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The contents of this Issue do not necessarily reflect the policies or the views of the co-sponsors or their affiliates
If we perceive basic education only in terms of basic literacy, numeracy and rudimentary life skills, then
technology is a luxury. However, basic education for all in a modern world entails more than the conventional
recipe. The new economic and societal challenges force us to think of basic education as a learning activity,
anytime, anywhere, and for everyone. To achieve that, technology is a necessity.
All children must have access to school and be able to stay there, in order to achieve basic education. There
must be good quality “second chance” education for adolescents and youth who have never been in school.
There should be a focus on the needs of those most disadvantaged and excluded from learning, both in and
out of school – girls, working children, children of ethnic minorities, and children affected by violence and
conflict, HIV/AIDS and disabilities.
The changing standards of literacy and technological literacy will likely produce a situation in which a digital
divide will persist well into the future. However, in the area of information and communication technology use
and access, we can take steps that will narrow this gap, but only by paying special attention to literacy issues.
Multi-grade schools will not disappear but are essential for achieving basic education for all. There are proven
methodologies for making the multi-grade school a modern, progressive and effective vehicle for learning.
Existing and new technologies ought to be exploited to implement these methodologies.
19 TechKnowNews
Governor Would Give Every Student a Laptop ♦ A Virtual Revolution in Teaching ♦ First 'Digital Divide' Bill
Passes Senate ♦ Presentation of World View Information System for Basic Education NGOs in Africa and
South Asia ♦ A Bilingual Descriptive Database of 850 Education Projects in Africa, Now Accessible Online! ♦
Technology Critic Takes on Computers in School ♦ Internet Improves Kids' Attitude to School ♦ Children
Tutoring Seniors at Internet Skills
Throughout the developing world, there is evidence that telecenters—a.k.a. Community Learning Centers—
may be starting to create a social context for learning in the post-industrial economy. If the conviviality,
sociability and cohesion of the "watering hole" can be brought to the business of learning, then the business
of education and development will have done its job.
25 Interactive Mathematics for Basic Education: The Venezuelan Experience with IRI
Nora Ghetea Jaegerman and Victor Vasquez R.
This article describes an interactive radio instruction program in Venezuela for mathematics at the lower
primary school level. Program accomplishments are summarized in the areas of production, implementation
and evaluation.
Ethiopia is fortunate to have a well-established and integrated system for using radio and television to
support education based on over 30 years of experience. This article describes present radio and television
programs that support primary, secondary and non-formal education as well as teacher training. It also
highlights experience with digital radio.
In order to empower disadvantaged groups as equal partners in development, the limitations of formal and
non-formal education are now being challenged. New ways to achieve mass education, that can be both
efficient and effective, are being sought. This article describes the track record of community radio, the
possibilities of going digital and the need for a new paradigm to reform broadcast licensing and regulating.
36 Computers for Children: From the Beaches of California to the Slums of India
Sonia Jurich
This article describes what happens when children encounter a computer for the first time. Do the children
immediately interact with the computer, as if "equipped" with innate instructions for its use? Do they learn
slowly, through trial and error? How far can they go without an adult's interference?
This article provides an overview of the introduction, use, effectiveness and cost of different technologies for
basic education worldwide.
This article describes a framework for the use of information technology to create an education information
system that meets the needs for information at three levels: policy, management and operations. The article
walks the reader through software that illustrates this framework.
This article describes a model of leveraging digital satellite technology to enhance the professional
development of teachers, and outlines the positive and negative experiences in applying it in South Africa.
There are approximately 20,000 educational software packages and many thousand educational websites
throughout the world. How can you decide what is good and what is a waste of time?
This article describes ways by which outdated computers in government and business offices can be recycled
into schools. The issue, however, is that most computers that are being discarded no longer have software
installed, and newer software packages do not work on them. The article describes software that restores the
core functionality of old computers.
61 WorthWhileWebs
Gregg B. Jackson, Vishnu Karki, and Sole McKinnon, George Washington University
The World Wide Web now offers extensive resources that can be useful in basic education. This Issue lists a
wide range of sites that can be used by teachers or parents, and some that are intended to be used by the
learners themselves to supplement their other educational activities.
This article describes technologies that allow you to take your prepared materials and your notes on the
whiteboard and broadcast them over the web.
A new series of digital devices are changing the ways we can produce information and keep the best of both
worlds: the soft touch of a pen, and the many resources of a computer. These devices allow us to write and
draw in traditional ways, sometimes using pen and paper, while creating digital copies of our notes and
drawings that can be stored, copied, faxed, e-mailed, printed, and modified.
For teachers, presenters, and students, scanners offer an easy way to incorporate images into a presentation
and enliven an otherwise dry exchange of information. The article describes an array of portable and
handheld scanners with multiple functions.
The author describes the beginnings of the Education for All movement in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990,
the biggest stocktaking of education in history leading to the World Education Forum in Dakar in April
2000, the Dakar framework for Action and the role of technology.
The Academy for Educational Development (AED) is an independent, nonprofit organization committed
to solving critical social problems in the United States and throughout the world through education,
research, training, social marketing, policy analysis, and innovative program design and management.
AED works at the frontiers of new thinking, new approaches, and new technologies.
YEAR 2000
January/ March/ May/ July/ September November/
February April June August /October December
YEAR 2001
January/ March/ May/ July/ September November/
February April June August /October December
Basic Education: Is It for All? strategies and measures, to give Education for All a new
impetus politically, strategically and operationally.
• Given the importance of the learning foundations and of Radio, television and the Internet are fast becoming one de-
continued learning in knowledge-intensive societies livery medium. They can be accessed in schools, at home, or
characterized by rapid change, those who miss out – ei- at the workplace. Communities that cannot afford developing
ther initially or later on – suffer effective exclusion. programs for them may benefit from those developed in
other communities or by a central educational agency.
3. Basic Education for Everyone
The Internet poses a problem of affordability in low-income
The biggest challenge is to reach individuals and groups that communities. One solution has been the establishment of
are historically under-served: girls and women that Community Learning Centers, featured in every issue
face cultural and physical obstacles to come of TechKnowLogia. These centers, many of
to educational institutions, rural which are run by the communities
populations that are too thinly themselves, aim to enhance basic
dispersed to populate "regular"
With the proper har- education, train teachers, develop
schools with reasonable class nessing of information local businesses, strengthen
sizes, adult workers that have no municipal administration and civil
and communication society organizations, and provide
time to attend regular courses,
and persons who cannot come to technologies, the goal of health care information for popu-
learning centers because of basic education for all, lations in small villages. These
security hazards. Here we need to centers provide connectivity and
be innovative and think "outside
anywhere and anytime, computers, while emphasizing the
the box." In some situations, we may is within our reach. learning functions of the
need to go "over" the hurdles and communication technologies that are
provide education where these potential made available.
learners are - anywhere.
Into the Future…
What Technologies?
Education for All is critically important. Attaining it is a hu-
Information and communication technologies offer a great man need, a societal must and an economic necessity. With
potential to provide this kind of basic learning, anytime, the proper harnessing of information and communication
anywhere to everyone. The crucial question is what technol- technologies, the goal of basic education for all, anywhere
ogy to use for what purposes and under what conditions. and anytime, is within our reach. But the reality is that no
The possibilities and mutations are many - from the simple to technology can fix bad educational philosophy and practice,
the complex and from the individual to the mass scale. This nor can it compensate for a lack of political commitment.
Issue of TechKnowLogia alone introduces a number of tech- The decisions about what to use, how and when, are political
nologies that can enhance classroom teaching/learning. Then and educational decisions that must be made consciously and
there is the radio, a very underutilized technology that is daringly. As we look into the future, we should keep in mind
widely available, inexpensive and educationally effective. It that educational technologies will be further developing in a
can provide educational opportunities anywhere, anytime. phenomenal manner and their costs will be dropping drasti-
Television is another powerful communications medium that, cally. They are not the panacea for education, but can we
in half a century, has expanded to many remote villages attain basic education for all without them? In the poor
across the globe. It can simulate reality, compress activities countries, and under present conditions, they may not be af-
and cut across borders and cultures. Finally, is the Internet fordable, but can poor countries afford not to fully use them?
Basic education for all (EFA) has become a universal EFA. UNICEF is pleased to be playing a key leadership role
objective. To ensure its fulfillment, I see six crucial and in this Initiative.
complementary elements.
Quality basic education is a necessity. Learners must be
First, all young children must be ready for school and for healthy, well nourished, and ready to learn – where
life – that from birth they are nurtured in safe, caring, and necessary, through childcare and pre-school programs of
gender-sensitive environments that help them become good quality. Systems must provide relevant curricula and
healthy, alert, secure, and able to learn. Nations must learning materials which are gender-sensitive and in
promote more comprehensive policies and programs to meet languages that teachers and children can understand, for
the health, nutrition, and development needs of young literacy, numeracy, and education content on human rights,
children, especially the most excluded. gender equality, health, HIV/AIDS, and peace. Teachers
must be well trained to use flexible classroom arrangements
Secondly, the right of every child to basic education must and child-centered methods, so that children can participate
be fulfilled. All children must have access to school and be actively and think critically.
able to stay there, in order to achieve basic education. There
must be good quality “second chance” education for Schools must have adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities,
adolescents and youth who have never been in school. There and school policies that guarantee physical and mental
should be a focus on the needs of those most disadvantaged health, safety, and security. Above all, children must end up
and excluded from learning, both in and out of school – girls, learning what they are meant to, and need to, learn. Schools
working children, children of ethnic minorities, and children must have practical ways to assess these results and report on
affected by violence and conflict, HIV/AIDS and disabilities. them for all to see: parents and communities, as well as
national governments. Both new and old technologies, such
Every school and community must know how to seek out as Internet connectivity and radio instruction, must be used
excluded and at-risk children and ensure they attend school. more creatively to reduce, rather than increase, disparities in
Where needed, more flexible, “non-formal,” targeted access to quality learning. Government policies must ensure
approaches to education must be developed. Getting the last affordable access for all young learners, wherever they live.
5-30% of children into school is likely to take more
innovation and be more expensive than the first 70-95%. The In situations of conflict, violence, and instability, learning
250 million children presently caught up in child labor must must be started quickly. UNICEF has shown in many
be provided with meaningful and affordable quality countries, most recently in Kosovo, East Timor and
educational opportunities. Mozambique, that this requires the ability to rapidly assess
educational and psycho-social needs of children, provide
Thirdly, we must put a special focus on girls. It is a global essential supplies and materials, promote local governance
shame that two thirds of those children out of school are and partnerships in restoring education, and support relevant
girls. If this problem is not addressed, Education for All will and rapid curriculum and teacher development.
surely fail. Girls must have full and equal access to, and
achievement in, basic and secondary education. Denying Finally, and most urgently, children affected by
girls basic education is a massive violation of human rights. HIV/AIDS deserve immediate attention. Systems must
Accelerated basic education must be strengthened, and ensure creative and dynamic life-skills programs that both
additional education opportunities provided for adolescent transmit information and change behavior, so that education
girls. All forms of gender discrimination in education has an impact on the pandemic – on decreasing the rate of the
systems and schools, in curricula and learning materials, and transmission of the virus. Education systems must also act to
in teaching and learning processes must be eliminated. decrease the impact of the pandemic on education – on the
Schools must be located where girls can reach them safely, demand for, supply of, and quality of education – and on
and every school must have separate and functioning latrines educational systems, schools, and learning. HIV/AIDS has
for girls and boys. The UN Girls’ Education Initiative an especially great impact on the education and wellbeing of
launched by the Secretary General in his Millenium Report is girls.
an all-out global effort to crack the major impediment to
UNICEF
EFA Forum
AED
Commonwealth of Learning
There is a universal recognition of the critical importance of education that meets the basic learning needs
of all citizens: children, youth and adults. Throughout this past decade, many countries have made
concerted and significant efforts toward the goal of basic education for all. The results constitute a mixed
picture of many successes and as many obstacles. This article provides an overview of the state of basic
education across the globe. (Source: International Consultative Forum on Education for All (the EFA
Forum), Unesco, Paris. More is available at the website: www2.unesco.org/wef).
•
ACCESS In Africa, countries such as Cape Verde, Malawi,
Mauritius, South Africa and Zimbabwe have achieved
primary enrollment rates of 90 percent or more. Uganda
Overall, access to basic education has increased for both has more than doubled its enrollment in two years.
children and adults, but illiteracy rates are still too high. • School enrollment in Asia has outpaced the region’s
population growth rate and outdistanced the rest of the
Pre-school: world. China and Indonesia are close to achieving full
primary school enrollment. Bangladesh doubled its
• About 104 million children worldwide were enrolled in education budget with a resulting 19 percent increase in
pre-school in 1998, a 5 percent increase from a decade primary school enrollment.
earlier. Pre-school enrollment figures vary from close to • However, dropout rates are still very high. A quarter of
100 percent in Bermuda, Malaysia, Belgium and Sweden the 96 million pupils who entered school for the first
to 2 percent or less in countries struggling with war and time in 1995 is likely to abandon schooling before grade
economic crisis. 5. In South Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and
• In Asia, the number of kindergartens and nurseries Sub-Saharan Africa, less than three out of four children
increased by 25 percent in the past decade. reach Grade 5. In many countries, less than half of the
• In the Caribbean, 80.3 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds were children will complete basic education and many will
preschoolers in 1997. drop out at the end of the second grade.
• Although most early childhood programs in Latin
America are found in middle-class, urban areas, Adult Education:
innovative programs are geared toward economically
deprived groups; for instance, the Wawa Wasi, in Peru • From 1970 to 1998, the number of literate adults
trains local women to care for children at home, and has increased from 1.5 billion to 3.3 billion. Currently, the
reached over 700,000 children. overall adult literacy rate is 85 percent for men and 74
percent for women.
Primary Education: • The illiteracy rate for young adults between 15 to 24
year-old has declined to 13 percent.
• In 1990, 599 million children were in school. In 1998, • However, at least 875 million adults remain illiterate, of
this number rose to 681 million. which 63.8 percent are women (the same proportion as
• Since 1990, about 10 million more children go to school 10 years ago).
every year, which is nearly double the 1980-90 average.
In addition to Western Europe and the United States,
East Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean
are now close to achieving universal primary education.
The Literacy Divide literacy really means, probably due to the rapidly changing
nature of ICT developments across the globe.
The United Nations estimates that there are one billion illiter-
ate adults in the world today (about one-quarter of the We know also that educational and literacy levels play an
world’s adult population), the vast majority of whom are important role in the likelihood that a person will own a
located in the poorest half of the world. Furthermore, recent computer or be linked to the Internet. This has led to the
surveys suggest that this situation is even more serious than popularization of the notion of the “digital divide” – a gap
previously believed. Industrialized (OECD) countries now that separates the “haves” and “have-nots,” irrespective of
admit to having very serious problems of their own in liter- country. Consider recent statistics in the US (U.S. Dept. of
acy and basic skills, with up to 25% of adults considered to Commerce, 1999):
be lacking the basic skills needed to function effectively in
the workforce (see OECD/Statistics Canada, 1995; Tuijnman • 61.6% of those with college degrees now use the Inter-
et al., 1997). net, in contrast to only 6.6% of those with an elementary
school education.
Of course, we should quickly note that these two statistics are
a result of changing standards and definitions for literacy that • At home, those with a college degree or higher are over
have taken place over recent decades. Indeed, if the OECD eight times more likely to have a computer than the least
standard for literacy were used to measure literacy in devel- educated and nearly sixteen times more likely to have
oping countries, the number of adult illiterates in developing home Internet access.
countries would likely go up by at least two or three fold.
This seems to be the case, in great measure, due to the often • The "digital divide" for Internet use between those at
poor quality of primary schooling in many developing coun- highest and lowest education levels widened by 25%
tries (Wagner, 2000). from 1997 to 1998.
Technological Literacy • Those with college degrees or higher are ten times more
likely to have Internet access at work as persons with
only some high school education.
Clearly, the problem of inadequate literacy remains a sur-
prisingly large and pressing issue around the world. As we
While data on Internet use is changing rapidly, the best avail-
move into the information age, many policy makers have
able evidence suggests that Americans with less education -
been raising the issue of individual standards for knowledge
those who might benefit most from the Internet's educational
of information and communications technologies (ICT) –
value - are falling further behind in digital access.
what is often called “technological literacy.” Interestingly, no
country appears to have on record exactly what technological
It is fair to say that the “digital divide” is a global phenome-
The Current Status of Multi-Grade proach to learning in a rural multi-grade setting. Escuela
Nueva began operating in 1976. The methodology is fully
Schools in the Developing World followed in over 10,000 schools and partially used in many
more schools. Escuela Nueva methodology is being repli-
Multi-grade schools, defined as schools where one teacher cated in countries as diverse as Guatemala, Dominican Re-
teaches two or more grades, are common in rural areas public and Egypt. Research has shown that children learn
throughout the world. In Peru, for example, there are ap- more and drop out less in Escuela Nueva schools than in tra-
proximately 21,500 primary multi-grade schools, 95% of ditional rural schools.
which are located in rural areas. 89% of the rural schools
are multi-grade schools, and 41,000 teachers, or 69% of the The approach in all successful multi-grade programs, in-
total rural teaching force, teach in rural primary schools with cluding Escuela Nueva, emphasizes the changed role of the
multi-grade classrooms. In Sri Lanka, around 1,250 schools teacher. Since the teacher has to impart knowledge to a di-
out of the 10,120 schools in the country have less than three verse group of students, he/she has to develop a wide variety
teachers. Vietnam has 2,162 multi-grade schools that com- of teaching learning strategies. The teacher has to find ways
bine 2, 3, 4, or 5 different levels in a single classroom.∗ of encouraging self-learning and of older children helping
younger ones. The teacher increasingly becomes someone
The unfortunate reality is that these schools form the most who guides and supports students’ learning processes rather
neglected part of the education system. For the most part, than simply imparting knowledge. To make the system work
they are located in isolated, low-income rural areas, and gen- requires strong and focussed training programs and regular
erally have untrained teachers. The few trained teachers usu- follow-up and feedback from supervisors and trainers. De-
ally understand and use only "monograde" pedagogy. Na- tailed, practical, and proven guidebooks are essential. In the
tional curriculum contents, teaching and learning materials Escuela Nueva, particular attention is paid to the role that the
and activities taught at schools are frequently geared for teacher plays in the community. Escuela Nueva also pro-
monograde classes. The result of untrained and inappropri- motes democratic processes within the classroom through
ately trained teachers, as well as lack of appropriate teaching active and participatory methodologies and community par-
learning materials, is that children in multi-grade classrooms ticipation.
spend much of their time relearning material they already
know or sit idle and boxed. Teachers in multi-grade schools need to get together regu-
larly to discuss, share and evaluate results, problems, success
While the world is becoming increasingly urbanized, multi- stories, and to plan ways to solve any problems that are
grade schools will remain a reality for many years to come. commonly present in multi-grade classes.
Adequately meeting the needs of children in multi-grade
classrooms will be essential for the achievement of quality In developed countries, strong training and outreach pro-
education for all. grams, often very costly, have evolved to support the rela-
tively small number of rural and isolated schools. Interest-
ingly, some progressive schools in the USA and Europe have
Proven Models for Multi-grade Teaching combined grades one and two and sometimes three and four
as a means of recognizing children's different rates of matur-
There are now proven models for multi-grade teaching in ity.
both the developed and the developing world. In developing
countries the Escuela Nueva in Colombia is a well-
documented, highly successful example of an integrated ap-
As costs go down, there are more possibilities for the use of • Multi-grade schools will not disappear.
other technologies to reinforce multi-grade teaching. The
two most important ones, described below are "enhanced" • There are proven methodologies for making the multi-
radio and the Internet. grade school a modern progressive and effective ap-
proach to learning.
TWO WAY RADIO, LOW POWER, AND DIGITAL
• Existing technologies ought to be exploited now to im-
RADIO
plement these approaches.
In the above examples, radio programs are national or re-
gional in scope. Technologies are now becoming available • Emerging technologies offer even more powerful tools
to have low power radio stations covering 10-40 kilometers for effective education in multi-grade schools.
∗
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/multigrade/
©IDRC www.idrc.com
The Watering Hole hood nucleus that provides people with a place to come to-
gether. Drawing on Ray Oldenburg’s The Great Good
Long term development wallahs1 are probably familiar with Place2, Richard Holeton describes the “three essential places
the story of the faucet and the well, which has become rather in people’s lives: the place we live, the place we work, and
a classic in development literature. It seems that some the place we gather for conviviality.” Both Holeton and
twenty years ago, a team of evaluators assessed the impact of Oldenburg stress the value and function of the third place,
a water and sanitation project on a small village in South which is not merely a center for idle chatter but rather the
Asia. While the newly installed pipes brought water into place where “communities can come into being and continue
homes, relieving girls and women of the burden of fetching it to hold together.”3
from the well, the project also ruined their social lives. The
well was where they congregated, of course, to gossip, plan Common places and communities are also topics of conver-
celebrations and social events, even arrange marriages. sation and debate in the electronic age. While critics caution
Without that common place, they became even more iso- against the impersonal nature of keyboard- and monitor-
lated—though more conveniently so—than they probably induced activity and the loss of face-to-face interaction,
were before. One wonders how many happy unions were apologists extol the virtues of virtual communities and the
sacrificed for those handy drinks of water. benefits of online interactivity. Some, like the ever-
insightful Steve Cisler, describe the struggle between the
The story is relevant here not so much for its project design two:
lessons but for illustrating the importance of the proverbial
watering hole—that public square, commons or neighbor-
The program was created in order to help resolve the prob- Interactive Mathematics produced three series of the radio
lem of low levels of quality learning in this subject. Addi- program Entertaining Mathematics: 125 programs for first
tionally, given that this problem is greatly tied to deficiencies grade, 140 for second and 135 for third. The series follow
in the training and updating of math teachers, the program the customary format of Interactive Radio, in the sense that
was devised as a system of permanent training for teachers they are programs lasting approximately 30 minutes that
through the use of their own resources. In order to accom- combine instructional segments with recreational segments,
plish these objectives, the program offers the following sup- aside from others in which the two functions are combined.
port to participating classrooms: a radio, a teacher’s guide, a They also implement distributive practice in that at the be-
package of complementary materials, the daily transmission ginning of the year topics are addressed which continue to be
of a radio program “Matemática Divertida” [Entertaining deepened in complexity and difficulty throughout the rest of
Mathematics], teacher training and follow up. the year.
The typical Interactive Mathematics lesson or “encounter” The radio program, Entertaining Mathematics, is dramatized
contains three important aspects: preparation, listening to the and each series develops in a particular context. The char-
radio program and carrying out activities suggested in the acters become familiar to the students, who carry out differ-
guide. During preparation, the teacher organizes the students ent kinds of activities with them. Music is used through
and ensures they have the necessary materials ready for the songs that are especially composed for the series. The pro-
transmission. During the radio program, varied and intensive grams also use stories and adventures with situations in
activities are carried out, monitored by the teacher. To wrap which mathematics procedures have to be applied, as well as
up the “encounter,” the teacher carries out activities of riddles, math games and physical exercises.
evaluation and reinforcement, going more in depth as sug-
gested in the guide, in some cases supported by the comple- Teacher’s Guide
mentary materials the teacher receives.
A Teacher's Guide, divided into the following sections ac-
companies each series: Introduction, Instructions, Planning,
Since its beginnings in 1991, program activities have cen-
Evaluation, Encounters, Songs and Special Activities.
tered on two fundamental aspects: the production of instruc-
tional materials, and the formation of a national administra-
tive structure to manage its implementation.
♦ Special Activities. Contains the development of some The coordinating team carries out planning, designs a state-
activities that are considered special because they re- wide program budget, negotiates and signs agreements and
quire more advanced work in order to be carried out, and contracts with the governments and the radio stations that
they cover the development of a concept from its first transmit the program, distributes and controls program mate-
approximations through some of its applications. Thus, rials, plans the workshops for directors and teachers, com-
they generally require various sections in order to be municates with the central team, and in general, deals with
completed. any issue having to do with the program in the state. Usu-
ally, this team is made up of a coordinator and two or three
Complementary Materials people assigned by the government, although in some cases
For each grade a packet of Complementary Materials was there can be up to ten people in a state coordination team.
designed to carry out some of the activities during and after
the transmission. This contains: Another important function of the coordinating team is to
carry out follow-up with classroom participants to verify the
♦ Materials to create an atmosphere in the classroom, such correct application of the program, as well as to offer support
as posters and illustrations. when necessary.
♦ Concrete materials: logic blocks, metric tape, bills and
The team of facilitators is selected by the coordinating team
coins, mosaics, molds to construct geometric shapes,
to train the teachers who enter the program. This team is
cards.
made up of a combination of integral education teachers and
♦ Worksheets.
mathematics teachers who receive special education and re-
Follow-up Costs
The follow-up is carried out at two levels - regional and cen-
tral. What follows is a description of both processes. Series Production (125 programs)
Total: $375,000
♦ Regional Follow-up Per program: $ 3,000
◊ Visits to a sampling of participating schools. These vis- Materials and Equipment
its can be of two types:
◊ Supervision of a complete encounter of Interactive Radio $ 40 (Duration: 5 years)
Mathematics, including the pre-transmission activity, the Radio batteries $2
transmission and the post-transmission activities. Teacher’s Guide $ 8 (Duration: 5 years)
Complementary materials $ 7 (Duration: 1 school year)
◊ A technical visit, which consists of going to a school and
visiting all the participating classrooms. Through the in-
spection of the classroom environment and a review of 1997 Calculations
student workbooks, it can be determined if the program Series transmitted: 2nd & 3rd grade
is being followed in that class and if it is being carried Number of students: 336,000
out adequately. These visits also involve oversight of Average number of students per class: 30
the school personnel. Number of participating sections: 11,200
◊ Meetings with supervisors, directors and teachers. Number of radio stations: 23
EMA has embarked on a new initiative that has the potential Non-formal education
for improving the quality of its programming and, eventu- Under the new decentralized structure, non-formal education
• Radio receivers are widely available, comparatively Radio - An Under-utilized Delivery System
cheap and portable, making them convenient for listen-
ers. In order to empower disadvantaged groups as equal partners
in development, the limitations of formal and non-formal
• Radio can reach people who are isolated by language, education are now being challenged. New ways to achieve
geography, conflict, illiteracy and poverty. mass education, that can be both efficient and effective, are
being sought. In this context, radio, an effective telecommu-
• Radio can help create a nications medium, was
demand for services and proposed at Jomtien in 1990,
convey vital information. as the solution most likely to
Radio reaches a wider audience than address this great need. Radio
• Radio can facilitate any other medium: for example there can cut across geographic
assistance in the early
stage of complex
are an estimated 94 radios per thou- and Given
cultural boundaries.
its availability,
emergencies when forms sand people in the least developed accessibility, cost-
of aid are not possible. countries, ten times the number of effectiveness and power,
radio represents a practical
• Radio can be a group
televisions. and creative medium for
activity, encouraging facilitating mass education in
discussion of educational a rural setting. However ten
issues after the broadcast. years since Jomtien, radio still continues to be an under-
utilized technology in education. This is especially surpris-
• Radio gives listeners the opportunity to make informed ing, because from a learner's point of view, radio is user
choices about decisions and can give them greater self- friendly, accessible and a well-established medium. From an
determination over their lives (Burke, 1999). educational provider's point of view it is easy to set up, pro-
duce and broadcast programs.
Some examples of the usefulness of community radio are:
After almost one hundred years of broadcasting history, most
• It can act as a community telephone, broadcasting com- nations possess more than a respectable level of engineering
munity-based announcements during the day. skills and broadcasting talent needed to apply the technology
in education. In the last ten years, radio has been greatly en-
• In many rural areas radio is the only source of informa- hanced by the emergence of new technologies, which have
tion about market prices for crops. opened up opportunities for a variety of forms of delivery
and access for both broadcaster and listener. For example,
portable, low cost FM transmitting stations have been devel-
• It is used both for formal and informal education such as
oped and digital radio systems that transmit via satellite
agricultural extension information for farmers and agro-
and/or cellular are being implemented in many parts of the
food processors.
globe (Walker, 2000). Internet streaming audio software
technology has emerged to allow a global audience to listen
• It plays an important role in the preservation of local
to news from a distant country. Also, windup and solar ra-
language and culture.
dios have been developed thus freeing radio from the need
for expensive power sources.
• It can be used in calling for emergency medical assis-
tance. (Girard, 1999) Projects and studies completed by The Commonwealth of
Learning (COL) and others in the field of Distance Educa-
Radio and the Internet are fast becoming one delivery me- The Ability to Reform -
dium, with the advent of streaming technology and the con- A New Paradigm in a New Age
version from analogue to digital radio broadcasting. A small
community radio station will serve not only its local listeners The overarching issue that will face community radio in the
but also communities of listeners around the world. future will be a government's ability to reform licensing and
broadcasting regulations. These have been major inhibitors
An advantage of digital radio transmission is that areas to the proliferation of community radio stations and therefore
which suffer 'signal gaps' due to blockage by hills or build- educational programming in many countries. Community
ings can literally be 'gap-filled' by installing very-low power radio cannot be equated with commercial radio. Therefore,
digital radio repeaters in these locations. This is possible due licensing fees for community-based stations should take ac-
to the digital radio receiver's 'intelligence'. Unlike conven- count of the station's limited budget, which is focused on
tional receivers, digital radio receivers are capable of sorting program creation and service to the community.
through a number of signal paths on the same frequency, a
capability that will aid in the conservation of scarce radio In some countries a community station must show an in-
spectrum. In other words, broadcasters can enter the digital crease in transmitter power each year for the station license
radio marketplace on an equal footing; where they go from to be considered for renewal. Increasing FM transmission
there will depend on individual creativity and appropriate- power does not improve the radius of coverage; rather it satu-
ness of content to address community needs. Finally, broad- rates more thoroughly the radius where the antenna is able to
casters should be able to make this transition in a cost- see to the horizon. It is more efficient to use small transmit-
effective manner because the digital radio transmitters cur- ters as repeater units that retransmit the main station signal
rently being tested can carry up to six stereo services at once, further afield. The issue, in many cases, is that a community
meaning that the cost of transmission can be shared among station cannot efficiently cover the targeted populace due to
as many as six community stations either in a region, prov- regulators’ demands for additional licensing fees to acquire a
ince/state, nationally or even internationally. And, because second frequency for rebroadcasting to a greater radius of
the power requirements are considerably lower for generat- distance and population. This becomes prohibitively expen-
ing digital radio transmissions, the operating costs should be sive given that the first frequency may have cost several
substantially reduced as well. No longer will powerful thousand dollars without even having the fees demanded for
transmitters, as in the analogue FM world, be the factor that a second rebroadcast frequency.
makes or breaks the development of a community station.
Instead, since digital transmission power is the same regard- If radio is to be utilized to serve community needs as an in-
less of a station status or power output, issues of quality, ap- strument for education, training, and information then a first
propriateness of content, and ability to address a commu- step will be the deregulation of the airwaves by governments
nity's needs will be the focus of a station's strategy to attract for community broadcasters coupled with appropriate ad-
listenership. ministration fees. However, with deregulation comes com-
petition by many stations for listening audiences at the local
Throughout human history, children have used play as a tool Two of these reports referred to experiments in after-school
for socialization. While at play, children learn and practice clubs in California and North Carolina, U.S.A. (Mayer,
the rules governing their social relationships, and the many Quilici & Moreno, 1999; Mayer, Schustack & Blanton,
intricacies of living and working in society. In the early 1999). The research focused on what children learn when
1920s, the prominent educator John Dewey expressed a con- using computers in informal settings, and if they can gener-
cern that schooling was leaving play - and motivation - out- alize their learning to different contexts. The participants,
side the learning process. His words went unheard. The who attended nearby elementary schools, were mostly chil-
constructivist theory has again focused on the importance of dren from low-income, immigrant families, speaking limited
play to learning. Through play, children develop both crea- English. Although the researchers did not state whether the
tivity and skill mastery. They learn si- children had access to computers at home
multaneously how to ask questions and or school, their demographic characteris-
find answers. Moreover, they develop the Unfortunately, researchers tics strongly suggest that they did not.
motivation to keep asking, to explore the
world around them. As society changes,
are too concerned with con- The children's task was to solve mathe-
matical puzzles in the computer with
so do the ways children play. Over the trolling the environment to minimum help from adults. Written task
past two decades, computers, and their "let it go," and observe what cards explained the program and the crite-
close relatives, the video-game machines, ria for moving from one task to another.
have penetrated the childhood world, ei- really happens when children Only after mastering one puzzle, could the
ther directly or through advertisement and encounter a computer for children move to another. Children who
hearsay. Adults comment how easily acquired sufficient mastery could achieve
children master the use of these machines,
the first time. the status of Young Assistant to the Wiz-
as if they have some mysterious gene for ards. Wizards were the adult mentors
technology that is missing in the older generations. Experts available to help the children on an as needed basis. The
have prompt explanations for this ability, ranging from be- children could also write messages to an imaginary Wizard
havior modeling, to simple childhood curiosity coupled by a using the word processor. After doing a set of problems on
lack of fear about technology. the computer, the children had to solve a different set of pen-
cil-and-paper mathematical puzzles. Researchers found that
Learning while playing: club attendance was positively related to the ability to solve
the written puzzles (children who frequented the club solved
An old truth that we insist on forgetting more problems than those who did not attend the club).
Unfortunately, researchers are too concerned with controlling That the mathematical skills acquired with computers can be
the environment to "let it go," and observe what really hap- generalized to paper-and-pencil problems is an exciting
pens when children encounter a computer for the first time. finding. Exciting also are two other phenomena that the
Do the children immediately interact with the computer, as if researchers report almost as an afterthought. First, under
"equipped" with innate instructions for its use? Do they minimum adult supervision, cooperative learning was a
learn slowly, through trial and error? How far can they go spontaneous arrangement. Cooperation characterized the
without an adult's interference? A search of three databases children's interactions with each other, rather than competi-
(ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, and Anthropological Litera- tion. Second, despite the children's economic limitations and
ture), within a five-year frame, found four research reports cultural differences, the learning process seemed to blossom
on children and computers where adult intervention was kept quite easily. Children who had visited the club 10 to 20
to a minimum. times were considered regular attendees. Within this limited
There are three starting assumptions for a review of the use It is useful to distinguish between a variety of different appli-
of information and communication technology to support cations of the various technologies to basic education. Com-
basic education. First, there is no practical substitute for pri- puters have been used within schools both to support teach-
mary schools so that the role of the technologies is to support ing and for school linking. Radio and television have been
primary education, not to replace it. Second, the technologies used in various formats for education within school. Open
may, however, play a part in meeting the needs of children or and distance learning has been used for two main purposes:
adults who cannot get to school or conventional class. Third, to offer an out-of-school alternative to junior secondary edu-
it makes sense to look at the technologies together, from cation and for teacher education, where computer technolo-
print to broadcasting to computers. gies are also beginning to be used. Broadcasting and other
We have used the following working definitions: technologies have been widely used for the nonformal edu-
cation of adults.
Telematics is the combined use of telecommunication and
computer technology. New information technologies, and THE POSITION IN 1990
information and communication technologies, are synonyms
for telematics. At the time of the World Conference on Education for All,
March 1990, Jomtien, Thailand, it was argued that the po-
Distance education is an educational process in which tential of the new communication technologies had not been
someone removed in space and/or time from the learner con- fully realized although there was, by that date, well-
ducts a significant proportion of the teaching. documented experience of their use for a range of educa-
tional purposes. This included the work of out-of-school in-
Open learning is an organized educational activity, based on stitutions, notably in Latin America, which were providing
the use of teaching materials, in which constraints on study an alternative to formal schooling; the use of radio and tele-
are minimized in terms of access, or of time and place, pace, vision to raise school quality; the use of radio, with other
method of study, or any combination of these. technologies, for adult education and extension; and teacher
education through open and distance learning. At that time,
Open and distance learning is an umbrella term covering some open universities, notably in Asia, were beginning to
distance education, open learning, and the use of telematics work in basic education; computers were coming into class-
in education. rooms in the north; and the two new specialized agencies, the
Commonwealth of Learning and the Centre International
Computer-based learning is the use of computers in educa- Francophone de Formation à Distance, were beginning to
tion to provide programs that deliver instruction, to facilitate promote international cooperation in and through distance
education.
*
This is the executive summary of a review conducted by the authors for the International Consultative Forum on Education
for All (EFA), as part of the EFA 2000 Assessment activities in preparation for the World Education Forum, Dakar, April 26-
28, 2000. The review was coordinated by DFID on behalf of the Forum. Used by permission of the Executive Secretariat of
the Forum.
The new technologies have been used in various ways to Differing levels of salary make international comparison of
meet the needs of deprived and marginalized children, from costs difficult but, for what it is worth, evidence from a num-
those in remote areas to street children, refugees, and war ber of countries suggests that interactive radio annual costs
victims. Within industrialized countries Internet-based ap- per student are likely to be in the range $3 to $8, for student
proaches have been used to meet the educational needs of numbers in the range of 100,000 to 1,000,000. A small num-
migrant children. Radio and distance education have been ber of studies of the costs of computers in schools, where
used for the education of refugees. Broadcasting has been economies of scale are unlikely to apply, are several times as
used for children in war zones on, for example, the hazards great with figures in the range $18 to $63. The evidence is
of land mines and to provide health education. consistent in showing that television has higher costs than
radio - sometimes ten times as high - and that computer-
A variety of technologies have been used to provide in- based learning is likely to have markedly higher costs than
service education and training for teachers, and to a lesser radio. Out-of-school distance-education projects have com-
extent for agricultural and health extension agents. Some pared favorably in cost per student with conventional
programs are designed to make resources available to teach- schooling; only if their success rate is adequately high do
ers, without a formal teaching structure. In other cases, for- their costs per successful student compare favorably. The
mal programs have been run, in most parts of the world, us- limited data available on adult basic education suggests that
ing distance education for teachers. Programs have usually the costs compare favorably with face-to-face education for
engendered high motivation, especially where linked with adults but are usually significantly higher, if measured in
improved qualifications and increased pay. Distance educa- cost per learning hour, than the costs of primary education.
tion for teacher training has proved to be effective, both in Inservice education of teachers using distance-teaching
terms of examination pass rates and in raising teachers' ca- methods has often cost only between one-third and two-
pacities in the classroom. thirds those of conventional teacher education.
Outcomes may be assessed in terms of widening access, of The evidence, from television to computers, is that projects
improving quality, or of changing the curriculum. In princi- are likely to be at risk if they are at the leading edge of tech-
ple, the use of mass media should widen access and there are nology; education is likely to do better, in terms of costs and
examples of alternative systems of education that reach stu- servicing of equipment, if it follows entertainment and com-
dents who would otherwise be deprived of education. At the merce rather than leads it. If technological innovation is to be
same time, the use of information and communication tech- sustainable it needs to generate a sense of ownership among
nologies may have the opposite effect, allowing the privi- all the stakeholders. Innovation is also likely to need an or-
leged access to learning through computer technology that is ganizational location, which allows adequate freedom for the
denied to others. There is evidence of qualitative improve- innovator while remaining close enough to the work of con-
ment from programs using distance education for teacher ventional education and its decision-makers for it to achieve
training and from the use of broadcasts in the classroom. integration with the regular education service. Sensitive is-
Projects using both broadcasts and computers have been suc- sues of language and gender are the norm rather than the
cessful in helping a process of curriculum change. We have, exception.
however, few evaluations of the use of computers in the
classroom, even from industrialized countries with signifi- Many innovative projects have suffered from underinvest-
cant national investment. ment in training and in software, whether in the form of radio
scripts or computer software. Training is generally needed
The funding of out-of-school education has often been on a ♦ Computers have been used in primary schools but in a
different basis from in-school education. Students outside modest way, sometimes mainly for games. They are
school, often politically powerless, are often asked to pay a more important higher up the educational system.
higher proportion of the costs of their education than of those
in school, sometimes in the expectation that they will be ♦ Radio can enrich and extend basic education at costs
earning while studying. This sometimes means that those much more modest than those of television or comput-
who receive what they perceive as being an inferior educa- ers.
tion have to pay more than those who get the superior model.
♦ The demands for junior-secondary education, and the
FUTURE LINES OF DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY potential of the technologies, suggest that their use
OPTIONS should be expanded to raise quality and widen access at
junior-secondary level.
The main challenge in applying telematics to basic education
♦ There are promising models for out-of-school equiva-
is to find ways of achieving potential benefits without wid-
lence at this level.
ening the gap between the information-rich and information
poor. In many countries the new technologies are of limited ♦ Despite the mixed record of nonformal education, the
application in primary schools where other needs take prior- social and educational needs of adults are so great that
ity. In contrast, they are of major potential benefit for teacher there is a case for continuing and expanding use of the
education and for strengthening the rapidly expanding junior- technologies here.
secondary cycle. Broadcasting, linked with community-based
activities, and distance education have a role to play in adult ♦ National policies need to be developed that seek to use
basic education, because of their potential reach and modest new technologies cost-effectively while avoiding wid-
cost, whether for a formal curriculum or for nonformal pur- ening the gap between the information-rich and the in-
poses. National campaigns on AIDS prevention are an obvi- formation-poor.
ous and high priority. Distance-education methods have a
record of success in supporting extension agents but have so ♦ The use of communication technologies for teachers and
far been under-exploited for this purpose. extension agents, with its multiplier effect, merits in-
vestment as a cost-effective way of raising educational
Use of new communication technologies will not allow de- quality.
veloping countries to leapfrog the industrialized world by
∗
This article is derived from a study, Textbooks & Learning Materials 1990-1999: A Global Survey, prepared by Ian Montag-
nes for the International Consultative Forum on Education for All (EFA), as part of the EFA 2000 Assessment activities in
preparation for the World Education Forum, Dakar, April 26-28, 2000. The study was coordinated by DFID on behalf of the
Forum. Used by permission of the Executive Secretariat of the Forum.
Administration of a school system has always been chal- distribution is often done via printed material–sometimes a
lenging. In many centralized systems, simply supporting all large document, sometimes a brochure, or even occasionally
the activities of schools remains critical and challenging, a letter or newspaper article.
particularly in recruiting, hiring, placing, and supporting
teachers, but as well all the necessary logistical support in In many developing countries, the entire education informa-
terms of buildings, furniture, maintenance, instructional ma- tion system structure is inadequate for the rapidly growing
terials, training of staff, and all the quality control activities information demands. Obtaining quality education data is
surrounding good education. often elusive, costly and frustrating. In many cases, available
data may be:
The ever increasing shift to decentralization, coupled with
the escalating demands for logistical support as more schools ! Of poor quality (either incomplete, poorly defined, or
become more sophisticated, have placed major burdens on not comparable year to year);
Information Systems and the information they produce that
policy, managerial, and operational leaders require to ad- ! Too late to influence the current school year or policy
minister systems properly. Whether education occurs in a discussion;
developing country with less than $150 per year to spend per
pupil or a more developed environment with $2,500 per year ! Occasionally part of a 2-3 year backlog of information;
to spend per pupil, many of the same, fundamental adminis-
trative issues persist. ! Sometimes duplicated so that, for example, there are
four different totals for student enrollment in the same
Major Informational Issues month or year;
! “How much have we advanced in meeting our Education These identified issues and particularly the one-directional
for All (EFA) goals in our country?” – Minister of Edu- flow of information are deeply at odds with both democracy
cation and decentralization–the rising trends at almost all levels of
educational administration.
With the exception of the Minister, none of those asking
questions normally have real and systematic access to infor- Education Information System:
mation related to their concerns. And frequently, if they do, What It Takes
the timing, nature, and detail of information provided is de-
termined entirely by a central body–such as a ministry. The Vision: The leadership of the most responsible educational
Exhibit 2
Exhibit 4
Exhibit 6
Education in South Africa The framework for this model was developed collaboratively
The schooling system in South Africa is undergoing massive with the national and provincial education departments, aca-
transformation to improve quality of education. Outcomes- demics, educators and teacher organizations. Based on re-
based education and the new curriculum have been intro- search done, a nine-week pilot was conducted at three centers
duced to South African schools and present educators in this located in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
country with their biggest opportunity and challenge ever. It The South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE)
is common cause that educators are pivotal to the success of evaluated the pilot project, after which the project was suc-
this change. Therefore, the challenge is to build the capacity cessfully implemented in a further seven sites. Ten centers
of our educators to become change agents, thereby enabling situated in all nine provinces are currently fully functional.
them to lend impetus to this transformation.
The program reaches out to thousands of educators in his-
torically disadvantaged areas to provide them with a rich
I believe that the limited resources available and the vastness
resource base that is unaffected by distance or terrestrial
of our country, lends itself ideally to the use of technology,
networks. Also, these teachers are being constantly exposed
not as a luxury, but as a basic resource. The model presented
to cutting edge technology.
in this article begins to illustrate that technology can be ex-
tremely effective in supporting the development of educators
in the development of Outcomes Based Education Attributes of the Training Program
1. The Program uses digital satellite technology as a
Digital Satellite Technologies for conduit for quality Outcomes Based Education material
Teacher Development across geographical barriers. Training programs are relayed
from the M-Group’s Broadcast Center in Randburg, via the
The Model: The Shoma Education Foundation conduit of satellite to a television set, and an Intranet.
The MIH Group, the holding company for MultiChoice, M- 2. The Program applies a specific, three tiered pro-
Net and M-Web, has developed a unique model of delivering cess of learning that continuously reinforces specific themes
educational and training programs for the professional devel- on Outcomes Based Education. The training facilities used at
opment of South African educators. The unique delivery the training centers consist of a minimum of three rooms in
model uses the power of technology to leverage the delivery an education department or other suitable buildings.
of appropriate educational programs prepared in conjunction
with the national and provincial education departments. The Broadcast Room
programs are relayed from the M-Group’s Broadcast Center This room is equipped with a television monitor, a video
in Randburg, via satellite, to a video server linked to a televi- server and satellite dish. Here, a visual presentation of the
sion set, and to a network server, which in turn serves 24 specific learning theme on Outcomes Based Education is
workstations. provided. Teachers watch broadcast clips reflecting different
South African situations and experiences on Outcomes Based
The model is innovative and significant in the following re- Education concepts, which run for approximately 10 min-
spects: utes. The broadcast ends with a thought-provoking question
• It is exceptional in its ability to reach and penetrate the that prompts the group into discussion. With this question,
distant rural and urban areas often grossly neglected by the aim is to actively engage the recipients and negate pas-
donors and cut off from investment initiatives. sivity amongst them. Curriculum developers of the Provin-
• Through the use of interactive computer applications, cial Education Department mediate the group discussions.
the project initiates rural- and township-based teachers
to appropriate and creative use of technology, thereby Computer Room
supporting and bolstering the National Education De- The second room is furnished with a Windows NT server
partment’s Technology Enhanced Learning Initiatives. and 24 Pentium workstations. Content is downloaded, via
satellite, to the servers using a Siyanda satellite receiver card.
The computer material provides digitized video and audio
If you have a conference, seminar, exhibit, etc. coming up, send it to us for listing
in "On the Move".
There are approximately 20,000 educational soft- Guides to Software and Portals to Websites
ware packages and many thousand educational web-
sites throughout the world. How can you decide Existing guides and portals can save considerable effort in
what is good and what is a waste of time? identifying potentially useful software and websites. Most
index resources by subject area, grade level, and other char-
There are two basic approaches. One approach is to use acteristics. They usually briefly describe the resource and
guides to software and “portals” to websites that list re- also critique or rate it.
sources judged to be of merit. The second is to undertake
your own assessment of the software and websites. When Although most existing guides are available only in English,
doing this you might use criteria previously prepared by they can be of use in planning basic education in developing
other scholars and organizations, you might adapt those crite- countries. Where English is a language of instruction, they
ria to your organization’s own priorities, or you might de- may be directly applicable. In addition, some of the refer-
velop new criteria. enced software and websites are available in two or more
languages. Finally, these guides and portals might serve as
Early assessments of educational software focused on the models for countries that want to prepare their own guides.
content covered and the ease of using them. When critics The following are several guides and portals that might be of
noted that the instructional strategies in early software were interest.
often simplistic and dysfunctional, more attention was given
to the pedagogical strategies used. More recently, there have American Library Association’s Notable Children’s
been efforts to judge how well the software and websites Websites http://www.ala.org/alsc/ncwc.html
comply with national or state curriculum standards. This is a portal to high quality educational websites for chil-
dren.
Still another focus for assessment is whether students using
the software or website learn more than students who aren’t Best Web Sites for Teachers www.iste.org
using it. That requires an impact evaluation, usually with pre Available only in print. It can be purchased through
and post measurement of knowledge and skills for a substan-
tial number of users and comparable non-users. Such Bologna New Media Prize Winners
evaluations have been undertaken occasionally since the The prizewinners are currently listed toward the bottom of
early years of instructional software in the 1960s, but they the homepage of http://www.childrenssoftware.com
are expensive and rare. International prizes are given for CD-ROMs, Internet sites,
video games, and “smart toys.” The prizes are awarded for
The following discussion is limited to assessments that don’t innovation, educational value, and ease-of-use.
involve formal impact evaluations. Any organization that is
considering substantial investments in educational software Children’s Software Revue
or websites is advised to select the resources with the aid of http://www.childrenssoftware.com
existing or easily conducted assessments, and then to test the Assesses more than 4,000 software titles.
resource out on a modest scale with impact evaluation. Re-
search tends to show that if good software and websites are ConnSENSE
integrated into teaching, student attendance and engagement http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~wwwpcse/CSBull.html
increase, and learning often does also, but those effects de- Assesses software for use by students with disabilities.
pend on the quality of the resources and their suitability for
the circumstances. Educational Software Institute www.edsoft.com
Has a searchable database of 8,000 titles to help you locate
software by several characteristics including bilingual or
multilingual presentations. About 250 titles are available in
One of the most frequently cited reasons for the differences International partnerships, albeit rare, already exist. For in-
between computer-rich and computer-poor organizations and stance, the African Literacy Project is a joint effort of Op-
individuals is opportunity of access. Despite significant de- eration Crossroads Africa, Inc, an organization based in
creases in prices of hardware, the purchase of a computer New York City, and Voluntary Work Association of Ghana.
with the necessary software can be prohibitive for many low- The project collects used computers to distribute to young
income families and organizations with limited budget. For African students. The African Regional Center for Comput-
those who have access, though, the problem is quite differ- ing is a not-for-profit organization that donates refurbished
ent. The expected active life of a computer is about five computers to public and community-based organizations in
years. After that, the computer becomes obsolete, and unable Kenya and surrounding countries. 3
to run state-of-the-art software. In 1998, the number of per-
sonal computers that became obsolete, in the United States Corporations are also involved in recycling projects. Can-
alone, exceeded 20 million. Of these, only 11 percent were ada’s Computers for Schools or Ordinateurs pour les Écoles
recycled. Between 1998 and 2000, the number of discarded (http://www.schoolnet.ca/cfs-ope/about_e.html) is a program
computers may reach 70 million. 1 Millions of computers are sponsored by two large corporations, Industry Canada and
dumped each year in already strained landfills and become Telephone Pioneers. The program redirects surplus comput-
an environmental problem, according to the Environmental ers, equipment and software to Canadian elementary and
Health Center (EHC), at the National Safety Council secondary schools. A component of the program, the Tech-
(www.nsc.org/ehc/epr2.htm). nical Work Experience Project, promotes the hiring and su-
pervision of high school and college students who have some
Multiple Needs are Satisfied training in Information Technology. The young technicians
repair and refurbish the equipment, sort and test the software,
and prepare the computers for shipment to the schools. In
While organizations, schools and families struggle to get addition, they serve as technical support for local school
computers and enter the digital revolution, ever more com- boards.
puters are being discarded for the sole reason that a newer
version is in the market. In the process, the environment In some countries, governments are taking leadership roles.
suffers under massive amounts of trash. The intersection of For instance, Computers for Learning is a governmental ini-
these multiple needs provides a creative solution: computer tiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy that trans-
recycling. Over the past few years, a number of not-for-
fers federal surplus in computers and related equipment to
profit organizations have focused on the tasks of collecting,
schools and educational not-for-profit organizations
refurbishing, and finding new homes for old computers.
(http://www.computers.fed.gov/). Public, private, parochial
Schools and community organizations have been the main and home schools, and organizations serving children from
beneficiaries of these projects. pre-kindergarten through grade 12 are eligible for the pro-
gram. Priority is given to schools and organizations in
For instance, The Detwiler Foundation
greatest need, particularly those located in high poverty ar-
(http://www.detwiler.org/) sponsors the Computers for
eas. The program is expected to save the Federal govern-
School, a program dedicated to providing recycled computers
ment “tens of millions of dollars” by reducing paperwork and
and computer equipment to schools in the United States. The minimizing storage requirements.
program trains teachers and school administrators about
computer installation and Internet connections.2
Some of the web sites described below are available in Spanish and Hindi,
and the language barrier will fall as websites are developed in other lan-
guages. While many of the educational sites described below may not be
linguistically accessible to most of the teachers, parents, and students in
your country, they still offer models of resources that might be developed by
the public or private sectors there.
*
Selected by: Gregg Jackson, Vishnu Karki, and Sole McKinnon
There are many resources that teachers can draw on from the web to use in their basic and primary education classes. There
are lesson plans, ideas for learning activities, encyclopedias and atlases, stunning photos to capture student’s interest, and dis-
cussion forums for the exchange of ideas among teachers.
Education Place grade level. While intended for U.S. teachers, some of the
http://www.eduplace.com/index.html materials are quite applicable in other countries.
This site has resources for teachers, parents, and students. A
major textbook publisher in the U.S., Houghton Mifflen, Icarito
operates it. http://www.icarito.cl
This Spanish language site offers links to pages with peda-
Discovery Channel School gogical ideas for teachers.
http://school.discovery.com/teachers/index.html
Provides lesson plans, ideas for learning games, Web links, International Society for Technology in Education
and e-mail discussions. Operated by the Discovery Channel http://www.iste.org
cable television channel. Provides extensive resources on how to use software and
websites in education. Some of the resources are available
Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) only in print, but others are on the Web.
http://www.thegateway.org
This is a portal to websites with lesson plans, teacher guides, Internet Oracle
and other educational materials on the web that can be used http://www.internetoracle.com
by teachers. It links only to materials that have been judged This is a portal linking to all sorts of Web resources. It of-
of high quality. One can search by subject area, topic, and fers links to several free web-based encyclopedias, atlases,
There are numerous websites that will excite children and contribute to their learning. These include sites that offer interactive
stories, games, visits to virtual museums, communication with other students across the globe, participation in guiding real
expeditions, and personal tutoring by human beings. There are also portals that allow children to find suitable websites on al-
most any topic of interest to them. Only a few examples are cited below.
*
Authors: Gregg Jackson is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Education Policy Program at The George Washington
University in Washington DC. Vishnu Karki, from Nepal, and Sole McKinnon, from Uruguay, are graduate students in the
program.
The idea of being able to make a presentation accessible to a viewer’s computer screen via the Internet. Ebeam distributes
much larger audience from the presenter’s office, classroom, those images in real-time so remote users see each mark on
or own home for that matter, is not only appealing to the pre- the board as it is being made. They are also able to zoom in
senter but the audience as well. Imagine being able to trans- to view fine details of the image.
mit all of the multimedia fields used in the boardroom or
classroom, across the web to anyone in the world, at any The eBeam system consists of two sensor pods that connect
time, right along with you. Thanks to Internet services and to a standard PC serial port and attach to the upper corners of
developments in user-friendly hardware, online presentations your whiteboard. These sensor pods pick up signals from
may become a beneficial and easy to master tool for those eBeam’s, battery operated, marker holsters and eraser which
involved in business, education, and virtually anyone who transmit each stroke to the PC and then over the net. As you
needs to get his/her ideas and information across to an audi- use the eBeam Presentation System, you can save your writ-
ence. ten work, erase the board, and then start again. The system
records every mark made so you always have the option of
Website Services going back to a pre-recorded point if you make a mistake.
Sites providing webcasting services on the Internet make it Internet viewers can also review previous “pages" of the
easy to organize and create an online presentation, for the presentation and save them in various formats so they can
most part, requiring little more than a browser. view them later.
Astound Conference Center, available through Astound Aside from the price, just under $600, the eBeam has few
(ae.astound.com), allows you to present your Microsoft drawbacks. Although there is a limit to the amount of sens-
Power Point slides over the web. All you have to do is ing area the hardware covers and the number of colors that
download the Astound Publisher software from the site, can be used during the presentation, the eBeam is user-
which converts Power Point slides, or Astound’s own slides, friendly to both the presenter and remote user. The presen-
into HTML format. Conference Center then provides a vir- tation system is not only lightweight and easy to set up, but
tual conference room location which you and your viewers the remote users do not need any special software to view the
enter at a time you specify. As the audience views your eBeam presentations, just a browser with Java capability.
presentation from a remote location, they can interact with
you, asking questions and giving feedback due to Astound’s Why Webcasting?
chat feature. You can also refer your audience back to spe- Research shows that teacher development and training are
cific slides. Astound’s service is free for a one month trial essential elements of successful schools. However, many
period. After that, you have the option of creating your own school districts must balance the needs for maintaining inten-
permanent conference room for you and your associates or sive training without sacrificing school days, or exceeding
fellow educators, starting at $99 per month. limited training budgets. Webcasting technology may be
particularly helpful to reduce indirect costs of training, such
Active Touch is another provider of real-time presentation as transportation, room and board. With webcasting, teach-
services and like Astound, requires only a browser. It allows ers can receive quality training at their own school base, with
you to add your own documents and slides but the service is less disruption of theirs and their students’ schedules. This
completely free of charge to the presenter. Active Touch resource is especially beneficial for countries that have
also provides you with a permanent web page, through We- schools scattered over large areas and with few transportation
bEx Office, where you can publicly update your upcoming resources. In these countries, moving teachers away from
presentations and maintain your own personal calendar and schools for training becomes an enormous challenge.
records. Webcasting enables the teacher in the rural, isolated area, to
be connected to the main training center, and receive the
New software such as Microsoft Office 2000 and Power same training as a teacher in a more affluent area.
Point also provide limited webcasting capabilities.
In addition to saving time and money, the medium also im-
Whiteboards on the Web proves the sharing of information and ideas. For example,
Another way of webcasting may be of particular interest to Biology classes can be taught directly from a museum, and
educators. Electronics for Imaging Inc.’s eBeam Presenta- an astronomy class can take the children in a virtual trip
tion System is a device that allows the transfer of images across space. The world shrinks, while knowledge expands.
directly form a generic classroom whiteboard to a remote This is the power of technology.
From the room-sized mainframes of the early 1950's to the ⇒ DPI (dots-per-inch) - although this term should be re-
laptops of the 1990's, the idea that smaller is better, or at served to describe printer resolution, it is often used in
least more comfortable, has gained momentum among digital relation to scanners. As a rule-of-thumb, the higher the
technology users. The industry has been catering to the in- DPI, the better the image resolution. By doubling the
creasing number of mobile workers who carry their office number, the resolution actually becomes four times
wherever they go. Cell phones, pagers, notepads, and palm- larger.
top computers are some of the gadgets available to this new
breed of worker. So are portable scanners. ⇒ PPI (pixels-per-inch) - PPI is the correct term to indicate
a scanner resolution, and refers to the number of pixels
For teachers, presenters, and students, scanners offer an easy (the minuscule dots that compose an image), that the
way to incorporate images into a presentation and enliven an scan may reproduce. As with DPI, the higher the PPI,
otherwise dry exchange of information. Modern scanners the better the image resolution and larger the file.
have moved away from the complicated procedures of the
older models with the introduction of parallel or USB inter- ⇒ SPI (samples-per-inch) - is sometimes used in scanner's
face that offer true plug-and-play setup. Operations have ads in place of PPI.
also been simplified. With the single click of a button, the
new scanners can copy, fax, or e-mail a document, and open ⇒ Moiré Pattern - Moiré is an interference of two patterns
it in image-editing or word processor file. Some scanners are in one image and appears on the screen as a checker-
still based on traditional CCD (change-couple device) tech- board pattern that interferes with the quality of the im-
nology that uses a semiconductor to capture and digitize the age. Some scanners will correct for moiré patterns.
image. The image is then passed through an elaborate lens-
and-mirror optical system. The newer technology, called ⇒ Real resolution - the amount of PPI the device can actu-
CIS (contact image sensor) replaces the lens-and-mirror with ally scan (remember, the higher, the better).
a single row of sensors illuminated by light-energy detectors.
Although CIS scanners use less power and can be much ⇒ Enhanced resolution - some scanners advertise their
thinner than CCD units, they generally do not have the same "enhanced resolution" power. Enhanced resolution
quality of image. However, they are very useful when the means that the scan takes the real resolution and multi-
process does not require artistic results. plies the number of pixels it sees in order to blow-up the
image. However, this does not improve image quality
A quick glossary of scanning terms: and should not influence your choice when buying a
scanner.
There are three main types of scanners: (1) flatbed scanners
that use a technology similar to a copier machine; (2) slide ⇒ OCR (optical character recognition) - scanners
scanners that, as the name says, scan slides; and (3) drum equipped with OCR software can read the text off a page
scanners that use a laser technology. Most of us will use and save it as an editable file, rather than an image file.
flatbed, or regular scanners, while the other two types (and This file can then be edited with most word processor
the 3-D scanners) are geared toward graphic professionals. software, such as Word Perfect and Microsoft Word.
Buying a scanner may be threatening for those who were not
initiated in digital terminology. Overall, a scanner qualifica-
tion will include the following terms:
For more information on UNICEF and its programs, visit the web site: www.unicef.org.
From Jomtien
In preparation for the Forum, the biggest stocktaking of edu-
Ten years ago, representatives from 155 countries and 150 cation in history has been conducted. More than 180 coun-
organizations met at the World Conference on Education for tries have participated in the EFA 2000 Assessment, a mas-
All (Jomtien, Thailand) and pledged to provide education for sive and detailed review of the state of basic education in the
all by the year 2000. With the statement that “Every person – world. The Assessment was carried out by national teams
child, youth and adult – shall be able to benefit from educa- assisted by ten regional advisory groups, comprising UNDP,
tional opportunities designed to meet their basic learning UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, the World Bank, bilateral do-
needs”, the World Declaration on Education For All defined nor agencies, development banks and inter-governmental
a bold new direction in education. Drafted by education organizations.
ministers and national and international organizations, the
Declaration rang the death-knell for rigid, prescriptive edu- The findings were reported in five regional preparatory con-
cation systems and ushered in an era where flexible systems ferences and a conference of the nine high-population coun-
could thrive. From now on, education would be tailor-made, tries (E9) that took place between December 1999 and Feb-
adapted to the needs, culture and circumstances of learners. ruary 2000 (in Johannesburg, South Africa; Bangkok, Thai-
land; Cairo, Egypt; Recife, Brazil; Warsaw, Poland; and
The decision to review progress a decade later was taken in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic). The national as-
Jomtien. Two important milestones intervened in 1996. The sessments have been complemented by fourteen thematic
mid-decade conference held in Amman, Jordan, noted con- studies on educational issues of global concern, sample sur-
siderable progress but was hampered by weak reporting from veys on learning achievement and the conditions of teaching
participating countries – underlining the need for an in-depth and learning, and twenty case studies. The global synthesis
assessment. The report to UNESCO of the International report, presented at Dakar, gives the most accurate picture to
Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century pro- date of the state of basic education in the world.
moted a holistic view of education consisting of four “pil-
lars”: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and Unfinished Business and New Challenges
learning to live together. The text was widely adopted.
New challenges to education emerged in the 1990s: the col-
To Dakar lapse of Communism in Europe, the revolution in communi-
cation and information technologies, and growing globaliza-
Several countries have proved in the last 10 years that strong tion. Many global trends were not foreseen at the World
political will can make the dream of Education for All a re- Conference for Education for All in Jomtien, especially the
ality. This message is key to the World Education Forum rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and the proliferation of ethnic
held in Dakar, Senegal, on 26-28 April 2000, with the par- conflicts. Priorities must include reaching out with education
ticipation of some 1,000 development leaders, including to HIV/AIDS orphans; offering education to the increasing
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the heads number of refugees and displaced people; motivating teach-
of several UN agencies, along with national and international ers and helping them acquire a new understanding of their
education policy-makers, non-governmental organizations role and harnessing the new technologies to benefit the poor.
(NGOs), business leaders, donors and education workers The major challenge for the years ahead will be to provide
from over 145 countries. The World Education Forum is quality education for all.
expected to provide the Education for All movement with a
new momentum needed to resolve the glaring inequalities in A new Framework for Action to be adopted at the Dakar
educational provision. Forum will call for increased financial commitment to edu-
*
Svein Osttveit is Executive Secretary of the Education for All Forum, an inter-agency body established in 1990 by UNDP,
UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank.
WHAT IS THE COMMONWEALTH? concerned with the promotion and development of distance
education and open learning. COL is helping to increase the
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of independ- capacities of developing nations to meet the demands for
ent sovereign states, which provide support to each other, improved access to quality education and training.
and work together toward international goals. The Com-
monwealth is described as a "family" of nations, originally Distance education is now a part of the mainstream of edu-
linked together in the British Empire, and now building on cation and training. It enables students to learn at the loca-
their common heritage in language, culture and education, tion, time and pace of their choice, for far less money and
which enables them to work together in an atmosphere of with far greater results. COL's goals include maximizing the
greater trust and understanding than generally prevails transfer of information, ideas, innovations and resources to
among nations. With more than 50 member countries, the support this rapid evolution of distance educational training.
Commonwealth represents 25% of the world's population
and a great diversity of races, cultures, creeds and political Since 1990, COL has introduced, or enhanced, teach-
beliefs. ing/training programs in more than 40 countries; conducted
seminars and studies on specific educational needs and es-
tablished a network of education and technology specialists
WHAT IS THE COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING? around the world. They are now contributing to many varied
educational programs, often using low-cost and innovative
Founded in 1987 by the leaders of the Commonwealth coun- technologies, throughout the Commonwealth and also to
tries at their meetings in Vancouver, British Columbia, The other non-Commonwealth countries.
Commonwealth of Learning has a mandate to encourage the
development and sharing of open learning/distance education COL is governed by an international Board of Governors,
materials, expertise and technologies, and other resources for whose Chairman is Dr. Ian Macdonald of Toronto, and di-
students throughout the Commonwealth and other countries. rected by its President and Chief Executive Officer, Profes-
sor Gajaraj Dhanarajan.
Headquartered in Vancouver, The Commonwealth of
Learning (COL) is the only international organization solely COL's Web site: www.col.org