The productive and most efficient use of technology in the classroom and for policy-making has become a hot topic in development circles. Will developing countries leap-frog over developed countries in the fast-paced and pervasive technological revolution or will developing countries be stymied by the sheer volume of information and communications technologies that are cropping up every day?

This issue of JEID explores how information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used in development projects and the impact they are having in the classroom and on learners. Among this set of articles, case studies from countries including Cambodia, Chile, Egypt, Guatemala, India, South Africa, and Turkey are presented. The issue explores how ICTs can change teacher practice, promote democracy in education, and inform local decision making; the conditions necessary for ICTs to be most effective; and the impact of Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) on student and teacher performance. As always, we welcome your feedback and contributions. Let us know what you think of this issue by contacting us at JEID@air.org.

Volume 4, Issue 2: ICT and Education

Felix Alvarado
Academy for Educational Development - USAID/Dialogue For Social Investment Project

This paper describes the ongoing implementation of web intelligence tools in public education and other policy sectors in Guatemala. In the case described, software tools first developed for use in business were adopted for planning and decision making in public institutions. Easy online access to the outputs of these tools as web documents suggested their use to foster transparency, accountability and social oversight. This paper summarizes the salient aspects of the experience so far of implementing and expanding what has been called the “Platform for Integrated Social Information,” It discusses the issues this Platform raises as a resource for improved public decision making, policy analysis and especially, as a promising but challenging tool for democracy in the education sector.

This article only
Entire issue

Andrea Bosch, PhD
Chief of Party, Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes
Creative Associates International, Inc.

Little evidence demonstrates that the introduction of technology in schools can improve learning, unless it is accompanied by key educational conditions, including the ability to secure high quality teachers and improve teaching practice, and systems of accountability, competition, and local decision–making. The Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes project, funded by USAID and implemented by Creative Associates International, Inc., and its partners, Pal-Tech, Keys to Effective Learning, and Seward, Inc., is using approaches based on these conclusions to introduce computers in classrooms in Egypt. The article outlines several strategies which connect the introduction of technology to improved teaching practice, and which build capacity and demand through greater local decision making and competition between schools. The article highlights a study showing early changes in teaching behaviors and experience that demonstrate that competitive school and teacher selection processes can increase demand, local decision making, and longer term support for teacher professional development.

This article only
Entire issue

Chijioke J. Evoh
Teaching Fellow
New York City Department of Education 3

The integration of information communication technologies (ICTs) in education is part of the effort to ensure a better outcome in public education. Other sectors of the society have raised productivity by using technology to augment human labor. However, the teaching profession in Africa has become more labor-intensive due to lack of necessary resources. In line with the goal of raising teacher productivity, and given the shortage of qualified teachers in the system, the Teacher Laptop Initiative (TLI) policy in South Africa aims to bring innovation in the teaching profession by constantly improving the contents and pedagogical skills of teachers. Based on the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge theoretical framework, this study explores the prospects and challenges of the TLI program. As desirable as policy may be, this paper argues that a successful TLI in South African schools will go beyond providing teachers with laptop computers. The success will depend on how well the laptops are used by teachers for productive educational outcomes.

This article only
Entire issue

Jennifer Ho and Hetal Thukral
Introduction by Mike Laflin
Education Development Center, Inc.

A review of recent research was conducted to assemble evidence on the impact that Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) may have on improving student learning outcomes. IRI is an instructional tool designed to deliver a family of active learning packages via radio broadcast using a dual-audience approach. IRI exposes students to regular, curriculum-based learning content while modeling effective learning activities and classroom organization techniques for teachers. As IRI continues to be called upon to improve teaching and learning in low-resource and hard-to-reach areas, a better understanding of the empirical data available is critical to guide the way forward. IRI has been implemented by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) in over 50 countries over the past 30 years. This paper is a review of existing student and teacher data collected by EDC’s IRI projects. Effect sizes are used to summarize what is known about the effect of IRI on student learning gains in Grades K-4 for English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Local Language. In all, student test results from 13 projects, ranging from Nicaragua in 1977 through Indonesia in 2008, are reviewed, as are teacher observation outcomes from Mali and Madagascar.

This article only
Entire issue

Daniel Light
Education Development Center, Inc.

This paper presents findings from case studies of the introduction of the Intel® Teach Essentials Course—a professional development program focused on integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into project-based learning—into six schools in Chile, India, and Turkey. We describe four common dimensions of change in learning environments that emerged across the countries: changes in teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes; changes in how students engage with content; changes in relationships among students, teachers, and parents; and changes in the use of ICT tools to promote students’ learning. Three of these dimensions relate to shifts in pedagogical paradigms that appear to be prerequisites to effectively using ICT to support students’ learning. Our findings indicate that these shifts must not just occur at the teacher level, but must take hold throughout the educational system and must accompany sustained investment in infrastructure, human resources, curricular frameworks, and assessment.

This article only
Entire issue

Jayson W. Richardson, Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina Wilmington

This study presents data on the outputs of an international development project called Establishing the Effective Use of ICTs in Education for All in Cambodia. A main component of this project was to teach all teacher trainers how to use basic ICTs. This article presents the achievements of the project juxtaposed with a study of the factors that either inhibited or motivated the teacher trainers' choice to adopt use of these ICT skills. This project was implemented by both UNESCO and the Cambodian Ministry of Education. Analyses were conducted on 379 surveys, 17 interviews, UNESCO project documents, and Cambodian Ministry of Education documents.

This article only
Entire issue

Nitika Tolani-Brown, Ph.D., Meredith McCormac, M.A. & Roy Zimmermann, Ph.D.
American Institutes for Research, International Development Division

Despite evidence of increased usage of information and communication technology (ICT) in educational programming, extant evaluations on the impact of ICT on educational child outcomes are sparse and often lack the methodological rigor necessary to guide policymakers towards sound, evidence-based practices. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has conducted a global analysis of research undertaken to date on the deployment of ICT solutions to support education goals in developing countries. The present study is comprised of two phases. First, a series of in-depth, structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, including policymakers and academicians, researchers, users and developers of ICT solutions. These interviews touched upon the challenges associated with developing, implementing and evaluating ICT solutions within educational settings, perceptions on the utility and future of ICT solutions and extant gaps in the usage of ICT solutions within developing countries. Second, AIR conducted a detailed literature review of published and unpublished evaluations on the educational impacts of ICT solutions. This paper reports on the demonstrated and measurable impacts of ICT on students and generates an innovative and rigorous research agenda addressing salient issues such as impact and effectiveness, return on investment, and total cost of ownership.

This article only
Entire issue