Population growth (annual %) - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Population growth (annual %) - Kenya | Data - World Bank (2021)

Population, total - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Population, total | Data - World Bank (2021)

Population, total - Kenya | Data - World Bank (2021)

Report on Education Crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean: Urgent Action is Needed to Address the Enormous Education Crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean - World Bank (The World Bank, 2021)
Following the massive school closures, as of February 2021, about 120 million school-age children had already lost or were at risk of losing a full academic year of presential education, with serious educational impacts, according to the report, Acting now to protect the human capital of our children: The costs of and response to the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the education sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Rural population (% of total population) - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Rural population (% of total population) | Data - World Bank (2021)

School enrollment, primary (% net) - Kenya | Data - World Bank (2021)

School enrollment, secondary (% net) - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Secondary education, pupils - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Secondary education, pupils (% female) - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Secondary education, teachers - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Secondary education, teachers, female - Bangladesh | Data - World Bank (2021)

Teachers and Teaching in Sierra Leone : Teacher Quality and Management Study - World Bank (2021)
Keywords: _C:Sierra Leone

The Urgent Need to Focus on Foundational Skills - World Bank (2021)
The urgent need to focus on foundational skills

There will be no recovery without empowered, motivated and effective teachers - World Bank (2021)
There will be no recovery without empowered, motivated and effective teachers

Thinking inside the "Box": Pakistan turns to education TV during Covid-19 - World Bank (2021)

Trained teachers in primary education (% of total teachers) - Ghana | Data - World Bank (The World Bank Open Data, 2021)

World Bank Open Data portal - World Bank (2021)

World Development Indicators - World Bank (2021)

Education Finance Watch 2021 - World Bank; UNESCO (Global Education Monitoring Report, 2021)

The State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery. - World Bank; UNESCO; UNICEF (2021)
"The global disruption to education caused by the COVD-19 pandemic is without parallel and the effects on learning are severe. The crisis brought education systems across the world to a halt, with school closures affecting more than 1.6 billion learners. While nearly every country in the world offered remote learning opportunities for students, the quality and reach of such initiatives varied greatly and were at best partial substitutes for in-person learning. Now, 21 months later, schools remain closed for millions of children and youth, and millions more are at risk of never returning to education. Evidence of the detrimental impacts of school closures on children's learning offer a harrowing reality: learning losses are substantial, with the most marginalized children and youth often disproportionately affected. Countries have an opportunity to accelerate learning recovery and make schools more efficient, equitable, and resilient by building on investments made and lessons learned during the crisis. Now is the time to shift from crisis to recovery - and beyond recovery, to resilient and transformative education systems that truly deliver learning and well-being for all children and youth."--The World Bank website

The Global Cost of Inclusive Refugee Education - World Bank; UNHCR (World Bank, 2021)

6 Data Policy Issues Experts Are Tracking Right Now - World Economic Forum (2021)

World Hearing Day - World Health Organization (2021)
Statement by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia
Keywords: ⛔ No INSPIRE recid found

Bangladesh - World Inequality Database (WID - World Inequality Database, 2021)
Bangladesh The source for global inequality data. Open access, high quality wealth and income inequality data developed by an international academic consortium.

Countries by Density - World Population Review (World Population Review, 2021)

Bangladesh Population (2021) - Worldometer (2021)
Population of Bangladesh: current, historical, and projected population, growth rate, immigration, median age, total fertility rate (TFR), population density, urbanization, urban population, country's share of world population, and global rank. Data tables, maps, charts, and live population clock

Population by Country - Worldometer (World Population Review, 2021)
List of countries and dependencies in the world ranked by population, from the most populated. Growth rate, median age, fertility rate, area, density, population density, urbanization, urban population, share of world population.

International Handbook on Education in South East Asia - Ximenes, Pedro Barreto (2021)

International Handbook on Education in South East Asia - Ximenes, Pedro Barreto (2021)

How Much Does Universal Digital Learining Cost? - Yao, Haogen; Brossard, Matt; Mizunoya, Suguru; Nasir, Bassem; Walumgembe, Patrick; Cooper, Rachel; Rafique; Reuge, Nicolas (UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, 2021)

Examining Pre-Service Teachers’ Views about Online Chemistry Laboratory Learning Experiences Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic - Yeşi̇Loğlu, Sevinç Nihal; Gençer, Sinem; Eki̇Ci̇, Funda; Işik, Burcu (Journal of Turkish Science Education, 2021)
With the continued spread of the COVID-19 crisis, the universities were closed temporarily in Turkey just as in the rest of the world. As a result of this, many educators and students tried to adapt online education quickly. This research study examined 67 pre-service teachers' views on online chemistry laboratory learning experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A data collection tool consisting of seven open-ended questions was used. Data sources included responses given to open-ended questions about the online chemistry laboratory learning experiences, the applications used for the chemistry experiments (e.g., simulations, images, and videos), the methods used for assessing online learning, and the system used for the virtual classroom platform. Content analysis was applied to participants’ responses. Participants’ views about online chemistry laboratories amid the COVID-19 pandemic were gathered in five themes: (i) advantages and disadvantages of online chemistry laboratories, (ii) effects of online chemistry laboratories on learning outcomes, (iii) views on technological applications used in online chemistry laboratories, (iv) views on measurement and assessment methods used in online chemistry laboratories, and (v) views of pre-service teachers on the virtual classroom platform used in online chemistry laboratories. The findings of the study highlighted that online laboratory learning has both advantages and disadvantages. The findings also included the strengths and weaknesses of the system used for the virtual classroom platform. The findings may provide useful information on how to design a positive online laboratory experience such as integrating hands-on activities as a part of the online laboratories to overcome the lack of “learning by doing” and using videos containing more detailed explanations about the experimental setup.
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

COVID-19 could reverse two decades of progress: Emerging policy recommendations to support young people in developing countries - Young Lives (Young Lives, 2021)

Blended Learning in Universities in East Africa: Lessons from the PEBL Partnership - Young, John; Nzegwu, Dr Femi; Schaeffler, Dr Veronika; Khandoker, Fiona; Calamassi, Sara; Perris, Dr Kirk; George, Dr; Ikiara, Dr Lucy (2021)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found; ⛔ No INSPIRE recid found

Special education teachers’ perceptions toward online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic - Yunita, Vania Martha; Sunardi, Sunardi; Kristiyanto, Agus (JPI (Jurnal Pendidikan Indonesia), 2021)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found; ⛔ No INSPIRE recid found

Understanding the Digital Gender Divide in Rural Bangladesh: How wide it is and why - Zahan, Iffat (https://bigd.bracu.ac.bd/publications/understanding-the-digital-gender-divide-in-rural-bangladesh-how-wide-it-is-and-why/, 2021)
The digital gender divide (DGD) has become a major concern for policymakers. Globally, more men (58 per cent) use the internet than women (48 per cent). This gap can mainly be attributed to the gender gap in developing countries where...

After COVID-19, let’s reimagine education in Kenya - Zaman, Maniza (2021)
Digital learning should be part of a basic package of essential services for every child

La educación virtual en tiempos del COVID-19: Una experiencia en la maestría de Educación - Zea, Miriam Patricia Cárdenas; Quimi, Wendy Diana Carranza; Panta, Karina Alexandra Plua; García, Mariana Solís; Torres, Marioxy Morales (Universidad y Sociedad, 2021)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Teacher Turnover in Rwanda - Zeitlin, Andrew (Journal of African Economies, 2021)

An Exploration of China-Africa Cooperation in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges in Open Distance Learning - Zhu, Xia; Chikwa, Gladson (Open Praxis, 2021)
Cognisant of the wide range of cooperation between China and Africa and the existing strong Sino-African relationship, this article explores the international cooperation between Africa and China in the higher education domain, especially in the field of Open Distance Learning (ODL). The study employed data triangulation relying on both secondary and primary sources to address the main research questions. It sheds light on the development of ODL in Chinese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a focus on professional development of university teachers. The article argues that ODL is crucial for emerging economies' sustainable development. Key factors such as political, technological and socio-cultural features play a crucial role in the development and effective implementation of ODL. By exploring the potential opportunities and identifying related challenges, this article contributes to an understanding of how mutually beneficial partnerships between African universities and Chinese HEIs can be developed within the wider framework of Sino-African relationship.
Keywords: Distance Education; Educational Development; Educational Technology; Faculty Development; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; International Cooperation; Lifelong Learning; Open Education; Partnerships in Education; Sustainable Development

Bunga Rampai Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini - Hasbi, Muhammad; Merysa; Abidin, Zaenal; Oktavianingsih, Eka; Zatalini, Rinia; Mabrur, Hidayatul; Sobiatin, Eka; Rahayu, Dita; Adhitya, Yusuf; Somantri, Cecep; Nurhasanah, Nia (2020)
Publikasi ini merupakan bentuk kerja sama antara Direktorat Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini (PAUD),Direktorat Jenderal Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini, Pendidikan Dasar dan Pendidikan Menengah, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan (Kemendikbud) dan para alumni penerima beasiswa Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP), baik dari dalam maupun luar negeri. Para kontributor yang terpilih dalam buku ini telah menyelesaikan studi di bidang pendidikan dengan fokus disiplin yang beragam (interdisipliner), dan lulus dengan predikat cumlaude atau distinction pada bidang masing-masing, baik pada jenjang sarjana maupun magister.

The system of administrative services in Ukraine: Features of legal regulation - Mamatova, Тetiana; Sydorenko, Natalya (Public Administration Aspects, 2020)
The article is devoted to determining the main stages of regulatory and legal support of the administrative services’ system in Ukraine development which include: laying the foundations of the administrative services’ system in terms of interaction with business entities (until 2005); the beginning of the administrative services’ system formation (2006–2008); rule-making activity for the purpose of streamlining the sphere of administrative services (2009–2013); expanding the local governments’ powers in the field of administrative services (2014–2017); development of a network of appropriate administrative services centres of local governments and digitalization of public services (2019–2020). Certain legislative acts that provide local governments with certain own and delegated powers in the field of administrative services are considered and analysed. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the legal field in the field of public administration, in particular, the provision of administrative services to the population, is constantly evolving. The study of trends in this area indicates that the further vector of development will be aimed mainly at the end user of services – the subject of the application – with regulatory priority of complex services and their provision mainly in electronic form, for example using the application «Diia» or similar services. It is determined that ensuring the innovative development of administrative services requires state executive bodies and local governments to make strategic decisions on the development of appropriate infrastructure: updating computer, specialized (workstations) equipment and other office equipment in the administrative services centres; ensuring high-quality communication for the effective operation of the Internet, which allows mobile administrative services centres and workplaces of administrators to work effectively, to provide services to individuals and legal entities in the territorial divisions of administrative services centres and remote workplaces, make instant payments for administrative services, gain access to state registers; implementation of activities to inform and involve the public in the administrative services centres’ activities.

Disaster Management Preparedness in the Education Sector in Kenya – A Case of the COVID-19 Pandemic. - Ngari, Prof Fr Stephen Mbugua; Ndung’u, Stephen W. (Editon Consortium Journal of Educational Management and Leadership, 2020)
This study examined the disaster management preparedness in the education sector in Kenya, with a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic period. The study adopted destktop literature review for data collection. The collected data pertains e-learning in Kenya and in other countries during the time of  the novel coronavirus pandemic. Notably, the education sector, like in many other countries, seeks to actualise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in line with the United Nations and the Education for All (EFA) movement lead by UNESCO (MacEwen, et al., 2011). Examples of these events are; accidents such as the one evident in Kakamega Primary School where the school closed for about two weeks (Daily Nation, 2020), attack by militia groups as was the case of Garissa University in 2015, intercommunity wars that lead to displacements, famine, and fires. These disasters and events, whenever they strike, have led to the closure of affected institutions of learning to pave the way for interventions. Garissa University is a leading example since it had to close for about nine months in 2015-2016 (BBC, 2016). In Kenya, disasters and other events disrupt the progress towards achieving MDGs and EFA time to time, and that was the inspiration for this study. The study concludes that disasters like nature patterns, militia groups, electricity faults, and those instigated by learners can derail learning in education and cause loss of lives. As such, online learning comes in handy to lessen such disasters. The possibility of such learning model has been tested and proved during COVID-19 pandemic and it has been successful in many institutions of higher learning and middle level colleges.
Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Disaster Management; Education Sector; Preparedness

Recontextualization of learner-centred pedagogy in Rwanda: A comparative analysis of primary and secondary schools. - van de Kuilen, Hester; Altinyelken, Hulya Kosar; Voogt, Joke M.; Nzabalirwa, Wenceslas (Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 2020)
Learner-centred pedagogy (LCP) has become a global pedagogy and has been adopted in sub-Saharan African countries such as Rwanda, despite ample evidence of implementation failure. Most research has examined its implementation at either the primary or the secondary level. However, this qualitative study adopts a comparative approach and seeks to explore how Rwandan primary and secondary school teachers define, perceive and recontextualize LCP. The study is based on interviews and classroom observations of 12 effective primary and 12 effective secondary teachers working in eight well-performing schools; the analysis draws on Schweisfurth’s minimum standards for LCP. This Rwandan case reveals that the majority of primary and secondary teachers stimulated open and respectful classroom interactions. However, recontextualization of constructivism differed substantially between the two groups. Furthermore, the findings highlight the importance of more research into the dynamics between the various standards for LCP, and the interaction of these standards with contextual factors.
Keywords: Learner-centred pedagogy; education reform; recontextualization; rwanda; teachers

Good teaching is inclusive for all, so why focus on marginalised adolescent girls? - Reilly, Anita (The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET), 2020)
This blog was written by Anita Reilly, Girls’ Education Challenge. It was published on the Girls’ Education Challenge website on 15 December 2020. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Education Policy makes good teaching a top priority, recognising that teaching quality is the most important factor affecting learning in school. It is difficult to quantify […]

Brazil faces hard spending choices in 2021 - Economist (The Economist, 2020)
The poor received huge welfare payments during the pandemic. These may soon dry up

Key Insights from Behavioral Journey Mapping of Caregivers - Busara (2020)

EdTech Hub Quarterly Report October to December 2020 - EdTech Hub Team (2020)

Parents’ perceptions of student academic motivation during the covid-19 lockdown: a cross-country comparison - Zaccoletti, Sonia; Camacho, Ana; Correia, Nadine; Aguiar, Cecília; Mason, Lucia; Alves, Rui A.; Daniel, João R. (Frontiers in Psychology, 2020)
The COVID-19 outbreak has ravaged all societal domains, including education. Home confinement, school closures, and distance learning impacted students, teachers, and parents’ lives worldwide. In this study, we aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on Italian and Portuguese students’ academic motivation as well as investigate the possible buffering role of extracurricular activities. Following a retrospective pretest–posttest design, 567 parents ( n Italy = 173, n Portugal = 394) reported on their children’s academic motivation and participation in extracurricular activities (grades 1 to 9). We used a multi-group latent change score model to compare Italian and Portuguese students’: (1) pre-COVID mean motivation scores; (2) rate of change in motivation; (3) individual variation in the rate of change in motivation; and (4) dependence of the rate of change on initial motivation scores. Estimates of latent change score models showed a decrease in students’ motivation both in Italy and in Portugal, although more pronounced in Italian students. Results also indicated that the decrease in students’ participation in extracurricular activities was associated with changes in academic motivation (i.e., students with a lower decrease in participation in extracurricular activities had also a lower decrease in motivation). Furthermore, students’ age was significantly associated with changes in motivation (i.e., older students had lower decrease). No significant associations were found for students’ gender nor for parents’ education. This study provides an important contribution to the study of students’ academic motivation during home confinement, school closures, and distance learning as restrictive measures adopted to contain a worldwide health emergency. We contend that teachers need to adopt motivation-enhancing practices as means to prevent the decline in academic motivation during exceptional situations.

Vietnam: All about temporary residence registration under the new Law applied from July 1, 2021 in Hanoi, Vietnam - Hai, Le (Tin tức pháp luật, 2020)
On November 13, 2020, the National Assembly of Vietnam issued the Residence Law 2020, which has many new regulations on residence, such as changes in procedures for temporary residence registration.

How much can we generalize from impact evaluations? - Vivalt, Eva (Journal of the European Economic Association, 2020)
Impact evaluations can help to inform policy decisions, but they are rooted in particular contexts and to what extent they generalize is an open question. I exploit a new data set of impact evaluation results and find a large amount of effect heterogeneity. Effect sizes vary systematically with study characteristics, with government-implemented programs having smaller effect sizes than academic or non-governmental organization-implemented programs, even controlling for sample size. I show that treatment effect heterogeneity can be appreciably reduced by taking study characteristics into account.

Is 2020 a lost academic year? The impact of COVID-19 on education in eastern Africa: a case study of Kenya - Cordeiro, Vanessa Cezarita (Humanium, 2020)
Despite national efforts and strict measures designed to curb the spread of the virus, the country continues to suffer from the knock-on effects of the pandemic.

Lessons for Education from COVID-19 A Policy Maker’s Handbook for More Resilient Systems - OECD (OECD Publishing, 2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken long-accepted beliefs about education, showing that learning can occur anywhere, at any time, and that education systems are not too heavy to move. When surveyed in May 2020, only around one-fifth of OECD education systems aimed to reinstate the status quo. Policy makers must therefore maintain the momentum of collective emergency action to drive education into a new and better normal. This Handbook provides practical guidance to support them to do just that. It presents the current state-of-play in over 40 education systems, and efforts to improve pedagogical practices in the midst of the pandemic. It proposes three key lessons and related policy pointers for the current academic term and beyond. Drawing on concrete examples of COVID-19 policy responses from primary to tertiary, as well as impactful pre-crisis policies, it addresses the policy areas of flexible learning, educator skills, and student equity. The Handbook has been prepared with evidence from the Education Policy Outlook series – the OECD’s analytical observatory of education policy. As such, it benefits from a decade of policy analysis, outcomes from the Education Policy Reform Dialogues 2020, and the development of an actionable Framework for Responsiveness and Resilience in education.

Human Development Report 2020: The Next Frontier - Human Development and the Anthropocene - United Nations Development Programme (Human Development Report, 2020)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Human Development Report 2020: The Next Frontier - Human Development and the Anthropocene. Bangladesh. - United Nations Development Programme (Human Development Report, 2020)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Distance learning during COVID-19 crisis: Primary and secondary school parents experiences in Kenya - Mabeya, Mary Theodorah (East African Journal of Education Studies, 2020)
The COVID-19 disease outbreak in 2020 was declared by the World Health Organization as a Public Health Emergency (PHEIC). Human symptoms of the Coronaviruses among others are commonly spread through droplets (coughing) and close personal unprotected contact with an infected person through toughing. Based on the speed at which the disease spreads, learning institutions were distinguished as high-risk areas with prospective of exposing both learners and instructors the spreading the virus. This had a serious effect on the academic programs in all learning institutions worldwide where learning was abruptly discontinued and all students and instructors send home. The Government of Kenya (GOK) through the President’s directives suspended all learning institutions as one of the measures taken by the Ministry of Health to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This affected the learning since most of the schools had not even started their syllabus that academic year. Alternative measures to ensure that curriculum implementation progressed well; various mechanisms were suggested including remote learning which was actualised in some instances. Virtual lessons and Open and Distance e-learning (ODeL) has mainly been adopted by institutions of higher learning (colleges and universities) globally in offering online classes. However, this was not the case in many public primary and secondary institutions where the common form of learning involves a very interactive physical relationship between teachers and their learners in classrooms. In Kenya, since all institutions of learning were closed as a result of the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education (MOE) opted for remote learning across the country. Research results from Rangwe Sub-county have shown that most learners have not benefited much from the online classes due to the network and other related challenges reported in this paper. This has created education inequity since parents who have children in private schools and those from well of backgrounds are the ones enjoying distance learning programmes offered. The research has also found out that parents did no proper supervision to ensure that their children were committed in their studies in remote settings. Lack of supportive infrastructure (electricity and internet network access) limited children participation in distance learning programmes in Rangwe Sub-county. The paper recommends that government to properly educate parents, teachers and learners on modalities of distance and remote learning programmes. There is need for government to provide children from disadvantaged families with technological appliances to enable them to participate in distance education.

Online teaching and learning in higher education during the coronavirus pandemic: students’ perspective - Coman, Claudiu; Țîru, Laurențiu Gabriel; Meseșan-Schmitz, Luiza; Stanciu, Carmen; Bularca, Maria Cristina (Sustainability, 2020)
The research focuses on identifying the way in which Romanian universities managed to provide knowledge during the Coronavirus pandemic, when, in a very short time, universities had to adapt the educational process for exclusively online teaching and learning. In this regard, we analyzed students’ perception regarding online learning, their capacity to assimilate information, and the use of E-learning platforms. An online survey based on a semi-structured questionnaire was conducted. Data was collected from 762 students from two of the largest Romanian universities. The results of the research revealed that higher education institutions in Romania were not prepared for exclusively online learning. Thus, the advantages of online learning identiﬁed in other studies seem to diminish in value, while disadvantages become more prominent. The hierarchy of problems that arise in online learning changes in the context of the crisis caused by the pandemic. Technical issues are the most important, followed by teachers’ lack of technical skills and their teaching style improperly adapted to the online environment. However, the last place was assigned by students to the lack of interaction with teachers or poor communication with them. Based on these ﬁndings, research implications for universities and researchers are discussed.

DepEd Malaybalay Expands Radio-Based Instruction (RBI) to Formal Education - Department of Education, Division of Malaybalay City (DepED, Division of Malaybalay City, 2020)
In the face of the current COVID-19 crisis that the country is facing right now, the Department of Education’s topmost priority is to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our learners while …
Keywords: ⛔ No INSPIRE recid found

Education sector plan (ESP) for Bangladesh: Fiscal years 2020/21-2024/25 - MoE (Ministry of Education, 2020)

Education Sector Plan (ESP) for Bangladesh Fiscal Years 2020/21-2024/25 - MoE (2020)

Gender, power and progress: How norms change - ALiGN (Align Platform, 2020)
This report is about gender norms – the implicit informal rules about appropriate behaviour for people of different genders – that most people accept and follow. It is about the ways in which gender equality, women’s and girls’ rights and the norms that shape the ability to claim those rights, have progressed over time. It examines how gender norms have changed in the 25 years since the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action on women’s rights was set out in 1995, and their role in progress and setbacks to achieving these rights.

Texting Parents about Early Child Development: Behavioral Changes and Unintended Social Effects - Barrera, Oscar; Macours, Karen; Premand, Patrick; Vakis, Renos (Policy Research Working Papers, 2020)

Gender, power and progress: How norms change - Harper, Caroline; Marcus, Rachel; George, Rachel; D'Angelo, Sophia; Samman, Emma (Align Platform, 2020)
This report is about gender norms – the implicit informal rules about appropriate behaviour for people of different genders – that most people accept and follow. It is about the ways in which gender equality, women’s and girls’ rights and the norms that shape the ability to claim those rights, have progressed over time. It examines how gender norms have changed in the 25 years since the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action on women’s rights was set out in 1995, and their role in progress and setbacks to achieving these rights.

Bangladeshi children share experiences of remote learning and the challenges they face - Chowdhury, Iftikhar Ahmed (UNICEF, 2020)
Students call for safe reopening of schools to prevent further disruption to their education

Evaluation of the functionality of a new E-learning platform vs. Previous experiences in E-learning and the self-assessment of own digital literacy - Tomczyk, Łukasz; Potyrała, Katarzyna; Włoch, Anna; Wnęk-Gozdek, Joanna; Demeshkant, Nataliia (Sustainability, 2020)
Recent civilizational transformations have led us to search for and introduce new didactic solutions. One of these is e-learning, which is a response to the needs of the education system and its individual stakeholders. The e-learning systems currently available offer similar solutions. Only during direct interaction with a given tool can one notice significant differences in their functionality. By carrying out evaluation studies the indicators that determine this functionality can be identified. The paper presents e-learning in the context of the academic training of the future generations of teachers. The reflections revolve around digital literacy and experience in using modern information and communication technologies in education. The goal of the research was to evaluate three areas: the functionality of the SELI platform, individual experiences with e-learning, and digital literacy. The technique used was an e-learning survey appended to the end of two e-learning courses offered on the platform. The survey was addressed to teachers and students of the biggest pedagogical university in Poland. The general impression of the content presented on the platform was, in most cases, rated as being very good or good. The platform itself was also evaluated positively. Based on the analyses conducted, two groups of platform users were identified. One third of the users have diverse experiences with e-learning, which corresponds with their digital literacy. The remaining two thirds of the respondents need more training in the areas evaluated. The authors of the paper believe that this type of study should accompany all activities that introduce e-learning at every stage of education. Only then will it be possible to discover where the digital divide lies among the teaching staff and learners.

TheoryOn: a design framework and system for unlocking behavioral knowledge through ontology learning - Li, Jingjing; Larsen, Kai; Abbasi, Ahmed (MIS Quarterly, 2020)
The scholarly information-seeking process for behavioral research consists of three phases: searching, accessing, and processing of past research. Existing IT artifacts, such as Google Scholar, have in part addressed the searching and accessing phases, but fall short of facilitating the processing phase, creating a knowledge inaccessibility problem. We propose a behavioral ontology learning from text (BOLT) design framework that presents concrete prescriptions for developing systems capable of supporting researchers during their processing of behavioral knowledge. Based upon BOLT, we developed a search engine—TheoryOn—to allow researchers to directly search for constructs, construct relationships, antecedents, and consequents, and to easily integrate related theories. Our design framework and search engine were rigorously evaluated through a series of data mining experiments, a randomized user experiment, and an applicability check. The data mining experiment results lent credence to the design principles prescribed by BOLT. The randomized experiment compared TheoryOn with EBSCOhost and Google Scholar across four information retrieval tasks, illustrating TheoryOn’s ability to reduce false positives and false negatives during the information-seeking process. Furthermore, an in-depth applicability check with IS scholars offered qualitative support for the efficacy of an ontology-based search and the usefulness of TheoryOn during the processing phase of existing research. The evaluation results collectively underscore the significance of our proposed design artifacts for addressing the knowledge inaccessibility problem for behavioral research literature.
Keywords: _Added-ailr-2024

School’s Out: Experimental Evidence on Limiting Learning Loss Using “Low-Tech” in a Pandemic - Angrist, Noam; Bergman, Peter; Matsheng, Moitshepi (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020)
Schools closed extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic and occur in other settings, such as teacher strikes and natural disasters. This paper provides some of the first experimental evidence on strategies to minimize learning loss when schools close. We run a randomized trial of low-technology interventions – SMS messages and phone calls – with parents to support their child. The combined treatment cost-effectively improves learning by 0.12 standard deviations. We develop remote assessment innovations, which show robust learning outcomes. Our findings have immediate policy relevance and long-run implications for the role of technology and parents as partial educational substitutes when schooling is disrupted.
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Adolescent problematic internet use and parental mediation: A Bangladeshi structured interview study - Chandrima, Rubaiya Matin; Kircaburun, Kagan; Kabir, Humyon; Riaz, Baizid Khoorshid; Kuss, Daria J.; Griffiths, Mark D.; Mamun, Mohammed A. (Addictive Behaviors Reports, 2020)
Internet-related problems such as excessive internet use, problematic internet use (PIU), and internet addiction, are becoming increasingly studied among Bangladeshi adult students, but there has been little research among adolescents. In Bangladesh, there has been no research examining the role of parental mediation in their children's internet use. Therefore, the present structured interview study investigated Bangladeshi adolescent PIU and its associated socio-demographics, internet use behaviors, and the parental mediation role among 350 high school students residing in Dhaka. The results showed that 84 of adolescents (24.0%) were classified as having PIU (cut-off score of ≥ 50 on the Internet Addiction Test) and nine adolescents (2.6%) were classified as having a severe dependency on the internet (cut-off score of >80 on the Internet Addiction Test). According to hierarchical regression analysis, significant PIU correlates included lower academic results, both parents' lower education, mother working outside the home, more than four days' weekly internet use, more than two hours daily internet use, and active mediation. Additionally, internet use behaviors (i.e., internet use locations, devices, purposes, and applications) and parental internet mediation dimensions other than active mediation (i.e., restrictive mediation, active mediation internet safety, monitoring, and technical mediation) were significantly related to PIU in t-tests and correlation analysis respectively. However, they were non-significant in the hierarchical regression analysis when included into equation altogether. The present study's findings will be helpful in developing country-level policymaking decisions and facilitating future research in the country.
Keywords: Bangladeshi adolescence; Internet addiction; Internet use behaviors; Parental mediation; Problematic internet use

An overview of mobile learning for refugee students: Juxtaposing refugee needs with mobile applications’ characteristics - Drolia, Maria; Sifaki, Eirini; Papadakis, Stamatios; Kalogiannakis, Michail (Challenges, 2020)
The mass influx of refugees into Europe since 2013 and their educational challenges have increased the need for high-quality refugee education. One proposal for addressing these challenges was to leverage mobile devices for educational purposes (mobile learning). Although significant research has been done in this field, mobile learning’s effectiveness on different social groups has yet to be explored. The present review paper aims to outline: (a) the factors that challenge refugee education, (b) the use of smart mobile devices by the refugee population, (c) the conflicting views about the effect of mobile learning in refugee education, and (d) the proposed characteristics for mobile refugee applications as found in the literature. A juxtaposition of refugee needs with the characteristics of mobile learning apps is attempted. By surveying the literature, the present paper concludes that mobile learning seems beneficial for refugees in two ways: providing refugees access to education and improving the quality of the provided refugee education. However, it is not a one-solution-fits-all regarding their education. At the end, future research proposals are included.
Keywords: mobile applications; mobile learning; refugee education; refugees; smart mobile devices

Online learning and emergency remote teaching: Opportunities and challenges in emergency situations - Ferri, Fernando; Grifoni, Patrizia; Guzzo, Tiziana (Societies, 2020)
The aim of the study is to analyse the opportunities and challenges of emergency remote teaching based on experiences of the COVID-19 emergency. A qualitative research method was undertaken in two steps. In the first step, a thematic analysis of an online discussion forum with international experts from different sectors and countries was carried out. In the second step (an Italian case study), both the data and the statements of opinion leaders from secondary online sources, including web articles, statistical data and legislation, were analysed. The results reveal several technological, pedagogical and social challenges. The technological challenges are mainly related to the unreliability of Internet connections and many students’ lack of necessary electronic devices. The pedagogical challenges are principally associated with teachers’ and learners’ lack of digital skills, the lack of structured content versus the abundance of online resources, learners’ lack of interactivity and motivation and teachers’ lack of social and cognitive presence (the ability to construct meaning through sustained communication within a community of inquiry). The social challenges are mainly related to the lack of human interaction between teachers and students as well as among the latter, the lack of physical spaces at home to receive lessons and the lack of support of parents who are frequently working remotely in the same spaces. Based on the lessons learned from this worldwide emergency, challenges and proposals for action to face these same challenges, which should be and sometimes have been implemented, are provided.
Keywords: emergency remote teaching; online learning; pedagogical challenges; social challenges; technological challenges

Global Proficiency Framework for Reading: Grades 1 to 9 - UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2020)

How many children and young people have internet access at home? Estimating digital connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic - UNICEF (2020)
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

Preservice teachers' perceptions about the use of blended learning in a science education methods course - Yılmaz, Özkan; Malone, Kathy L (Smart Learning Environments, 2020)
The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effectiveness of blended learning within the context of a science education methods course for early childhood elementary preservice teachers in Turkey. Elementary teachers historically fear science and avoid using it in their classes. This course was blended to allow the students to experience active science learning during face to face sessions. Student perceptions about their experiences in a blended methods course were collected using a previously validated survey. The data analysis of the post-test only survey research design demonstrated that students’ perceptions were positive towards the use of blended learning within their science education methods course. However, the analysis determined that students felt that certain technical aspects of the blended learning environment hindered their learning.
Keywords: Blended learning; Data analysis; Education; Education--Teaching Methods And Curriculum; Elementary preservice teachers; Higher education; Learning; Learning environment; Science education; Science instruction; Science methods courses; Students; Teachers; Teaching methods; __:import:01; __:match:final; __:matched; __:study_id:2095728; __finaldtb

Preservice teachers' perceptions about the use of blended learning in a science education methods course - Yılmaz, Özkan; Malone, Kathy L. (Smart Learning Environments, 2020)

The Effect of Computer-Assisted Learning on Students’ Long-Term Development - Bianchi, Nicola; Lu, Yi; Song, Hong (Social Science Research Network, 2020)
In this paper, we examine the effect of computer-assisted learning on students’ long-term development. We explore the implementation of the “largest ed-tech intervention in the world to date,” which connected China’s best teachers to more than 100 million rural students through satellite internet. We find evidence that exposure to the program improved students’ academic achievement, labor performance, and computer usage. We observe these effects up to ten years after program implementation. These findings indicate that education technology can have long-lasting positive effects on a variety of outcomes and can be effective in reducing the rural–urban education gap.
Keywords: China; computer-assisted education; education policy; education quality; education technology

Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Education System in Kenya - Kathula, Domeniter Naomi (Journal of Education, 2020)
Education is an integral part of human society, its importance in life cannot be ignored as lack of education gives birth to numerous social problems like poor health, internal conflict, poor living standards and many more, education helps people to find a better solution to their problems. Education lets people realize the true value of contribution and help become the backbone of the society. Innovation and creativity can only occur when people are skilled enough to know how to operate with different technologies. Since the first case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was announced in Kenya, many aspects of society and the education sector have been dramatically affected. On March 15th 2020, the Kenyan government closed all learning institutions countrywide to contain the spread of the virus. As the numbers of those infected by coronavirus rose to over 8,000, the ministry of education announced on July 7th that, the 2020 school calendar year will be considered lost due to COVID-19 restrictions. The purpose of this study was therefore to determine the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the education systems in Kenya. The study was anchored on Classical Liberal Theory of Equal Opportunities. Mixed method design which involved a combination of both quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted. In?quantitative the study used a survey research design, specifically the study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. Cross-sectional survey design involves collecting data from a large group of people of different stages of growth at one point in time. The target population for this study included teachers, students and parents. The sample size for the study comprised of 100 teachers, 25 parents and 100 students who were purposively selected across the country. This study used both questionnaire and interview guide to collect primary data. The questionnaires were served to teachers and students online using Google forms while interview guide was administered to the parents using online Google forms as well. The quantitative data collected was analyzed using SPSS. Quantitative analysis involved the use of descriptive analysis, while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The results were presented on tables. The findings revealed that Covid-19 had seriously affected learning among students in Kenya. The study found that the effects of Covid-19 were so severe that some teachers and parents lost their jobs or source of livelihoods. Most of the students were not able to access online learning due to lack of electricity, lack of learning materials and some were forced to relocate to the country side. The study hence concluded that as a result of the challenges presented by the coronavirus and the likely impact of future pandemics the government’s ability to ensure continuation of learning will depend on the ability to swiftly harness available technology, provide adequate infrastructure and mobilize stakeholders to prepare alternative learning programmes. The study concludes that as a result of the emergence of Covid-19 pandemic, teaching and learning activities in all learning institutions in Kenya just like other parts of the world have severely been disrupted. The worst hit learners are the primary and secondary school candidates who should sit for their national examinations at the end of 2020. Based on the conclusion the study recommended that there is need for the government through the ministry of education together with all the stakeholders in education sector in Kenya to navigate through challenges presented by Covid-19 to ensure continued access to provision of quality, equitable and inclusive education during and after the pandemic. Effective implementation of the proposed interventions by education managers and stakeholders will ensure uninterrupted learning in educational institutions in future. This study in addition recommends that it is important to ensure that the Ministry of Education, parents and teachers support vulnerable students to ensure they are not exploited and that no learning loss occurs even as schools delay re-full opening until January 2021 despite grades 4, class 8 and form 4s being back in schools already. Keywords: Covid-19, Pandemic, Education system, Students, teachers, Parents, Kenya.
Keywords: Covid-19; Education system; Kenya; Pandemic; Parents; Students; teachers; ⛔ No DOI found

Stratégie Éducation 2030 Tchad - Ministère de L'Education Nationale et de la Promotion Civique; HCR Tchad (UNHCR, 2020)
Stratégie pour l'inclusion éducative des réfugiés au Tchad

M-learning como herramienta para el aprendizaje de una lengua minoritaria: resultados preliminares de una experiencia innovadora: pp67-71 - Rodríguez, Roberto Avello; Antón, Tamara Fernández (2020)
M-learning como herramienta para el aprendizaje de una lengua minoritaria: resultados preliminares de una experiencia innovadora

Improving Public Sector Management at Scale? Experimental Evidence on School Governance in India - Muralidharan, Karthik; Singh, Abhijeet (Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE), 2020)
We present results from a large-scale experimental evaluation of an ambitious attempt to improve management quality in Indian schools (implemented in 1,774 randomly-selected schools). The intervention featured several global “best practices” including comprehensive assessments, detailed school ratings, and customized school improvement plans. It did not, however, change accountability or incentives. We find that the assessments were near-universally completed, and that the ratings were informative, but the intervention had no impact on either school functioning or student outcomes. Yet, the program was perceived to be successful and scaled up to cover over 600,000 schools nationally. We find using a matched-pair design that the scaled-up program continued to be ineffective at improving student learning in the state we study. We also conduct detailed qualitative interviews with frontline officials and find that the main impact of the program on the ground was to increase required reporting and paperwork. Our results illustrate how ostensibly well-designed programs, that appear effective based on administrative measures of compliance, may be ineffective in practice.

The impact of COVID-19 on student equity and inclusion: Supporting vulnerable students during school closures and school re-openings - OECD (2020)

Girls' Education and COVID-19 in Pakistan - Denham, Laura; Fry, Lucia; de Souza, Sabrina (2020)

Vietnam to discard household registration books in 2023 - Tuoi Tre News (2020)

Is School Funding Unequal in Latin America?: A Cross-country Analysis - Bertoni, Eleonora; Elacqua, Gregory; Marotta, Luana; Martínez, Matias; Santos, Humberto; Soares, Sammara (2020)
Public spending on education has increased significantly in Latin America over the last decades. However, less is known whether increased spending has been translated into a more equitable distribution of resources within countries in the region. This study addresses this gap by measuring the inequality in per-pupil spending between regions with different levels of socioeconomic status (SES) within five Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Results show that Brazil, a federal country, has the widest socioeconomic funding gap due to large inequalities in local revenues between high and low SES regions. However, the country's funding gap has narrowed over time. School funding in Colombia has become more regressive over time, but its gap is half the size of the one in Brazil. The distribution of school funding in Peru has changed over time from being regressive-benefiting the richest regions-to being progressive-benefiting the poorest regions. Education spending in Chile and in Ecuador are, on the other hand, consistently progressive. However, while the progressiveness of funding in Ecuador is driven by transfers targeted at disadvantaged rural areas, the funding formulas in Chile addresses socioeconomic inequalities beyond the rural-urban gap.

Smart buys, great sales and special offers: cost-effective approaches to improve global learning - Lewin, Keith; Learning | 0; Learning | 0 (The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET), 2020)

Magoha Releases Final School Calendar - Otieno, Imran (Kenyans.co.ke, 2020)
Education CS Professor George Magoha announced the school calendar with all students expected to resume learning on January 4, 2021.

Late resumption of schools in Senegal amid COVID safety concerns - AfricaNews (Africanews, 2020)
In the Senegalese capital of Dakar, pupils, parents and teachers return to the Lycée Ousmane Sembène for the start of a new school year

Australia will support two more districts from the 40 disadvantaged districts identified as a priority by the Ministry of Education and Sports to receive extra support - Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao (Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR, 2020)
18 of the Ministry’s priority districts will receive extra support from Australia to strengthen the implementation of the revised primary curriculum, out of a total of 34 districts supported by Australia
Keywords: ⛔ No INSPIRE recid found

Evolution in the constructs of integration and inclusion in Italy among migrant mothers and children: A study based on digital tools - Scifo, Lidia; Asaro, Ornella; Maltese, Agata (Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 2020)
This eleven-year research study analysed changing perceptions of integration and inclusion among migrant mothers and their children in Italy. Changes were measured between two different times/years: (T1-2006) and (T2-2017). During the research activities, we used several digital tools: an interactive whiteboard (IWB); the OperaVOX app, which allows measurement of vocal prosody directly from the other category of tools employed, namely i-devices, and tablets. The results show positive evolution between 2006 and 2017. Data from 2017 demonstrate development of a cultural identity that alternates between the values, ideals and language of the heritage culture and those of the adopted country.
Keywords: Digital Tools; Educational Technology; Inclusione; Integrazione; Social Inclusion; Social Integration; Strumenti Digitali; Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL); Tecnologie Didattiche; Tecnologie per l'Apprendimento

Promoting Parental Involvement in Schools: Evidence From Two Randomized Experiments - Barrera-Osorio, Felipe; Gertler, Paul; Nakajima, Nozomi; Patrinos, Harry (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020)
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals.

EDUCATION REFORM - Ministry of Education Ghana - Ministry of Education Ghana (2020)
The Ghana Education Reform Agenda The Government of Ghana initiated some key education reforms to transform teaching and learning and improve educational outcomes under the Education Strategic Plan (ESP 2018-2030) which was approved by cabinet in November 2018. These reforms are expected to contribute to the goals of the ESP and the Sustainable Development Goals

Guidance note on using learning assessment in the process of school reopening - Bazaldua, Diego Luna; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia (World Bank, 2020)

Virtual Roundtable on Structured Pedagogy - better purpose (2020)

Value for Money Policy and Procedure - EdTech Hub (2020)

Tangerine for Principals: Pilot Report - Leh Wi Lan (2020)

Increasing Parent Engagement in Children's Literacy: A Needs Assessment to Inform the Design of Parent Engagement Efforts - Project Literacy; Results for Development; Center for Education Innovations (2020)

Education service transformation in Sierra Leone: Where policy meets the people | Blog | Global Partnership for Education - Sengeh, David Moinina (2020)
As GPE prepares to launch a new five-year strategic plan responding to partner countries’ demands for transformative change, GPE Board Member and Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education David Moinina Sengeh shares learnings from his first year of office on what transforming education means to the people of Sierra Leone.

Education for the most marginalised post‑COVID-19: Guidance for governments on the use of digital technologies in education - Unwin, Tim; Naseem, Azra; Pawluczuk, Alicja; Shareef, Mohamed; Spiesberger, Paul; West, Paul; Yoo, Christopher (EdTech Hub, 2020)
Education for the most marginalised post‑COVID-19 Guidance for governments on the use of digital technologies in education Join us December 18 for the report launch! Click here to register. The UNESCO Chair in ICT for Development, with support from the EdTech Hub, developed this report and associated Guidance Notes in 2020 building on a series of regional and sectoral consultations…
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Baseline Secondary Writing: have Year 7 pupils gone backwards? - Christodoulou, Daisy (Medium, 2020)
We’ve just completed our Year 7 Baseline Secondary Writing assessment, and we can now use these results to see the size of the learning…

Learning Inequality During the Covid-19 Pandemic - Engzell, Per; Frey, Arun; Verhagen, Mark D. (SocArXiv, 2020)
Suspension of face-to-face instruction in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to concerns about consequences for student learning. So far, data to study this question have been limited. Here we evaluate the effect of school closures on primary school performance using exceptionally rich data from the Netherlands (n≈350,000). The Netherlands represents a best-case scenario with a relatively short lockdown (8 weeks) and a high degree of technological preparedness. We use the fact that national exams took place before and after lockdown, and compare progress during this period to the same period in the three previous years using a difference-in-differences design. Our results reveal a learning loss of about 3 percentile points or 0.08 standard deviations. These results remain robust when balancing on the estimated propensity of treatment and using maximum entropy weights, or with fixed-effects specifications that compare students within the same school and family. Losses are up to 55% larger among students from less-educated homes. Investigating mechanisms, we find that most of the effect reflects the cumulative impact of knowledge learned rather than transitory influences on the day of testing. The average learning loss is equivalent to a fifth of a school year, nearly exactly the same period that schools remained closed. These results imply that students made little or no progress whilst learning from home, and suggest much larger losses in countries less prepared for remote learning.
Keywords: Economics; Education; Educational Assessment; Evaluation; Public Affairs; Public Policy and Public Administration; Social Statistics; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Sociology; and Research

What Have We Learnt? Findings from a survey of ministries of education on national responses to COVID-19 - UNESCO; UNICEF; World Bank (UNICEF, 2020)
At the height of nationwide lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.5 billion children were affected by school closures, causing an unprecedented global learning crisis. Even prior to the pandemic, however, children’s learning was in crisis with half of 10-year-olds in middle- and low-income countries unable to understand a simple written sentence and more than a quarter billion children out of school. The pandemic has only sharpened these inequities, hitting schoolchildren in poorer countries particularly hard. National governments around the world have been quick to implement remote learning, new health protocols and reopening plans, but again these policies have varied widely based on each country’s wealth. According to this new report published by UNESCO (Headquarters and Institute for Statistics), UNICEF (Headquarters and Office of Research) and the World Bank, schoolchildren in low- and lower-middle-income countries have already lost nearly four months of schooling since the start of the pandemic, compared to an average of six weeks among high-income countries. Compiling data from surveys on national education responses to COVID-19 from 149 countries between July and October, the report also finds that schoolchildren in low- and lower-middle income countries were less likely to have access to remote learning or to be monitored on a day-to-day basis by teachers and were more likely to have delays in their schools reopening.

What Have We Learnt? Findings from a survey of ministries of education on national responses to COVID-19 - UNESCO; UNICEF; World Bank (2020)

The ICT Landscape in Northern Kenya: Challenges & Opportunities - Mugendi, Jacob; Valbuena, Gustavo (Engineering For Change, 2020)
EDITORIAL TEAM: Carolina Rojas, E4C Expert Fellow; Mariela Machado, E4C Program Manager; Grace Burleson, E4C Research Manager DISCLAIMER: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies or iGov Africa. Click here to view the full report. The northern region of Kenya, which is arid and semi-arid in nature, forms...

Accessibility - Wikipedia (Wikipedia, 2020)
Accessibility in the sense considered here refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e. unassisted) and "indirect access" meaning compatibility with a person's assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity. The concept focuses on enabling access for people with disabilities, or special needs, or enabling access through the use of assistive technology; however, research and development in accessibility brings benefits to everyone.Accessibility is not to be confused with usability, which is the extent to which a product (such as a device, service, or environment) can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, convenience satisfaction in a specified context of use.Accessibility is strongly related to universal design which is the process of creating products that are usable by people with the widest possible range of abilities, operating within the widest possible range of situations. This is about making things accessible to all people (whether they have a disability or not).

How to Improve Education Outcomes Most Efficiently? A Comparison of 150 Interventions using the New Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling Metric - Angrist, Noam; Evans, David K.; Filmer, Deon; Glennerster, Rachel; Rogers, F. Halsey; Sabarwal, Shwetlena (World Bank, 2020)

How to Improve Education Outcomes Most Efficiently? A Comparison of 150 Interventions using the New Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling Metric - Angrist, Noam; Evans, David K.; Filmer, Deon; Glennerster, Rachel; Rogers, F. Halsey; Sabarwal, Shwetlena (Policy Research Working Papers, 2020)
Keywords: COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS; EDUCATION OUTCOMES; GOVERNMENT POLICY; IMPACT EVALUATION; LEARNING LOSS; PUBLIC EXPENDITURE; SCHOOLING; YEARS OF SCHOOLING

How to Improve Education Outcomes Most Efficiently? A Comparison of 150 Interventions using the New Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling Metric - Angrist, Noam; Evans, David K.; Filmer, Deon; Glennerster, Rachel; Rogers, F. Halsey; Sabarwal, Shwetlena (World Bank, 2020)

Challenges and future directions of big data and Artificial Intelligence in education - Luan, Hui; Geczy, Peter; Lai, Hollis; Gobert, Janice; Yang, Stephen J. H.; Ogata, Hiroaki; Baltes, Jacky; Guerra, Rodrigo; Li, Ping; Tsai, Chin-Chung (Frontiers in Psychology, 2020)
We discuss the new challenges and directions facing the use of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) in education research, policy-making, and industry. In recent years, applications of big data and AI in education have made significant headways. This highlights a novel trend in leading-edge educational research. The convenience and embeddedness of data collection within educational technologies, paired with computational techniques have made the analyses of big data a reality. We are moving beyond proof-of-concept demonstrations and applications of techniques, and are beginning to see substantial adoption in many areas of education. The key research trends in the domains of big data and AI are associated with assessment, individualized learning, and precision education. Model-driven data analytics approaches will grow quickly to guide the development, interpretation, and validation of the algorithms. However, conclusions from educational analytics should, of course, be applied with caution. At the education policy level, the government should be devoted to supporting lifelong learning, offering teacher education programs, and protecting personal data. With regard to the education industry, reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationships should be developed in order to enhance academia-industry collaboration. Furthermore, it is important to make sure that technologies are guided by relevant theoretical frameworks and are empirically tested. Lastly, in this paper we advocate an in-depth dialogue between supporters of “cold” technology and “warm” humanity so that it can lead to greater understanding among teachers and students about how technology, and specifically, the big data explosion and AI revolution can bring new opportunities (and challenges) that can be best leveraged for pedagogical practices and learning.
Keywords: Education; Learning; Teaching; artificial intelligence; big data

Ethiopia Begins Reopening Schools to Fight Rising Rates of Child Marriage and Labor - Wuilbercq, Emeline (Global Citizen, 2020)
Ethiopia is working to identify children who have been forced into early marriage or child labor during the pandemic.

Integrating ICT in English Language Teaching in Bangladesh: Teachers’ Perceptions and Challenges - Khan, Nafis Mahmud; Kuddus, Khushboo; Kuddus, Khushboo; School of Humanities (English), KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. (Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 2020)
The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education especially, in English Language Teaching (ELT) in secondary schools of Bangladesh has been existing for a decade now. However, the status of actual implementation is quite different from the adoption and initiatives taken to integrate ICT in ELT. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the secondary level English language teachers’ attitude towards integration of ICT in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and the factors inhibiting the use of it. Further, the paper attempts to examine the challenges faced by the secondary level English teachers of Bangladesh in using ICT in language teaching effectively. In an attempt to examine the attitude of teachers in using ICT in ELT, a quantitative research is designed with a close ended questionnaire to collect the data from a sample of 100 secondary English language teachers of various schools of Bangladesh. The data of the responses is quantified and is analyzed by SPSS 20 program. The obtained data from the questionnaire is examined in order to investigate the perceptions of the secondary level English language teachers towards ICT integrated language teaching and the challenges of the implementation of ICT in ELT. In conclusion, the outcome of the research would provide significant information about the attitude of the teachers towards ICT integration in ELT and the challenges faced by them and hence, the study would help the policy makers and the teachers to enhance the effectiveness of using ICT in ELT.

Vietnam's vision and goals for a digital nation - Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam (2020)
Vietnam sets targets on digital technology development to enter the group of leading countries in the world in digital technology-related indexes.

COVID-19 in Pakistan: A Phone Survey to Assess Education, Economic, and Health-Related Outcomes - Akmal, Maryam; Crawfurd, Lee; Hares, Susannah; Minardi, Ana Luiza (2020)
Using a sample of 1,211 households in Pakistan, we examine the effects of COVID-19 on three key domains: education, economic, and health-related. F...
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Nigeria Government Calls for Reopening of Schools After 6-month COVID Lockdown | Voice of America - English - Ettang, Ifiok (Voice of America, 2020)
Nigeria reopened schools Oct. 12, six months after they were closed to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. However, not all parents believe students should be returning to the classroom. Gloria Kwashi runs the Zambiri Outreach and Childcare Center in Jos, a school that provides free education and food for more than 400 children, including orphans and victims of insurgent violence. She says the pandemic brought her students' learning to a complete halt. "All the months that we left, nobody came to school and nobody learned anything, so it was already that bad," she said.

Back to school 2020-2021 - UNICEF (UNICEF, 2020)
UNICEF supports children's return to school in a safe and protective environment

President Bio Commissions Newly Constructed Dr Kadie Sesay Girls Secondary School In Port Loko - SN Radio (2020)
#sierraleone #presidentbio #fatimabio #sierraleoneparliament #sierranetworkproduction #sierranetwork #sierranetworkwanpotshow President Bio Commissions Newly Constructed Dr Kadie Sesay Girls Secondary School In Port Loko. Latest News Website: http://www.blog.snradio.net FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/SierraNetwork... Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/Salone2Bad Twitter: http://twitter.com/sierra_n_salone Radio: http://SNRadio.net Radio TuneIn App: http://tun.in/sfgyD SoundCould 1: http://www.soundcloud.com/sierra-network SoundCould 2: https://soundcloud.com/sierra-network-sl SoundCould 3: https://soundcloud.com/sierra-network... Contact Us: info@snradio.net Sierra Network For All That Matters Sierra Leone

Preparing children for climate-related disasters - Seddighi, Hamed; Yousefzadeh, Sepideh; López López, Mónica; Sajjadi, Homeira (BMJ Paediatrics Open, 2020)
Climate-related disasters affect different dimensions of children’s health and well-being both directly and indirectly. Reducing children’s vulnerability and exposure to climate-related disasters is crucial to protect them against risks. Children as climate-change agents and future leaders at local, national and international level can obviously contribute to reduce vulnerabilities in families and communities and transfer knowledge to them. Moreover, children can advocate for climate change mitigation. In the long term, participation of children in the climate change mitigation programmes may lead to fewer disasters and, consequently, less risk to their health., As government policies have failed to fully address and respond to the drivers of climate-related disasters, disasters preparedness and education for children should be considered an essential activity to protect children from disaster’s risks., Main factors in shaping children’s behaviour and response to disaster are increasing the risk perception and knowledge of the children. When a child perceived likelihood, susceptibility and severity of a disaster (such as earthquake), then they would be able and willing to learn how to prepare for that., So far, disaster education programmes for children have mostly relied on offline school-based training. Different innovative approaches can be applied to continue education within online and digital formats including virtual reality, digital games and online platforms. However, an advocacy support by influential entities such as companies engaged in entertainment industry is required to raise the awareness of public and particularly the children about disaster preparedness.

Tertiary students’ engagement with professional learning networks and emerging technologies in learning: The case of a coastal University in West Africa. - Wiafe, Bernard; Takramah, Florence; Bless, Gloria; Akaadom, Bernard (International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2020)
The main aim of this study was to investigate students' views on their engagement with professional learning networks and emerging technologies for students' use and how these impact their studies. A sample of 150 students from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana was used for study. Respondents were selected from second year to final year students pursuing undergraduate degree programmes from three different departments of the university. The research instrument used was a carefully constructed questionnaire. Undergraduate students generally exhibited positive attitude towards the use of professional learning networks and emerging technologies across the five attitudinal subscales they were measured on. As a result, from the findings, it is recommended that the use of professional learning networks and emerging technologies should be taken advantage of at all levels in a university curriculum.
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

How much does your remote learning intervention cost? - Holla, Alaka; Pan, Yilin (2020)
This posts discusses a tool for measuring the costs of remote learning interventions.

Cameroon Reopens Schools After 7-month COVID Closure | Voice of America - English - Kindzeka, Moki Edwin (Voice of America, 2020)
More than seven million Cameroon children and their teachers have returned to schools for the first time since their institutions were closed to stop the spread of COVID-19, seven months ago. The government of the central African state says it has been able to considerably reduce the spread of the disease that has been officially confirmed in more than 20,000 people with 420 deaths. Respect of COVID-19 barrier measures is imperative in all schools. The oldest student reads rules and regulations to be respected at Government Bilingual High School Essos in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé.

Impact of COVID-19 on the institutional education system and its associated students in Bangladesh - Emon, Efta Khairul Haque; Alif, Ashrafur Rahman; Islam, M. Shahanul (Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies, 2020)
Keywords: Bangladesh; COVID-19; Coronavirus; education; impact; poverty.

Distanced and Disadvantaged: A Study on the Effects of COVID-19 on Education for Learners with Disabilities in Kenya, October 2020 - Angoye, James; Mbari-Kirika, Irene; Walker, Bruce; Kavua, Martin (inABLE.org, 2020)

Displaced and dismayed: How ICTs are helping refugees and migrants, and how we can do better - Bock, Joseph G.; Haque, Ziaul; McMahon, Kevin A. (Information Technology for Development, 2020)

Neurodiversity in higher education: A narrative synthesis - Clouder, Lynn; Karakus, Mehmet; Cinotti, Alessia; Ferreyra, María Virginia; Fierros, Genoveva Amador; Rojo, Patricia (Higher Education, 2020)
Neurodiversity is an umbrella term, including dyspraxia, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyscalculia, autistic spectrum and Tourette syndrome. The increasing number of students with learning difficulties associated with neurodiversity entering higher education (HE) poses a shared and growing challenge internationally for teachers and institutional leaders. This narrative synthesis draws together a corpus of international literature on how neurodiverse students experience higher education and the ways in which higher education institutions respond to the cluster of neurodiverse conditions. A systematic review was carried out to search, retrieve, appraise and synthesize the available evidence to provide an original contribution to the literature and significant insights of worth to higher education internationally. An inclusive approach to data extraction was used to ensure that all the relevant studies were included. All stages of the review process, including the initial search, screening, sample selection and analysis, are described. Three main themes and 11 subthemes were identified. Although the majority of publications focus on either dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorder, or ADHD, some common themes are evident in student experience across learning difficulties associated with neurodiversity. Although support services and technologies are available to meet students’ specific needs, there is an apparent dislocation between the two. Fear of stigmatization and labelling worsens the divide between what is needed and what is available to ensure neurodiverse students’ success in higher education, where good intentions are evidently not enough.

Designing for transition: Supporting teachers and students cope with emergency remote education - Green, Jennifer K.; Burrow, Marla S.; Carvalho, Lucila (Postdigital Science and Education, 2020)
The global pandemic reached New Zealand in the middle of a teaching semester, calling educators to rapidly transition into a fully online teaching mode. Covid-19 brought fears for the unknown and required an abrupt shift, creating anxiety for academic staff, students and parents. Amidst this transition, educators had to quickly reconfigure their designs, as specific pedagogical strategies set for in-class arrangements would no longer be appropriate for the new scenario. A whiplash redirect to the online mode introduced new tools and added uncertainties about Internet access and connectivity. People had to deal with remoteness and isolation and with changes to virtual learning. This paper theorizes about what it means to design for transition during an emergency. Drawing on the Activity-Centred Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework, we discuss implications for educational design, detailing how tools, social arrangements and tasks can be carefully orchestrated to support learning activity in emergency remote education. We situate the discussion within the transitioning experiences of students and staff at a Bachelor of Nursing programme, within a three-phased educational design which involved Virtual Happy Hours (VHH). The VHH sessions were run with two cohort groups of first- and second-year students in the Bachelor programme—and included their teaching staff. The intent of the VHH was to allow participants to familiarize themselves with tools, tasks and social elements that could be (re)used to facilitate engagement in a new online space—in preparation to the upcoming course sessions in the lockdown period.
Keywords: Covid-19; Design for learning; Digital Education and Educational Technology; Hybrid learning; Nursing education; Postdigital; Undergraduate

1 Million Disadvantaged School Children to Benefit From ‘Learn at Home’ Project by Data Science Nigeria/Malezi in Partnership With the Mastercard Foundation - Mastercard Foundation (Mastercard Foundation, 2020)

COVID-19: Effects of School Closures on Foundational Skills and Promising Practices for Monitoring and Mitigating Learning Loss - Alban Conto, Carolina; Akseer, Spogmai; Dreesen, Thomas; Kamei, Akito; Mizunoya, Suguru; Rigole, Annika (Innocenti Working Paper, 2020)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate; ⛔ No DOI found

Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2020. Wave 1 - ASER (ASER Centre, 2020)

Promising Practices for Equitable Remote Learning: Emerging lessons from Covid-19 education responses in 127 Countries - Dreesen, Thomas; Akseer, Spogmai; Brossard, Mathieu; Dewan, Pragya; Giraldo, Juan-Pablo; Kamei, Akito; Mizunoya, Suguru; Correa, Javier Santiago Ortiz (Innocenti Research Briefs, 2020)
Keywords: ⛔ No INSPIRE recid found

Cost Effective Approaches to Improve Global Learning What Does Recent Evidence Tell Us Are Smart Buys for Improving Learning in Low-and-Middle-Income Countries - Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (World Bank; FCDO; Building Evidence in Education, 2020)

SDG7: Data and Projections - International Energy Agency (IEA, 2020)

EdTech’s three promising approaches to #SaveOurFuture - Nicolai, Susan; Hassler, Bjorn (2020)

Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey 2019 - Statistics Sierra Leone (The DHS Program, 2020)
ICF

UNICEF ROSA Monitoring Learning Continuity during COVID-19 Guidance and Survey Question Bank - UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (2020)

A Historic Shock to Parental Engagement in Education - Winthrop, Rebecca; Ershadi, Mahsa; Angrist, Noam; Bortsie, Efua; Matsheng, Moitshepi (Brookings Institution, 2020)

Education for all in the time of COVID-19: how education can be part of the solution - GSMA (2020)

Innovations of education socialisation in Vietnam: From participation towards privatisation - Dang, Thi Kim Phung (Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2020)
Education reforms worldwide, in both developed and developing countries, address the content of education programmes and/or changes education systems. There are different paths, and different socioeconomic contexts, for those nations which pursue education reform, and Vietnam makes for an instructive example. The country’s socioeconomic renovation, known as Doi Moi since the late 1980s, has put forward the discourse of socialisation, which generally advocates greater public participation in all areas of society. Although socialisation has been the central ideology of the Doi Moi process, there is still a dispute about its meaning and implications. This paper contributes to debates about reforms by examining the discourse of socialisation in Vietnam through analysis of government documents and public opinion in various media. These secondary documents on education socialisation in Vietnam, highlight the institutionalisation of education socialisation in an apparent movement from general public participation to a form of privatisation. This institutionalisation has dramatically transformed the conditions of people’s access to education in Vietnam.

“I’m not against online teaching, but what about us?”: ICT in Ghana post Covid-19 - Adarkwah, Michael Agyemang (Education and Information Technologies, 2020)
Globally, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is regarded as a dependable vehicle for facilitating educational reform and development, a platform for communication, and as a means to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4). Since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and declaration of the SDG 4, many countries have opted to embrace the lifelong education for all by integrating ICT in teaching and learning at all school levels. The Ghanaian Government’s initiative to ensure “education anytime anywhere for everyone” by revolutionizing teaching and learning through ICT has faced a lot of challenges and criticisms. The main mission of the Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) in 2003 was to transform Ghana into an information and technology-driven high-income economy through education, but this goal is yet to be realized. In the wake of the COVID-19 which has forced many countries and educational sectors to adopt online learning, there is a need to discuss the effectiveness of online learning and barriers to online learning in the developing contexts, and how to successfully integrate ICT in schools for online learning, especially rural schools where students’ educational careers are in jeopardy because they benefit less from online learning. The paper identifies critical factors that affect online learning, recommends post COVID-19 strategies to promote e-learning for policymakers in education and the government, and concludes with a conceptual model for emergency transition to e-learning.

(Re)considering the Concept of Literature Review Reproducibility - Cram, W. Alec; Templier, Mathieu; Pare, Guy (Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 2020)

Realizing the promise: How can education technology improve learning for all? (Brookings, 2020)
This research is intended as an evidence-based tool for ministries of education to adopt and more successfully invest in education technology.

The economic impacts of learning losses - Hanushek, Eric A.; Woessmann, Ludger (OECD, 2020)
The worldwide school closures in early 2020 led to losses in learning that will not easily be made up for even if schools quickly return to their prior performance levels. These losses will have lasting economic impacts both on the affected students and on each nation unless they are effectively remediated. While the precise learning losses are not yet known, existing research suggests that the students in grades 1-12 affected by the closures might expect some 3 percent lower income over their entire lifetimes. For nations, the lower long-term growth related to such losses might yield an average of 1.5 percent lower annual GDP for the remainder of the century. These economic losses would grow if schools are unable to re-start quickly. The economic losses will be more deeply felt by disadvantaged students. All indications are that students whose families are less able to support out-of-school learning will face larger learning losses than their more advantaged peers, which in turn will translate into deeper losses of lifetime earnings. The present value of the economic losses to nations reach huge proportions. Just returning schools to where they were in 2019 will not avoid such losses. Only making them better can. While a variety of approaches might be attempted, existing research indicates that close attention to the modified re-opening of schools offers strategies that could ameliorate the losses. Specifically, with the expected increase in video-based instruction, matching the skills of the teaching force to the new range of tasks and activities could quickly move schools to heightened performance. Additionally, because the prior disruptions are likely to increase the variations in learning levels within individual classrooms, pivoting to more individualised instruction could leave all students better off as schools resume. As schools move to re-establish their programmes even as the pandemic continues, it is natural to focus considerable attention on the mechanics and logistics of safe re-opening. But the long-term economic impacts also require serious attention, because the losses already suffered demand more than the best of currently considered re-opening approaches.

Using Nudges to Prevent Student Dropouts in the Pandemic - Lichand, Guilherme; Christen, Julien (arXiv, 2020)
The impacts of COVID-19 reach far beyond the hundreds of lives lost to the disease; in particular, the pre-existing learning crisis is expected to be magnified during school shutdown. Despite efforts to put distance learning strategies in place, the threat of student dropouts, especially among adolescents, looms as a major concern. Are interventions to motivate adolescents to stay in school effective amidst the pandemic? Here we show that, in Brazil, nudges via text messages to high-school students, to motivate them to stay engaged with school activities, substantially reduced dropouts during school shutdown, and greatly increased their motivation to go back to school when classes resume. While such nudges had been shown to decrease dropouts during normal times, it is surprising that those impacts replicate in the absence of regular classes because their effects are typically mediated by teachers (whose effort in the classroom changes in response to the nudges). Results show that insights from the science of adolescent psychology can be leveraged to shift developmental trajectories at a critical juncture. They also qualify those insights: effects increase with exposure and gradually fade out once communication stops, providing novel evidence that motivational interventions work by redirecting adolescents' attention.
Keywords: Economics - General Economics

Global Education Coalition members pledge to support emergency response in Beirut - UNESCO (2020)

Systems Concepts in Action - Williams, Bob; Hummelbrunner, Richard (Stanford University Press, 2020)
Systems Concepts in Action: A Practitioner's Toolkit offers out a wide range of systems methods to help readers investigate, evaluate and intervene in complex messy situations.

The students learning from home experiences during Covid-19 school closures policy in Indonesia - Putra, Purniadi; Liriwati, Fahrina Yustiasari; Tahrim, Tasdin; Syafrudin, Syafrudin; Aslan, Aslan (Jurnal Iqra' : Kajian Ilmu Pendidikan, 2020)
This article analyzed the learning experience of students at home during the school closing period in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Through this study, an in-depth understanding of the life experiences, perceptions, and motivation of students were obtained from either the school or their parents. These outputs would be input into policy making and solving learning problems towards a new normal era. Now the school closures have been running for almost seven months and it almost about to reopening this mid-August 2020. To understand this phenomenon issue, some data searching have been performed ranging from daily papers, academic journal, and educational related literature. The data search then analyzed under the phenomenological application approach. Compiling the existing data and students voices, this study showed that the students learning experiences during six month learning from home responding the national policy stopping the corona virus spreading can be reported based on 10 websites visited have expressed their best coverage over students learning difficulty and challenge from different perspectives. Most websites mentioned students hardship in learning from home caused the lack of learning resources such not access to internet and parents ability to support their children learning. Keywords:  School Closures Policy In Covid-19, Covid-19, Learning Online

Psychological impacts of 'screen time' and 'green time' for children and adolescents: A systematic scoping review - Oswald, Tassia K.; Rumbold, Alice R.; Kedzior, Sophie G. E.; Moore, Vivienne M. (PLOS ONE, 2020)
Technological developments in recent decades have increased young people’s engagement with screen-based technologies (screen time), and a reduction in young people’s contact with nature (green time) has been observed concurrently. This combination of high screen time and low green time may affect mental health and well-being. The aim of this systematic scoping review was to collate evidence assessing associations between screen time, green time, and psychological outcomes (including mental health, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement) for young children (<5 years), schoolchildren (5–11 years), early adolescents (12–14 years), and older adolescents (15–18 years). Original quantitative studies were identified in four databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus, Embase), resulting in 186 eligible studies. A third of included studies were undertaken in Europe and almost as many in the United States. The majority of studies were cross-sectional (62%). In general, high levels of screen time appeared to be associated with unfavourable psychological outcomes while green time appeared to be associated with favourable psychological outcomes. The ways screen time and green time were conceptualised and measured were highly heterogeneous, limiting the ability to synthesise the literature. The preponderance of cross-sectional studies with broadly similar findings, despite heterogeneous exposure measures, suggested results were not artefacts. However, additional high-quality longitudinal studies and randomised controlled trials are needed to make a compelling case for causal relationships. Different developmental stages appeared to shape which exposures and outcomes were salient. Young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds may be disproportionately affected by high screen time and low green time. Future research should distinguish between passive and interactive screen activities, and incidental versus purposive exposure to nature. Few studies considered screen time and green time together, and possible reciprocal psychological effects. However, there is preliminary evidence that green time could buffer consequences of high screen time, therefore nature may be an under-utilised public health resource for youth psychological well-being in a high-tech era.
Keywords: Adolescents; Attention; Children; Cognitive psychology; Mental health and psychiatry; Psychology; Schools; Social psychology

Covid-19 pandemic and online learning: the challenges and opportunities - Adedoyin, Olasile Babatunde; Soykan, Emrah (Interactive Learning Environments, 2020)
The World Health Organization has declared Covid-19 as a pandemic that has posed a contemporary threat to humanity. This pandemic has successfully forced global shutdown of several activities, including educational activities, and this has resulted in tremendous crisisresponse migration of universities with online learning serving as the educational platform. The crisis-response migration methods of universities, faculty and students, challenges and opportunities were discussed and it is evident that online learning is diﬀerent from emergency remote teaching, online learning will be more sustainable while instructional activities will become more hybrid provided the challenges experienced during this pandemic are well explored and transformed to opportunities.

Tips for fostering students' self-regulated learning in asynchronous online learning environments - Ebner, Rachel J. (Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning, 2020)
For students who lack self-regulated learning skills, asynchronous, online learning can be extremely challenging and overwhelming.

A case study of students’ and teachers’ perceptions in a Finnish high school during the COVID pandemic - Niemi, Hannele Marjatta; Kousa, Päivi (International Journal of Technology in Education and Science, 2020)
This study describes one local upper secondary school in Finland during the COVID-19 pandemic. All teaching was changed to distant for around two months. The study describes students’ and teachers’ perceptions during that time. Participants responded to the survey four times and freely described their experiences five times. The number of participants varied from 56 to 72 students and 9 to 15 teachers at different times. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and qualitative content analysis. The main findings indicate that distance teaching was implemented very successfully. However, open comments and cluster analysis revealed many challenges. Students complained of heavy workloads and fatigue. Some students lost motivation. These difficulties did not disappear over time. The main challenges for teachers included non-authentic interaction and a lack of the spontaneity that in-person teaching provides. Teachers quickly learned to use technological platforms, but interaction through it was not of as high quality. Teachers were also worried about students’ progress. Teachers did not recognize students’ heavy workload and motivation problems in the way that students described them. The study provides several recommendations for future remote teaching.

Difficulties of using the interactive whiteboard in teaching students who face learning difficulties from the point of view of teachers in some schools in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - Abu Nowwas, Mousa Kh. (Dirasat: Educational Sciences, 2020)
تناولت هذه الدراسة واقع ومعوقات استخدام السبورة التفاعلية من وجهة نظر معلمي صعوبات التعلم في بعض مدارس محافظات المملكة الأردنية، حيث هدفت هذه الدراسه الى الكشف عن واقع استخدام معلمي صعوبات التعلم في بعض محافظات المملكة للسبورة التفاعلية في تدريس طلاب صعوبات التعلم، التعرف على المعوقات التي تحول دون استخدام معلمي صعوبات التعلم في بعض محافظات المملكة للسبورة التفاعلية في التدريس، بيان أهمية استخدام السبورة التفاعلية لدى معلمي صعوبات التعلم في بعض محافظات المملكة لتدريس طلاب صعوبات التعلم. تم اجراء استبيان بالاستعانه ببعض من المدرسين والمدرسات في هذا القطاع وأظهرت النتائج ان أبرز المعوقات تكمن في جهل بعض المدرسين في استخدام هذه السبورة بالاضافة الى الظروف المادية التي لا تسمح بشراء هذه الوسيلة علاوة على ّذلك لا يوجد هنالك متخصصين سواء مدربين او مدرسين في هذا المجال. وكان من ابرز التوصيات التي تم التوصل لها الاهتمام بتزويد المعلمين في أثناء الخدمة بكافة المعارف والمهارات التي تتعلق بالمستحدثات التكنولوجية وخاصة السبورة التفاعلية واستخدامها في العملية التعليمية، عقد دورات تدريبية للمعلمين ومعلمي الصعوبات والعديد من التوصيات الأخرى التي سيتم الاشارة لها لاحقا.
Keywords: Interactive whiteboard; learning difficulties; obstacles

The effectiveness of using interactive white boards in improving the Arabic listening skills of undergraduates majoring in Arabic language at Kuwaiti universities - Aldhafiri, Mohammad D. (Education and Information Technologies, 2020)
This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of interactive whiteboards (IWB) on students’ Arabic listening skills at Kuwaiti universities during the second semester of the 2018/2019 academic year. A review of the literature indicates that interactive whiteboards support the language learning, as well as to improve students’ achievement listening skills and motivation in school. The study sample consisted of 60 male students who were equally divided into two groups: the experimental and control groups. Interactive whiteboards strategy was used to determine the effect of teaching method of Arabic listening skills on students’ outcomes. The pretest and posttest scores of both groups were analyzed statistically using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. The finding of the study indicated significant differences between the groups at the α ≤ 0.05 level in favor of the experimental group. The results showed the following: (1) the use of the interactive white board strategy showed better improvement among the students than the use of the traditional method; (2) the effect size of using the interactive white smart boards was high, and(3) there were statistically significant differences between the mean posttest scores of the two groups in the Arabic listening skills in favor of the experimental group. Based on the findings of this study, the research indicates that (IWB) strategies can be used in teaching Arabic listening skills because of their positive effect on student achievement scores. The study concludes with recommendations for future research in different contexts.
Keywords: Arabic; Arabic language; Behavioral Methods; Instructional Psychology; Interactive white board; Intercultural Communication; Islamic Cultural Studies; Kuwait University; Language Teaching and Learning; Listening

Impact of lockdown on learning status of undergraduate and postgraduate students during COVID-19 pandemic in West Bengal, India - Kapasia, Nanigopal; Paul, Pintu; Roy, Avijit; Saha, Jay; Zaveri, Ankita; Mallick, Rahul; Barman, Bikash; Das, Prabir; Chouhan, Pradip (Children and Youth Services Review, 2020)
To assess the impact of lockdown amidst COVID-19 on undergraduate and postgraduate learners of various colleges and universities of West Bengal. An online survey was conducted from 1 May to 8 May 2020 to collect the information. A structural questionnaire link using ‘Google form’ was sent to students’ through WhatsApp and E-mail. A total of 232 students provided complete information regarding the survey. The simple percentage distribution was used to assess the learning status of the study participants. During the lockdown period, around 70% of learners were involved in e-learning. Most of the learners were used android mobile for attending e-learning. Students have been facing various problems related to depression anxiety, poor internet connectivity, and unfavorable study environment at home. Students from remote areas and marginalized sections mainly face enormous challenges for the study during this pandemic. This study suggests targeted interventions to create a positive space for study among students from the vulnerable section of society. Strategies are urgently needed to build a resilient education system in the state that will ensure to develop the skill for employability and the productivity of the young minds.
Keywords: COVID-19; E-learning; Lockdown; Undergraduate and postgraduate learners; West Bengal

Teachers’ digital literacy and digital activity as digital divide components among basic schools in Ghana - Quaicoe, James Sunney; Pata, Kai (Education and Information Technologies, 2020)
This survey-based study explores the nature of Digital Divide among Ghana’s basic (primary and junior high) schools from the perspective of Teachers’ Digital Literacy and their usage of digital technologies in school. The ICT-enhanced Teacher Standards for Africa (ICTeTSA) Framework comprising digital attitude, knowledge, skills and application components was used for measuring the perceived Teacher Digital Literacy, while, the European Union’s rubrics for measuring ICT frequency in schools was adopted for estimating the extent of teachers’ digital technology usage/activities. The study covered six districts in Ghana with 233 teachers (n = 233) sampled from 45 schools. Based perceptions of the Teacher Digital Literacy two significantly different Digital Divide clusters were found among schools that diverged based on the teachers’ digital application component of Teacher Digital Literacy. While, most schools teachers claimed an above average level of Teacher Digital Literacy; however, more than 50% of the schools are digitally proactive. Suggesting that teachers appear not to be actually using ICT tools and digital resources for professional practice. The cluster of schools differentiated by the extent of digital activities (TDA) were performed weekly. The study reveals several critical issues of teachers’ digital empowerment for technology in Ghana’s basic schools, of which school-based management (SBM) governance be adapted to address them.

Reasons behind dropping out of slum children from non-formal school in Dhaka - Smita, Marzia Khatan; Rabbi, Md Fajlay; Mohammad, Shoeab (Jurnal Iqra' : Kajian Ilmu Pendidikan, 2020)
In South Asia, numerous slum children were deprived of education upon several socio-economic grounds, and many children still dropout of non-formal schools despite receiving free non-formal education. This study aims to explore the reasons for dropping out of non-formal schools and the socio-demographic situation of slum children in Dhaka City. Fifty non-formal dropout slum children were selected conveniently as participants employing a mixed research design. A semi-structured schedule of questionnaire and interview was used as instruments for collecting data. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected simultaneously to explore the slum children's dropout situation. Twelve reasons of their dropout have been reported. In addition to explaining the reasons for their dropping out, two frameworks were presented in detail. Most slum non-formal students dropped out of their schools for the pulling out factors and reasons related to household. Recommendations for reducing slum children's school dropout and persuasive strategies for future work in this field have been addressed. Keywords: Non-formal School, Dropout, Slum Children, Non-formal Education.
Keywords: Dropout; Non-formal Education; Non-formal School; Slum Children

Template for costing remote learning encouragement - Blagrave, Holly Jean (2020)

Parental Engagement in Children’s Learning: Insights for remote learning response during COVID-19 - Brossard, Mathieu; Cardoso, Manuel; Kamei, Akito; Mishra, Sakshi; Mizunoya, Suguru; Reuge, Nicolas (2020)
This research brief is one of a series that explores the impact of COVID-19 on education. It focuses on the potential parental role in learning and its association with foundational reading and numeracy skills. Fifty-three per cent of children in low

Microsoft Airband - Carroon, Lydia (2020)

Teaching with Tech: the role of education unions in shaping the future by Education International - Colclough, Dr Christina J. (Education International, 2020)
Teaching with Tech: the role of education unions in shaping the future Dr Christina J. Colclough September 2020 Report of a survey conducted by EI...

Airband Initiative: Connecting the unconnected - Connelly, K. (2020)

Neurodiversity at work: A biopsychosocial model and the impact on working adults - Doyle, Nancy (British Medical Bulletin, 2020)
The term neurodiversity is defined and discussed from the perspectives of neuroscience, psychology and campaigners with lived experience, illustrating the development of aetiological theories for included neurodevelopmental disorders. The emerging discourse is discussed with relevance to adults, social inclusion, occupational performance and the legislative obligations of organizations.Literature is reviewed from medicine, psychiatry, psychology, sociology and popular press. No new data are presented in this article.There is consensus regarding some neurodevelopmental conditions being classed as neurominorities, with a ‘spiky profile’ of executive functions difficulties juxtaposed against neurocognitive strengths as a defining characteristic.The developing nomenclature is debated and the application of disability status versus naturally occurring difference. Diagnosis and legal protections vary geographically, resulting in heretofore unclear guidance for practitioners and employers.The evolutionary critique of the medical model, recognizing and updating clinical approaches considering the emerging consensus and paradigmatic shift.It is recommended that research addresses more functional, occupational concerns and includes the experiences of stakeholders in research development, moving away from diagnosis and deficit towards multi-disciplinary collaboration within a biopsychosocial model.

Teacher Performance-Based Incentives and Learning Inequality - Filmer, Deon; Habyarimana, James; Sabarwal, Shwetlena (Rise Programme, 2020)
This study evaluates the impacts of low-cost, performance-based incentives in Tanzanian secondary schools. Results from a two-phase randomized trial show that incentives for teachers led to modest average improvements in student achievement across different subjects. Further, withdrawing incentives did not lead to a “discouragement effect” (once incentives were withdrawn, student performance did not fall below prebaseline levels). Rather, impacts on learning were sustained beyond the intervention period. However, these incentives may have exacerbated learning inequality within and across schools. Increases in learning were concentrated among initially better-performing schools and students. At the same time, learning outcomes may have decreased for schools and students that were lower performing at baseline. Finally, the study finds that incentivizing students without simultaneously incentivizing teachers did not produce observable learning gains.
Keywords: _B:important; _G:important; _G:reviewed; _Tanzania; _final_bib; _important

Education Systems and Technology in 1990, 2020, and Beyond - Frick, Theodore W. (TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, 2020)
In "Restructuring Education Through Technology," I incorporated systems thinking to identify seven types of relationships in educational systems: teacher-student, student-content, student-context, teacher-content, teacher-context, content-context, and education system-environment relationships (Frick 1991). I now revisit these education system relations and discuss potential futures of education. The World Wide Web did not exist when I wrote the original treatise, nor did wireless smartphones and tablets, Google's search engine, YouTube, Facebook, or Wikipedia. However, one important education system relationship should not change: the affective bonding between teachers and their students. [For "Restructuring Education through Technology. Fastback 326," see ED350995.]
Keywords: Educational Practices; Educational Technology; Educational Trends; Futures (of Society); Systems Approach; Teacher Student Relationship

Mobile internet connectivity 2020: sub-Saharan Africa factsheet - GSMA (2020)

How can digital formative assessment help monitor student learning during and after the COVID-19 era? - Huong, Le Thu; Au, Yee Ki (UNESCO IIEP Learning Portal, 2020)

The State of Broadband: Tackling digital inequalities A decade for action - International Telecommunication Union; UNESCO (2020)

Data Innovation for Producing SDG 4 Indicators: A Global Analytical Report - Joseph, Shereen (UNESCO, 2020)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Education and COVID-19 - UNICEF Data (2020)
More than 1 billion children are at risk of falling behind due to school closures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19. To keep the world’s children learning, countries have been implementing remote education programmes. Yet many of the world’s children – particularly those in poorer households – do not have internet access, personal computers, TVs or even radio at home, amplifying the effects of existing learning inequalities. Students lacking access to the technologies needed for home-based learning have limited means to continue their education. As a result, many face the risk of never returning to school, undoing years of progress made in education around the world. With school closures across 188 countries (as of April 2020), many of them are exploring alternative ways to provide continuous education using technologies such as Internet, TV, and radio. However, access to these technologies is limited in many low- and middle-income countries, especially among poor households. While more than 90 per cent of the countries adopted digital and/or broadcast remote learning policies, only 60 per cent did so for pre-primary education. [†] Policy measures taken by the governments to ensure learning continuity through broadcast or digital media allowed for potentially reaching 69 per cent of schoolchildren (at maximum) in pre-primary to secondary education globally.[†] 31 per cent of schoolchildren worldwide (463 million) cannot be reached by the broadcast- and Internet-based remote learning policies either due to the lack of necessary technological assets at home, or because they were not targeted by the adopted policies. [†] Online platforms were the most used means by the governments to deliver education while schools remain closed, with 83 per cent of countries using this method. However, this allowed for potentially reaching only about a quarter of schoolchildren worldwide. [†] Television had the potential to reach the most…

The impact of interactive smart boards on students' learning in secondary schools in Botswana: A students' perspective - Tsayang, Gabatshwane; Batane, Tshepo; Majuta, Aaron (International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 2020)
This study investigates the impact of the use of SMART boards on students' learning in schools in Botswana and is guided by the Context Input Process Product (CIPP) Evaluation Model. The study adopts a mixed methods design that employed interviews, observations and a questionnaire to obtain data. The results show that the use of the SMART boards enabled a variety of learning experiences that promoted students' engagement and interactivity, and increased levels of motivation and improvement in academic achievement. These findings indicate that SMART technologies have the potential to transform educational practices in Botswana, as it endeavors to provide its children with a quality education that matches the best global standards, and simultaneously recasts itself into an innovative, efficient and adaptive economy that can compete in the global world of the 21st century.
Keywords: Academic Achievement; Difficulty Level; Educational Technology; Foreign Countries; Interactive Video; Learner Engagement; Secondary School Students; Student Attitudes; Student Motivation; Technology Uses in Education; Visual Aids; ⛔ No DOI found

Identifying Effective Teachers: Lessons from Four Classroom Observation Tools - Filmer, Deon; Molina, Ezequiel; Wane, Waly (Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE), 2020)
Four different classroom observation instruments—from the Service Delivery Indicators, the Stallings Observation System, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, and the Teach classroom observation instrument—were implemented in about 100 schools across four regions of Tanzania. The research design is such that various combinations of tools were administered to various combinations of teachers, so these data can be used to explore the commonalities and differences in the behaviors and practices captured by each tool, the internal properties of the tools (for example, how stable they are across enumerators, or how various indicators relate to one another), and how variables collected by the various tools compare to each other. Analysis shows that inter-rater reliability can be low, especially for some of the subjective ratings; principal components analysis suggests that lower-level constructs do not map neatly to predetermined higher-level ones and suggest that the data have only a few dimensions. Measures collected during teacher observations are associated with student test scores, but patterns differ for teachers with lower versus higher subject content knowledge.
Keywords: _B:important; _G:important; _G:reviewed; _Tanzania; _final_bib; _important

COVID-19 and School Closures: Are children able to continue learning - UNICEF (UNICEF DATA, 2020)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

COVID-19 and School Closures: Are children able to continue learning during school closures? - UNICEF (UNICEF DATA, 2020)
In response to the unprecedented educational challenges created by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 90 per cent of countries have implemented some form of remote learning policy. This factsheet estimates the potential reach of digital and broadcast remote learning responses, finding that at least 463 million students around the globe remain cut off from education, mainly due to a lack of remote learning policies or lack of equipment needed for learning at home. This data primarily stems from the UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures (June-July 2020), as well as household microdata from sources like Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The actual number of students who cannot be reached is likely significantly higher than estimated in this factsheet, which reflects best-case scenarios based on policies that were implemented and the technologies available in households. In many situations, despite remote learning policies and the presence of the necessary technology at home, children may be unable to learn due to skills gaps among their teachers or a lack of parental support. It is important to understand the characteristics and number of children who were not able to benefit from these remote learning policies so that the policies can be improved. By providing insights on which school children did not have access to digital or broadcast remote learning opportunities during school closures, this factsheet seeks to help policymakers make choices that will ensure more children can acquire an education during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

COVID-19 and School Closures: Are children able to continue learning during school closures? A global analysis of the potential reach of remote learning policies - UNICEF (UNICEF DATA, 2020)

COVID-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures? - UNICEF (UNICEF, 2020)
In response to the unprecedented educational challenges created by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 90 per cent of countries have implemented some form of remote learning policy. This factsheet estimates the potential reach of digital and broadcast remote learning responses, finding that at least 463 million students around the globe remain cut off from education, mainly due to a lack of remote learning policies or lack of equipment needed for learning at home. This data primarily stems from the UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures (June-July 2020), as well as household microdata from sources like Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The actual number of students who cannot be reached is likely significantly higher than estimated in this factsheet, which reflects best-case scenarios based on policies that were implemented and the technologies available in households. In many situations, despite remote learning policies and the presence of the necessary technology at home, children may be unable to learn due to skills gaps among their teachers or a lack of parental support. It is important to understand the characteristics and number of children who were not able to benefit from these remote learning policies so that the policies can be improved. By providing insights on which school children did not have access to digital or broadcast remote learning opportunities during school closures, this factsheet seeks to help policymakers make choices that will ensure more children can acquire an education during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

COVID-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures? - UNICEF (UNICEF DATA, 2020)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

COVID-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures? - UNICEF (UNICEF DATA, 2020)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Virtual Teacher Coaching May Not Be the Solution We Hoped For - Evans, David (Center For Global Development, 2020)
How can we help teachers to upgrade their pedagogical skills? Teacher coaching is a promising and increasingly popular candidate. Teacher coaching means teachers receive feedback in their place of work on specific things they can do better, not some general theory of pedagogy that’s completely disconnected from their day-to-day practice.
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Audio Lessons Through Radio for Primary Education Set for Launch -With Support from UNESCO CapED Programme for COVID-19 Educational Response for Bangladesh - UNESCO (UNESCO, 2020)

Addressing Injustices through MOOCs: A study among peri-urban, marginalised, South African youth - Adam, Taskeen (University of Cambridge, 2020)
The legacies of colonial rule continue to impact everyday life, particularly in education. These structural inequalities are often reinforced and amplified in online ‘global’ education through a form of digital neocolonialism, which is where hegemonic powers indirectly control or influence marginalised groups through the internet or information technology. In striving for justice-oriented online education models, this study analyses to what extent Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), produced both internationally and locally, support (or could support) the needs, preferences, and aspirations of marginalised South African youth and address the material, cultural-epistemic, political, and geopolitical injustices they face. To evaluate what South African peri-urban youth desire in their education and futures, as well as the challenges they experience, a seven-part survey was conducted with 250 youth from five townships in South Africa. Responses showed that whilst participants strongly value and aspire to further their education, financial difficulties, infrastructural barriers, family problems, and lack of emotional support and life mentorship limit them from achieving this. Participants reflected on how colonial and apartheid legacies have affected their educational experiences and identities through inferior quality of education, forced languages, forgotten histories and incongruent values, cultural norms and practices. In parallel, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 MOOC designers, from South Africa and the USA, to investigate the ways in which efforts, if any, were being made to reach students most in need of quality education. Interviews covered themes of openness, accessibility, and justice. It was found that, depending on the MOOC designer’s understanding of social justice and decolonial thought, they placed varying emphasis on addressing different forms of injustice. Some focused on resource, access and infrastructural barriers, while others focused on issues of content relevance and knowledge production. Furthermore, MOOC designers’ attempts to address injustices strongly related to their own identities and lived experiences, highlighting the importance of plurality of thought and epistemic diversity in the producers of MOOCs. Drawing on the historical injustices and lived experiences of the youth, and the attempts to address injustices by the MOOC designers, it was ascertained that there is no one size-fits-all formula to creating equitable MOOCs. Rather, depending on the purpose and target audience of the MOOC, nuanced approaches to addressing injustices are suggested. These approaches are shaped by various leverage points that influence the types of, and the extent to which, participatory methods, accessibility measures, knowledge sources, assessment and critical pedagogy are implemented. Additionally, the importance of these leverage points varies over the MOOC’s lifecycle, from inception and design, to implementation and assessment. Bearing in mind the broad-ranging injustices that youth participants raised, these approaches are presented with great caution that educational technologies and open education are not panaceas but if designed and used appropriately and justly, can be tools for liberation.
Keywords: dode_eth-src-dode; dode_eth-trf2-dode

LibGuides: Accessibility Toolkit for Open Educational Resources (OER): OER Commons-ISKME - Wolfe, Amy (2020)
Accessibility guide for creating OER

Top 10 lessons learned from implementing remote learning through IVR in Malawi - Carrol, Dr. Bidemi (RTI International, 2020)

Virtual learning under lockdown casts doubt on Kenya as the Silicon Savannah - Miller, Noah (Africa at LSE, 2020)
Kenya's response to the COVID-19 epidemic challenges its reputation as the Silicon Savannah when it comes to the switch to digital education.

Safe Schools: getting children back into education after disaster strikes - Briggs, Billy (Theirworld, 2020)
To mark Theirworld's Safe Schools report, we look at how countries can rebuild their education system after an earthquake, tsunami or other catastrophic event.

Back to school - but classes are empty because of Ebola fears in DRC - Tounsi, Samir (Theirworld, 2020)
In villages near the centre of an outbreak, families are keeping their children at home - even though teachers know how to protect them.

A-levels and GCSEs: How did the exam algorithm work? - BBC (BBC News, 2020)
The government has made a U-turn on A-level results in England, but what sparked such controversy?

EDUCATION-PAKISTAN: ALIF Spells Open Sesame For Pre-schoolers | Inter Press Service - Iqbal, Nadeem (Inter Press Service News Agency, 2020)

Back to school in Democratic Republic of Congo after COVID-19 state of emergency ends - Ging, John Paul (Africanews, 2020)

The smart feature phone revolution in developing countries: Bringing the internet to the bottom of the pyramid - James, Jeffrey (The Information Society, 2020)
Until recently, the only way for the population of developing countries to access the Internet was through expensive smartphones, designed in and for developed countries. In the past few years, however, a major new innovation has emerged, the smart feature phone with Internet connectivity, which was specifically designed for those with low incomes in developing countries. This paper explains the development process for the smart feature phone, how this has influenced the nature and extent of adoption, and its use by lowincome groups, including their demonstrated preference for uses related to entertainment rather than more traditional “work-related” goals. The focus is on the case of India, where the JioPhone has already reached millions of people with low incomes.

Covid-19: over 45% secondary school students may drop out - Mamun, Shohel (Dhaka Tribune, 2020)

Lessons learned from the outcomes and delivery of girls’ clubs in educational programmes - Page, Ella (K4D Helpdesk Report, 2020)
This helpdesk provides a rapid review of the evidence on the outcomes and delivery of girls’ clubs in educational programmes. The review found some evidence of girls’ clubs specific programmes in school settings having positive impacts on educational and life skills outcomes. Girls clubs delivered as part of education programmes can have positive impacts on literacy, numeracy, enrolment and attendance. Although the evidence is limited.Clubs delivered in schools which combine the delivery of life skills training with sports also show promising impact on education. Evaluation of one of such programmes showed that participation had increased their determination to complete their education and girls were more able to express ambition. However, not all the evaluations of girls’ club found for this review showed positive outcomes – for example one evaluation found no impact on school enrolment or other empowerment outcomes.
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Global EdTech market to reach $404B by 2025 - 16.3% CAGR. - HolonIQ (HolonIQ, 2020)

Lebanon: Why the country is in crisis (BBC News, 2020)
What has caused such anger across Lebanon - and why it is not going away.

ACT Data Governance and Management Policy Framework - Australian Capital Territory Government (2020)

Internet connectivity in Lebanon impacted following blast (NetBlocks, 2020)
Network data from the NetBlocks internet observatory confirm that internet connectivity in Lebanon has significantly fallen following reports of an explosion on Tuesday 4 August 2020, with the outage ongoing ...

Application and program document for COVID-19 accelerated funding for Kenya - Global Partnership for Education (2020)

Indian educators' awareness and attitude towards assistive technology - Kundu; Bej, Tripti (Journal of Enabling Technologies, 2020)
Objective: This study investigated the awareness and attitude of Indian mainstream secondary school teachers on assistive technologies (AT) and its implementation level in inclusive setting. Methodology: The study followed descriptive survey method within ex-post-facto research design taking 150 teachers including 15 headmasters from 15 secondary schools as samples following stratified random sampling technique. Questionnaires and interviews (according to set interview protocol) were the main research tools used during survey. Collected data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially to reach a conclusion. Findings: Findings revealed that Indian mainstream secondary school teachers’ awareness of AT was very poor yet their attitude towards it was highly positive. Except having a good attitude, everywhere- the teachers’ knowledge, professional support, or infrastructural support- the inadequacy was obvious. Indian schools were running with a poor resource pool of assistive products along with poor implementation. Hence special need students of these schools were not getting the necessary supports from schools as they deserve which has been hampering the overall inclusive atmosphere of the country. Statistical analysis revealed that male teachers showed slightly higher awareness level regarding AT than their female counterparts but in respect of attitude they were found overpowered by the females. Teachers of urban schools also exhibited slightly better awareness and attitude towards AT than the teachers of rural schools. Lack of suitable policies, adequate awareness and financial limitations were evolved as major barriers in the implementation of AT in these schools.

Parenting and child’s (five years to eighteen years) digital game addiction: A qualitative study in North-Western part of Bangladesh - Keya, Farah Deba; Rahman, Md Mostafizur; Nur, M. Tareq; Pasa, Md Kamal (Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 2020)
Globally, addiction to digital game among the children and adolescents is a growing concern due to its increasing rate of users and adverse effects on their personal including health and social life. Reviewing the literatures shows a number of factors for child’s digital game addiction. Of the literatures, only a few plausibly shows some form of parenting be a cause for digital game addiction, but under what conditions of parenting influence child to be addicted to digital game is not adequately addressed. Aiming to address the gap, a qualitative study was conducted in North-western Bangladesh using Ethnographic Interview with children and Indepth Interview with parents. The data was analyzed manually following thematic framework. The result of the study shows troubled child-parent relationship and parental attitudes for making their child competitive in education, parental neglect, loneliness and anxiety of the child, and permissive parenting are attributed to digital game addiction. Its social basis is emanated from the family’s asymmetrical role in a market based society. Making a child competitive and capable for future market system is over prioritized, whereas providing emotional security is undermined. It also argued that in a capitalistic society, parents has turned tobe a less authoritative figure to deal children’s issue due to the father’s inability to address economic needs of the family adequately and mothers’ economic dependence to their male counter-part. In such a context, parents are compelled to minimize the gap by offering or allowing child to digital game and so gradually children become addicted to digital game. This argument supported the idea of Frankfurt school on how people attracted and depended on culture industry.
Keywords: Digital game addiction; Economic pressure; Emotional security; Parental neglect; Permissive parenting; Troubled child-parent relationship

The Gender Digital Divide Primer - USAID (2020)

Altruism or Money?: Reducing Teacher Sorting Using BehavioUral Strategies in Peru - Ajzenman, Nicolás; Bertoni, Eleonora; Elacqua, Gregory; Marotta, Luana; Méndez, Carolina (Inter-American Development Bank, 2020)

Learning in times of lockdown: how Covid-19 is affecting education and food security in India - Alvi, Muzna; Gupta, Manavi (Food Security, 2020)
A vast majority of the relief and rehabilitation packages announced in the months following the nationwide lockdown in India have focused on economic rehabilitation. However, the education sector has remained absent from this effort, including in India’s central government’s 250 billion dollar stimulus package. In this paper, we discuss the implications of lockdown-induced school and rural child-care center closures on education and health outcomes for the urban and rural poor. We especially focus on food and nutritional security of children who depend on school feeding and supplementary nutrition programs. We argue that the impacts are likely to be much more severe for girls as well as for children from already disadvantaged ethnic and caste groups. We also discuss ways in which existing social security programs can be leveraged and strengthened to ameliorate these impacts.

5 things MENA countries can do to design better digital skills development programs - Blom, Andreas; Nusrat, Mariam; Goldin, Nicole (2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled the need for digital skills, therefore education and training need to become more affordable, relevant, context-vigilant and inclusive. There are five elements to consider when designing digital learning interventions.