This week at World Bank EduTech
week of February 28, 2022
As schools reopen after long closures in some cases due to the COVID pandemic, there is growing realization that students in education systems around the world are facing high learning losses. The World Bank Education Global Practice advocates a 3-lever program to address learning losses:
- consolidate the curriculum
- increase efficiency of learning
- expand instructional time
All this should be preceded by diagnosis and measurement of the learning loss. In this weekly recap, we review how EdTech can be used to address learning losses. This recap is inspired by and draws from the World Bank Education Global Practice’s paper Accelerating Learning Recovery.
Assessment, Measurement, and Diagnostics
Technology can be used to deliver assessment and/or to collect and analyze assessment results. Where students and schools have internet access, a number of formative assessment or quiz tools can be deployed to deliver formative assessments. During the pandemic, we also saw the deployment of mobile phones in innovative ways, such as in Botswana which showed cost-effective dissemination of math problems of the week or Brazil where behavioral messages to parents demonstrated promising impacts on attendance and test scores. For measurement and assessment, an interesting example is from Pakistan: TEXT offers a low-cost, mobile-phone-based learning and accountability system for teachers, parents and management. In this example, users communicate via SMS and the system also runs data analytics to provide customized support and information.
On our World Bank EduTech Podcast, we speak about adapting assessments to the remote education settings:
Teacher Training at Scale
Teachers need to be adequately and regularly supported so that they, in turn, can support their students and accelerate learning. Teachers can be trained, mentored and supported using technology for virtual or blended TPD. This can range from low-tech mobile phone supported blended learning such as OneSky for All Children, that offers training to home-based caregivers in Vietnam, China and Mongolia to virtual platforms such as remote TPD with NGO “Tu Clase, Tu Pais”, applied in seven Latin American countries. Or a multi-modal blended approach such as Global School Leaders, which combines in-person, online learning modules, WhatsApp, and phone calls to deliver training to all principals and school leaders. In addition, training teachers on how to use technology to enhance educational delivery or for tasks like remote learning, assessments, report cards and in communication with parents and students or one another is essential. Plan Ceibal in Uruguay has helped teachers build digital skills and in Turkey, Kenya and South Africa, platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook have been used to facilitate teacher peer support.
On our World Bank blog, we talk about how to enhance teacher professional development through technology and takeaways from innovations across the globe.
Structured Pedagogy Using Technology
The other support for teachers is structured pedagogy or scripted lessons. Structured pedagogy has proven to be one of the most effective interventions to improve student learning in early grades in low and lower-middle income countries at scale. When structured lesson plans are delivered through simple devices such as smartphones or tablets, as in the case of the EdoBEST program in Nigeria, the technology adds value in significant ways. For instance, teacher time on task can be tracked; teachers can get instant feedback; teachers can take attendance and assessment data and have the device do the analysis and recommendations on student support; and lesson plans can be adjusted in near real time and delivered back to the teacher cheaply and effectively.
- Learn more about Structured pedagogy: UNICEF Structured Pedagogy: For Real-Time Equitable Improvements in Learning Outcomes
- Rethinking pedagogy: exploring the potential of digital technology in achieving quality education
- Check out this useful resource from the EdTech Hub: Structured Pedagogy and EdTech
Remediation and Acceleration Using Technology
Remediation and accelerated learning can be delivered through tutoring and adaptive learning programs. There are many tutoring apps around the world that match students and tutors e.g. 5 EdTech Indian apps proving to be online tutors in 2020 reaching +300 million students. Near peer learning (NPL) — a teaching model in which a more experienced student acts as the instructor and passes on their knowledge to the students — is an approach we consider underexploited and there is mounting evidence that we should deeply explore and promote it. Mobile phones can be used for remote tutoring in low connectivity settings such as in Botswana where problem of the week and phone calls were used to limit learning losses and in Bangladesh where tele-mentoring achieved improvements in English and Mathematics.
Self-directed computer assisted platforms with adaptive learning show promise such as in Uruguay and in Ecuador. A tablet intervention in Malawi also showed positive improvements in learning and a pilot using gamification content on tablets in South Sudan for out of school children showed increases in literacy.
- World Bank Blog Post: 5 Enabling Conditions for Establishing an Adaptive Learning System
- Blog: about the six pillars of EdTech Readiness for deploying digital learning solutions
On our World Bank EduTech Podcast, we speak about mitigating learning losses and accelerating learning through adaptive learning with lessons form Ecuador and the Dominican Republic:
Monitoring Learning
For LMICs, the power of technology could lie in capturing the [paper] results of assessments in a simple digital tool, analyzing the data and providing feedback to teachers [to support teaching at the right level (TaRL) or targeted student interventions], administrators and leaders. A very interesting example is the Gujarat Command and Control Centers.
Events
- Blockchain for Education Workshop: A 2021 Retrospective + 2022 Roadmap: On March 2, the World Bank EdTech team co-hosted jointly with the Learning Economy Foundation the event “Blockchain for Education Workshop: A 2021 Retrospective + 2022 Roadmap”. The event featured panel discussions on lessons learned from the six webinars from 2021 and emerging trends for 2022 for the use of blockchain technology to facilitate transparent and open exchange of value across education systems. Learn more about the World Bank Blockchain for Education Community of Practice here.
