Global

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.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a relatively recent innovation with potential to provide access to relevant education and workforce training at scale. RTI previously studied MOOCs in the context of the US market, and determined that more efforts are needed to examine the prospect of MOOC use in developing economies. This paper defines MOOCs and contrasts MOOCs with previously established forms of online learning and open educational resources. It concludes that although MOOCs have potential for expanding access to important educational content and resources, currently they favor more privileged and educated individuals. Further evolution of ICT infrastructure, platforms and pedagogical models is needed before common MOOC models can meet the needs of the majority of learners in developing economies.