Dot Learnt

Desmond Diggs, part of the Teach for Liberia Initiative, weighs in on bringing the Teach for America model into a post-conflict developing context. Find out what tech and teachers are doing for the first African country to experiment with the TFA model.

0 – 10 Seconds: Tell our readers a bit more about what inspired you to get involved with Teach For All? What led you to your decision to become an educator?

I left Liberia over 20 years ago as a result of a civil war that lasted nearly 14 years. I’ve always known that I wanted to return and use whatever skills and talents I had to help in the rebuilding efforts, even though I was unsure of what that contribution looked  like.  I saw firsthand so many of the success stories that came out of Teach For America in the face of seemingly impossible odds, and Liberia posed a context that was just as challenging. More importantly, I came to understand how education was the foundation for any country’s revitalization, and that Liberia needed a program like Teach For America to dramatically alter the paths of kids.

10 – 20 Seconds: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced upon implementing the Teach For All model in the post-conflict developing context of Liberia?

Teach For All has implemented successful models in twenty-three countries in the last ten years, but a model has never been adapted in Africa to date. As I was repatriating and familiarizing myself with Liberia after twenty years, I also had to be sure to navigate the unique challenges of the African context.

Across the network the vision is the same in every country: “one day all children will have access to an excellent education.” However, in Liberia the majority of students struggle with challenges as basic as access and attendance. Moreover, because the country is post-conflict, nearly every basic social service is being built from the ground up. Figuring out the best way to start and how to navigate these deep challenges has caused lot of setbacks, but has also been a daily learning experience.  (more…)

Today, we pass the digital pen over to our Literacy Research and Education Outreach Resident, Nelly Elzayat. Currently based in Cambridge, MA and a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Nelly is studying and working extensively in the realm of international education. In today’s post, Nelly shares with us her latest research on digital literacy and it’s integration into curricula both domestically and globally. You may read her report in it’s entirety by checking out Using Digital Literacy to Enhance Adolescent Literacy.

Today’s adolescent reader is engaged with digital texts that range from electronic books to websites to mobile phone texting (Larson, 2009),  yet our middle school and high school classrooms do not reflect this component of adolescent life. Textbooks continue to be predominantly in print, and the main mode of communication between the teacher and the student is face-to-face interaction that occurs mostly in the classroom. Nevertheless, some educators have managed to capitalize on the predominant technological aspect of adolescents’ lives to raise student motivation levels, and in turn enhance their literacy skills.

Sheelah Sweeny (2010) describes a US literature teacher who sent her class an assignment to summarize a Shakespearian passage through a mobile text message, and required the class to respond in the same way. Another teacher required his students to post a minimum number of tweets each week. The result was a strong sense of community among members of the class. (more…)

When big names like Harvard University and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation get together, you know things are going down. Edtech things that is.

Last week the 2012 Hewlett OER Grantees Meeting took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, bringing together key stakeholders to address powerful questions regarding Open Educational Resources and open education.  With 6 main goals in mind, the conference sought to understand and address the following:

1)    Deepening the understanding of OER systems and the factors that influence accessibility

2)    Identify ways to increase OER’s impact across cultures

3)    Communicate field-wide goals

4)    Increase visibility of OER projects among grantees

5)    Enrich a community of practice through conversion

6)    Develop an action-oriented roadmap to leverage OER’s impact on education (more…)

Abu Dhabi’s “least visited facilities” in government schools are getting a makeover. Libraries are turning into Learning Resource Centres. The once-drab destinations will be equipped with class facilities, activity and research centers and a library of over 3,000 English AND Arabic books, magazines and newspapers – all with a multimedia glaze.

A study conducted by the Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research found that around 70% of Grade 12 students enrolled in government schools had rarely or never set foot into a library. Meanwhile, an Emirates Foundation-funded study found that half the 350 Emirati boys surveyed had fewer than 50 books at home.

(more…)

An infographic embellished with a crisp and distinctive Red Delicious apple caught my eye last week: Can Apple Do It Again?

In this visual synopsis, WorldWideLearn, one of the world’s leading online directories of education, assesses whether Apple’s iBooks will triumph in the world of literature and learning.

In a digital age, Apple’s recent release of the iBook has ushered in a change, but, as of yet, nothing revolutionary. Still, they say change doesn’t happen over night. Some key numbers to notice:

• More than 600 school districts around the United States are issuing iPads to their students in specific classes.
• Over 11 million iPads have been sold.
• Since 2010, the percentage of those between the ages of 18 and 29 owning a tablet computer has increased three-fold. (more…)

Looking to digitize or self-publish your latest efforts into Arabic? Get in line with Qordoba Books and Digital Publishing Solutions, a bilingual cloud system that serves as a reading platform where users can convert, issue, publish and enjoy online content – in Arabic.

Qordoba CEO May Habib explains how Qordoba is a “full A-Z solution that takes the headache and high cost out of digitizing books, publishing them online and distributing them on the web and to mobiles.”

Many Arabic writers who attempt to digitize their works often face the problems converting right-to-left language into ePublishing formats. Qordoba will facilitate the transition into digital format, making publications ready for use on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android devices. (more…)

News on the street last summer was that the government of South Korea would be making moves to replace all hardback textbooks with electronic readers and their digital equivalents by 2015. With a $2.4 billion price tag, the Ministry of Education reports that they would be raising and teaching students who would be “equipped for the future.”

In recent days, the government has had some second thoughts, spurred by resistance to the program from South Korean educators.

In a world that is becoming increasingly teched out, why are some governments backing out? South Korea – one of the world’s most wired nations – is starting to think that digital devices are becoming too pervasive and that, “young students won’t have as much time to experience real life and real things.” (more…)