Ten Lessons for ICT and Education in the Developing World

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Robert J Hawkins
World Links for Development Program - The World Bank Institute

A Changed World With Unchanged Clssrooms - I read about this so many times that I realise how lucky I am to be in a teaching environment that is actually moving with the times (for those teachers who wish to move along with it!)I haven't seen a piece of chalk for 3 years. Also during that time, my students have had full access to computers and the Internet in every lesson. Oh the luxury!

"Information reasoning" - "a process in which reliable sources of information are identified, effectively assessed, understood, contextualized, and communicated to colleagues." Hawkins refers to this as a necessity for today's workforce in the Networked World, but it is now also a classroom requirement. It describes what we expect from our students in their project based learning tasks.

Hawkins notes that "knowledge workers need to be flexible and able to learn quickly as work environments continue to change dynamically." This also applies to the academic context, particularly in the system of colleges where I work. First, labs with desktops for every student, then regular laptops, then tablet pcs, then a new brand of tablet pcs this semseter. First digital projectors, now smartboards. The core textbook has also been digitised to be used with the smartboards. Personally I love it but I can see how it could be very frustrating for some.

"One of the key failures of many past programs was that schools were provided with expensive equipment but with little or no support for teachers' professional development"... How often have we heard that, although from personal experience I have seen people unwilling to request training, or not attending available training, because they fear all of this is going to add to their workload. Keep your head down and your mouth shut!!

What a perfect analogy for a slow Internet connection "like a fire hose dangling over a thirsty traveler in the desert that releases only drops of water into his parched mouth."

Amazing lengths some people and communities have gone to to assist in the implementation of the World Bank Program. I particularly like the idea of training the students to be their own computer technicians.

Ministries of Education partnering with local/national telecoms in a win-win situation.

Spreading the costs by community involvement - another win-win.

ICT and broader educatio reforms: Hawkins states that many ministries see computers as a stand-alone subject requiring a curriculum focusing on basic computer skills" but "the integration of the Internet into the broader curriculum is where the real learning gains will be made." I've just had a class where my (very, very weak) students had to complete a small project about a particular film star. I handed out the task and zipped my mouth. All biographical details, spellings, translations, pictures, everything were to be found using the Internet and the final product produced on a ppt. I had 100 questions in the first 2 minutes (I answered none of them) and barely a question after that. 2 hours later, I received 20 (grammatically-mangled but readable)ppts on the life and times of Michelle Yeoh! Not to mention 2 hours when a notoriously difficult class never once stopped working.