriate policy framework for OER. A committee was set up in 2009 to draft a policy on OER which was approved by the KNUST Academic Board in 2010 and published online in 2011.

The policy seeks to address issues regarding human resource and budgetary allocation, infrastructure, collaborations, publication rights and licensing, technical support, review process and quality assurance, access, potential liability, motivation and academic rewards among other things. The policy for instance, states KNUST’s adoption of the Creative Commons licenses. The policy also addresses some of the challenges outlined earlier and paves the way for the institution-wide adoption of the OER initiative. The OER policy for KNUST, the first such policy in Africa, is ready for implementation and it is our hope that it will positively impact on teaching and learning across all disciplines in the university.

Conclusion & Recommendations

The experience of KNUST and the College of Health Sciences in particular, revealed vast opportunities that OER brings to education. These include helping improve the quality of education, widening access to learning far beyond what is locally available to learners and reducing the costs of accessing educational materials.

The experience also brought valuable lessons to the fore which could be useful for educators, policy makers and other stakeholders interested in a sustained use of OER in education. Early institutional ownership and integration, the development and implementation of an appropriate policy, wider stakeholder involvement including the Ministry of Education, faculty, and students, as well as sustainable funding and investments are essential factors in any OER initiative. It is also critical to incorporate the development and use of OERs into the regular teaching and learning processes, develop appropriate quality assurance processes, and metrics for evaluating its impact. Institutional networking and collaborations such as the African Health OER Network are among measures that will enhance sharing and create valuable synergies for sustaining the endeavour.

OER has undoubtedly presented an opportunity for higher educational institutions in developing countries to create knowledge and use a wider range of educational resources. It can help educators bypass the long resource building period and enable them provide high quality education through open access. It further provides a platform for higher education institutions and faculty to become producers and contributors to global knowledge.

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The Partners in Learning Network, an education initiative from Microsoft, is a dynamic web resource that connects teachers and education leaders in professional development communities enabling them to share challenges, solutions and teaching resources.

Perhaps more familiar as the Innovative Teachers Network (ITN), the Partners in Learning Network (PiLN) was transformed in November 2009 when it re-launched as the next generation of this already globally popular site with the inclusion of new social networking technology.

How has the integration of new social technology changed the experience for teachers? Teachers register on the Network by supplying a valid email address and completing their personal and school profiles. This now allows them to find other teachers with similar interests and experiences, create communities in which to discuss hot educational topics, build shared workspaces, and share content and best practices with peers in their country, region or even the wider, global community of teachers should they so choose.

These communities create opportunities for new ideas and experiences.They also serve as a primary vehicle by which teachers can be exposed to and share courseware, curricula guidelines and content as well as being invited to participate in a variety of competitions, webinars and conferences.

But, what are Microsoft’s motives behind a venture of this kind? According to Anthony Salcito, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector – Education,

“High-quality education is the foundation for success and growth. There is a need for empowered teachers, strong school leaders, better curricula, and the ability for students to connect with one another and the rest of the world. Through various highly successful initiatives, such as the Partners in Learning Network or the Innovative School Programme, Microsoft reaches out to more than twenty million teachers and students on the African continent, bringing access to technology and high-quality learning content”.

The Partners in Learning program is one of Microsoft’s flagship programmes and is a global initiative designed to actively increase access to technology and improve its use in teaching and learning. Tom Kucharvy had this to say on his blog,

Although Microsoft is genuinely focused on ensuring that education technology produces optimized results, one can be excused for suspecting something of a conflict of interest. The Partners in Learning program is, after all, run out of the company’s Public Sector Markets group—a group that is focused on, and rewarded for increasing sales into its target market.

Microsoft, however, makes no secret of this affiliation or of its desire to dramatically increase the penetration of IT into schools. In fact, it refers to Partners in Learning as a “social enterprise” rather than a “social responsibility” program. It believes it has a responsibility to help improve educational systems in all countries to facilitate the countries’ and the peoples’ economic development, to create a more robust market for technology and to develop a better equipped workforce. In other words, what’s good for the world—or at least for the world’s education system—can also be good for Microsoft’s business. No conflict in that.

Challenges

Access to the African Teaching Community

The original iteration of the Network proved successful in developed world countries and thousands of teachers signed up. Because of poor connectivity, however, many developing countries could not be a part of it. As a consequence of new technical developments throughout Africa, bandwidth has improved significantly.

Although many African teachers now have an opportunity to join the Network, many are still excluded. Teachers need to sign up for a Windows Live ID account before they can register on the Network. It is possible to convert any existing email address into a Live ID address, but this process is somewhat cumbersome and time-consuming. It requires a verification process whereby teachers must confirm their details via email first.

Many teachers are lost during this process as they forget to check their mail to complete the registration process.

Language Constraints

Despite global popularity and these advances in connectivity, uptake on the African continent has been considerably (and understandingly) slower than the rest of the globe.

Building a vibrant community of African users is no small feat, especially when you consider the high linguistic diversity due to an estimated 1500-2000 languages that are spoken across the continent. Currently, the African Partners in Learning Network is only available in English. This excludes French, Portuguese and KiSwahili speaking teachers, which forms a major contingent of the African teaching force.

Microsoft has plans in the pipeline to take on new languages. This does not entirely address the problem, however, as a completely new site is required in order to launch new languages. Essentially this would mean, for example, that all French-speaking African teachers would be directed to their own French version of the Network. French-speaking and English-speaking teachers would therefore be isolated from one another and not benefit from collaboration with the wider African teaching community. But this may be an intractable problem for now.

Technological Infrastructure

The Partners in Learning Network is a global initiative. Each of the individual country sites are governed by one main architectural framework. Essentially, this means that functionality added by developed countries with available budget is to the advantage to those who lack the additional funding. On the other hand, though, due to the single architectural platform serving each of the sites, there is not currently sufficient scope for countries to ‘opt out’ of certain functionality additions if they do not specifically serve their goals.

This is particularly true in the case of Africa. Africa is a unique continent with unique contexts.
Over the past two years the Partners in Learning Network has evolved with many new developments and improvements. During this period the needs of the African users have evolved too as more users have registered. As part of this, there is growing demand for users to be able to select country-specific home pages, rather than a generic ‘African’ homepage.

In particular, several African education ministries have expressed interest in creating their own national presence within the framework of the Africa Partners in Learning Network. This is partly due to lack of funding and resources that would otherwise have enabled them to establish their own web infrastructure independently.

A change of this magnitude has substantial impact to the core structure of the Network. Microsoft is currently exploring ways in which this request could be best supported.

Building Locally Relevant Content

While Microsoft supplies a variety of supplementary materials to users accessing the Network, the majority of resources and material should be contributed by the teachers themselves.
The Network was designed so that African teachers can easily interact and collaborate with their counterparts elsewhere on the continent and benefit from African produced resources.
The predisposition amongst African teachers, however, has historically been to hold onto their intellectual property, more as a natural response to fear of criticism than unwillingness to contribute towards educational growth.

This lesson was first observed by South Africa’s Department of Basic Education when launching the education portal, Thutong in 2006. Thutong aims to deliver information, curriculum, and support materials to the South African schooling and FET College community. Thutong enlists Departmental subject experts to provide expert opinion on the curriculum and encourage the South African education community to share their teaching and learning materials. However, despite these noble efforts, community participation has been marginal. The South African teaching community, not unlike the wider African teaching community, are at times anxious that their contributions may seem paltry in comparison with those from more advantaged circumstances.

Triumphs

The Partners in Learning Programme and Partners in Learning Network is slowly evoking a shift in the minds of educators across Africa.

Each year Microsoft brings together the most innovative teachers from around Africa to compete in the regional Innovative Education Forum (IEF). The Microsoft Innovative Education Forum recognises teachers who are using ICT in engaging ways to promote teaching and learning.

In 2009, 50 African teachers gathered at the Pan-African forum in Mauritius. Moliehi Sekese, a teacher from Lesotho, demonstrated that lack of technology, or infrastructure should not put a damper on creativity or sharing one’s own innovative experiences.Moliehi teaches at Mamoeketsi primary school, a rural school with 700 students and only two laptop computers. The school had no electricity until one year ago, and so the computers were charged from her home.

A winner at the Pan-African event, Moliehi went on to receive the Educator’s Choice Winner Award at the 2009 Worldwide Innovative Education Forum held in Salvador, Brazil. Her project on the scarcity of indigenous plants was amongst those submitted by over 400 teachers from around the world. Through these forums, African teachers are experiencing a new way of sharing content, breaking down barriers and becoming genuine thought-provoking leaders and active content contributors. Sekese’s project, as well as many other exemplary teaching and learning resources, can be found on the Africa Partners in Learning Network.

The Partners in Learning Network is one of the fastest growing social networks for educators globally. Since its re-launch in 2009, it has reached over 3 million education leaders, teachers and students from 102 countries, providing education leaders, teachers and students around the world with supportive peers and mentors, new content and curricula and tips and tricks for teaching in creative and effective ways.

The African teacher contingent on the Partners in Learning Network also continues to grow steadily. There are now over 150 public communities on the Africa Partners in Learning Network and the membership base continues to grow.

These communities contain teachers who, despite circumstances, continue to share ideas and best practices with their peers and facilitate the creation of collective knowledge.

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