World Bank EduTech Podcast

Today, World Bank's EdTech team member, Sharon Zacharia speaks with Abdal Mufti (Head of Research and Policy at Punjab School Education Department, Government of Punjab-Pakistan). They discuss lessons from deploying Punjab's province-wide education TV program called Taleem Ghar including how leveraging stakeholders and a phased roll out approach can speed up implementation to just 3 weeks. Taleem Ghar is a key arsenal of Punjab's remote learning response to COVID-19 based school closures.

Further suggested reading on Education TV during COVID-19 by the World Bank EdTech team:

[Case Study] "Pakistan: TeleSchool and Taleem Ghar (Educational TV at Home)" (September 14, 2020): A short case study on Pakistan's federal and provincial education TV programs during COVID-19:  documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/421821600058352361/pakistan-teleschool-and-taleem-ghar-educational-tv-at-home

[Blog] "Education TV during COVID-19: How to start & What to consider" (April 24, 2020):  A blog that summarizes key takeaways from the World Bank's policy briefing (Rapid Response Guidance Note) on education TV blogs.worldbank.org/education/educational-television-during-covid-19-how-start-and-what-consider

[Knowledge Pack Slide Deck] "Education TV as a Remote Learning Tool: Knowledge Pack" (June 1, 2020): A short, pragmatic slide deck on how to start & enhance education TV with case studies on Pakistan, China, Korea, Ubongo (Africa) and Sesame Workshop. pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/267791593613610668/Education-TV-Knowledge-Pack-WorldBank-Edtech-Team

Today, you are listening to a conversation between Valtencir Mendes, Senior Programme Lead in the Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems in the Education Sector at UNESCO and Cristobal Cobo, Senior Education Technology Specialist at the World Bank about the Global Education Coalition, a public-private partnership for education bringing together more than 140 members from the UN family, civil society, academia and the private sector, including coalition members UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank.

Valtencir Mendes is a UNESCO Senior Education Programme lead. He coordinates UNESCO’s implementation of the GPE’s Education response to COVID-19 Consortium of Grant Agents: UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank, as well as activities under the framework of the UNESCO Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning. He provides consultative support and strategic advice on UNESCO’s engagement with different innovative programmes and stakeholders; supporting countries in their education policy and strategic plan development and partnerships’ building; contributing to other cross-cutting emerging technologies in education projects and publications. Valtencir is European PhD in Project and Systems Engineering from UPC, Barcelona Tech, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, UK. He pioneered research on emerging technologies, and multi-stakeholder partnerships for the achievement of the UNESCO Education for All initiative. @ValMMendes

Today, you are listening to a conversation between World Bank EdTech colleagues Michael Trucano and Alex Twinomugisha as they reflect on how educators have adapted to the coronavirus crisis in the past seven months, moderated by World Bank team member Hallie Applebaum.

Read Continuity Stories and watch webinars at https://oecdedutoday.com/coronavirus and https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/edutech/brief/lessons-for-education-during-covid-19-crisis.

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Michael Trucano is the World Bank's 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.

Alex Twinomugisha is a Senior Education Technology Specialist in the World Bank working on technology in education issues. Alex has spent over 20 years working on education and technology policy and program design, procurement and deployment at basic education (K-12), vocational and higher education levels. A core member of the World Bank's global edtech team, Alex’s interests and expertise focus on designing, developing and using technology to solve some of education’s most difficult challenges in developing countries.

Today, you are listening to a conversation between Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin, Senior Analyst at the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), and Cristóbal Cobo, World Bank Senior Education Specialist, about our joint initiative between World Bank Group Education Global Practice, the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, the Harvard Global Education Innovation Initiative, and HundrED to collect stories from countries around the world about the solutions their education systems are using and how they are adapting to different student and teacher needs during the coronavirus crisis. Read stories and watch webinars at https://oecdedutoday.com/coronavirus and https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/edutech/brief/lessons-for-education-during-covid-19-crisis.

The OECD's work on education helps individuals and nations to identify and develop the knowledge and skills that drive better jobs and better lives, generate prosperity and promote social inclusion.

Today, you are listening to a conversation with Ollie Bray, Director of Global Programmes at the LEGO Foundation, and Victoria Levin, Senior Economist in the Education Global Practice at the World Bank and Co-Lead of the Skills Global Solutions Group, interviewed by World Bank Global Lead for Technology Innovation in Education Robert Hawkins.

The LEGO Foundation aims to build a future in which learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. We are dedicated to re-defining play and re-imaging learning to ensure children build the broad set of skills they need to thrive and succeed.

Today, we're speaking with Anthony Bloome, Executive Director of the Mobiles for Education Alliance, about strengthening edtech ecosystems in low-resource contexts, interviewed by Work Bank team member Robert Hawkins.

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Anthony Bloome is the Executive Director of the Mobiles for Education Alliance, a non-profit focused on strengthening edtech ecosystems, particularly in low-resource country context. From 2010 to July 2020, he served as USAID's senior education technology specialist and where he founded the mEducation Alliance as well as the All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development. Prior to joining USAID, he was Peace Corps' technology for development specialist for 3 years and worked as a distance education specialist at the World Bank for 11 years.

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.

Today, we're continuing our conversation from last week with Steve Song and Mike Jensen about connectivity policy and technology adoption strategies to broaden internet access in developing countries, interviewed by Work Bank team members Robert Hawkins and Alex Twinomugisha.  

Steve Song is a researcher, entrepreneur, and advocate for cheaper, more pervasive access to communication infrastructure. He is currently a Fellow at the Mozilla Foundation as well as a research associate with the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC) where he works to expand the use of wireless technologies through shared spectrum strategies. His blog (http://manypossibilities.net) a popular destination for anyone interested in African telecommunications and Internet issues. Since 2009, Steve has been actively maintaining public maps of undersea and terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure in Africa. Steve is also the founder of Village Telco, a social enterprise that manufactures low-cost WiFi mesh VoIP technologies to deliver affordable voice and Internet service in under-serviced areas. Previously, Steve worked at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), where he led the organization's ICT4D program in Africa, funding research into the transformational potential of ICTs.

Mike Jensen is a South African ICT specialist who co-founded Canada's first ISP for non-profit organisations - The Web - in 1987. The Web is also one of the founding members of the Association for Progressive communications (http://apc.org). Since then he has worked across the developing world to help build internet infrastructure, particularly in Africa. In 1995 he co-wrote Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech for the ITU’s flagship event, TELCOM, and in recognition of his contributions to the development of the Internet, he was inducted into the Internet Society's Internet Hall of Fame (IHOF) in 2017. Mike's main focus is on connectivity policy and technology adoption strategies focusing on efforts to help broaden access to ICTs in developing countries.  He mainly works with civil society, governments and development agencies to advise on infrastructure development strategies which increase internet access. This ranges from advising on projects which encourage governments to ensure all new roads include ducts for fibre, to raising awareness of techniques for using TV radio spectrum for wireless broadband, and assisting in the development of Universal Access strategies.

Today we're speaking with Steve Song and Mike Jensen about connectivity policy and technology adoption strategies to broaden internet access in developing countries, interviewed by Work Bank team members Robert Hawkins and Alex Twinomugisha.

Steve Song is a researcher, entrepreneur, and advocate for cheaper, more pervasive access to communication infrastructure. He is currently a Fellow at the Mozilla Foundation as well as a research associate with the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC) where he works to expand the use of wireless technologies through shared spectrum strategies. His blog (http://manypossibilities.net) a popular destination for anyone interested in African telecommunications and Internet issues. Since 2009, Steve has been actively maintaining public maps of undersea and terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure in Africa. Steve is also the founder of Village Telco, a social enterprise that manufactures low-cost WiFi mesh VoIP technologies to deliver affordable voice and Internet service in under-serviced areas. Previously, Steve worked at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), where he led the organization's ICT4D program in Africa, funding research into the transformational potential of ICTs.

Mike Jensen is a South African ICT specialist who co-founded Canada's first ISP for non-profit organisations - The Web - in 1987. The Web is also one of the founding members of the Association for Progressive communications (http://apc.org). Since then he has worked across the developing world to help build internet infrastructure, particularly in Africa. In 1995 he co-wrote Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech for the ITU’s flagship event, TELCOM, and in recognition of his contributions to the development of the Internet, he was inducted into the Internet Society's Internet Hall of Fame (IHOF) in 2017. Mike's main focus is on connectivity policy and technology adoption strategies focusing on efforts to help broaden access to ICTs in developing countries.  He mainly works with civil society, governments and development agencies to advise on infrastructure development strategies which increase internet access. This ranges from advising on projects which encourage governments to ensure all new roads include ducts for fibre, to raising awareness of techniques for using TV radio spectrum for wireless broadband, and assisting in the development of Universal Access strategies.

The World Bank's EduTech team is speaking with educators around the world to learn how they are innovating to support continued teaching and learning during COVID-19.

In this episode, World Bank's EduTech team member Sharon Zacharia speaks with Umbreen Arif, Technical Advisor and Umair Javed, Syed Umair Javed, (then) Joint Secretary of Education of Pakistan's Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. They discuss opportunities and challenges of Pakistan's rapid response to COVID-19 based school closures via a speedy one-month rollout of its national TeleSchool (Education TV) program.

Further reading/listening on Education TV as a remote learning tool during COVID-19:

The World Bank's EduTech team is speaking with educators around the world to see how they are innovating to support continued teaching and learning during COVID-19. In another episode in this series, World Bank's EduTech team member Sharon Zacharia (https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/sharon-zacharia) speaks with Sesame Workshop (https://www.sesameworkshop.org) Vice President of International Projects, Daniel Labin, about what we can learn from Sesame Workshop's 50 years of experience with educational TV for children across 150+ countries and adapted in 30+ languages like Gali Gali Sim Sim (India) (https://www.youtube.com/user/GalliGalliSim) and Ahlan SimSim (Middle East) (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48pfslXOUx-PZTLQxZjS4g).

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Further reading on Education TV as a remote learning tool during COVID-19:

- Blog on 'Education TV during COVID-19' (April 24, 2020):  A blog that summarizes key takeaways from the Rapid Response Guidance Note on education TV (by World Bank's EduTech team members Sharon Zacharia and Alex Twinomugisha). https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/educational-television-during-covid-19-how-start-and-what-consider

- Rapid Response Guidance Note: Educational TV & COVID-19 (April 17, 2020): A four-page note that provides guidance on using educational TV as a remote learning tool with 40 current examples of countries responding to COVID-19. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/659411587145759242/rapid-response-guidance-note-educational-television-covid-19

- Education TV Knowledge Pack (June 1, 2020): A short, pragmatic slide deck on how to start and enhance education TV with case studies on Sesame Workshop, Ubongo (Africa), Pakistan, and China & Korea. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/267791593613610668/Education-TV-Knowledge-Pack-WorldBank-Edtech-Team