Scaling up successfully: Lessons from Kenya’s Tusome national literacy program - Piper, Benjamin; Destefano, Joseph; Kinyanjui, Esther M.; Ong’ele, Salome (Journal of Educational Change, 2018)
Many successful piloted programs fail when scaled up to a national level. In Kenya, which has a long history of particularly ineffective implementation after successful pilot programs, the Tusome national literacy program—which receives funding from the United States Agency for International Development—is a national-level scale-up of previous literacy and numeracy programs. We applied a scaling framework (Crouch and DeStefano in Doing reform differently: combining rigor and practicality in implementation and evaluation of system reforms. International development group working paper no. 2017-01, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, 2017. https://www.rti.org/publication/doing-reform-differently-combining-rigor-and-practicality-implementation-and-evaluation) to examine whether Tusome’s implementation was rolled out in ways that would enable government structures and officers to respond effectively to the new program. We found that Tusome was able to clarify expectations for implementation and outcomes nationally using benchmarks for Kiswahili and English learning outcomes, and that these expectations were communicated all the way down to the school level. We noted that the essential program inputs were provided fairly consistently, across the nation. In addition, our analyses showed that Kenya developed functional, if simple, accountability and feedback mechanisms to track performance against benchmark expectations. We also established that the Tusome feedback data were utilized to encourage greater levels of instructional support within Kenya’s county level structures for education quality support. The results indicated that several of the key elements for successful scale-up were therefore put in place. However, we also discovered that Tusome failed to fully exploit the available classroom observational data to better target instructional support. In the context of this scaling framework, the Tusome literacy program’s external evaluation results showed program impacts of 0.6–1.0 standard deviations on English and Kiswahili learning outcomes. The program implemented a functional classroom observational feedback system through existing government systems, although usage of those systems varied widely across Kenya. Classroom visits, even if still falling short of the desired rate, were far more frequent, were focused on instructional quality, and included basic feedback and advice to teachers. These findings are promising with respect to the ability of countries facing quality problems to implement a coherent instructional reform through government systems at scale.
Keywords: Evaluation; Implementation; Literacy; National; Reading; Reform; Systems

Teacher Professional Development around the World: The Gap between Evidence and Practice - Popova, Anna; Evans, David K.; Breeding, Mary E.; Arancibia, Violeta (World Bank, 2018)
Keywords: C:Low- and middle-income countries

Research with, not about, communities — Ethical guidance towards empowerment in collaborative research, a report for the TRUST Project - Chatfield, Kate; Biernacki, Olivia; Schroeder, Doris; Cavallaro, Francesca; Cook, Julie; N’Diaye, Dieynaba; Bompart, Francois; Chennells, Roger; Toohey, Jacintha; Wynberg, Rachel; van Niekirk, Jaci; Ait, Myriam (TRUST, 2018)

The trials of evidence-based practice in education: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials in education research 1980–2016 - Connolly, Paul; Keenan, Ciara; Urbanska, Karolina (Educational Research, 2018)
Background: The use of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in education has increased significantly over the last 15 years. However, their use has also been subject to sustained and rather trenchant criticism from significant sections of the education research community. Key criticisms have included the claims that: it is not possible to undertake RCTs in education; RCTs are blunt research designs that ignore context and experience; RCTs tend to generate simplistic universal laws of ‘cause and effect’; and that they are inherently descriptive and contribute little to theory.Purpose: This article seeks to assess the above four criticisms of RCTs by considering the actual evidence in relation to the use of RCTs in education in practice.Design and methods: The article is based upon a systematic review that has sought to identify and describe all RCTs conducted in educational settings and including a focus on educational outcomes between 1980 and 2016. The search is limited to articles and reports published in English.Results: The systematic review found a total of 1017 unique RCTs that have been completed and reported between 1980 and 2016. Just over three quarters of these have been produced over the last 10 years, reflecting the significant increase in the use of RCTs in recent years. Overall, just over half of all RCTs identified were conducted in North America and a little under a third in Europe. The RCTs cover a wide range of educational settings and focus on an equally wide range of educational interventions and outcomes. The findings not only disprove the claim that it is not possible to do RCTs in education but also provide some supporting evidence to challenge the other three key criticisms outlined earlier.Conclusions: While providing evidence to counter the four criticisms outlined earlier, the article suggests that there remains significant progress to be made. The article concludes by outlining some key challenges for researchers undertaking RCTs in education.
Keywords: Correction; RCT; Systematic reviews; context; education; educational settings; theory

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in education research – methodological debates, questions, challenges - Styles, Ben; Torgerson, Carole (Educational Research, 2018)

Nudging in education - Damgaard, Mette Trier; Nielsen, Helena Skyt (Economics of Education Review, 2018)
Can we nudge children, adolescents and their parents to make better decisions on education? And can we nudge teachers to support and encourage better decision making? Education decisions are taken at young ages and involve immediate costs and potential, future benefits. In such settings behavioural barriers (e.g. lack of self-control, limited attention and social norms) likely influence choices and this may motivate the use of low cost ‘nudges’ to gently push behaviour in the desired direction. Our review of nudging interventions shows that while nudging often has positive effects, the greatest effects often arise for individuals affected most by the behavioural barrier targeted by the intervention. Hence understanding underlying behavioural mechanisms is crucial. Negative effects may arise in situations where nudges potentially crowd-out intrinsic motivation, if nudges pressurise individuals, or in situations where the choice architect has an insufficient understanding of behavioural mechanisms.
Keywords: Behavioural bias; Boost policies; Human capital investment

Acceptable Use Policy - Hollingworth, Jimmy (Longhill High School, 2018)

Policy on Inclusive Education 2018 - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (2018)

Reducing student absences at scale by targeting parents’ misbeliefs - Rogers, Todd; Feller, Avi (Nature Human Behaviour, 2018)

A computational literature review of the field of System Dynamics from 1974 to 2017 - Kunc, Martin; Mortenson, Michael J.; Vidgen, Richard (Journal of Simulation, 2018)
System Dynamics celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2017. While there have been numerous special issues in diverse journals that bring together work by System Dynamics scholars who share similar research interests, there have been no systematic reviews of scholarly activity across the broad field. This paper presents a computational literature review of the field from 1974 to 2017. A CLR automates the analysis of research articles with analysis of content (topic modelling of abstracts) to identify emergent themes in the literature. We performed a broad review of the field by initially searching using the term “System Dynamics” with more than 8000 articles. However, the results obtained were not satisfactory so we decided to restrict our sample to less than 800 articles from recognised journals and proceedings. After evaluation of the results obtained from topic modelling, we decided to use 51 topics covering most of the articles in our sample. A list of 51 topics provides enough granularity to identify relevant patterns of activity within the community of System Dynamics scholars. For each of these 51 topics, we present a commentary on the key insights obtained.
Keywords: System Dynamics; computational literature review; healthcare; methodology; supply chain

Online tools supporting the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews and systematic maps: a case study on CADIMA and review of existing tools - Kohl, Christian; McIntosh, Emma J.; Unger, Stefan; Haddaway, Neal R.; Kecke, Steffen; Schiemann, Joachim; Wilhelm, Ralf (Environmental Evidence, 2018)
Systematic reviews and systematic maps represent powerful tools to identify, collect, evaluate and summarise primary research pertinent to a specific research question or topic in a highly standardised and reproducible manner. Even though they are seen as the “gold standard” when synthesising primary research, systematic reviews and maps are typically resource-intensive and complex activities. Thus, managing the conduct and reporting of such reviews can become a time consuming and challenging task. This paper introduces the open access online tool CADIMA, which was developed through a collaboration between the Julius Kühn-Institut and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, in order to increase the efficiency of the evidence synthesis process and facilitate reporting of all activities to maximise methodological rigour. Furthermore, we analyse how CADIMA compares with other available tools by providing a comprehensive summary of existing software designed for the purposes of systematic review management. We show that CADIMA is the only available open access tool that is designed to: (1) assist throughout the systematic review/map process; (2) be suited to reviews broader than medical sciences; (3) allow for offline data extraction; and, (4) support working as a review team.
Keywords: Evidence synthesis; Managing systems; Rapid review; Review management; Systematic review software; Text mining; Time management; _Added-ailr-2024

6 key insights into the data and information education leaders want most - Custer, Samantha; King, Elizabeth; Atinc, Tamar; Read, Lindsay; Sethi, Tanya (2018)

Towards Data-Driven Education Systems. Insights into using information to measure results and manage change - Custer, Samantha; King, Elizabeth; Atinc, Tamar; Read, Lindsay; Sethi, Tanya (Center for Universal Education at Brookings, 2018)

Developing and validating the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) - Pisani, Lauren; Borisova, Ivelina; Dowd, Amy Jo (International Journal of Educational Research, 2018)
Evidence about the importance of stimulation and learning in childhood has been mounting in recent years, culminating with the inclusion of early childhood development in the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. In following, there is a need for reliable measurement of early learning and development at local, national, and global levels. None of the existing tools designed to measure learning and development at the pre-primary level have been proven to be appropriate and feasible in diverse national contexts, as well as psychometrically rigorous. Therefore, Save the Children developed the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) from 2011–2015. This paper presents evidence from the IDELA validation process including internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability and concurrent validity.
Keywords: Assessment; Early childhood development; Early childhood education; Learning

Impact of Online Computer Assisted Learning on Education: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in China - Bai, Yu; Tang, Bin; Wang, Boya; Auden, Emma; Mandell, Blake (Rural Education Action Program (REAP), 2018)
Education of poor and disadvantaged populations has been a long-standing challenge for education systems in both developed and developing countries. In China, millions of students in rural areas and migrant communities lag far behind their urban counterparts in terms of academic achievement. When they fall behind, they often have no way to catch up. Many of their parents have neither the skills nor the money to provide remedial tutoring; rural teachers often do not have time to give students the individual attention they need. Given this, there is growing interest by both educators and policymakers in helping underperforming students catch up using computer assisted learning (CAL). While CAL interventions have been shown to be effective internationally and elsewhere in China, traditional software-based CAL programs are difficult and costly to implement. An online version of CAL (OCAL), however, may be able to bypass many of offline CAL’s implementation problems and enhance the remedial tutoring experience. Unfortunately, there is little empirical evidence on whether OCAL programs can be effective in improving the quality of rural primary school education in developing countries. The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of an OCAL intervention on the academic and non-academic performance of students and to explore the mechanism behind OCAL’s impact. Importantly, we also aim to assess the cost effectiveness of the new OCAL program versus traditional CAL interventions. To achieve these objectives, we carried out a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving over 1650 fifth grade students in 44 schools in rural areas and migrant communities across China. Students in the 22 treatment schools attended two 40minute OCAL sessions during their computer class each week for one semester; the students in the other 22 schools were in the control group and did not receive any intervention. According to our findings, OCAL improved overall English scores of students in the treatment group relative to the control group by 0.56 standard deviations. This impact is large when compared with offline CAL programs. We found that OCAL also led to a positive change in the attitudes of students towards English learning and towards student aspirations for their future education level. We found three possible explanations for OCAL’s impact. After rejecting the possibility of the Hawthorne Effect or self-efficacy-induced changes, we believe interest-oriented stimulation is the main source of improvement among students. The chance for comparison and competition with peers, as well as customized remedial question banks tailored to each student’s individual needs, likely contributed to the measured increases in academic performance among students in our sample. Cost-effectiveness analysis showed that the OCAL program is more cost-effective than traditional offline CAL, a comparison which is significant for policymakers as it indicates high potential for OCAL program expansion.
Keywords: Quality: H; Relevance: M; ⛔ No DOI found

Unstructured data in marketing - Balducci, B; Marinova, D (Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2018)

How behavior spreads: the science of complex contagions - Centola, Damon (Princeton Analytical Sociology Series, 2018)
"A new, counterintuitive theory for how social networks influence the spread of behavior. New social movements, technologies, and public-health initiatives often struggle to take off, yet many diseases disperse rapidly without issue. Can the lessons learned from the viral diffusion of diseases be used to improve the spread of beneficial behaviors and innovations? In How Behavior Spreads, Damon Centola presents over a decade of original research examining how changes in societal behavior--in voting, health, technology, and finance--occur and the ways social networks can be used to influence how they propagate. Centola's startling findings show that the same conditions accelerating the viral expansion of an epidemic unexpectedly inhibit the spread of behaviors. While it is commonly believed that "weak ties"--long-distance connections linking acquaintances--lead to the quicker spread of behaviors, in fact the exact opposite holds true. Centola demonstrates how the most well-known, intuitive ideas about social networks have caused past diffusion efforts to fail, and how such efforts might succeed in the future. Pioneering the use of Web-based methods to understand how changes in people's social networks alter their behaviors, Centola illustrates the ways in which these insights can be applied to solve countless problems of organizational change, cultural evolution, and social innovation. His findings offer important lessons for public health workers, entrepreneurs, and activists looking to harness networks for social change.Practical and informative, How Behavior Spreads is a must-read for anyone interested in how the theory of social networks can transform our world"--Provided by publisher
Keywords: Human behavior

Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics - Field, Andy P. (SAGE, 2018)
Keywords: Computer programs; Statistics as Topic; Software; Database Management Systems; Social Sciences; Handbooks, manuals, etc; Statistical methods; Statistics; Social sciences; methods; Data Interpretation, Statistical; SPSS (Computer file)

Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS): Defining A New Macro Measure of Education - Filmer, Deon; Rogers, Halsey; Angrist, Noam; Sabarwal, Shwetlena (World Bank, 2018)
Keywords: _B:important; ___working_potential_duplicate; _final_bib; _important; _s:DFID; ⛔ No DOI found; ❓ Multiple DOI

Feed the Monster: Impact and technical evaluation - Koval-Saifi, Nedjma; Plass, Jan (2018)

Technology-supported professional development for teachers: lessons from developing countries - McAleavy, Tony; Hall-Chen, Alex; Horrocks, Sarah; Riggall, Anna (Education Development Trust, 2018)
This report captures what might be learnt from a selection of the world’s most interesting examples of technology-assisted in-service professional development in lower-income countries and from wider reflections about the potential of technology to enhance the professional learning of teachers.
Keywords: Africa; Bangladesh; Blended Learning; C:Low- and middle-income countries; Developing Nations; ERIC, Resources in Education (RIE); Educational Technology; Elementary Education; Elementary School Teachers; Faculty Development; Foreign Countries; Handheld Devices; India; Inservice Teacher Education; Kenya; Large Group Instruction; Nigeria; Online Courses; Pakistan; Policymakers; Practitioners; Refugees; Shared Resources and Services; Social Media; Teaching Methods; Technology Integration; Technology Uses in Education; Telecommunications; ___working_potential_duplicate; ⛔ No DOI found

Technology-supported professional development for teachers: Lessons from developing countries - McAleavy, Tony; Hall-Chen, Alex; Horrocks, Sarah; Riggall, Anna (Education Development Trust, 2018)
This report captures what might be learnt from a selection of the world's most interesting examples of technology-assisted in-service professional development in lower-income countries and from wider reflections about the potential of technology to enhance the professional learning of teachers. This report explores the literature surrounding technology for professional learning, identifying six promising case studies: (1) UNESCO projects in Pakistan and Nigeria -- using mobile phones to deliver pedagogical content to early-grade and primary school teachers; (2) English in Action, Bangladesh using mobile phones and SD cards to deliver content to teachers; (3) Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) -- OER [Open Educational Resources] to support interactive teaching practice; (4) Teacher Education through School-based Support in India (TESS-India) -- OER to support the adoption of more engaging pedagogies; (5) Teachers for Teachers, Kenya -- using mobile technology to strengthen teacher development in Kakuma Refugee Camp; and (6) National Tablets Programme, Kenya -- improving the coaching provided to teachers. Through these case studies we have made a series of reflections on the impact technology can have on teacher professional development, particularly in low- and low-middle income contexts: (1) Promising technology is not enough, we must not forget the human factor; (2) Mobile technologies have high potential to improve the reach, scalability and flexibility of teacher professional development; (3) OER constitute a promising format for professional development resources; (4) High-impact, sustainable technology-enabled solutions depend on local partnership and a sense of local ownership; and (5) The design and delivery of effective technology-enabled professional learning depends on high-quality impact data and careful piloting solutions. Our report explores each of these case studies and reflections in greater detail, drawing lessons for policymakers, practitioners and other organisations who seek to provide technology-related professional development opportunities for teachers.
Keywords: Blended Learning; Developing Nations; Educational Technology; Elementary School Teachers; Faculty Development; Foreign Countries; Handheld Devices; Inservice Teacher Education; Large Group Instruction; Online Courses; Refugees; Shared Resources and Services; Social Media; Teaching Methods; Technology Integration; Technology Uses in Education; Telecommunications

Emerging fundamental issues of teacher education in Tanzania: a reflection of practices - Mgaiwa, Samson J (Educational Process: International Journal, 2018)
Quality of teachers is recognized as one of the critical dimensions for promoting student learning in schools. However, in Tanzania there are several emerging issues that affect teacher education and teachers, and as a result affect students’ learning. The existing corpus of literature indicates a death of studies on the systematic understanding of issues that affect teacher education in Tanzania, especially at a time when education across the world is encountering a number of challenges. Employing documentary review and interviews as data collection methods, this paper attempts to analyze the emerging issues affecting teacher education in Tanzania. Employing the Teacher Education Model for the 21st Century, the paper identified five major issues affecting teacher education namely; lack of specific policies for teacher education, lack of continuing professional development, lack of an autonomous teacher regulatory body, inadequate ICT and teacher education, and poor quality of candidates joining teacher education. Generally, the findings indicate that teacher education is not effectively planned in terms of policy imperatives to meet the contemporary professional demands for 21st century education in Tanzania, and beyond. Finally, conclusions and certain recommendations which take a futuristic perspective in preparing 21st century teachers are offered.
Keywords: 21st century; Education; Learning; Tanzania; Teacher education; __:import:01; __:match:final; __:matched; __:study_id:2095912; __finaldtb; students’ learning; teacher education; teachers

Policy Strategy on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (2018)

Global Dataset on Education Quality : A Review and Update (2000-2017) - Patrinos, Harry Anthony; Angrist, Noam (World Bank Group, 2018)

Identifying the essential ingredients to literacy and numeracy improvement: teacher professional development and coaching, student textbooks, and structured teachers’ guides - Piper, Benjamin; Zuilkowski, Stephanie; Dubeck, Margaret; Jepkemei, Evelyn; King, Simon J. (World Development, 2018)
Keywords: Africa; Literacy; Numeracy; Program evaluation; Randomized controlled trial; Reading; ___working_potential_duplicate

Interactive Apps Promote Learning of Basic Mathematics in Children With Special Educational Needs and Disabilities - Pitchford, Nicola J.; Kamchedzera, Elizabeth; Hubber, Paula J.; Chigeda, Antonie L. (Frontiers in Psychology, 2018)
Interactive apps delivered on touch-screen tablets can be effective at supporting the acquisition of basic skills in mainstream primary school children. This technology may also be beneficial for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) as it can promote high levels of engagement with the learning task and an inclusive learning environment. However, few studies have measured extent of learning for SEND pupils when using interactive apps, so it has yet to be determined if this technology is effective at raising attainment for these pupils. We report the first observational study of a group of 33 pupils with SEND from two primary schools in Malawi that are implementing a new digital technology intervention which uses touch-screen tablets to deliver interactive apps designed to teach basic mathematical skills. The apps contain topics that align to the national curriculum. To assess learning gains, rate of progress (minutes per topic) for each pupil was determined by calculating the average time taken to complete a topic. Progress rate was then correlated with teacher ratings of extent of disability and independent ratings of pupil engagement with the apps. Results showed SEND pupils could interact with the apps and all pupils passed at least one topic. Average progress rate for SEND pupils was twice as long as mainstream peers. Stepwise regression revealed extent of disability significantly predicted progress rate. Further exploratory correlations revealed pupils with moderate to severe difficulties with hearing and/or language made slower progress through the apps than those with greater functionality in these two domains because the use of verbal instructions within the apps limited their capacity to learn. This original quantitative analysis demonstrates that interactive apps can raise learning standards in pupils with SEND but may have limited utility for pupils with severe difficulties. Software modifications are needed to address specific areas of difficulty preventing pupils from progressing.
Keywords: Interactive apps; Mathematics; Special educational needs and disabilities; primary school; tablet technology

The Risks of Dangerous Dashboards in Basic Education - Pritchett, Lant (2018)
Many countries’ systems of basic education are in “stall” condition. A recent paper of Beatty et al. (2018) uses information from the Indonesia Family Life Survey, a representative household survey that has been carried out in several waves with the same individuals since 2000 and contains information on whether individuals can answer simple arithmetic questions. Figure 1, showing the relationship between the level of schooling and the probability of answering a typical question correctly, has two shocking results.

National Pre-primary Education Policy Standard Guidelines - Republic of Kenya Ministry of Education (Republic of Kenya Ministry of Education, 2018)

National Policy on Lifelong Learning 2018 - Royal Government of Cambodia (2018)

Rectangular Strategy - Royal Government of Cambodia (2018)

A Systematic Scoping Review of the Choice Architecture Movement: Toward Understanding When and Why Nudges Work - Szaszi, Barnabas; Palinkas, Anna; Palfi, Bence; Szollosi, Aba; Aczel, Balazs (Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 2018)
In this paper, we provide a domain-general scoping review of the nudge movement by reviewing 422 choice architecture interventions in 156 empirical studies. We report the distribution of the studies across countries, years, domains, subdomains of applicability, intervention types, and the moderators associated with each intervention category to review the current state of the nudge movement. Furthermore, we highlight certain characteristics of the studies and experimental and reporting practices that can hinder the accumulation of evidence in the field. Specifically, we found that 74% of the studies were mainly motivated to assess the effectiveness of the interventions in one specific setting, while only 24% of the studies focused on the exploration of moderators or underlying processes. We also observed that only 7% of the studies applied power analysis, 2% used guidelines aiming to improve the quality of reporting, no study in our database was preregistered, and the used intervention nomenclatures were non-exhaustive and often have overlapping categories. Building on our current observations and proposed solutions from other fields, we provide directly applicable recommendations for future research to support the evidence accumulation on why and when nudges work. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keywords: behavioral interventions; choice architecture; nudge; public policy; review

A Global Framework of Reference on Digital Literacy Skills for Indicator 4.4.2 - UNESCO (2018)

Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children: Tanzania Country Report - UNICEF; Government of Tanzania; UNESCO (2018)

Malawi National Reading Program Baseline Assessment - USAID (2018)

Learning as development: Rethinking international education in a changing world - Wagner, Daniel A. (Routledge, 2018)

Cambodia's Cross-Cutting Reforms: Public Financial Management, Decentralization, and Public Administration Reforms - Achievements, Coordination, Challenges, and Next Steps - World Bank (2018)
This note analyzes the progress of three public sector reforms (Public Financial Management, Public Administration, and Decentralization and Deconcentration) in Cambodia and describes how their design, implementation, and institutional arrangements can be better sequenced and coordinated. It focuses on the overall public sector reform agenda rather than drill into the specifics of individual reforms. Options are identified to strengthen coordination of the civil service, improve general policy sequencing, and manage challenges within the three reform areas. Recommendations to deepen individual reforms are also provided, in particular, to strengthen cross-cutting public administration improvements.

Vision for SLR tooling infrastructure: Prioritizing value-added requirements - Al-Zubidy, Ahmed; Carver, Jeffrey C.; Hale, David P.; Hassler, Edgar E. (Information and Software Technology, 2017)
Context Even with the increasing use of Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR) in software engineering (SE), there are still a number of barriers faced by SLR authors. These barriers increase the cost of conducting SLRs. Objective For many of these barriers, appropriate tool support could reduce their impact. In this paper, we use interactions with the SLR community in SE to identify and prioritize a set of requirements for SLR tooling infrastructure. Method This paper analyzes and combines the results from three studies on SLR process barriers and SLR tool requirements to produce a prioritized list of functional requirements for SLR tool support. Using this list of requirements, we perform a feature analysis of the current SLR support tools to identify requirements that are supported as well as identify the need for additional tooling infrastructure. Results The analysis resulted in a list 112 detailed requirements (consolidated into a set of composite requirements) that SE community desires in SLR support tools. The requirements span all the phases of the SLR process. The results show that, while recent tools cover more of the requirements, there are a number of high-priority requirements that are not yet fully covered by any of the existing tools. Conclusion The existing set of SLR tools do not cover all the requirements posed by the community. The list of requirements in this paper is useful for tool developers and researchers wishing to provide support to the SLR community with SE.
Keywords: Empirical software engineering; Systematic literature review; Tooling infrastructure; _Added-ailr-2024

Measuring school readiness globally: Assessing the construct validity and measurement invariance of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) in Ethiopia - Wolf, Sharon; Halpin, Peter; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Dowd, Amy Jo; Pisani, Lauren; Borisova, Ivelina (Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2017)
The post 2015 context for international development has led to a demand for assessments that measure multiple dimensions of children's school readiness and are feasibly administered in low-resource settings. The present study assesses the construct validity of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) developed by Save the Children using data from a sample of children (∼5 years of age; N=682) from rural Ethiopia. The study (a) uses exploratory and confirmatory bi-factor analyses to assess the internal structure of the assessment with respect to four hypothesized domains of school-readiness (Early Numeracy, Early Literacy, Social-Emotional development, and Motor development); (b) uses latent regression to examine concurrent validity of the domains against a limited set of child and family characteristics; and (c) establishes measurement invariance across three focal comparisons (children enrolled in center-based care versus home-based care; girls versus boys; and treatment status in a cluster randomized controlled trial of a center-based program). The results support the conclusion that the IDELA is useful for making inferences about children's school readiness. Implications for future use of the IDELA and similar instruments are discussed.
Keywords: Ethiopia; Factor analysis; Measurement invariance; School readiness; Sub-Saharan Africa

Assessing Research-Practice Partnerships - Henrick, Erin C; Cobb, Paul; Penuel, William R; Jackson, Kara; Clark, Tiffany (William T. Grant Foundation., 2017)

Guidance on Conducting a Systematic Literature Review - Xiao, Yu; Watson, Maria (Journal of Planning Education and Research, 2017)
Literature reviews establish the foundation of academic inquires. However, in the planning field, we lack rigorous systematic reviews. In this article, through a systematic search on the methodology of literature review, we categorize a typology of literature reviews, discuss steps in conducting a systematic literature review, and provide suggestions on how to enhance rigor in literature reviews in planning education and research.
Keywords: CitedIn:BIBBTVET

Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets - Andrabi, Tahir; Das, Jishnu; Khwaja, Asim Ijaz (American Economic Review, 2017)
We study the impact of providing school report cards with test scores on subsequent test scores, prices, and enrollment in markets with multiple public and private providers. A randomly selected half of our sample villages (markets) received report cards. This increased test scores by 0.11 standard deviations, decreased private school fees by 17 percent, and increased primary enrollment by 4.5 percent. Heterogeneity in the treatment impact by initial school test scores is consistent with canonical models of asymmetric information. Information provision facilitates better comparisons across providers, and improves market efficiency and child welfare through higher test scores, higher enrollment, and lower fees.
Keywords: Belief; Communication; Education; Housing; Human Development; Income Distribution; Information and Knowledge; Infrastructure; Learning; Migration, Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Public Pensions, Analysis of Education, Education: Government Policy, Economic Development: Human Resources; Search; Unawareness, State and Local Government: Health; Welfare

Talking about education: exploring the significance of teachers’ talk for teacher agency - Biesta, Gert; Priestley, Mark; Robinson, Sarah (Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2017)
The interest in teachers’ discourses and vocabularies has for a long time been studied under the rubric of knowledge, most notably teachers’ professional knowledge. This interest can be traced back to Shulman’s distinction between different kinds of teacher knowledge and Schwab’s interest in the role of practical reasoning and judgement in teaching. Within the research, a distinction can be found between a more narrow approach that focuses on teachers’ propositional or theoretical knowledge and a more encompassing approach in which teachers’knowledge is not only the knowledge for teachers generated elsewhere, but also the knowledge of teachers. This is the ‘stock of knowledge’gained from a range of sources and experiences, including teachers’ ongoing engagement with the practice of teaching itself. In this paper, we focus on the role of teachers’ talk in their achievement of agency. We explore how, in what way and to what extent such talk helps or hinders teachers in exerting control over and giving direction to their everyday practices, bearing in mind that such practices are not just the outcome of teachers’ judgements and actions, but are also shaped by the structures and cultures within which teachers work.

Big data, big insights? Advancing service innovation and design with machine learning - Antons, D; Breidbach, CF (Journal of Service Research, 2017)
Keywords: _Added-ailr-2024

From proof of concept to scalable policies: Challenges and solutions, with an application - Banerjee, Abhijit; Banerji, Rukmini; Berry, James; Duflo, Esther; Kannan, Harini; Mukerji, Shobhini; Shotland, Marc; Walton, Michael (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2017)

Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS-III) 2017–2022 - Government of Malawi (2017)

Text mining in organizational research - Kobayashi, V.B.; Mol, S.T.; Berkers, H.A. (Organizational Research Methods, 2017)
Keywords: _Added-ailr-2024

Country Economic Overview - Malawi Consulate (2017)
Country Economic Overview The Malawi economy is agro based with agriculture contributing 37% of the national GDP and employing 80% of the total workforce....

National Pre-Primary Education Policy 2017 - Republic of Kenya Ministry of Education (Republic of Kenya Ministry of Education, 2017)

Independent Samples T-Test - Ross, Amanda; Willson, Victor L. (Basic and Advanced Statistical Tests: Writing Results Sections and Creating Tables and Figures, 2017)
An independent samples t-test compares the means of two groups. The data are interval for the groups. There is not an assumption of normal distribution (if the distribution of one or both groups is really unusual, the t-test will not give good results with unequal sample sizes), but there is an assumption that the two standard deviations are equal. If the sample sizes are equal or very similar in size, even that assumption is not critical.

Total expenditure on health: As a percentage of gross domestic product - World Health Organization (OECD Publishing, 2017)
This table includes data on total expenditure on health, as a percentage of gross domestic product. The table is part of the key tables collection on health.

A computational literature review of the technology acceptance model - Mortenson, Michael J.; Vidgen, Richard (International Journal of Information Management, 2016)
A literature review is a central part of any research project, allowing the existing research to be mapped and new research questions to be posited. However, due to the limitations of human data processing, the literature review can suffer from an inability to handle large volumes of research articles. The computational literature review (CLR) is proposed here as a complementary part of a wider literature review process. The CLR automates some of the analysis of research articles with analyses of impact (citations), structure (co-authorship networks) and content (topic modeling of abstracts). A contribution of the paper is to demonstrate how the content of abstracts can be analyzed automatically to provide a set of research topics within a literature corpus. The CLR software can be used to support three use cases: (1) analysis of the literature for a research area, (2) analysis and ranking of journals, and (3) analysis and ranking of individual scholars and research teams. The working of the CLR software is illustrated through application to the technology acceptance model (TAM) using a set of 3,386 articles. The CLR is an open source offering, developed in the statistical programming language R, and made freely available to researchers to use and develop further.
Keywords: Citation analysis; Co-authorship analysis; Computational literature review; Journal ranking; Lda; Literature review; Social network analysis; Technology acceptance model; Topic models

Education data for decision making (EDDATA II): key achievements and lessons learned; final report | UNESCO IIEP Learning Portal - Mulcahy-Dunn, Amy; Dick, Anna; Crouch, Luis; Newton, Erin (USAID; RTI International, 2016)
USAID's Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) was implemented over a 12 year period beginning in 2004. EdData II had at its core the goal of improving access to data for USAID Missions and host country ministries, to use for making informed policy decisions. The tools and research developed under EdData II whelped to inform the development of learning metrics under the Sustainable Development Goals (2015); provide evidence to support the design and monitor the implementation of USAID's 2011-2017 Education strategy, and provide actionable, high-quality data to inform policy and practice in around 35 countries. The report reflects on EdData II and the project's impact, providing a summary of the most salient and impactful project activities, and drawing key lessons from their development and implementation. [...] The report is divided into four sections, as follows. Sections 1 and 2 begin with an overview of the background and key accomplishments of the EdData II contract and objectives, followed by a synopsis of EdData II task orders and their scope. Section 3, the main body of the report, delineates the key technical achievements of the program, including data collection tools, analysis, and measurement; pilot intervention programs; original and secondary research; and dissemination activities, as well as the implications of each. Section 4 reflects on the lessons learned from this work. In addition, several annexes provide further details about various aspects of the program.

How to Develop an Acceptable Use Policy: The Steps to Take - Webswise (Webwise.ie, 2016)
Creating an AUP is vital for your school, in addressing internet safety issues for students. Here we look at how to develop an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).

Realizing capabilities in Ethiopia: maximizing early childhood investment for impact and equity - Dowd, Amy Jo; Borisova, Ivelina; Amente, Ali; Yenew, Alene (Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 2016)

Literacy Boost in Rwanda: Impact Evaluation of a 2-year Randomized Control Trial. - Friedlander, E; Goldenberg, C (Stanford University, 2016)

Education for people and planet: creating sustainable futures for all - Global Education Monitoring Report Team (2016)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate; _r:AddedByZotZen

National Education Policy - Government of the Republic of Malawi (2016)

EDUCATE! Riding the reform wave to scale up youth entrepreneurship in Uganda - Kwauk, Christina; Perlman Robinson, Jenny (2016)
Keywords: Scaling; youth entrepreneurship

National Education Policy - Malawi Ministry of Education (2016)

National Education Policy - Malawi Ministry of Education (2016)

QALY-based cost-effectiveness analysis - Pinto-Prades,, J. L; Herrero, C; Abellán, J. M (The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy, 2016)

Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early grade reading in Kenya - Piper, Benjamin; Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons; Kwayumba, Dunston; Strigel, Carmen (International Journal of Educational Development, 2016)
Education policymakers are investing in information and communications technology (ICT) without a research base on how ICT improves outcomes. There is limited research on the effects of different types of ICT investments on outcomes. The Kenya Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) study implemented a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects and cost of three interventions – e-readers for students, tablets for teachers, and the base PRIMR program with tablets for instructional supervisors. The results show that the ICT investments do not improve literacy outcomes significantly more than the base non-ICT instructional program. Our findings show that cost considerations should be paramount in selecting ICT investments in the education sector.
Keywords: Education policy; International education; Kenya; Literacy; Reading; Technology; __:import:01; __:match:final; __:matched; __:study_id:2457283; ___working_potential_duplicate; __finaldtb

Are Our Children Learning? - Uwezo (Twaweza East Africa, 2016)

Assessing the Construct Validity of Save the Children's International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) - Wolf, Sharon; Halpin, Peter; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Pisani, Lauren; Dowd, Amy Jo; Borisova, Ivelina (Global TIES for Children, New York University, Save the Children, 2016)

ICT in Education Policy - Ghana - Ministry of Education, Ghana (Ministry of Education Ghana, 2015)

Automating data extraction in systematic reviews: a systematic review - Jonnalagadda, Siddhartha R.; Goyal, Pawan; Huffman, Mark D. (Systematic Reviews, 2015)
Automation of the parts of systematic review process, specifically the data extraction step, may be an important strategy to reduce the time necessary to complete a systematic review. However, the state of the science of automatically extracting data elements from full texts has not been well described. This paper performs a systematic review of published and unpublished methods to automate data extraction for systematic reviews.
Keywords: Conditional Random Field; Data Element; PubMed Abstract; Support Vector Machine; Systematic Review Process; _Added-ailr-2024

Using text mining for study identification in systematic reviews: a systematic review of current approaches - O’Mara-Eves, Alison; Thomas, James; McNaught, John; Miwa, Makoto; Ananiadou, Sophia (Systematic Reviews, 2015)
The large and growing number of published studies, and their increasing rate of publication, makes the task of identifying relevant studies in an unbiased way for inclusion in systematic reviews both complex and time consuming. Text mining has been offered as a potential solution: through automating some of the screening process, reviewer time can be saved. The evidence base around the use of text mining for screening has not yet been pulled together systematically; this systematic review fills that research gap. Focusing mainly on non-technical issues, the review aims to increase awareness of the potential of these technologies and promote further collaborative research between the computer science and systematic review communities.
Keywords: Automation; Review efficiency; Screening; Study selection; Text mining

Standing on the shoulders of giants: challenges and recommendations of literature search in information systems research - Brocke, J; Simons, A; Riemer, K (Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 2015)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Managing School Internal Mechanisms for Performance Improvement in Secondary Education: Case of Six Secondary Schools in Eastern Zone in Tanzania - Chua, C. L.; Mosha, H. J. (SAGE Open, 2015)

RobotReviewer: evaluation of a system for automatically assessing bias in clinical trials - Marshall, I.J.; Kuiper, J; Wallace, B.C. (Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2015)
Keywords: _Added-ailr-2024

Improving learning in primary schools of developing countries: A meta-analysis of randomized experiments - McEwan, Patrick J (Review of Educational Research, 2015)
I gathered 77 randomized experiments (with 111 treatment arms) that evaluated the effects of school-based interventions on learning in developing-country primar...
Keywords: _Source:Intuitive

Development of early mathematical skills with a tablet intervention: a randomized control trial in Malawi - Pitchford, Nicola J. (Frontiers in Psychology, 2015)
Evaluation of educational interventions is necessary prior to wide-scale rollout. Yet very few rigorous studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of tablet-based interventions, especially in the early years and in developing countries. This study reports a randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a tablet intervention for supporting the development of early mathematical skills in primary school children in Malawi. A total sample of 318 children, spanning Standards 1–3, attending a medium-sized urban primary school, were randomized to one of three groups: maths tablet intervention, non-maths tablet control, and standard face-to-face practice. Children were pre-tested using tablets at the start of the school year on two tests of mathematical knowledge and a range of basic skills related to scholastic progression. Class teachers then delivered the intervention over an 8-weeks period, for the equivalent of 30-min per day. Technical support was provided from the local Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Children were then post-tested on the same assessments as given at pre-test. A final sample of 283 children, from Standards 1–3, present at both pre- and post-test, was analyzed to investigate the effectiveness of the maths tablet intervention. Significant effects of the maths tablet intervention over and above standard face-to-face practice or using tablets without the maths software were found in Standards 2 and 3. In Standard 3 the greater learning gains shown by the maths tablet intervention group compared to both of the control groups on the tablet-based assessments transferred to paper and pencil format, illustrating generalization of knowledge gained. Thus, tablet technology can effectively support early years mathematical skills in developing countries if the software is carefully designed to engage the child in the learning process and the content is grounded in a solid well-constructed curriculum appropriate for the child’s developmental stage.
Keywords: Evaluation; Mathematics; Tablets; Technology; ___working_potential_duplicate; intervention; primary school; randomized control trial

Uwezo data - Household data - Twaweza (2015)

Sector learning and adaptive management - van Soest, A; Carriger, S; Casella, D; Wells, C; Silva, D (IRC, 2015)
Sector learning refers to the processes and mechanisms in place at sector level to ensure that actors are capable of jointly reflecting on current service delivery and identifying problems, developing solutions, and spreading successes. Sector learning goes hand in hand with adaptive management, a structured process of translating learning into action.

Implementation Completion and Results Report for a Project to Improve Education Quality in Malawi - World Bank (2015)

HLM behind the curtain: Unveiling decisions behind the use and interpretation of HLM in higher education research - Niehaus, Elizabeth; Campbell, Corbin M.; Inkelas, Karen Kurotsuchi (Research in Higher Education, 2014)
Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) has become increasingly popular in the higher education literature, but there is significant variability in the current approaches to the conducting and reporting of HLM. The field currently lacks a general consensus around important issues such as the number of levels of analysis that are important to include and how much variance should be accounted for at each level in order for the HLM analysis to have practical significance (Dedrick et al., Rev Educ Res 79:69–102, 2009). The purpose of this research is to explore the use of a 3-level HLM model, appropriate contextualizing of results of HLM, and the interpretation of HLM results that resonates with practice. We used an example of a 3-level model from the National Study of Living Learning Programs to highlight the practical issues that arise in the interpretation of HLM within a higher education context.
Keywords: Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM); Higher education research; Statistical methods

What Matters Most for Education Management Information Systems: A Framework Paper - Abdul-Hamid, Husein (SABER Working Paper Series, 2014)
Keywords: Academic Assessments; Access to Data; Access to Education; Access to Information; Adult Education; Annual School Census; Application Programming; Assessment Framework; Average Teacher Salaries; Basic Education; Basic Education Statistics; Best Practice; Business Intelligence; Care Providers; Class Sizes; Classroom; Classroom Learning; Classrooms; Client Countries; Communication Technology; Communications Technologies; Communications Technology; Completion Rates; Continuing Education; Curriculum; Data Analysis; Data Collection; Data Coverage; Data Gathering; Data Providers; Data Sharing; Data Sources; Data Systems; Data Warehouse; Decision Makers; Decision Making; Decision-Making; Demand for Education; Domain; Domains; Early Childhood; Early Childhood Development; Early Childhood Education; Educated Population; Education Budget; Education Data; Education Development; Education Institutions; Education Management; Education Management Systems; Education Outcomes; Education Planning; Education Policies; Education Policy; Education Providers; Education Services; Education Statistics; Education Strategy; Education System; Education Systems; Education Targets; Education Teachers; Education for All; Educational Development; Educational Expenditures; Educational Inputs; Educational Outcomes; Educational Planning; Educational Processes; Educational Quality; Educational Sciences; Educators; Enabling Environment; Enrollment Data; Enrollment Levels; Enrollment Rates; Enrollment Statistics; Equitable Education; Expert Opinion; Female Teachers; Financial Performance; Formal Education; Functionalities; Functionality; Gender Equality; Gender Equity; Gender Parity; Gender Parity Index; Girls; Global Education; Gross Enrollment; Gross Enrollment Ratio; High Quality Education; Human Resources; Improvement of Education; Information Gaps; Information System; Information Systems; Information Technology; Innovation

Cost-Effectiveness Measurement in Development: Accounting for Local Costs and Noisy Impacts - Evans, David K.; Popova, Anna (Policy Research Working Papers, 2014)

Ceiling Effect - Garin, Olatz (Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 2014)

National ICT Master Plan - Government of Malawi (2014)

Education Sector Implementation Plan II (2013/14 - 2017/18) - Government of Malawi; UNICEF Malawi (2014)

Information and communication technology in early childhood education: challenges for effective implementation and integration - Hammed, N. M. A. (2014)

Teachers’ perspectives on their use of ICT in teaching and learning: A case study - Kafyulilo, Ayoub; Keengwe, Jared (Education and information technologies, 2014)
This article presents the perspectives of science and mathematics teachers on their use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning in Tanzania. The findings show that few teachers used computers for teaching and learning purposes while majority of them used computers for administrative purposes. Additionally, teachers were found to have limited confidence in using technology to facilitate specific concepts or skills, to support creativity, and to support students to learn complex concepts. Therefore, it is suggested that schools explore strategies ICT integration strategies that focus more on making a shift from teaching technology or using technology for administrative purpose to appropriate pedagogical uses that could enhance student learning.
Keywords: Case studies; Communication; Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences; Computer Science; Computers and Education; Education; Educational Technology; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Information technology; Learning; Learning strategies; Mathematics; Pedagogy; Science; Student Learning; Study and teaching; Teacher attitudes; Teachers; Teaching; Technology Integration; Technology application; Training; User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction

Mapping research and innovation in the Republic of Malawi - UNESCO Digital Library - Lemarchand, Guillermo A.; Schneegans, Susan (2014)

Partially Nested Randomized Controlled Trials in Education Research: A Guide to Design and Analysis - Lohr, Sharon; Schochet, Peter Z; Sanders, Elizabeth (National Center for Education Research (NCER), 2014)

Policy on Higher Education Vision 2030 - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (2014)

Systematic review automation technologies - Tsafnat, G.; Glasziou, P.; Choong, M.K. (Systematic Reviews, 2014)
Keywords: _Added-ailr-2024

Education sector analysis methodological guidelines - UNESCO-IIEP; World Bank; UNICEF; Global Partnership for Education (2014)
The Methodological Guidelines provide methods for carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the education sector in developing countries. Volume 1 of the guidelines discusses the context for the development of the education sector, enrollment, internal efficiency, out-of-school children, cost and financing, quality, system capacity and management, external efficiency and equity.

Negotiating problems of practice in research–practice design partnerships - Penuel, William R.; Coburn, Cynthia E.; Gallagher, Daniel J. (Teachers College Record, 2013)
This chapter focuses on how researchers and practitioners negotiate the focus of their joint work within design-based implementation research (DBIR). Studying and facilitating successful negotiation of the problems that become the focus of work and the search for solutions is important for developing DBIR, because of its commitment to focusing on persistent problems of practice from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. Case studies of two different research–practice partnerships provide a context for exploring two different perspectives on negotiation. In one case study, the notion of partnerships as forms of cultural exchange across institutional boundaries that differ with respect to goals, norms, and practices is used to analyze a design partnership focused on repurposing curriculum units in elementary science. In the second case study, the concept of framing as developed in social movement theory is used to illuminate issues of status and authority within a partnership between a district and researchers. The chapter concludes by describing the contributions of each perspective to an understanding of how teams jointly negotiate the focus of their work and by providing some recommendations for how teams can do so successfully.

A different approach to scaling up educational technology initiatives - Trucano, Michael (World Bank Blogs, 2013)
the way most projects 'scale up' just might yield inequitable results Much is made of the necessity to 'scale up' in international development circles. Here at the World Bank, a quick search on our web site reveals publications and conferences with titles like Scaling Up Knowledge Sharing for Development, Global ...

Systematic reviews: Work that needs to be done and not to be done - Adams, Clive E; Polzmacher, Stefanie; Wolff, Annabelle (Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2013)
Systematic reviews are researches requiring great attention to detail. They may well necessitate considerable investment of effort to ensure relevant data are identified, extracted, synthesized, written up and disseminated. These tasks have already been greatly refined and, in some cases, simplified, by machines. The last two decades have seen remarkable progress in machine-assisted production of reviews – the next two should see much more.
Keywords: _Added-ailr-2024; medical Informatics; systematic reviews; unified medical language system

Design-Based Implementation Research: An Emerging Model for Transforming the Relationship of Research and Practice - Fishman, Barry J; Penuel, William R; Allen, Anna-Ruth; Cheng, Britte Haugan; Sabelli, Nora (Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2013)
This chapter presents an introduction to design-based implementation research (DBIR). We describe the need for DBIR as a research approach that challenges educational researchers and practitioners to transcend traditional research/practice barriers to facilitate the design of educational interventions that are effective, sustainable, and scalable. We examine antecedents to DBIR, including evaluation research, community-based participatory research, design-based research, and implementation research. The four core principles of DBIR are explained: (1) a focus on persistent problems of practice from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives; (2) a commitment to iterative, collaborative design; (3) a concern with developing theory and knowledge related to both classroom learning and implementation through systematic inquiry; and (4) a concern with developing capacity for sustaining change in systems. We close with an overview of the chapters contained in this NSSE Yearbook on DBIR and explain how each chapter contributes to the overall development of the DBIR approach.
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Education Act: No.21 of 2013 - Government of Malawi (2013)

The effect of free primary education policy on late school entry in urban primary schools in Kenya - Ngware, Moses W.; Oketch, Moses; Ezeh, Alex C.; Mutisya, Maurice (International Review of Education, 2013)

National ICT Policy – An ICT-Led Malawi - Republic of Malawi (2013)

Inclusion Matters : The Foundation for Shared Prosperity - World Bank (World Bank, 2013)
Today, the world is at a conjuncture where issues of exclusion and inclusion are assuming new significance for both developed and developing countries. The imperative for social inclusion has blurred the distinction between these two stylized poles of development. Countries that used to be referred to as developed are grappling with issues of exclusion and inclusion perhaps more intensely today than they did a decade ago. And countries previously called developing are grappling with both old issues and new forms of exclusion thrown up by growth. Nonlinear demographic transitions, global economic volatility, shifts in the international balance of power, and local political movements have had a large part to play in these shifting sands. These changes make social inclusion more urgent than it was even a decade ago. This report tries to put boundaries around the abstraction that is "social inclusion." Placing the discussion of social inclusion within such global transitions and transformations, the report argues that social inclusion is an evolving agenda. It offers two easy-to-use definitions and a framework to assist practitioners in asking, outlining, and developing some of the right questions that can help advance the agenda of inclusion in different contexts. This report builds on previous analytical work, especially by the World Bank, on themes that touch upon social inclusion, including multidimensional poverty, inequality, equity, social cohesion, and empowerment. There are seven main messages in this report: (1) excluded groups exist in all countries; (2) excluded groups are consistently denied opportunities; (3) intense global transitions are leading to social transformations that create new opportunities for inclusion as well as exacerbating existing forms of exclusion; (4) people take part in society through markets, services, and spaces; (5) social and economic transformations affect the attitudes and perceptions of people. As people act on the basis of how they feel, it is important to pay attention to their attitudes and perceptions; (6) exclusion is not immutable. Abundant evidence demonstrates that social inclusion can be planned and achieved; and (7) moving ahead will require a broader and deeper knowledge of exclusion and its impacts as well as taking concerted action. The report is divided into three parts. Part one is framing the issues. Part two focuses on transitions, transformations, and perceptions. Part three is change is possible.

Goal attainment scaling as an outcome measure in randomized controlled trials of psychosocial interventions in autism. - Ruble, Lisa; McGrew, John H.; Toland, Michael D. (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2012)
Goal attainment scaling (GAS) holds promise as an idiographic approach for measuring outcomes of psychosocial interventions in community settings. GAS has been criticized for untested assumptions of scaling level (i.e., interval or ordinal), inter-individual equivalence and comparability, and reliability of coding across different behavioral observation methods. We tested assumptions of equality between GAS descriptions for outcome measurement in a randomized trial (i.e., measurability, equidistance, level of difficulty, comparability of behavior samples collected from teachers vs. researchers and live vs. videotape). Results suggest GAS descriptions can be evaluated for equivalency, that teacher collected behavior samples are representative, and that varied sources of behavior samples can be reliably coded. GAS is a promising measurement approach. Recommendations are provided to ensure methodological quality.
Keywords: Autism; Goal attainment scaling; Outcome measurement; Psychosocial intervention; Randomized controlled trials; Reliability

The Need for Randomised Controlled Trials in Educational Research - Torgerson, Carole J.; Torgerson, David J. (The Need for Randomised Controlled Trials in Educational Research, 2012)
The first use of RCTs in education is uncertain. In the last century the use of the design pre-dated its use in medicine by at least a decade (although medical trials may have been undertaken in the 19th century). Forsetlund and colleagues (2007) identified two education trials conducted by Walters in 1931 and 1932, which predated the 1944 and 1948 medical trials run by the UK's Medical Research Council by more than a decade. The early interest in RCTs among some educational researchers was not sustained. Other, less robust, designs to demonstrate educational effectiveness were pursued. For example, quasi-experimental studies were often preferred, being relatively inexpensive, rapid to conduct and often able to generate politically attractive conclusions. However, their results are inherently less reliable than the results from RCTs as their internal validity is always potentially confounded by variables offering alternative explanations.

What influences teachers to change their practice - Webster, Alison; McNeish, Di; Scott, Sara; Maynard, Linda; Haywood (National Centre for Social Research for Centre for Understanding Behaviour Change, 2012)

New modes of teacher pre-service training and professional support - Anamuah-Mensah, Jophus; Banks, Frank; Moon, Bob; Wolfenden, Freda (Teacher education and the challenge of development: a global analysis, 2012)
Keywords: Economic development -- Effect of education on -- Developing countries.; Teachers -- Training of -- Developing countries.; Teaching -- Developing countries.

Systematic literature studies: database searches vs. backward snowballing - Jalali, S; Wohlin, C (2012)

Research methods dictionary - Mugenda, Olive M; Mugenda, Abel G (Kenya Arts Press, 2012)

From design experiments to formative interventions - Engeström, Yrjö (Theory & Psychology, 2011)
So-called ?design experiments? have been presented as a radical alternative to traditional experimental designs in behavioral sciences. A closer scrutiny of design experiments shows that they share the basic linear methodology of traditional randomized controlled trials, and thus ignore resistance and agency of learners as a source of surprise and novelty. Formative interventions based on Vygotsky?s principle of double stimulation offer an alternative that builds on and purposefully fosters learners? agency. Formative interventions may be characterized with the help of an argumentative grammar which proposes (a) the collective activity system as a unit of analysis, (b) contradictions as a source of change and development, (c) agency as a crucial layer of causality, and (d) transformation of practice as a form of expansive concept formation. These four epistemic tenets are concretized with the help of analysis of data from a Change Laboratory formative experiment conducted in a Finnish hospital. The analysis shows that double stimulation is a multi-layered and longitudinal process in which both the initial problem situation (first stimulus) and the mediating conceptual tool (second stimulus) are reformulated and enriched in successive steps. Such a process of double stimulation generates a thirdness, a new concept for the activity under transformation.

Organizing research and development at the intersection of learning, implementation, and design - Penuel, W. R.; Fishman, B. J.; Haugan Cheng, B.; Sabelli, N. (Educational Researcher, 2011)

Getting off the “Gold Standard”: Randomized controlled trials and education research - Sullivan, Gail M (Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 2011)

Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support Program: Baseline Report - USAID (2011)

Tanzania: ICT in education: situational analysis - Swarts, Patti; Wachira, Esther Mwiyeria (Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative, 2010)

The (Perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling - Jensen, Robert (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2010)
Economists emphasize the link between market returns to education and investments in schooling. Though many studies estimate these returns with earnings data, it is the perceived returns that affect schooling decisions, and these perceptions may be inaccurate. Using survey data for eighth-grade boys in the Dominican Republic, we find that the perceived returns to secondary school are extremely low, despite high measured returns. Students at randomly selected schools given information on the higher measured returns completed on average 0.20–0.35 more years of school over the next four years than those who were not.

Pitfalls of Participatory Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Education in India - Banerjee, Abhijit V; Banerji, Rukmini; Duflo, Esther; Glennerster, Rachel; Khemani, Stuti (American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2010)
Participation of beneficiaries in the monitoring of public services is increasingly seen as a key to improving their quality. We conducted a randomized evaluation of three interventions to encourage beneficiaries' participation to India: providing information on existing institutions, training community members in a testing tool for children, and training volunteers to hold remedial reading camps. These interventions had no impact on community involvement, teacher effort, or learning outcomes inside the school. However, in the third intervention, youth volunteered to teach camps, and children who attended substantially improved their reading skills. This suggests that citizens face constraints in influencing public services. (JEL H52, I21, I28, O15)
Keywords: ___working_potential_duplicate

Literature searching for social science systematic reviews: consideration of a range of search techniques - Papaioannou, Diana; Sutton, Anthea; Carroll, Christopher; Booth, Andrew; Wong, Ruth (Health Information & Libraries Journal, 2010)
Background: Literature for a systematic review on the student experience of e-learning is located across a range of subject areas including health, education, social science, library and information science. Objectives: To assess the merits and shortcomings of using different search techniques in retrieval of evidence in the social science literature. Methods: A conventional subject search was undertaken as the principal method of identifying the literature for the review. Four supplementary search methods were used including citation searching, reference list checking, contact with experts and pearl growing. Results: The conventional subject search identified 30 of 41 included references; retrieved from 10 different databases. References were missed by this method and a further 11 references were identified via citation searching, reference list checking and contact with experts. Pearl growing was suspended as the nominated pearls were dispersed across numerous databases, with no single database indexing more than four pearls. Conclusions: Searching within the social sciences literature requires careful consideration. Conventional subject searching identified the majority of references, but additional search techniques were essential and located further high quality references.
Keywords: _TBC for use ailr-2024

A practical guide to multilevel modeling - Peugh, James L. (Journal of School Psychology, 2010)
Collecting data from students within classrooms or schools, and collecting data from students on multiple occasions over time, are two common sampling methods used in educational research that often require multilevel modeling (MLM) data analysis techniques to avoid Type-1 errors. The purpose of this article is to clarify the seven major steps involved in a multilevel analysis: (1) clarifying the research question, (2) choosing the appropriate parameter estimator, (3) assessing the need for MLM, (4) building the level-1 model, (5) building the level-2 model, (6) multilevel effect size reporting, and (7) likelihood ratio model testing. The seven steps are illustrated with both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal MLM example from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) dataset. The goal of this article is to assist applied researchers in conducting and interpreting multilevel analyses and to offer recommendations to guide the reporting of MLM analysis results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Keywords: Classrooms; Data Collection; Schools; Simulation

The Education System in Malawi. Africa education country status report - World Bank (2010)

How to select, calculate, and interpret effect sizes - Durlak, Joseph A. (Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2009)
The objective of this article is to offer guidelines regarding the selection, calculation, and interpretation of effect sizes (ESs). To accomplish this goal, ESs are first defined and their important contribution to research is emphasized. Then different types of ESs commonly used in group and correlational studies are discussed. Several useful resources are provided for distinguishing among different types of effects and what modifications might be required in their calculation depending on a study's purpose and methods. This article should assist producers and consumers of research in understanding the role, importance, and meaning of ESs in research reports.

Multilevel modeling: A review of methodological issues and applications - Dedrick, Robert F.; Ferron, John M.; Hess, Melinda R.; Hogarty, Kristine Y.; Kromrey, Jeffrey D.; Lang, Thomas R.; Niles, John D.; Lee, Reginald S. (Review of Educational Research, 2009)
This study analyzed the reporting of multilevel modeling applications of a sample of 99 articles from 13 peer-reviewed journals in education and the social sciences. A checklist, derived from the methodological literature on multilevel modeling and focusing on the issues of model development and specification, data considerations, estimation, and inference, was used to analyze the articles. The most common applications were two-level models where individuals were nested within contexts. Most studies were non-experimental and used nonprobability samples. The amount of data at each level varied widely across studies, as did the number of models examined. Analyses of reporting practices indicated some clear problems, with many articles not reporting enough information for a reader to critique the reported analyses. For example, in many articles, one could not determine how many models were estimated, what covariance structure was assumed, what type of centering if any was used, whether the data were consistent with assumptions, whether outliers were present, or how the models were estimated. Guidelines for researchers reporting multilevel analyses are provided.

Tuned in to Student Success: Assessing the Impact of IRI - Education Development Center, Inc. (2009)
This study reviews student assessment data collected from 15 EDC projects to determine the impact of interactive radio instruction (IRI) on student achievement in hard-to-reach areas.

Risk of bias versus quality assessment of randomised controlled trials: cross sectional study - Hartling, L.; Ospina, M.; Liang, Y. (British Medical Journal, 2009)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

The automation of science - King, R.D.; Rowland, J.; Oliver, S.G. (Science, 2009)
Keywords: _Added-ailr-2024

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions - Higgins, JPT; Green, S (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2008)

Non-Formal Education Action Plan - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (2008)

Remedying education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in India - Banerjee, Abhijit V.; Cole, Shawn; Duflo, Esther; Linden, Leigh (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007)
Abstract. This paper presents the results of two randomized experiments conducted in schools in urban India. A remedial education program hired young women to
Keywords: Quality: H; Relevance: M; ___working_potential_duplicate

Transformative Paradigm: Mixed Methods and Social Justice - Mertens, Donna (Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2007)
The intersection of mixed methods and social justice has implications for the role of the researcher and choices of specific paradigmatic perspectives. The transformative paradigm with its associated philosophical assumptions provides a framework for addressing inequality and injustice in society using culturally competent, mixed methods strategies. The recognition that realities are constructed and shaped by social, political, cultural, economic, and racial/ethnic values indicates that power and privilege are important determinants of which reality will be privileged in a research context. Methodological inferences based on the underlying assumptions of the transformative paradigm reveal the potential strength of combining qualitative and quantitative methods. A qualitative dimension is needed to gather community perspectives at each stage of the research process, while a quantitative dimension provides the opportunity to demonstrate outcomes that have credibility for community members and scholars. Transformative mixed methodologies provide a mechanism for addressing the complexities of research in culturally complex settings that can provide a basis for social change. … Read more

Teacher Turnover in Malawi's Ministry of Education: Realities and Challenges - Kayuni, Happy; Tambulasi, Richard (International Education Journal, 2007)
The teaching profession is no longer a concern of academicians but the public in general who yearn for positive results. Internationally, the profession is continuously beset by several serious problems. One of the most serious problems in the teaching profession is teacher turnover. Governments are finding it difficult to retain teachers in schools. In Malawi, this problem is profound and overwhelming, even by Sub-Saharan standards. The paper heavily relies on secondary data derived from general trends and observations of several research findings as well as government publications, newspapers and several academic papers. The paper argues that main cause of this problem in Malawi can be attributed to general poor working conditions. The paper further argues that retention measures derived by the Malawi government may take time to bear fruits and it is unlikely that they can seriously affect teachers positively because they do not address the basic immediate needs of the teachers. (Contains 1 footnote.)
Keywords: Developing Nations; Educational Development; Educational Policy; Faculty Mobility; Foreign Countries; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Persistence; Teaching (Occupation); Teaching Conditions; ⛔ No DOI found

Intraclass correlation values for planning group-randomized trials in education - Hedges, Larry V.; Hedberg, E. C. (Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 2007)
Experiments that assign intact groups to treatment conditions are increasingly common in social research. In educational research, the groups assigned are often schools. The design of group-randomized experiments requires knowledge of the intraclass correlation structure to compute statistical power and sample sizes required to achieve adequate power. This article provides a compilation of intraclass correlation values of academic achievement and related covariate effects that could be used for planning group-randomized experiments in education. It also provides variance component information that is useful in planning experiments involving covariates. The use of these values to compute the statistical power of group-randomized experiments is illustrated.

A systematic comparison of software dedicated to meta-analysis of causal studies - Bax, L.; Yu, L.-M.; Ikeda, N. (BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2007)

Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering - Kitchenham, BA; Charters, S (EBSE Technical Report, 2007)

Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) in Latin America and the Caribbean: lessons and challenges - Cassidy, T (Inter-American Development Bank, 2006)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Malawi National ICT for Development (ICT4D) Policy - Government of Malawi (2006)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Equivalency Programmes (EPs) for Promoting Lifelong Learning - UNESCO (2006)

Monitoring and evaluation of ICT in education projects. A handbook for developing countries - Wagner, Daniel A.; Day, Bob; James, Tina; Kozma, Robert B.; Miller, Jonathan; Unwin, Tim (Washington DC: infoDev. Retrieved July, 2005)
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Design-based research and technology-enhanced learning environments - Wang, Feng; Hannafin, Michael J. (Educational Technology Research and Development, 2005)

Can free primary education meet the needs of the poor?: evidence from Malawi - Kadzamira, Esme; Rose, Pauline (International Journal of Educational Development, 2003)
Following elections in 1994, the Government of Malawi embarked on an ambitious programme of free primary education (FPE), resulting in a dramatic increase in enrolment. The paper argues that the policy did not sufficiently consider the ways in which direct and indirect costs of schooling continue to be prohibitive for some households, or the effects that the expansion would have on quality. The relevance of education for the majority of children who receive only a few years of primary schooling is also questioned. The paper suggests that FPE might not be contributing to the achievement of poverty alleviation goals, as intended.
Keywords: Development; Educational policy; Gender; International education; Malawi; Poverty

Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence - Singer, Judith D.; Willett, John B. (Oxford University Press, USA, 2003)
Change is constant in everyday life. Infants crawl and then walk, children learn to read and write, teenagers mature in myriad ways, the elderly become frail and forgetful. Beyond these natural processes and events, external forces and interventions instigate and disrupt change: test scores may rise after a coaching course, drug abusers may remain abstinent after residential treatment. By charting changes over time and investigating whether and when events occur, researchers reveal the temporal rhythms of our lives. Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis is a much-needed professional book for empirical researchers and graduate students in the behavioral, social, and biomedical sciences. It offers the first accessible in-depth presentation of two of today's most popular statistical methods: multilevel models for individual change and hazard/survival models for event occurrence (in both discrete- and continuous-time). Using clear, concise prose and real data sets from published studies, the authors take you step by step through complete analyses, from simple exploratory displays that reveal underlying patterns through sophisticated specifications of complex statistical models.Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis offers readers a private consultation session with internationally recognized experts and represents a unique contribution to the literature on quantitative empirical methods.Visit http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/examples/alda.htm for:DT Downloadable data setsDT Library of computer programs in SAS, SPSS, Stata, HLM, MLwiN, and moreDT Additional material for data analysis
Keywords: Mathematics / Probability & Statistics / General; Medical / Epidemiology; Psychology / Statistics

Designing a research project: randomised controlled trials and their principles - Kendall, J. M. (Emergency Medicine Journal, 2003)
The sixth paper in this series discusses the design and principles of randomised controlled trials.
Keywords: randomised controlled trials; research

The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievements and adjustment: a literature review - Desforges, Charles; Abouchaar, Alberto (DfES, 2003)

Core Keywording Strategy - EPPI Centre (2003)

Policies and Guidelines - National Commission for Science and Technology (2002)

Hierarchical linear models: applications and data analysis methods - Raudenbush, Stephen W.; Bryk, Anthony S. (Advanced quantitative techniques in the social sciences, 2002)
Keywords: Linear models (Statistics); Social sciences; Statistical methods

Rapid Assessment Process: An Introduction - Beebe, James (Rowman Altamira, 2001)
A newer edition of this book is available at the following address: https: //rowman.com/ISBN/9780759123212 Rapid Assessment Process (RAP) has gone under many names but invariably uses the techniques of fieldwork and ethnography in a telescoped manner to provide solid, field-based research findings for use by policymakers and program planners. It uses an emic perspective, a team of researchers, triangulation of research findings, and iterative process to produce high-quality research in a fraction of the time taken by traditional ethnography. Long used for third world projects, RAP is now being used to inform policy in many different settings. This volume is the first introduction to this group of methods, explaining to researchers and to students how to do RAP research well. The author, an international development professional who has been doing RAP studies for over two decades, clearly outlines the process, promise and pitfalls of RAP in this brief volume. Included are many examples of successful RAP studies and clear guidance to readers on how to embark on their own RAP research
Keywords: Social Science / Anthropology / General; Social Science / Methodology; Social Science / Research

Designing for Social Justice: A Decolonial Exploration of How to Develop EdTech for Refugees - Barnes, Katrina; Emerusenge, Aime Parfait; Rabi, Asma; Ullah, Noor; Mazari, Haani; Moustafa, Nariman; Thakrar, Jayshree; Zhao, Annette; Koomar, Saalim (Education Sciences, 2024)
This paper reflects on the lived experiences of young refugees located in Pakistan and Rwanda when interacting with education technology (EdTech) during and following displacement. We offer a broad decolonial commentary on issues related to the design and development of EdTech initiatives for refugees, noting some of the historical trends prevalent in the education and emergencies sector. We are guided by questions such as: Why EdTech to start with? Who designs the products? Where are they designed? How are they designed? And, which power dynamics are at play during the design process? From this, we draw on qualitative data generated through three focus groups, where we explore young refugees’ experiences of EdTech. The focus group included a creative element inviting participants to imagine what a liberatory EdTech practice would look like. We aim to illustrate the practical implications of design choices taken by EdTech developers and, from this, recommend a set of justice-centred design principles for developers of EdTech in refugee contexts. These insights relate specifically to the experiences of refugees in Rwanda and Pakistan, though we also discuss the implications of these learnings for other contexts.

Lebanon: Needs at a Glance – 2024 - UNHCR (2024)

Minoritised Languages, Education, and Technology: Current practices and future directions in low- and middle-income countries - Zhao, Annette; Mitchell, Joel; Gasanabandi, Gentille; Ullah, Noor; Barnes, Katrina; Koomar, Saalim (EdTech Hub, 2024)
This article explores the current status and future directions of mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MTB MLE) and the use of technology in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), focusing on the use of minoritised mother tongues. An initial literature review of available academic sources in multiple languages reveals a lack of evidence on the use of technology in MTB MLE across different countries, especially multilingual contexts with greater linguistic diversity. To understand the issue in greater detail and to offer recommendations informed by current practice, interviews and a collaborative workshop with four organisations with relevant educational technology (EdTech) initiatives were conducted. The analysis covers facilitating and limiting factors these organisations have encountered, and the potential positive impact on learners and society generally. We conclude by identifying practical, policy, and research priorities for multilingual education and educational technology in general.
Keywords: _r:AddedByZotZen

Learners and caregivers barriers and attitudes to SMS-based mobile learning in Kenya - Jordan, Katy; Damani, Kalifa; Myers, Christina; Mumbi, Albina; Khagame, Phoebe; Njuguna, Lydia (African Educational Research Journal, 2023)
The use of mobile phones has been identified as a potential way to bring the benefits of educational technology to a wider audience, including in low-connectivity settings. This is a topic that has received renewed interest recently as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures. While a number of recent studies have demonstrated good potential for mobile phones and SMS to be used to support learning, there are also questions about how equitable this medium is in practice. We conducted a telephone survey with learners (n = 122) and their caregivers (n = 124) who use M-Shule, an SMS-based educational platform in Kenya, in order to understand their attitudes towards mobile learning, and the benefits and constraints. In particular, we consider whether there are differences in responses according to gender and/or location, to shed light on whether use is equitable. We find that girls and boys face similar barriers to use, and the technology is perceived to be equally beneficial. We identify some areas for potential further support for all learners through mobile learning.

Deployment of Offline Learning Management Systems: Comparing the Performance of Selected Micro-servers in Tanzania - Maro, Salome; Kondoro, Aron; Haßler, Björn; Mtebe, Joel; Proctor, Jamie (Journal of Learning for Development, 2023)
Low-powered mobile devices such as Raspberry Pis and tablets can be used as micro-servers to implement offline Learning Management Systems (LMS). Despite their potential, especially for low-income countries, such as Tanzania, no research is available detailing the affordances of these devices for supporting LMS features. This study investigated the suitability of various low-cost micro-servers for deploying LMSs. It compared the performance of the Raspberry Pi, Android tablet, and Chromebook in terms of LMS benchmarking, response time, and resource utilisation. Results showed all devices had sufficient hardware resources to support the LMS, however, software stacks, I/O performance, and platform optimisations affected the micro-servers' performance. The Chromebook had the best performance in terms of response time, followed by the Raspberry Pi and tablets. In terms of cost, the Raspberry PI was the cheapest option.  The installation process for tablets was more cumbersome than the other devices, meaning the devices with better tooling and a more conventional software stack were a better option for deploying offline micro-servers.

Education in times of restriction: an examination of refugee girls’ and young women’s access to learning during COVID-19 school closures in Pakistan - Barnes, Katrina; Ashlee, Amy; Mukankusi, Aimee; Pacitto, Julia; Rabi, Asma; Thomas, Matt; Ullah, Noor; Zazai, Rozina; Zhao, Annette (Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 2023)
This paper examines the extent to which refugee girls and young women were able to access learning during COVID-19 education closures in Pakistan, and the role that EdTech played in their learning access. It is based on findings from a survey with 403 Afghan refugee students, along with in-depth interviews with six young female refugees. The research shows that, while the majority of female refugee students were able to continue accessing education in some form during school closures, learning access was nevertheless limited, and a sizable minority were not engaged in any learning during this time. Teacher and institutional support was either absent or inadequate for many students, and infrastructure and devices that serve to support remote learning were not always reliable or accessible. Although male respondents were less likely than females to engage in independent study during the closures, refugee girls and young women were significantly less likely than their male counterparts to own the devices they needed for learning. The findings demonstrate how targeted investment in specific types of EdTech and teacher professional development, as well as supporting educational institutions in the establishment of remote learning opportunities, could help sustain learning during future periods of educational restriction.
Keywords: COVID-19; Distance education; Educational technology; Gender; Pakistan; Refugee education

Towards Improving the Accessibility and Usability of a Mobile-based Learning Management System for Blind Primary School Teachers - Kondoro, Aron; Maro, Salome; Mtebe, Joel; Proctor, Jamie; Komba, Aneth; Haßler, Björn (2023 IST-Africa Conference (IST-Africa), 2023)

Developing dialogic classroom practices through supporting professional agency: Teachers’ experiences of using the T-SEDA practitioner-led inquiry approach - Calcagni, Elisa; Ahmed, Farah; Trigo-Clapés, Ana Laura; Kershner, Ruth; Hennessy, Sara (Teaching and Teacher Education, 2023)
Classroom dialogue is considered productive for learning but rarely observed, and practitioner professional development is needed. This study investigated how 67 teachers across educational phases in six countries contextualised the T-SEDA inquiry toolkit to conduct classroom inquiries and develop new practices. Surveys and inquiry reports yielded insights into how practitioner agency was further developed, with implications for sustainability. Change was evident in self-reported enhanced awareness and understanding of dialogue and use of dialogic strategies. Increases in students’ dialogic participation and plans for dissemination to colleagues were reported.
Keywords: Classroom dialogue; Dialogic teaching; Professional development; Professional learning; Reflective inquiry; Teacher agency

Where do teachers go, and where do they stay? - Lurvink, Anne-Fleur; Espinoza-Revollo, Patricia; Ali, Yusuf; Garrod, Oliver; Atherton, Paul; Mackintosh, Alasdair; Ramirez, Ana; Beoku-Betts, Iman; Haßler, Björn; Godwin, Katie; Godwin, Anne-Fleur Lurvink, Patricia Espinoza-Revollo, Yusuf Ali, Oliver Garrod, Paul Atherton, Alasdair Mackintosh, Ana Ramirez, Iman Beoku-Betts, Björn Haßler and Katie (EdTech Hub, 2023)
In Sierra Leone, a government payroll position is tied to the teacher, not the school, meaning teachers can change schools once they go on the payroll. This leads to certain schools being chronically understaffed. It also suggests that deploying teachers to rural and understaffed schools (or putting teachers already there on payroll) might not tackle high pupil-to-qualified-teacher ratios in the longer term. Investigating the school-to-school movement of payroll teachers can help us understand where teachers go after they go on the payroll and how long they stay in a given school. We also looked at overall movement nationally to identify areas of the country that are outliers in terms of high and low retention of teachers.

Pakistan Education Sector Working Group flood response performance monitoring dashboard (as of 28 February 2023) - Pakistan | ReliefWeb - Education Sector Working Group (2023)
Infographic in English on Pakistan about Contributions, Coordination, Flash Flood, Flood and more; published on 9 Mar 2023 by Education Cluster, Save the Children and 2count other organizations

KEY FIGURES: 5th Rwanda Population and Housing Census (PHC) - National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. (National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda., 2023)
The fifth Population and Housing Census in Rwanda, was conducted in August 2022. The Census operation was coordinated by the National Census Commission. Various census technical and administrative structures have been put in place to ensure a successful census operation.

The RISE Education Systems Diagnostic: A Tool for Identifying Strategic Priorities for Education System Reform - RISE (RISE Programme, 2023)

Nigerian schools: Flogged for speaking my mother tongue - Cecilia Macaulay (BBC News, 2023)
Nigeria wants local languages to replace English in primary education, but some say it's not practical.

Guidance note on using implementation research in education - Allison, C (Building Evidence in Education (BE2 ), 2023)

V-Dem Dataset v13 - Coppedge, M. et al. (Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project, 2023)

Results – Rapid Scans – The EdTech Hub - EdTech Hub (2023)

Education Sector Budget Proposal Report 2023/24 - Government of Kenya (Government of Kenya, 2023)

Report of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform: ​​Transforming education, training and research for sustainable development in Kenya - Government of Kenya (2023)

Fiscal Transfers: View Consolidated formulae - Government of Uganda (OTIMS, 2023)

How can messaging apps, WhatsApp and SMS be used to support learning? A scoping review - Jordan, Katy (Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 2023)
In response to disruption to education during the Covid-19 pandemic, mobile phone-based messaging has emerged in some instances as an accessible, low-connectivity way of promoting interactivity. However, no recent reviews have been undertaken in relation to how social media and messaging apps can be used to effectively support education in low- and middle-income countries. In this scoping review, 43 documents were identified for inclusion and three main thematic areas emerged: supporting student learning (including interacting with peers and other students, peer tutoring and collaborative learning; and interacting with teachers, through content delivery, teaching and assessment); teacher professional development (including structured support and prompts, and informal communities of practice); and supporting refugee education. The discussion and findings are both of practical use, to inform responses to the current pandemic and designing initiatives in the future, and will also be useful for advancing research in this expanding field.

Toward a holistic approach to EdTech effectiveness: Lessons from Covid-19 research in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, and Sierra Leone - Nicolai, Susan; Jordan, Katy; Adam, Taskeen; Kaye, Tom; Myers, Christina (International Journal of Educational Development, 2023)

Towards a Resilient Education Recovery from Pakistan's Floods: Rapid Response Research - Sarwar, Moizza Binat (Malala Fund & Pakistan Coalition for Education, 2023)

Nearly half a million children in Malawi unable to attend school due to Cyclone Freddy - Save the Children (2023)

What Is Data Governance and Why Does It Matter? - Stedman, Craig (Data Management, 2023)
Learn what data governance is, why it's important, its benefits, who's responsible for it, data governance best practices and more in this in-depth guide.

SDG 4 September 2023 - UNESCO (2023)

UNICEF Data Warehouse - UNICEF (2023)

Gateways to Public Digital Learning - United Nations (United Nations, 2023)

South Africa Public Expenditure and Institutional Review for Early Childhood Development - World Bank (2023)
South Africa Public Expenditure and Institutional Review for Early Childhood Development (ECD PEIR) (English)

The Sandbox Model: A Novel Approach to Iterating while Implementing an Emergency Education Program in Lebanon during the COVID-19 Pandemic - Boujikian, Michèle; Carter, Alice; Jordan, Katy (2022)
Jusoor’s Refugee Education Program helps Syrian refugee children living in Lebanon integrate back into formal schooling. When schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the refugee program adapted to distance learning by developing Azima, a novel program that used WhatsApp to enable children to keep learning. Azima had to respond immediately to the emergency context while maintaining high education standards, and it also needed to find an effective way to test and refine its content quickly. To do this, the Azima program adopted an innovative experimental approach called a sandbox. A sandbox model operates in rapid iterative cycles and uses multiple methods to quickly test a program’s assumptions about how it will meet its goals. In this field note, we use Azima as a case study to report on our experience of applying the sandbox model. We reflect on the benefits and limitations of this novel approach in supporting the use of education technology in a crisis situation.

Drought situation in the Kenya ASAL areas now at crisis level - Kenya | ReliefWeb - ASAL Humanitarian Network (2022)
News and Press Release in English on Kenya about Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Drought and more; published on 5 Oct 2022 by ASAL Humanitarian Network

Digital Divide or Digital Provide? Technology, Time Use, and Learning Loss during COVID-19 - Asadullah, M. Niaz; Bhattacharjee, Anindita (The Journal of Development Studies, 2022)
COVID-19 school closure has caused a worldwide shift towards technology-aided home schooling. Given widespread poverty in developing countries, this has raised concerns over new forms of learning inequalities. Using nationwide data on primary and secondary school children in slum and rural households in Bangladesh, we examine how learning time at home during the early months of school closure varies by access to technology at home. Data confirms a significant socio-economic and gender divide in access to TV, smartphone, computer, and internet among rural households. However, the analysis of daily time use data shows only a modest return to a technology in terms of boosting learning time at home. The learning-grade gradient is shallow and insensitive to TV, smartphone, and computer access at home. We also find no evidence that technology access per se helps learning by boosting time spent in online schooling and private supplementary coaching/tutoring. While technology access matters in households where parents act as home tutors, the magnitude of such a complementary effect are not large. The results imply a loss of out-of-school learning time during school closure even in households with technology access. We consider additional hypotheses relating to institutional and socio-economic barriers to home-based learning in developing countries.
Keywords: COVID-19; D10; I21; J22; Q50; home-based education; learning crisis; school closure

Education system management / EMIS / education data – EdTechTools - EdTech Hub (2022)

Combining school-catchment area models with geostatistical models for analysing school survey data from low-resource settings: Inferential benefits and limitations - Macharia, Peter M.; Ray, Nicolas; Gitonga, Caroline W.; Snow, Robert W.; Giorgi, Emanuele (Spatial Statistics, 2022)
School-based sampling has been used to inform targeted responses for malaria and neglected tropical diseases. Standard geostatistical methods for mapping disease prevalence use the school location to model spatial correlation, which is questionable since exposure to the disease is more likely to occur in the residential location. In this paper, we propose to overcome the limitations of standard geostatistical methods by introducing a modelling framework that accounts for the uncertainty in the location of the residence of the students. By using cost distance and cost allocation models to define spatial accessibility and in absence of any information on the travel mode of students to school, we consider three school catchment area models that assume walking only, walking and bicycling and, walking and motorized transport. We illustrate the use of this approach using two case studies of malaria in Kenya and compare it with the standard approach that uses the school locations to build geostatistical models. We argue that the proposed modelling framework presents several inferential benefits, such as the ability to combine data from multiple surveys some of which may also record the residence location, and to deal with ecological bias when estimating the effects of malaria risk factors. However, our results show that invalid assumptions on the modes of travel to school can worsen the predictive performance of geostatistical models. Future research in this area should focus on collecting information on the modes of transportation to school which can then be used to better parametrize the catchment area models.
Keywords: Catchment area models; Disease mapping; Missing locations; Model-based geostatistics; Prevalence; School survey

What is Capitation Grant for Basic Schools in Ghana? - Marfo, Nathlaine Matilda (Coverghana.com.gh, 2022)
Capitation grant for basic schools is the amount of money or funds allocated for public basic schools in Ghana operating under the Ghana Education Service to... What is Capitation Grant for Basic Schools in Ghana?

Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing 2022 | 1GB Cost in 233 Countries - Cable (Cable.co.uk, 2022)
A global league table of mobile data costs. The average cost of one gigabyte (1GB) was then calculated and compared from over 5,000 mobile data plans in 233 countries.

Inflation and price indices - Office for National Statistics - Office for National Statistics (2022)

UIS Data - UNESCO (2022)

World Development Indicators | DataBank - World Bank (2022)

$3 Million ADB Grant to Support Pakistan’s Flood Response - Asian Development Bank (Asian Development Bank, 2022)
ADB approved a $3 million grant to support the Government of Pakistan’s emergency relief efforts amid widespread floods across the country.

Improving teaching and learning mathematics in Malawi primary schools: a review of reforms, interventions, successes and challenges - Kazima, Mercy; Longwe; Gobede, Fraser (Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 2022)

Elimu | Offline Intranet Resource Centre In Garissa - Elimu Resource Centre (2022)

Alarm over teen pregnancies as Kenya ranked third worldwide | Nation - Maichuhie, Kamau (2022)

Radical inclusion means teaching children in a language they understand - Bah, Chernor (Brookings, 2022)
Chenor Bah examines how Sierra Leone is trying to incorporate radical inclusion within the national education system by ensuring children are taught their mother-tongue for the first three to five years of schooling.

Teachers need training and support, not just an internet connection, to deliver quality distance education - Conover, Anna C (Teacher Task Force, 2022)
This blog is based on the findings of Distance learning and teacher training strategies. Lessons from the Caribbean, a recently published report by the Teacher Task Force. It was written by Anna C. Conover, Consultant Distance teaching and learning have expanded rapidly around the world since COVID-19 school closures first began in 2020. The transition exposed a wide digital divide in many countries, where lack of access to devices, online content and internet connectivity hindered universal access. Equally crucial, the shift shone a light on the need for more and better teacher training in digital and relevant pedagogical skills. However, in spite of this urgent need, ministries of education in many countries are only now integrating ICT competencies and standards into teacher policy frameworks. Moreover, traditional teacher training programmes do not necessarily adequately cover digital and related pedagogical skills in initial teacher training and continuing professional education. Teacher training can help improve learners’ and teachers’ experience of distance learning In response to the demand for training in distance learning and technology integration in small island developing states (SIDS) in the Caribbean, the Distance Learning and Teacher Training Strategies in the Caribbean SIDS teacher training programme was created to enhance the capacity of national education systems. The Teacher Task Force, UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition, Blackboard, the Caribbean Centre for Educational Planning (CCEP), UNICEF Jamaica, and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development collaborated to develop, implement and monitor the programme. Building on the 2020 pilot project, Professional Development for Teachers for Blended Learning and Online Strategies, the programme was designed to strengthen teachers’ digital and related pedagogical skills. It took a holistic and context-sensitive approach to strengthening teachers’ capacity to guarantee that the most vulnerable students were not left behind during the crisis. The project aimed to confront challenges such as: how to maintain engagement and interaction for learning; how to convert content into appropriate online learning formats; how to handle school management issues, such as the need to respect normal school hours; and how to work with students with diverse needs. Providing support in these areas also helped to address teachers’ psychosocial well-being, since the abrupt transition to online teaching led to significant disruption of teachers’ professional and personal lives, causing uncertainty and other emotional challenges. Careful course design, adaptable materials and supportive communities of practice are essential for successful distance learning A key lesson from the programme was the importance of high standards for course design, content, and capacity for collaboration and delivery. Online platforms or learning management systems must be intuitive and user-friendly; courses must include different forms of interaction and student-teacher feedback loops; and time and space must be allotted for collaboration, reflection and experimentation. Since parental involvement is important for successful distance learning, course design should also include guidance for parents and reliable channels for them to communicate with teachers. Preparing and adapting materials for online learning is one of the most challenging and time-consuming tasks for teachers in transitioning to distance learning. So, teacher training should include guidance on tools to facilitate this work, such as “live worksheets”, which are interactive and support assessment at a distance. And programmes should use open-source materials where possible, or explicitly state copyright conditions when needed, to increase scalability and enable teachers to re-use materials. Teachers who participated in the teacher training programme particularly appreciated being part of a community of practice, enabling them to make new connections with distance education experts and other teachers in similar situations across their country and region. This feeling of belonging to a supportive network, as well as their newly acquired skills, boosted their personal and professional confidence in applying digital technologies and the required skills in their classrooms. Teacher training for distance education should prepare teachers to create inclusive online learning environments Ensuring inclusive education should be a priority in distance learning. Even though this form of schooling can limit teachers’ interactions with students (e.g., by reducing opportunities for spontaneous communication and gestural cues), it can also provide opportunities to promote inclusion. Designing courses with accessibility in mind is essential to create inclusive learning environments. For instance, to accommodate the needs of learners with disabilities, participants should be given a range of ways to access materials and participate in courses. This may include offering asynchronous* and synchronous** options for discussion, multimodal (visual, aural, textual, etc.) delivery of content, and downloadable as well as livestreamed content. In multilingual contexts, adapting to teachers’ language needs is also essential. In the SIDS programme, course content was often only available in French or English. However, to allow participants to conduct discussions in the language with which they were most comfortable, course facilitators allowed participants to form online breakout groups using other languages. Flexibility is a key feature in planning for teacher training Training teachers for distance education must be flexible, since teachers have competing and sometimes unforeseen demands on their time. Course content, pacing and assignments should be adjusted throughout the course according to participants’ changing needs. This is particularly important during emergency situations. For accreditation transparency and to maintain teacher motivation, courses can adapt to teachers’ time constraints by offering different levels of certification and micro-credentials for specific ICT skills. Careful planning that considers school calendars and teachers’ accessibility needs, as well as good communication campaigns, are essential to ensure successful enrolment and sustained attendance in teacher training. Registration should be easy and obstacle-free, and directly available online. In general, teacher training should not be scheduled at the beginning or at the end of the school year when teachers are busiest, or during long summer vacations when many teachers are not available. Partnerships are important for developing teacher training programmes for distance education Partnerships are particularly important in delivering distance education, since it requires considerable expertise and resources, including costly devices, uninterrupted connectivity, education software, open educational resources, and pedagogical and organizational expertise. Given that connectivity and device availability are often a barrier in online education, governments and stakeholders should develop partnerships with technology companies and internet providers to identify solutions, while ensuring that data security and participant privacy are respected. Educational technologies have proven to be useful to ensure continuity of education in emergency situations. Increasingly true to all societies, they are also among the basic tools needed to fully participate in our contemporary world. However, investing in these technologies will not achieve the desired results unless we also invest in teachers’ digital and related pedagogical skills. Initial and in-service teacher education must therefore be re-imagined including these skills and technologies. With their first-hand experience of the challenges and opportunities of remote teaching, teachers must be involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of distance learning and technology integration. In such a way, they must effectively be placed at the heart of wider education transformation. Glossary  *Asynchronous online learning:  Education and learning that occur online at a different time compared to when the teacher is instructing. **Synchronous online learning: Education and learning that occur online at the same time, but not in the same place with teachers and/or other learners. Photo credit: Abir Roy Barman/Shutterstock.com

Parenting in the digital age: Attitudes, controls and limitations regarding children's use of ICT - Gür, Duygu; Türel, Yalın Kılıç (Computers & Education, 2022)
Today, with the development of technology, many possibilities are offered to users; however, these possibilities bring along some risks and threats. It is very important to ensure that users, especially teenagers, can benefit from the possibilities of technology at the highest level by minimizing the existing risks. At this point, the roles, attitudes and behaviors of parents have an important effect. The purpose of this study is to reveal the attitudes, behaviors, controls and limitations of middle school students' parents towards their children's use of information technologies. For this purpose, data were collected from parents through survey and interviews. The participants of the study consisted of 354 parents of 6th and 7th grade students from seven public schools and four private schools. The parents filled out a questionnaire. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 volunteer parents. According to the results, parents ‘attitudes towards their children's ICT use were positive and they especially supported their use of ICT for educational purposes. However, it was revealed that parents were concerned about the possible risks and security threats that their children may encounter in virtual environments, and therefore they take precaution in order to prevent their children from possible risks by informing, controlling and limiting their children. Based on the results, while children benefit from digital opportunities, they need to prevent themselves from digital risks as well through precautions and interventions with the support of school-parent cooperation.
Keywords: Digital parenting; Information and communication technologies (ICT); Limitations; Online risks; Parental control

Schools Are Looking for Evidence From Their Edtech. Are Companies Ready to Provide It? - EdSurge News - Tate, Emily (EdSurge, 2022)
Schools are awash in technology in a way never before seen, thanks to the mad dash toward digital that was prompted by the pandemic a little more than ...

Using virtual reality to help teachers better support refugee students - Chinen, Marjorie; Oviedo, Ana María (2022)
Virtual reality (VR) offers teachers and school administrators opportunities to foster empathy and cohesion with refugee students, as is already happening through a World Bank-supported project in Türkiye.

COVID-19 – a boundary crossing event for teacher educators.pdf - Donitsa-Schmidt, Smadar; Ramot, Rony (Journal of Education for Teaching, 2022)

Implementation of Kobo Collect in drought-affected Provinces - UNFPA Angola (2022)
Implementation of Kobo Collect in drought-affected Provinces

Effective Assessment and Progress Monitoring in an Online Environment: A Study in Six Countries - T4 Education; EdTech Hub (EdTech Hub, 2022)
The study was undertaken in six countries – Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, and South Africa. The data collection involved focus group discussions with two held in each country..

Edtech Should Be More Evidence-Driven - EdSurge News - Segura, Fabio; Sommer, Simon (EdSurge, 2022)
The $300 billion global edtech industry is full of promise – but its non-empirical approach has prevented true success

Teachers’ virtual communities of practice: A strong response in times of crisis or just another Fad? - Ghamrawi, Norma (Education and Information Technologies, 2022)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived effectiveness of a virtual community of practice (vCoP) designed to support knowledge and expertise sharing between K-12 teachers during Covid-19 pandemic. Besides, it aimed at exploring the potential of such vCoPs in delivering effective professional development, in general, and during crisis in particular. The vCoP was developed by the researcher herself as part of a consultancy to the UNESCO. The sample included 696 participants who were members of the vCoP. The research methodology adopted was mixed methods. Quantitative data was collected through surveying; and qualitative data was collected through 8 focus group interviews each involving 6 participants. Statistical analysis was used to analyze survey data, while interviews data was analyzed using theme-based analysis. Findings showed that participants viewed vCoPs as effective tools for e-professional development in general and during crisis in particular. Facilitators and blockers confronting vCoP nourishment are presented and discussed. Discussions and conclusions are offered at the end of the study.
Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic; Crisis education; Professional development; Remote education; Social networking; Virtual communities of practice

EdTech and Girls Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Which Intervention Types Have the Greatest Impact on Learning Outcomes for Girls? - Jordan, Katy; Myers, Christina (Association for Computing Machinery, 2022)
Gender-based inequality in access to education is an issue of global concern. The use of educational technology is often cited as a potential way to help close educational gaps and promote girls' education. However, the existing evidence base in relation to girls' learning outcomes when using educational technology in low-income countries is limited. The evidence base was recently boosted by a study in which findings from classic educational development studies were revisited and disaggregated by gender. In this paper, we present a secondary analysis of this dataset, focusing specifically on the educational technology-focused interventions, and sourcing additional data. The analysis comprises 35 interventions, reported across 15 publications, published between 2003 and 2019. We discuss the relative efficacy of different types of educational technology interventions by comparing effect sizes of learning outcomes for girls. The findings suggest that interventions which focus on distributing hardware alone have mixed - and sometimes negative - effects on learning outcomes for girls. The impact of software-focused interventions is more positive, particularly personalised learning applications. Furthermore, we consider characteristics of the studies included in the analysis, and identify gaps in the literature which will help shape research in this field in the future.
Keywords: educational technology; equity; gender; girls education; international development; low- and middle-income countries

Is the Movies and Mobiles intervention a smart investment? - Orozco-Olvera, Victor; Rascón-Ramírez, Ericka G. (2022)

Decolonisation of curriculum: the case of language education policy in Nepal - Poudel, Prem Prasad; Jackson, Liz; Choi, Tae-Hee (London Review of Education, 2022)
While decolonisation is usually discussed in relation to countries that were formally colonised, countries that have not been formally colonised have also faced challenges related to colonialism. In this case, it is worth considering whether decolonial theory has more widespread applicability to respond to global challenges faced in the postcolonial era. This article documents the historical trajectories of colonisation and decolonisation of the school curriculum in Nepal. Although Nepal was never formally colonised, the introduction of modern schooling in Nepal was informed by the British colonisation of India, where local languages were replaced by English in the curriculum, diminishing the value of local languages and knowledges. Against this backdrop, the Nepal government issued a series of policies supporting Nepali supremacy, but the expansion of English was not significantly challenged. Rather, the policies resulted in a double colonisation of ethnic/Indigenous languages: external colonisation by English, and internal colonisation by the Nepali language. However, significant decolonisation efforts have recently made space for minoritised languages in the curriculum. This article illustrates these colonisation and decolonisation waves, shaped by the government, local communities and other actors. Drawing on Nepal’s legislative and educational policies, the article relates language policy decisions and actions as decolonial efforts to support ethnic/Indigenous languages and explores the implications for understanding tensions around decolonisation of curriculum.

The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update - Azevedo, Joao Pedro; Rogers, Halsey; Ahlgren, Ellinore; Akmal, Maryam; Cloutier, Marie-Helene; Ding, Elaine; Raza, Ahmed; Ning Wong, Yi; Montoya, Silvia; Chakroun, Borhene; Chang, Gwang-Chol; Guerriero, Sonia; et al. (The World Bank, 2022)

EdTech and Girls Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Which Intervention Types Have the Greatest Impact on Learning Outcomes for Girls? - Jordan, Katy; Myers, Christina (2022)
Gender-based inequality in access to education is an issue of global concern. The use of educational technology is often cited as a potential way to help close educational gaps and promote girls’ education. However, the existing evidence base in relation to girls’ learning outcomes when using educational technology in low-income countries is limited. The evidence base was recently boosted by a study in which findings from classic educational development studies were revisited and disaggregated by gender [7]. In this paper, we present a secondary analysis of this dataset, focusing specifically on the educational technology-focused interventions, and sourcing additional data. The analysis comprises 35 interventions, reported across 15 publications, published between 2003 and 2019.We discuss the relative efficacy of different types of educational technology interventions by comparing effect sizes of learning outcomes for girls. The findings suggest that interventions which focus on distributing hardware alone have mixed - and sometimes negative - effects on learning outcomes for girls. The impact of software-focused interventions is more positive, particularly personalised learning applications. Furthermore, we consider characteristics of the studies included in the analysis, and identify gaps in the literature which will help shape research in this field in the future.

Lessons from Kenya’s Education Reforms - World Bank (2022)

Teachers’ experiences of ICT training in Nepal: how teachers in rural primary schools learn and make progress in their ability to use ICT in classrooms - Rana, Karna; Greenwood, Janinka; Henderson, Robyn (Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 2022)
This article reports on teachers’ experiences of ICT training in rural areas of Nepal. It discusses aspects of policy documents to help understand the Nepali educational context, before highlighting the challenges of establishing and maintaining infrastructure and professional learning opportunities across a country with challenging terrain and extreme environmental conditions. It then examines teachers’ perceptions in five rural primary schools about their experiences of training to use modern educational technologies in instructional activities. The findings indicate that none of the teachers received training in the use of ICT in their initial teacher education and that the Government has allowed non-governmental organisations to provide ICT infrastructure and training for rural schools and teachers. Although this is a small study, it offers insights into the gap between policy and practice and highlights the contextual challenges of Nepal’s attempts to operate on a global educational level as well as the challenges for teachers.
Keywords: ICT training; Nepal education; TPACK; rural education; teacher professional development

The impacts of remote learning in secondary education during the pandemic in Brazil - Lichand, Guilherme; Doria, Carlos Alberto; Leal-Neto, Onicio; Fernandes, João Paulo Cossi (Nature Human Behaviour, 2022)
The transition to remote learning in the context of COVID-19 might have led to dramatic setbacks in education. Taking advantage of the fact that São Paulo State featured in-person classes for most of the ﬁrst school quarter of 2020, but not thereafter, we estimate the eﬀects of remote learning in secondary education using a diﬀerences-in-diﬀerences strategy that contrasts variation in students’ outcomes across diﬀerent school quarters, before and during the pandemic. We also estimate intention-to-treat (ITT) eﬀects of reopening schools in the pandemic through a triplediﬀerences strategy, contrasting changes in educational outcomes across municipalities and grades that resumed in-person classes or not over 2020’s last school quarter. We ﬁnd that, under remote learning, dropout risk increased by 365% and test scores decreased by 0.32 s.d., as if students had only learned 27.5% of the in-person equivalent. Partially resuming in-person classes increased test scores by 20% relative to the control group.

“How Dare They Peep into My Private Life?” - Han, Hye Jung (Human Rights Watch, 2022)
The 99-page report, “’How Dare They Peep into My Private Life?’: Children’s Rights Violations by Governments that Endorsed Online Learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic,” is grounded in technical and policy analysis conducted by Human Rights Watch on 165 education technology (EdTech) products endorsed by 49 countries. It includes an examination of 294 companies found to have collected, processed, or received children’s data since March 2021, and calls on governments to adopt modern child data protection laws to protect children online.
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found