Six best digital learning practices rewarded by the UNESCO Prize for ICT in Education

 

UNESCO

4 July 2022

An exceptional Award Ceremony was organized at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 24 June to celebrate the six laureates of the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICT in Education. After a two-year postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event gathered the laureates of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions to feature the use of technology to enhance teaching, learning and overall education performance.

The long-awaited Award Ceremony took place in UNESCO’s conference hall, Room I, in the presence of H.E. Mr Majed Bin Ali Al-Noaimi, the Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Ms Stefania Giannini, the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, and members of the International Jury of the Prize. The Ceremony attracted hundreds of enthusiastic participants from UNESCO Member States, academic institutions, technology companies, students, researchers, etc. During the Ceremony, diplomas signed by the UNESCO Director-General and prestigious medals issued by the Kingdom of Bahrain were presented to the six laureates, recognizing innovative and impactful projects from across the world (Brazil, Spain, the People’s Republic of China, Finland, India and the United Republic of Tanzania). 

In his speech, H.E. Mr Majed Bin Ali Al-Noaimi lauded the Prize as one of the longest partnerships between the Kingdom of Bahrain and UNESCO. As highlighted by the Minister, “the laureate projects have showcased the technology-enabled initiatives aimed at expanding educational services across various circumstances that the world is witnessing.”

Ms Stefania Giannini underlined the significance of the Prize by stating that “when it was created in 2005 to showcase best practices in the use of technologies, this Prize was a trailblazer. Now, with the acceleration of the digital revolution, it’s a global reference that continues to evolve with our fast-changing times.” Reflecting on its valuable role in global advocacy, she reaffirmed that “we need to share and scale up tested solutions to leave no one behind and transform education systems, and today’s laureates offer a rich and inspiring array of ways forward.”

A Seminar was also organized on the same day to present the six laureates and one finalist project. In light of the Transforming Education Summit and its Action Track 4 on “Digital Learning and Transformation”, the event also contributed to the wider discussion of steering the use of digital technologies to reinforce open digital learning.

Best practices of using digital technology to achieve the common good of education

Since its establishment in 2005, the Prize calls for nominations under an annual theme designed to steer the use of technological innovations to address the fundamental challenges countries are facing in achieving the vision of SDG 4 – Education 2030.

The theme for 2019 was The use of Artificial Intelligence to innovate education, learning, and teaching, and two laureates were announced in 2020:

• “Letrus Writing Skills Program”, Letrus, Brazil: Letrus assists in improving the writing skills in Portuguese of primary and high school students through an adaptive online learning platform. Since 2014, the tool has been used in 957 schools by 1,327 teachers and 116,677 students, which has contributed to an average improvement of 10% after writing five essays on the platform.
• “Dytective”, Change Dyslexia, Spain: “Dytective” is an AI-empowered screening tool for the early detection of dyslexia in Spanish and a game-based learning environment for practising essential skills to support learners with dyslexia. Since 2016, with the help of the free screening tool, over 250,000 people in 42 countries were able to detect dyslexia for the first time.

The theme for 2020 was The use of Artificial Intelligence to enhance the continuity and quality of learning. Two laureates were selected in 2021:

• “One College Student Per Village” project, Open University of China, People’s Republic of China: Since 2017, with the help of the AI-powered solutions, the programme created quality online and offline learning environments for students residing in rural China. As of 2020, 538 online and offline learning environments have been created in 31 provinces with 825,827 learners enrolled in the scheme.
• “ViLLE”, Centre for Learning Analytics, University of Turku, Finland: The AI-enhanced platform supports teachers and individual learning paths of learners. As of 2020, 48% of Finish schools use the platform with approximately 300,000 students and more than 14,000 registered teachers who have created collaboratively more than 4,000 courses and 130,000 exercises via the “From Teachers to Teachers” initiative.

To draw lessons from the education response to the COVID-19 crisis, theme for 2021 was The use of technology to enable inclusive crisis-resilient learning systems. And the two laureates were selected in 2022:

• “Initiatives for Inclusive and Accessible Education”, Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), National Council for Educational Research and Training, India: The Initiatives provide multimodal access via TV channels, radios and several web portals and applications, reaching over 1.5 million schools, 240 million students and 8.5 million teachers. The learning content, which is also available for learners with special needs, includes 360 digitalized textbooks that are available in 11 local languages.
• “Digital Educational Programme”, Ubongo International, the United Republic of Tanzania: The programme leverages the power of entertainment, technologies, research and kid-centred design to bring effective and localized learning to school-age children and their parents. Since 2014, Ubongo’s TV and radio programmes have reached 27 million families through multiple platforms, boasting an 84% TV saturation rate and 50% radio saturation rate in Tanzania.

UNESCO Prize for ICT in Education: Steer the use of ICT as a common good for education

Since 2005, the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the ICT in Education, supported by the Kingdom of Bahrain, rewarded 26 innovative projects from a diverse range of institutions and organizations. Two projects are selected from hundreds of entries each year, which have gone through a rigorous selection process and have been nominated by National Commissions to UNESCO or NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO. An external review of the Prize conducted in 2020 validated that the Prize presents special value-added in promoting universal access to information and knowledge, expanding learning opportunities through technologies, and promoting equitable and quality education for all.

Consultants hired to write core reference books in Dhivehi language

 

Consultants hired to write core reference books in Dhivehi language

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 2022-10-02

The Ministry of Education has hired 2 additional Consultants under the Maldives LAMP to write core reference books in Dhivehi language. The Consultants hired for the work are Dr. Mohamed Umar and Dr. Mariyam Shareefa. 4 Consultants were hired for this work in September as well.

The reference books are to be provided to all universities and colleges conducting teacher education courses in Dhivehi medium. This is a work undertaken by the Ministry of Higher Education under the Maldives LAMP, to strengthen pre-service teacher education in the Maldives.

The Maldives Learning Advancement and Measurement Project (Maldives LAMP) is a Project established in the Ministry of Education (MoE) under the Grant Aide of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Ministry of Higher Education is also an implementing agency of the Project.

classrooms in Fohdhoo School

 

Nexta Maldives Pvt Ltd contracted for the building of 4 classrooms in Fohdhoo School

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 2022-08-03

Ministry of Education has contracted Nexta Maldives Private Limited for the building of 4 classrooms in Noonu Atoll Fohdhoo School.

Senior Policy Director Naushad Ibrahim signed the agreement on behalf of the Ministry of Education while Managing Director of Nexta Maldives Private Limited Mr. Ahmed Muzhin signed the agreement on the behalf of the company.

The total cost of this project is MVR 4,753,918.54and is expected to be completed within 110  days.

ICT transformed global education in 21st century

 21st Century is the era, where we are in now, is a time of freedom and technological advancement. 21st century people are the first ones to experience a whole new digital world. The changing digitalized knowledge-based economy anticipates a shift and transition from teacher-centred instruction to learner-centred mode of instruction. This is desirable to acquire the new 21st century knowledge, skills and attitudes such as communication, critical thinking and problem solving, leadership, teamwork, learning to learn skills etc. So, the role of the teacher will change from knowledge transmitter to that of learning facilitator, collaborator, guide, couch and mentor. Students in the learning process will have greater responsibility for their own learning in this environment as they search for, discover, create and collaborate and communicate the knowledge with others for solving problems. To inculcate required knowledge and skills in students effectively, in all over the world, teachers and educational systems are using ICT integrated teaching and learning process. 21st century learners are more infective and get information from various ICT resources. However, the students should utilize and develop higher order cognitive skills. These are vital to find solutions for complex real-world problems. In this regard, ICT is an effective tool for this emerging learning paradigm, making the learner in active role of self-directed learning, providing flexibility and interactivity in the teaching and learning process. (Murugesan, 2021)

Impacts in Maldives education system.

 The Maldives’ Ministry of Education described the digitalization of Maldivian schools as on the emerging-applying phase on the Morel’s Matrix for ICT integration in schools which has four phases (1) emerging, (2) applying, (3) integrating, and (4) transforming. On the Morel’s Matrix, emerging/applying means the ICT provision is teacher-centred, and driven by a few interested individuals. For provision to be transformative, it will have to be learner-centred and promote collaborative experiential learning, critical thinking, creativity and innovation. In transformation of ICT, entire learning community of teachers, students, parents and support staff will be involved and lessons will cater to different learning styles, interests and goals of achievement for children. With this vision of transforming learning through ICT, Ministry of Education’s digital school project aims to make the schools more technology-friendly and meet the rising standards of the modernising world, by ensuring collaboration between schools, businesses, industries, internet service providers, teacher training colleges, families and communities to achieve this objective. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

Demographics

 

According to the latest educational statistics, Maldivian school system currently has approximately 89,000 children (25 percent of the Maldivian national population), in 348 schools, taught by 10,424 teachers of whom, 7458 are women. 22 percent of teachers are expatriates, and 13 percent are untrained, temporary teachers. Majority of Maldivian parents use smart mobile phones, the internet and instant messaging apps to access information and advice provided by their children’s schools about their children, at times with the assistance of their children to access these services. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

 

Availability of ICT equipment in schools

 

In the Maldives, parent teacher associations and private citizens donate ICT equipment to schools, while the Ministry of Education covers the costs of internet connectivity. Each school is required to have a computer lab, and all students are given tablets as part of the model of provision. Children are allowed to take these tablets home. However, there is a severe lack of ICT resources in Maldivian schools, particularly for instructional reasons, such as modeling for the entire class and allowing kids to conduct investigations utilizing a variety of ICT resources.(Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

Access to digital equipment

 

According to the Ministry of Education survey of February 2018; 156 (90.7 percent) of the responding schools stated they provide access to computers to their teachers. This meant that 5,932 teachers accessed a total of 1,018 computers provided by the schools. 160 (93.0 percent) of the schools stated they provide internet access to their teachers and 133 (71.5 percent) of the schools stated they provide computer access to students. However, this limited access is problematic because of damage to equipment and the necessity to upgrade them on a regular basis. A few schools stated that the technical support services were outsourced.  Additional to minor repair and maintenance services, prevention of breaches to internet safety, will require a full time trained staff member to be available at each school who can respond appropriately and provide support to the teachers.(Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

Internet connectivity

 

The Maldives has two fibre-optic submarine cable networks of over 1200kms each, running across the length of the country, which support provision of fixed broadband and mobile broadband services. 3G to 4G mobile internet connections are available in all of the inhabited islands. The two major networks are owned by the two international telecommunication providers operating in the Maldives, Dhiraagu and Ooredoo. Focus Infocom Private Limited is a local service provider who offers the highest internet speeds in the Maldives, but currently provides their services mostly for commercial use. Most of the islands in the Maldives have an optical fibre internet connection. The speeds served to schools range from 4-5Mbps to 25Mbps in island schools, with up to 30Mbps in Male’ schools. Internet providers currently have the capacity to provide up to 100Mbps in the islands and 1Gbps in Male’. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

 

Curriculum adaptation

 

Information  and  Communication  Technology  was  introduced  to  Maldivian secondary school students as early as 1986, when the first computers were brought to the country by Ministry of Planning and Development. Soon after, the larger secondary schools in Male’ had computer laboratories. By 2004, computer science was included in the national curriculum and every child was mandated to be computer literate before leaving secondary school. The current National curriculum framework introduced in January 2015 and the Inclusive Education Policy implemented in January 2013 strongly emphasizes the use of information technology in teaching and learning.

According to the national curriculum, usage of technology and media enhances the ability to use a variety of technologies as a tool for learning, communication, and entertainment. Thus, the school management are accountable to include ICT in teaching and learning starting from early childhood stage. Ministry of Education to promote coding as an extracurricular activity for girls.

(Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

Teacher Training

 

A majority of international funding received following the Tsunami of 2004 was utilised to streamline and optimize teaching, learning and school management using information technology.  A major achievement of the funding was the establishment of 20 teacher resource centres (TRCs) in 20 atolls, with desktop computers, smart white boards, and internet access for virtual learning by teachers. Staff who led continuous professional development of teachers were trained on how to do online teaching using Moodle. The Ministry of Education, in  collaboration  with  UNICEF,  used  the  facilities  to  begin  training  school management professionals on virtual learning platforms. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

 

Virtual learning

 

The virtual learning program expanded dramatically during the corona virus pandemic of 2019, with extensive collaboration between Ministry of Education and internet service providers.  The post-pandemic impact of the exposure to virtual learning and internet access for all of the children to continue with remote learning is yet to be seen. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

 

Policy level developments  

 

Maldives Education Management Information System (MEMIS) is an open source software system adapted to the Maldivian context and introduced to Maldivian schools in 2017, which is used for monitoring students’ enrolment, attendance and their academic progress. Additional features in MEMIS include students’ health screening data, data on children with learning disabilities, teacher qualifications  and  continuous  professional  development,  allowing for efficiency in identifying gaps in provision. There are plans to also monitor availability of physical resources through the MEMIS. There is a national policy to ensure all schools had ICT equipment to a nationally acceptable standard, and to have an education portal providing access to quality teaching and learning resources. The Ministry of. education’s online platform, Fila, is a resource  repositorythat includes videos of previously televised lessons, and digital resources produced by National Institute of Education. Schools  can  also  share  their  resources  with  other  teachers  through  this platform. The national policy also expects schools to draw up their own ICT in education and development plans. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)

Role of ICT in 21st Century’s Teacher Education: -

• ICT helps teachers to interact with students. 

• It helps them in preparation their teaching, provide feedback. 

• It helps in effectiveness of classroom. 

• It also helps in improving professional Development and Educational management as well as enhances Active Learning of teacher Trainees. 

• It is now replacing the ancient technology. As we know now-a day‟s students are always have competitive mind. Soteacher must have the knowledge of the subject. This can be done through ICT. 

• ICT helps teachers in preparation for teaching. In order to introduce ICT in pre-service teacher education different methods and strategies are applied. Different tools are used such as word processing, Database, Spreadsheet etc. Various technology based plans are used to help the teachers for their practice teaching. 

• ICT used as an assisting too for example while making assignments, communicating, collecting data & documentation, and conducting research. Typically, ICT is used independently from the subject matter. 

• ICT as a medium for teaching and learning. It is a tool for teaching and learning itself, the medium through which teachers can teach and learners can learn. It appears in many different forms, such as drill and practice exercises, in simulations and educational networks. 

• Teachers must provide technological support to learn using motion picture, animation, simulation training which helped student teachers to give model presentation. If the teacher is highly equipped with technology, the student will also be equipped with technology. 

• ICT helps Teacher to communicate properly with their students. So ICT bridge the gap between teacher and students. 

• ICT helps Teacher to motivate students and growing interest in learning. 

(Bhattacharjee & Deb, 2016)