World Bank EduTech Podcast

Today, we're speaking about adaptive, personalized learning. This is data-driven learning that potentially moves beyond a predetermined decision tree and uses machine learning to adapt to students' behaviors and competencies. We'll talk about the implementation, the design, the cost, and other specs of running adaptive learning programs in developing countries.

Juan Baron, Senior Economist in the World Bank's education global practice works on analytical and operational activities in South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Today, he's speaking with two guests who are running companies focused on adaptive learning. Today, he's speaking with two guests who are running companies focused on adaptive learning. Richard Marett is co-founder and CEO of Whizz Education (https://www.whizzeducation.com), a learning outcome company that's developed, adapted, and learned over many years to improve learning outcomes at scale. Pranav Kothari is CEO of Educational Initiatives (https://www.ei-india.com), the organization that made MindSpark (https://www.mindspark.org), which is an adaptive learning software for students in schools, grades 1-10 to help them learn language, math, and science. Today, we're going to talk about what is adaptive learning and how can it help students leap forward in their learning.

This episode is part one of a two-part conversation.

This week, World Bank Education Specialist Ekua Bentil speaks with Clara Njeru and Esther Nyauncho in Nairobi about their experiences as women in edtech in Africa. Clara and Esther are both part of the World Bank's African Women in EdTech (AWE) project to contribute broadly to women’s leadership initiatives in EdTech in Africa, as well as to build an inclusive pipeline of diverse talent for EdTech jobs and research and ensure more women have the skills and networks needed to access and advance in these career opportunities. AWE is implemented in partnership with Women’s Alliance for Knowledge Exchange (WAKE). In this conversation, Ekua, Clara, and Esther explore the multiple layers of challenges that women face working in the male-dominated field of tech and also as innovators seeking financing in an angel investing landscape where funding largely goes to male founders. Clara is developing edtech products and content with learning design firm Education Design Unlimited: KPlay, learning-at-home solutions for caregivers with low tech devices, and SheLearns, a learning platform for refugee girls and women commissioned by RefuSHE. Esther is the co-founder and managing director of Tustawi, an e-learning provider that curates and customizes adult learning solutions for organizations and individuals. 

The World Bank EduTech team is partnering with Digital Promise and AIEngage.org to host a series of episodes about AI in Education. This week, we're exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling new forms of student learning. World Bank Senior Education and Technology Specialist Cristobal Cobo and Digital Promise Executive Director Jeremy Roschelle speak with Professor James Lester, Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Center for Educational Informatics at North Carolina State University, and Ana Paiva, Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IST (“Instituto Superior Técnico”) from the University of Lisbon and coordinator of GAIPS – “Intelligent and Social Agents Group” at INESC-ID, now named “Research Group on AI for People and the Society”.

In this episode, we explore the relationship between AI and education. Our guests share current applications of these technologies in education and where there is room for adaptation. With some of the major challenges and issues related to AI and education in mind, we discuss how education systems can be prepared to effectively integrate AI to support education and what countries should be doing to be ready.

https://medium.com/ai-and-the-future-of-teaching-and-learning/ai-and-the-future-of-teaching-and-learning-defining-artificial-intelligence-f31d20628280

AI and the Future of Teaching and Learning: New Interactions, New Choices:

https://medium.com/ai-and-the-future-of-teaching-and-learning/ai-and-the-future-of-teaching-and-learning-new-interactions-new-choices-c726bcf03012

Safe AI in Education Needs You:

https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/256657-safe-ai-in-education-needs-you/fulltext

AI or Intelligence Augmentation for Education?

https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/251188-ai-or-intelligence-augmentation-for-education/fulltext

This week, World Bank Senior Education & Technology Policy Specialist and Global Lead for Technology and Innovation in Education Robert Hawkins speaks with the Global Digital Library (https://digitallibrary.io) about their joint crowdsourcing campaign with UNESCO and UNHCR (https://digitallibrary.io/ukraine) to translate early grade reading resources and games into Ukrainian.

The campaign is currently recruiting translators and proofreaders to translate 200-300 books and games from the Global Digital Library to create new resources in a language that needs resources urgently. The resources that are translated will be available both in the Global Digital Library and on the Kolibri platform. Robert Hawkins speaks with Global Digital Library CTO Christer Gundersen and Curious Learning Co-founder Tinsley Galyean.

Christer will explain how the Global Digital Library works, the goals of this campaign, and how its methodology combines crowdsourcing and quality assurance. He will also speak about how the outputs of the campaign can be shared across multiple platforms.

GDL partner Curious Learning (https://www.curiouslearning.org) has been leading the work of translating the literacy game Feed The Monster, that just a few days ago was published in Ukrainian. Curious Learning Co-founder Tinsley Galyean will share their experience translating this game into more than 50 languages.

Esa semana, Iñaki Sánchez Ciarrusta habla con Santiago García, socio fundador de Qüid Lab en Colombia, a Wilmer Gallardo, especialista de innovación de World Vision en Honduras, y Galder Reguera, jefe de proyecto de la Fundación Athletic Club en Bilbao, sobre la importancia de crear contenido educativo relevante, motivador y atractivo para conectar con las y los jóvenes e inspirarlos.

Durante la conversación, ahondarán en las lecciones aprendidas de Evoke, una experiencia educativa que utiliza elementos como las novelas gráficas y otras mecánicas de juego para involucrar a los jóvenes en la resolución de los grandes desafíos globales y desarrollar sus habilidades del siglo XXI. En este episodio, Iñaki hablará con Santiago y Wilmer sobre el proceso que el Banco Mundial comenzó a desarrollar en Colombia y Honduras para crear contenido basado en la narración de historias, y Galder compartirá la experiencia de “Letras y Fútbol”, organizada por la Fundación Athletic desde Bilbao, íntimamente ligada al poder de la narración de historias y la motivación de los jóvenes.

Para más información sobre Evoke: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/edutech/brief/evoke-an-online-alternate-reality-game-supporting-social-innovation-among-young-people-around-the-world

Para conocer más sobre el proceso de la creación de historias: https://csi.asu.edu/category/projects/evoke/

Para saber más de Letras y Fútbol de la Fundación Athletic Club: https://athleticclubfundazioa.eus/proyectos-culturales/letras-y-futbol/

This week, Robert Hawkins (World Bank) speaks with Ruth Wylie (Assistant Director from the ASU Center for Science and the Imagination), Janhvi Kanoria (Director of Innovation Development from Education Above All), and Colin Maclay (Executive Director of the USC Annenberg School Innovation Lab) about the Evoke storytelling initiative.

The Evoke storytelling initiative aims to create a network of international creative talent -- storytellers, writers, artists, filmmakers, game designers, and digital education content specialists -- who will create the next generation of educational learning material. The network pairs industry leaders with youth and teachers from education institutions globally to create educational narratives to inspire learning and action on global grand challenges.

This week, Robert Hawkins speaks with Omar Arias, Emanuela Di Gropello, and Cristian Aedo about some of the major edtech initiatives implemented in South Asia and Latin America during the emergency phase and now in the recovery phase of COVID.

Robert Hawkins is the World Bank's Senior Education & Technology Policy Specialist and Global Lead for Technology and Innovation in Education, working on issues at the intersection of technology use and education in middle- and low-income countries and emerging markets around the world. At a practical level, Bob provides advice and technical assistance to governments seeking innovative ways to improve teaching and learning in the classroom and strategic advice on improvement of education systems and management.

Omar Arias is Manager of Global Engagement and Knowledge in the Education Global Practice. Previously, he was the Practice Lead Economist of the Social Protection and Labor Global Practice and Global Lead for skills at the World Bank. He was also the acting Sector Manager and Lead Economist in the Human Development Economics Unit for the World Bank Europe and Central Asia region; the sector leader of Human Development for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela; a senior economist in the Poverty and Gender Group of the Latin American region; and a research economist at the Inter-American Development Bank.

Emanuela Di Gropello is currently the Practice Leader for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, she was Manager for IEGHC Human Development & Corporate Evaluations and Program Leader for Human Development in the Cameroon/Gabon/Angola/Equatorial Guinea/Sao Tome & Principe CMU and Mali/Niger/Chad/Guinea CMU of the Africa Region. She was also successively Economist, Senior Economist, and Lead Economist in Human Development Departments in the Latin America & Caribbean and the East Asia and Regions.

Cristian Aedo is Practice Manager for the South Asia Region Education Global Practice. He has led investment loans and development policy lending for strengthening human development outcomes through better accountability and relevant skills. He has managed education projects, programs and studies and in the Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe and Central Asia Regions. Cristian has also authored studies on Skills and Country Skills Patterns.

Today, we invite you to join us for a special episode where we revisit some of our favorite moments from 2021 - conversations about blockchain, early grade reading and book distribution, the edtech ecosystem, an adaptive learning effectiveness study, and digital infrastructure - moments that are inspiring our upcoming episodes in 2022.

Today, we are focusing on Open Schools, an intervention that shows promise to support second chance education and reach students at risk to dropout.

The pandemic highlighted the focus back on online learning, which was the preferred method of remote learning among high income countries but was also offered as part of multichannel strategies by middle- and low-income countries. However, online learning, a component of the idea of virtual schools, has been used across many countries, such as Namibia, Botswana, and the United States before the pandemic

To tell us more about this initiative, we are delighted to have with us Himdat Bayusuf, Tony Mays, and Alex Twinomugisha, in conversation with Maria Barron.

Himdat Bayusuf is an Education Specialist at the World Bank, focusing on higher education and skills development in the Western and Central Africa region.

Tony Mays is Education Specialist in Open Schooling at the Commonwealth of Learning.

Alex Twinomugisha is a Senior Education Technology Specialist in the World Bank working on technology in education issues.

Maria Barron Rodriguez is a Research Analyst at the World Bank Group's Global Education Practice, where she is a member of the EdTech global team.

The World Bank funds education projects – about 80% of which now have an edtech component – in low and middle income countries. Many of the Ministries of Education in these countries have a growing recognition of the importance of building education ecosystems that try to encourage private sector innovation and entrepreneurs in edtech.

Today, our World Bank EdTech team, Robert Hawkins and Dean Kline, is speaking with Victor Hu of Lumos Capital Group (https://www.lumoscapitalgroup.com) and Stavros Yiannouka of WISE (https://www.wise-qatar.org) about the state of the edtech investment environment globally. They speak about the prospects for edtech investment in low- and middle-income markets. WISE and the World Bank are leading a new Community of Practice starting with 20 EdTech Innovation Hubs from around the world and today they discuss how this Community might be of help to bring quality edtech to emerging markets and address the needs of underserved learners. 

For reference, we generally define an EdTech Ecosystem as a network of actors (public, private, forprofit, non-profit) that come together to maximize the impact of technology for quality education.