People often ask me for specific examples of how technology is impacting global education. I suspect they are looking for super glossy examples of futuristic classrooms. They hope I’ll describe some design innovation or a revolutionary adaptive algorithmic trick. They expect video games, virtual reality, and robotics. But things often don’t look as shiny as you expect. The most significant impact can be inconspicuous. Consider, for example, Camfed’s pioneering partnership with Worldreader.
Camfed is well known. They are an international non-profit that “invests in girls and women in the poorest rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, where girls face acute disadvantage, and where their education has transformative potential.” They are currently working in “119 of the poorest rural districts across five African countries.” They create thoughtful partnerships with local communities, breaking down “the barriers to girls’ education by providing and catalyzing the different resources required for girls to go to school, succeed and lead change.” Their work has been recognized by the OECD for being among the best at taking development innovation to scale.
Worldreader is also an international non-profit. Founded in 2010 by former Microsoft and Amazon executive David Risher, and former Marketing Director at Barcelona’s ESADE Business School Colin McElwee, Worldreader uses eReaders and other mobile technologies to distribute books to places where they are scarce. They have already reached over 2.2 million readers, and plan to extend that reach to 15 million readers by 2018. Recognizing that information technologies have the potential to deliver content in ways that were previously impossible, they “work with device manufacturers, local and international publishers, governments, education officials, and local communities to bring books to all.”
Just consider what it would take to build first rate libraries all over the world, to guarantee that civilization’s archive is universally accessible. Then, realize that Worldreader has essentially provided the kinds of resources that philanthropists used to reserve only for elite Universities to some of the most impoverished parts of the world.
by MindMake via MindMake Blog
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