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Since the onset of COVID-19, governments have launched technology-supported education interventions to ensure children learn. This paper offers a narrative synthesis of emerging evidence on technology-based education to understand the current experiences of learners, teachers and families. Studies find that few students in low- and middle-income countries have access to technology-supported learning with the most marginalised children appearing to have the least educational opportunities. As such, the education response to COVID-19 could widen existing inequalities.

Fifty-three percent of Grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning in low- and middle-income countries despite an investment of between 33-49% of education expenditure on primary education. Teaching children to read in the early grades is fundamental to building resilient education systems, as the ability to read early in life is a great predictor for education success, and will minimise learning loss during education emergencies similar to COVID-19 school closures, for children who can read for meaning can carry on learning outside of school buildings. Further, the predicted financing gaps in the next few years, as a result of COVID-19, will require governments to utilise limited financial resources effectively and efficiently by implementing literacy programmes proven to be impactful, using financial instruments like outcomes-based contracting that can mobilise and coordinate non-traditional educational finance and incentivise service providers to improve results by paying for achievement of agreed outcomes.

COVID-19 has had a major impact on international higher education with border closures, cancelled flights, and a shift to online teaching and learning. As a result, many international students have decided to either abandon or defer their plans to study abroad. If students stay in their home countries, many institutions that rely heavily on foreign students’ fees will suffer, with potential impacts on national economies. Beyond the economic implications, it is also important to consider the personal impact of COVID-19 on international students, who may face delays or obstacles to program completion, employment and/or immigration. Though there are certainly risks and losses in the short term, the demand for international education, and the benefits it offers, are expected to grow. This presents an opportunity for higher education institutions (HEIs) and governments, not just to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on their current business models, but to explore new models and opportunities. HEIs and governments must look at redefining international higher education for the new normal, which will entail a shift in policies and programmes. This paper outlines the implications of the COVID-19 crisis for international higher education and presents potential opportunities for governments and higher education institutions to refresh and redefine their approaches for the new normal.

A preview of the international dashboard of trends in education suggests that Open Education Resources (OERs) have and will continue to impact the provision of education during institutional closure owing to the global Covid-19 pandemic. However, the toughest question that is often presented to OERs promoters regards the efficiency (sustainability) and the pedagogical effectiveness of OERs: If education resource users are not cognizant and do not pay for the production, distribution, and utilization of the required resources, then, how can the production, distribution, and utilization of such resources be efficiently and effectively used? Basing on usage-logs and interview data that were collected from 25 teachers in 10 Government-Aided Secondary Schools in Uganda, this report presents a Discourse Analysis of teachers’ use of OERs on Kolibri and draws on such insights gained to propose a potentially transformative model for efficient and effective utilization of OERs to enhance students’ learning outcomes during COVID-19 schools lockdown.

ISO Colegío in Paraiba, Brazil, implemented Finnish innovation pedagogy from Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS) as a pedagogical strategy in their new primary school in early 2020. The implementation started in class teaching but due to the pandemic, it was transferred online, still using the new pedagogical approaches. Experiences by teachers and pupils have so far been mostly positive. Management has been satisfied with the overall success and plan to continue with innovation pedagogy as a strategy.

The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in school closures at an unprecedented scale and prompted educational systems to find alternative teaching models at short notice. The role for educational technology in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has recently become the focus of much discussion. While prompted by the pandemic, the discussions surface latent issues in educational systems, and the perspectives and ambitions of organisations in relation to educational technology and LMICs. The influence of the discussions during this period is likely to extend beyond the initial crisis, and warrants investigation. This paper presents a thematic analysis, using a grounded theory approach, of documents published online between February and April 2020. Five themes emerge, in relation to access, responses, support from carers, teachers and communities, educational quality and the future.

Objective The purpose of this paper was to share teaching and learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and mandated university closure. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among all eligible students and faculty members using voluntary anonymous questionnaires.  To capture the attitudes and perceptions of respondents, five-point Likert scale questions were used. Results A total of 865 (58%) students and 57 (51%) faculty members participated in the survey. Uptake of e-learning platforms increased by 15.4% for students, 43.0% for faculty and by 22.3% in courses. The overall students’ strength of consensus measure of perception on accessibility of platforms was 65% and support entities 79%. About 70% of students owned a smartphone as a learning device. More than 67% of the students highlighted the cost of Internet bundles as a major challenge. Conclusion Shifting from blended learning to online learning during the lockdown was feasible given the pre-planned e-learning practices.

Educating nurses in developing countries is challenging due to limited resources. Nurses International advances nursing education through the use of Open Educational Resources which provides a unique model to teach and mentor nurse educators globally. Using current resources and materials that are free online and teacher-facing, an innovative program has been established that can be employed to scale up education of the healthcare workforce through teaching the teachers and enhancing the education of nurses.

This study aims to examine the effect of parental involvement on students’ academic achievement at pre-school, elementary and secondary levels by using the meta-analysis method with respect to home-based and school-based parental involvement strategies. Data consisted of 55 independent research studies in English published between 2010 and 2019, and accessed through ERIC, Academic Search Complete, Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, and PsycNet databases. Findings revealed that the effect of parental involvement on academic achievement was positive but small. Parental expectations had the biggest effect on academic achievement and parental control had a negative and small effect. The mean effect of parental involvement on students’ academic achievement does not differ significantly according to moderator variables of education level, measurement type or measurement area but differs by developmental level of the country. The results are discussed using available related meta-analysis studies in the literature.

To meet the growing demand for continuing professional development of practising teachers, the integrated in-service teacher training (INSET) programme aims at making permanent improvements on the quality of teaching and learning for Junior Secondary School (JSS) Teachers in Sierra Leone. Within this context, a toolkit for School-Based Teacher Development was created and microlearning identified as an ideal mode to deliver the toolkit content. In this paper, we present the design considerations that informed this decision as well as challenges and lessons learned from the first implementation of the INSET project for junior secondary school teachers in Sierra Leone. A multimodal approach was considered and implemented to mitigate Internet access challenges and to expand learning opportunities. These include a mobile app version of the Toolkit, offline access to microlearning resources on the TeacherFutures platform via the Moodle mobile app, a mobile app version of one INSET module, an e-portfolio to be used by participants in sharing their learnings as demonstrated and practised during a face-to-face  roll-out seminar, and finally, WhatsApp groups in which different schools engaged in discussions based on the questions on the Toolkit. Preliminary findings indicate a strong preference among participants for the use of WhatsApp as the main channel of communication within the communities of practice; and very limited use of the main e-learning Moodle platform and e-Portfolio. This necessitates a need to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the design of a multimodal approach for delivering microlearning content. From this, we seek to establish a set of design considerations, capacity building and technical support issues derived from analysis of data emerging from the ongoing project rollout. This will inform future integration of Microlearning resources in the teacher training project.

Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents.

A global analysis suggests that on average the world's tallest teenagers live in the Netherlands.

The DRC government and Cordaid are building a database of DRC’s more than 60.000 schools. Girls are the first to profit from this data-driven innovation.

This document is background paper 3 for the #SaveOurFuture campaign as an EdTech Hub report. The full paper and other working group papers are available here: https://saveourfuture.world/white-paper/. The evidence library entry for the background paper in original format is https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/SXDQAPB6.

This document is background paper 3 for the #SaveOurFuture campaign. The full paper and other working group papers are available here: https://saveourfuture.world/white-paper/. This document is also available as an EdTech Hub report, see https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/IA9PL99D

An intro to “The Rebirth of Education” — the most important book on why ed reforms in the Global South fail and what we can do about it.

We model household investments in young children when parents and older siblings share caregiving responsibilities and when investments by older siblings contribute to young children’s human capital accumulation. To test the predictions of our model, we estimate the impact of having one older sister (as opposed to one older brother) on early childhood development in a sample of rural Kenyan households with otherwise similar family structures. Older sibling gender is not related to household structure, subsequent birth spacing, or other observable characteristics, so we treat the presence of an older girl (as opposed to an older boy) as plausibly exogenous. Having an older sister rather than an older brother improves younger siblings’ vocabulary and fine motor skills by more than 0.1 standard deviations. Viewed through the lens of our model, the empirical pattern we observe suggests that: (i) older siblings’ investments in young children contribute to their human capital accumulation, and (ii) households perceive lower returns to investing in older girls than in older boys.

News and business analysis for Professionals in International Education, Many students are not enthusiastic about online learning after a summer of lecture-by-Zoom. So what have universities and colleges planned for the new semester?

Isn’t it easy to dream, imagine, envision, and talk about the future of something? Becoming the visionary of that idea or being part of the process and seeing it succeed? Education today is very different from what it was 20 years ago, but it still has room to move. Learning is changing with the times, …

Craig Scott, chief technology officer of ViewSonic, explores post-Covid-19 education and preparing for a world of hybrid learning and teaching.