ICTworks by Inveneo

Across colleges in North America, ProjectFOCUS is raising awareness and capital to invest in solar-powered, income-generating internet cafes in Uganda with amazing, replicable computer lab fundraising skills.

But they're not just about fundraising or computer technology, they're also innovators in ICT4D. On June 5th, when they opened the Lyantonde Internet Center in cooperation with ICOD, they used bicycles to extend the reach of the Internet Cafe beyond it's physical office space. Watch the opening ceremony video to learn how:

By donating bicycles to farmer groups' elected "information agent" in the five villages of Luwama, Kyewanula, Kitazigolokwa, Iwensinga, and Lyantonde, ProjectFOCUS is increasing information dissemination among farmers in rural Uganda.

So the next time you're wondering how you can expand the impact of a computer lab, don't forget the basics like facilitating transportation to and from the cafe. A simple bike race and donation can change the whole perception of Internet access in rural areas.

Michael Trucano, a recognized expert on deploying ICT in education, recently blogged about Worst practice in ICT use in education:

Here's a list of some of what I consider to be the preeminent 'worst practices' related to the large scale use of ICTs in education in developing countries, based on first hand observation over the past dozen or so years. I have omitted names (please feel free to fill them in yourself). The criterion I used for selection was simple: The given worst practice was easily observable in multiple prominent initiatives, with (one fears) a high likelihood of re-occurrence, in the same or other places.

As one of his humble understudies in ICT4E, I found myself in agreement - these are worst practices that are repeated again, and again, and again, when technology and schools are mixed. As you read them, please think about how you'll NOT let these practices happen in your next educational deployment:

Worst practice in ICT use in education

1. Dump hardware in schools, hope for magic to happen
This is, in many cases, the classic example of worst practice in ICT use in education. Unfortunately, it shows no sign of disppearing soon, and is the precursor in many ways to the other worst practices on this list. "If we supply it they will learn": Maybe in some cases this is true, for a very small minority of exceptional students and teachers, but this simplistic approach is often at the root of failure of many educational technology initiatives.

2. Design for OECD learning environments, implement elsewhere
With the best of intentions, and often 'assisted' by vendors, many groups (including many governments) have sought to simply transfer ICT-related models and practices from classrooms in industrialized countries to less developed education systems in other parts of the world. Sometimes this works, but unfortunately many places roll out programs and products that have at their core sets of assumptions (reliable electricity and connectivity, well-trained teachers, sufficient available time-on-task, highly literate students, space to implement student-centric pedagogies, relevant content, a variety of cultural norms, etc.) that do not correspond with local realities. The result is often (and not unsurprisingly) not very good.

3. Think about educational content only after you have rolled out your hardware
Deploying lots of computer infrastructure in schools is expensive (and complicated). So expensive, in fact, that many critical complementary investments (in training, in tech support, in content, etc.) are 'postponed' until a later date. Sometimes this is a calculated bureaucratic maneuver/risk -- the thinking is that, once the hardware is in place, the need for content will be more clear, and it will be easier to make the case for related funding at that time) -- and other times this is simply a lack of good planning. But it is a fact that, in many places, only once computers are in place and a certain level of basic ICT literacy is imparted to teachers and students is the rather basic question asked: What are we going to do with all of this stuff? Related to this ...

4. Assume you can just import content from somewhere else
Some places recognize the need for quality educational content from the start, but assume they can simply import it from somewhere else. In addition to obvious potential cultural issues, the successful integration of content developed elsewhere into daily teaching and learning practices is inhibited by a lack of clear understanding by teachers of the relevance of such materials to the required curricula. Much effort typically needs to be expended to map this content to explicit objectives and activities in the local curricula. (And of course: Teacher training helps too!)

5. Don't monitor, don't evaluate
This should be self-evident. That said, there are only a handful of really credible, rigorous impact evaluation studies done of educational technology initiatives in developing countries. Most evaluation work focuses on (perceptions of) changes in attitudes as the result of the use of educational technologies, and the success (or lack of success) in meeting varius simple metrics (number of computers installed, number of teachers trained, etc.). Such information is important, of course, but it is hardly sufficient. What is the impact of ICT use in education? If we don't evaluate potential answers to this question, rigorously and credibly, all we are left with is well-intentioned guesswork and marketing dross.

6. Make a big bet on an unproven technology (especially one based on a closed/proprietary standard) or single vendor, don't plan for how to avoid 'lock-in

Let's acknowledge that the speed of technological changes almost always outpaces the ability of educational planners to keep up. In response, some policymakers seek to get 'ahead of the curve' by placing large bets on new, largely unproven technologies in an effort to 'leapfrog' what is happening in other education systems. In other cases, education systems effectively outsource most of the capacity to manage activities in this area to a vendor or other third party. There are potentially valid reasons to pursue such courses of action in some cases, but they are inherently very risky, especially if clear plans are not made on how to 'exit' such decisions and relationships.

7. Don't think about (or acknowledge) total cost of ownership/operation issues or calculations
What does ICT use in education cost? Some people would have you believe it is only the initial cost of hardware. Businesses have long known that this is not the case, but many education policymakers seem not to have grasped (or willfully ignore) this fundamental issue. We know that "total cost of ownership or operation" (TCO) is often underestimated, sometimes grossly, when calculating costs of ICT in education initiatives in developing countries. Estimates of initial costs to purchase equipment to overall costs over time vary widely; typically they lie between 10-25% of total cost. That said, there is a dearth of reliable data, and useful tools, to help guide education decisionmakers in their assessments of the true costs of educational technology initiatives.

8. Assume away equity issues
One compelling justification for large-scale investments in the use of ICTs in education is that theycan help address equity issues related to the 'digital divide'. That said, introduction of ICT in schools often exacerbate various entrenched inequities in education systems (urban-rural, rich-poor, boy-girl, linguistic and cultural divides, special needs students -- the list is long). Things can be done to mitigate such challenges, and indeed pro-equity approaches of utilizing ICTs are possible, but they don't happen without careful proactive attention to this issue.

9. Don't train your teachers (nor your school headmasters, for that matter)

If there is one clear lesson from the introduction of educational technologies in schools around the world, it is that teacher training is critical to the success of such initiatives. Outreach to teachers, through both regular technical and pedagogical support and on-going professional development, should be seen as cornerstones of any large ICT investment in schools. And: Targeted outreach to school principals is often crucial if teachers are to have the necessary freedom to take advantage of new opportunities offered through the use of ICTs.

10. ___

[I thought I would leave #10 blank as an acknowledgement that there are many additional worst practices that merit mention, but I have run out of space. Do feel free to submit your candidates below.]

The relative calm surrounding Kenya's constitutional referendum held on August 4 is a stark departure from the violence that marred the infamous 2007 general election. The proposed constitution would limit presidential power and institute land reform, among other changes. One factor that may have contributed to the peaceful vote was the use of information and communications technology.

Officials used e-mail, the internet, and SMS text messages in all phases of the referendum process – voter registration, campaign and actual voting. Such technology has helped contribute to the perception that the process and results were fair, unlike in 2007, when disputed results sparked violence. It also helped officials take swift action against hate speech.

Exceeding Goals for Voter Registration

Kenya’s Interim Electoral Election Commission sought to create transparency in the referendum process. For the first time ever, it conducted the electronic registration of voters in 18 pilot constituencies across the country. The 10-day exercise targeted more than 1.8 million voters in 1,400 registration centers. By sending an SMS text message with their identification card or passport number to 3007 from any network, Kenyans received a text message response confirming that their registration was valid.

Electronic registration helped the election commission surpass its target of registering 10 million people. At the close of the registration exercise,12,656,451 citizens registered to vote. Prime Minister Raila Odinga described the electronic voter registration as revolutionary compared to the old manual system of voter registration. The old system, he said, was "susceptible to abuse by partisan electoral officials."

The proposed constitution was distributed widely in an effort to reach as many citizens as possible. The group that drafted the constitution, the Committee of Experts, made their e-mail addresses public and would occasionally receive questions from the public seeking clarification on certain clauses.

In the run-up to voting, Kenyans used the internet and mobile phones to spread the draft constitution, known as a Katiba. To see the apps developed for the constitution, click here.

Monitoring Hate Speech

Nearly 4,000 people were deployed across the country to monitor the circulation of hate messages and the use of hate speech in public. These “peace committees” were formed as part of The Uwiano Platform for Peace, a joint initiative of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), PeaceNet Kenya and the National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Prevention.

Red and green voting factions

The peace committees used voice recorders and mobile phones to monitor and relay information to a 24-hour station at the NCIC offices. The NCIC received thousands of SMS messages reporting incidents of violence, hate speech and other activities that threatened peace. The committees created pages on Facebook to spread the message of peace.

Comments made by politicians in political rallies were also monitored as were leaflets asking some ethnic communities to leave certain areas. Some of the leaflets retrieved contained threatening messages telling some communities to “leave in peace or leave in pieces.”

One government minister has been suspended for allegedly using hate speech. President Mwai Kibaki took action against Dr. Wilfred Machage, the assistant minister for Roads, pending the determination of a hate speech case in court against him. Machage was charged with four counts of incitement to violence and was accused of uttering inciting words likely to stir ethnic hatred on June 10.

Machage is accused of saying: “Wa Maasai chenu hakiko Rift Valley, mashamba yenu yote yataenda kwa serikali.” (“You the Maasai, all your land in Rift Valley will be repossessed by the government”). The Rift Valley is an area where violence flared after the 2007 election.

Steps Toward Credible Voting and Election Results

The election commission monitored the registration and polling using Blackberries donated by the United States Government. The Blackberries provided field personnel with telephone, SMS and e-mail access to headquarters from any location in Kenya. The built-in global positioning system capability was supposed to accurately map all registration and polling locations throughout the country.

Eager to know results of the polling, Kenyans have been keeping in touch with the tallying by texting to 3007. Eighty percent of the constituencies were expected to convey their results using a new Electronic Voter Tallying system. Out of 27,689 polling stations, results from 21,000 stations were transmitted electronically to the constituency tallying center and the national tallying centers. To ensure that the relaying of the results runs smoothly, 210 ICT officers have been deployed across the country.

As of this writing, the constitution looks to have passed and peace seems to have won out against violence.

This article was originally published by AudienceScapes as Kenya’s Referendum Shaped By Technology. AudienceScapes publishes research and reporting on media and communication technology in developing countries.

Recently, Kiflom Bezabeh asked an interesting question on LinkedIn's African ICT Network:

While there were several good answers to Kiflom's specific needs, the overall question had me thinking about the implementation issues in providing offline educational content for high school and University teachers and students in Africa. Here are the three main issues that confront educational content delivery anywhere:

1. Digital Content

Locally appropriate content that follows the school curriculum needs to be created in a digital format. Ideally, teachers and students can modify this content and create new content as needed. This can be in direct conflict with the local University professors and their publishers who write and profit from physical textbooks

2. Local Storage

Internet access isn't always reliable, and it often doesn't even exist in developing world educational systems. So some form of local digital storage will need to be created that can serve as the host of current and future content. Ideally, this storage can be expanded and the content refreshed easily.

3. Content Delivery

Everyone usually gets most excited about the hardware - some form of content delivery that allows for individual visual absorption. It can as simple as a Wikireader or as complex as the iPad. Ideally it should be a) affordable b) sustainable c) available by the recipient institution.

Available Solutions

While there isn't one solution that fits every need, there are several that can fit certain situations. Here are a few that we've found:

1. Teachermate helps teachers reinforce and customize lessons for students, using local content
2. eGranary is an offline server full of online content. It cannot be loaded with local content
3. Wikireader is a handheld Wikipedia reader. Again, no local content access
4. Talking Book is a highly-customizable audio player, but doesn't present visual text

Do you know of a solution that provides offline educational content for high school and University teachers and students in Africa? Then be sure to add it in the comments.

Some folks over at the eDiplomacy office at the US State Department are interested in understanding the wishes and needs for technology apps from those working in civil society and beyond. They're interested in mobile technology, including mobile phones, but also any pertinent platform for global usage.

See, it’s easy for the Department of State to look at things from it's governmental context and tell others how to use tools they use, but it’s way more useful to see what we and other groups actually want, whether it exists or not, and then see if State can find or make it.

So with that opening, don't let this opportunity go to waste - let the US State Department know what your mobile tech wish list is in the comments below!