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Learning Communities Enabled by Mobile Technology: A Case Study of School-Based, In-Service Secondary Teacher Training in Rural Bangladesh
With the aim of providing developing member countries (DMCs) with better guidance to use information and communication technology (ICT) effectively in education, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded a 21-month regional technical assistance (RETA) in Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, and Samoa. The RETA researched approaches to using ICT in education in ways that succeed in improving teaching and learning and also are sustainable given the region’s development challenges. The study equipped two subject trainers, a training coordinator, and a cluster of 10 schools with “smartphones”2 (with video, speakerphone, and three-way calling capabilities), for use by 20 Bangla and math teachers in 10 schools of the Barisal region in southern Bangladesh (for a map indicating the study area, see Appendix 1 of this report). The existing training curriculum was revised from a 2-week, face-to-face workshop to a 6-week distance-mode training based on printed materials and practical application of training content with peers.
Old Technology or New? A Study of Video Recording as an Innovative Method for Primary School Teacher Training in Rural Nepal
With the aim of providing developing member countries (DMCs) with better guidance for using information and communication technology (ICT) effectively in education, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded a 21-month Regional Technical Assistance (RETA) in Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, and Samoa. The RETA researched approaches to using ICT in education that succeed in improving teaching and learning and also are sustainable given the region’s development challenges. The study in Nepal focused on the use of digital video recording and laptops as tools in remote teacher training settings. Although VHS video has been around for many years, and has been common in teacher training in some countries since the 1970s, the advent of digital recording offers many new possibilities for using video in the classroom, as well as in developing-country contexts, because of the compact and easily distributed nature of this technology. This makes video a particularly suitable tool for remote areas with poor communications infrastructure, such as the mountainous regions of Nepal.
Data for Education Programming in Asia and Middle East: Philippines EGRA Four Language Study – 2015 Follow-On
A year after the first baseline EGRA was completed in four language regions, a follow-up survey was administered to samples of 30 to 40 teachers and 375 to 400 students per grade in the same regions (randomly sampled). The sampled teachers were asked about their preparation for, level of comfort with, and understanding of MTB-MLE, and their instructional practice during a reading lesson was observed. Timed observation instruments provided an opportunity to analyze time on task, and the relationship to reading achievement. Students completed an assessment of their letter sound knowledge, decoding skills, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension in their mother tongue, and their listening comprehension and ability to read familiar words in Filipino, as well as their oral understanding of common English vocabulary words and phrases.
PhilEd Data II: Early Grade Reading Assessment Results: A cross-language look at MTB-MLE implementation in the Philippines
Following the study completed in 2013, measuring English, Filipino and Ilokano reading skills, this 2014 EGRA study is serves as a baseline for monitoring the government's Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) program by conducting EGRA assessments in four mother-tongue languages—Cebuano (Sinugbuanong Binisaya), Hiligaynon, Ilokano and Maguindanaoan. The survey also included classroom observations of teaching practice and teacher interviews to gather contextual information about the extent of MTB-MLE implementation.
PhilEd Data: Strengthening Information for Education, Policy, Planning and Management in the Philippines. Early Grade Reading Assessment Results (Grades 3 English and Filipino, Grade 1 Ilokano)
The present report describes the results of two reading assessments that were carried out to measure performance of a representative national sample of children reading English and Filipino at the end of grade 3 (Objective 1, above) and a regional sample of children reading Ilokano in grade 1 (Objective 2, above). The first included a national sample of 2,463 students, selected in a stratified, random framework to be representative of six geographic areas: North Luzon, Metro Manila, South Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The second was a regional sample of 494 children in 50 schools selected randomly in Region 1 from all schools who reported having begun implementation of Ilokano instruction in school year 2012–2013 or 2011–2012.
MobiLiteracy Uganda (MLIT Uganda): Results of a controlled trial of an SMS-based literacy support program aimed at female caregivers
This presentation, based on the Impact evaluation of the MobiLiteracy Uganda program, was delivered at the UNESCO Mobile Learning Week conference in Paris. The presentation highlights the evaluation methodology and raises some important conclusions about evaluating mobile learning programs.
Tech’n Teachers: Assembling the jigsaw puzzle - but do we even know the picture?
This presentation was given at the 2015 Game Change Summit of the United Methodist Church in Nashville, TN. The presentation takes the audience along a journey of 2 different technology initiatives that involve teachers in Samoa and Kenya and share with you some of the pieces we have found, and where we think some are still missing. While there are many more, the presentation focused on each initiative’s main puzzle pieces – the key design elements of education objective, content, technology, training, cost and scale, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
MobiLiteracy-Uganda Program: Phase 1: Endline Report
In 2012, Urban Planet Media and Entertainment Corporation/Urban Planet (UP) was awarded a grant through All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development. The grant awarded to UP was used to develop, pilot test, and evaluate an early literacy product in Uganda that targets parents through their mobile phones and encourages them to engage their early primary- school aged children in literacy skills-building activities outside of school hours. The product delivered to caregivers multimedia (text plus audio, or SMS+audio) content in Luganda on a daily basis over period of 91 days. During this period, all of the letters of the Luganda alphabet were introduced as well as 10 key vocabulary words all related to a short story. The product was evaluated by RTI International using RCT methodology. This is the Endline report describing the findings using a product evaluation framework.
MobiLiteracy-Uganda Program: Phase 1: Baseline Report
In 2012, Urban Planet Media and Entertainment Corporation/Urban Planet (UP) was awarded a grant through All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development. The grant awarded to UP was used to develop, pilot test, and evaluate an early literacy product in Uganda that targets parents through their mobile phones and encourages them to engage their early primary- school aged children in literacy skills-building activities outside of school hours. The product, which is delivered in the Luganda language, delivers multimedia (text plus audio, or SMS+audio) content on a daily basis over period of 91 days, during which all of the letters of the Luganda alphabet are introduced as well as 10 key vocabulary words all related to a short story. The product was evaluated by RTI International using RCT methodology. This is the baseline report describing the methodology and participant characteristics after pre-testing.
Planning and evaluating ICT in education programs using the four dimensions of sustainability: A program evaluation from Egypt
Article published in the International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology. This paper presents the findings from a program evaluation of an ICT in education project within the USAID-funded Girls Improved Learning Outcomes (GILO) program. The evaluation uses a framework of four dimensions of ICT sustainability-- social, political, economic, and technological dimensions--to examine the appropriateness of the design and implementation of the project, which provided simple, relevant technology to 166 schools in Upper Egypt. The evaluation study aimed to determine the extent to which the ICT component inputs were still in place and being used by the school and community one year after direct project support had ended. The findings suggest that ICT in education projects must favor neither the hardware nor the pedagogical aspects of the technology. Instead they layer the pedagogical use of technology on top of a deliberate technology infrastructure.