Chapter 5 of the book Cultivating Dynamic Educators: Case Studies in Teacher Behavior Change in Africa and Asia. This chapter critically reviews the design, implementation, and evaluation of an attempt to study an exploratory short message service (SMS)–based intervention conducted under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Malawi Early Grade Reading Activity (EGRA).1 The overall EGRA program, which was implemented from July 2013 to October 2016 in 1,614 schools across 11 educational districts, was designed to support Malawi’s Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MOEST) to improve reading outcomes in both Chichewa. and English languages among children in grades 1–3. The

Presentation delivered at CIES2017 (Atlanta). Providing teachers guidance, mentorship and encouragement in between formal, face-to-face trainings or coaching sessions is challenging. While school directors and other peers may offer teachers support in some contexts, others may experience difficulties, isolation or discouragement in incorporating new practices into their classroom instruction. This paper presents new research from a controlled study in Malawi that sought to extend in-person professional development trainings with a targeted communication campaign over a familiar, low-cost and ubiquitous medium: SMS text messages.

Turkey is embarking on one of the world’s largest educational technology projects: putting tablet computers in the hands of every student from grade 5 to 12, and interactive whiteboards in every classroom. Though massive in its planned scope, the goals and approach of Turkey’s FATIH Project (The Movement to Enhance Opportunities and Improve Technology) are little understood. The objective of this brief is to analyze FATIH through the lens of ongoing and previous international, large-scale ICT in education experiences, and to use those experiences to suggest ways in which this important investment in educational technology can lead to the best possible learning outcomes for all students in Turkey.

Turkey is embarking on one of the world’s largest educational technology projects: putting tablet computers in the hands of every student from grade 5 to 12, and interactive whiteboards in every classroom. Though massive in its planned scope, the goals and approach of Turkey’s FATIH Project (The Movement to Enhance Opportunities and Improve Technology) are little understood. The objective of this brief is to analyze FATIH through the lens of ongoing and previous international, large-scale ICT in education experiences, and to use those experiences to suggest ways in which this important investment in educational technology can lead to the best possible learning outcomes for all students in Turkey.