Educational Technology in Practice: Research and Practical Case Studies from the Field

Here's the next book in our series. Might get chance to rest from book editing for a bit now :-)

Educational Technology in Practice: Research and Practical Case Studies from the Field

Edited by:
Wanjira Kinuthia, Georgia State University
Stewart Marshall, The University of the West Indies

A volume in the series: Educational Design and Technology in the Knowledge Society. Series Editor(s): Stewart Marshall, The University of the West Indies and Wanjira Kinuthia, Georgia State University

In Press 2010

The field of educational technology is one that requires a high level of problem solving critical thinking, and interpersonal skills to solve problems that are often complex and multi-dimensional. Analyzing cases provides an opportunity to explore professional issues through an environment that allows action researchers, practitioners and students to analyze and reflect on relevant theories and techniques to understand a real problem, ponder solutions and consequences, and develop responses. Hence, this book seeks to provide relevant authentic and realistic cases for such exploration.

This book is guided by the premise that the cases presented will serve as a platform for researchers, practitioners and students to share experiences and best practices in both developing and developed contexts, in an endeavor to bridge the knowledge divide. Throughout the book, various challenges are addressed and educational technology tools and strategies are subsequently employed in an effort to minimize the issues. Notwithstanding, the book also highlights successes and accomplishments in areas and contexts in which educational technology is being harnessed, including reaching more learners, providing more affordable options, and building capacity.

Because of the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of the field and the cases, this book is useful not only in educational technology, but also in other fields. A “Facilitator Guide” is provided for each chapter for educators with their learners.

Get a copy at the web price at: Educational Technology in Practice: Research and Practical Case Studies from the Field

Cases 'n' Places: Global Cases in Educational and Performance Technology

Bit of self promotion I'm afraid. But working on this book, and others in the series, partly explains why my blog posting have been infrequent :-(

Cases 'n' Places: Global Cases in Educational and Performance Technology

Edited by:
Stewart Marshall, The University of the West Indies
Wanjira Kinuthia, Georgia State University

A volume in the series: Educational Design and Technology in the Knowledge Society. Series Editor(s): Stewart Marshall, The University of the West Indies and Wanjira Kinuthia, Georgia State University

Published 2010

Practitioners in the field of educational technology require a high level of problem solving, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills to deal with learning issues that are often complex and multidimensional. Unfortunately, there are few opportunities for providers of learning services and learners to practice authentic instructional design or educational technology as part of their academic preparation and/or training.

When learners interact with case studies through reasoning and problem solving, learning takes place through the process of analysis, synthesis, application, and evaluation. In particular, case studies that use story telling to reflect problem situations in real-life create an authentic learning environment for learners. This book provides the material that learners can use to interact, reason and apply their problem solving skills in realistic and engaging cases.

Because of the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of the field and the cases, this book is useful not just in educational technology, but also in other fields. A “Facilitator Guide” is provided for each chapter for teachers and trainers using this book with their learners.

Get a copy at the web price at: Cases 'n' Places: Global Cases in Educational and Performance Technology

Ushahidi: Bearing witness to a remarkable idea

Just recently I came across this remarkable example of the power of social software and open source - Ushahidi.

The Ushahidi Engine is a platform that allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline. The result is a simple website mashup, using user-generated reports and Google Maps.

It's a simple - but powerful idea. Here is a video with more details: What is Ushahidi? from Ushahidi on Vimeo.



"Ushahidi" means testimony or witness in Swahili. It is a free and open source project with developers hailing from Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Malawi, Netherlands and the USA working on it. The goal is to create the simplest way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response.

This volunteer group of open source developers have overcome some significant technological challenges and are always looking for help.

Facebook Project Subtitles

It's been a long time since the last blog. This signifies how busy I've been on other things.

I feel that this age of electronic communication has enabled us all to do things quicker, which instead of saving us time, actually gives us more to do because everyone else is sending us stuff quicker as well. The paradox of the increasing speed of electronic communications.

This is a neat mashup I was recently sent. I like it not only because it represents how I feel about so much of my school education, but also because it includes one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite groups - Pink Floyd.

Take a Virtual Tour of World Heritage Sites

Thanks to an alliance between Google and UNESCO, you can now take a virtual walk around some of the world's most remarkable natural and cultural landmarks using Google Maps, Google Earth and Street View.

The World Heritage List includes 890 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These irreplaceable treasures will now be captured on video for all to see without actually having to travel to the location. Clearly this project is of considerable value educationally, culturally and historically.

Free and Open Source Software in Africa

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) - software that any developer can modify and improve - is an obvious way to go for developing countries - and the idea and its use are certainly gaining ground in Africa. One of the interviewees in this video captures the spirit nicely. As a child he would take his new toys apart to see how they worked - he never could accept the principle that things were closed to prevent understanding and improvement.

But there are obstacles - and they are within the very institutions that stand to gain so much. As another interviewee so rightly says - there is resistance within the administration of universities (even within the IT divisions) to adopt open source software. Watch the video - it's good.



The two projects profiled here, AVOIR and POLLES, are providing both the software to encourage eLearning and university administration in sub-Saharan and North Africa respectively, along with providing a platform for post secondary institutions to get applied training in software development. Connectivity Africa has been supporting these initiatives since 2004.

For more information:
http://avoir.uwc.ac.za
http://www.sakaiquebec.org/en/projets/polles.html
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-87736-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Did you know ? Human Capital Edition - 2009

How technology influences and is influenced - this video presents amazing research on the development and evolution from the industrial age to the information age and globalization. The figures will, of course, be out of date by the time you view this video.



This movie was intended to answer some of the questions left by the original shift happens production of "Did you know?"

Movie developed and researched by Lyle Potgieter, Mark Middleton, Fabrice Ho Fi and Renee Thorn. Enquire at http://www.PeopleStreme.com for a Facts Sheet.

Shift happens - Did you know?

Shift Happens: Education 3.0 - a newly revised edition for 2009 of the video originally created by Karl Fisch, modified by XPLANE and Campus Management. It answers the question, "What are we doing about the shift?" and covers innovations by Ashford University, Bridgepoint Education, Huntington Junior College, Jones International University, Mercer University, University of the Rockies, and The University System of Georgia.



This video gives an interesting perspective on how fast developments are taking place and emphasises how important it is for us to ensure that no country or community is further disadvantaged by being left behind.

Web 2.0 - an historically defining technology?

I was having a conversation with someone the other day about "historically defining technologies", i.e., technologies which define a period in history. The printing press and the telephone could be said to be two such "defining technologies". The conversation was about whether or not we can know at the time which technologies will be "defining" when viewed historically at some point in the future. It seems to me that Web 2.0 tools are prime candidates to be seen as "defining technologies". Web 2.0 will be seen as defining that period in history when radical changes in society were made possible by the abilitity to create, share, collaborate and publish digital information through the Internet.

So what is Web 2.0 and what are these changes?

The book/report "Change at hand: Web 2.0 for development" covers these topics. It is special issue of the series: Participatory Learning and Action that is guest-edited by Holly Ashley, Jon Corbett, Ben Garside and Giacomo Rambaldi, published in June 2009 by IIED and CTA.

It shares learning and reflections from practice and considers the ways forward for using Web 2.0 for development. A multimedia CD Rom with articles in English and French (and some in Spanish) is forthcoming later in 2009.

PART I: OVERVIEW
1. Change at hand: Web 2.0 for development
Holly Ashley, Jon Corbett, Ben Garside, Dave Jones and Giacomo Rambaldi
2. The two hands of Web2forDev: a conference summary
Chris Addison
PART II: STUDIES OF WEB 2.0 TOOLS
3. Exploring the potentials of blogging for development
Christian Kreutz
4. Web 2.0 tools to promote social networking for the Forest Connect alliance
Duncan Macqueen
5. Promoting information-sharing in Ghana using video blogging
Prince Deh
6. Mobile phones: the silver bullet to bridge the digital divide?
Roxanna Samii

PART III: ISSUE-BASED STUDIES
7. Anti social-computing: indigenous language, digital video and intellectual property
Jon Corbett and Tim Kulchyski
8. Tools for enhancing knowledge-sharing in agriculture: improving rural livelihoods in Uganda
Ednah Akiiki Karamagi and Mary Nakirya
9. Ushahidi or ‘testimony’: Web 2.0 tools for crowdsourcing crisis information
Ory Okolloh
10. Web 2.0 for Aboriginal cultural survival: a new Australian outback movement
Jon Corbett, Guy Singleton and Kado Muir

PART IV: THEORY AND REFLECTION ON PRACTICE
11. Circling the point: from ICT4D to Web 2.0 and back again
Anriette Esterhuysen
12. Web 2.0 tools for development: simple tools for smart people
Ethan Zuckerman
13. The Web2forDev story: towards a community of practice
Anja Barth and Giacomo Rambaldi
PART V: TIPS FOR TRAINERS
Web 2.0 tools: a series of short introductions
Holly Ashley, Dave Jones and Luigi Assom with Jon Corbett, Ben Garside, Christian Kreutz, Kevin Painting, Duncan Macqueen and Giacomo Rambaldi

Each introductory guide provides a brief description of the Web 2.0 tool and how it can be used for development purposes, along with links to further information and where applications can be downloaded online (more information also in e-participation):

• Blogging
• Micro-blogging and Twitter
• Wikis
• Online social networking
• RSS feeds
• Tagging
• Social bookmarking
• Glossary of Web 2.0 terms

This special issue is co-published with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Download "Change at hand: Web 2.0 for development" (PDF 6 Mb)

The Chawama Youth Project

Chawama Township in Zambia is like so many other urban centres in Africa and the Caribbean - it is facing major problems with the young people, especially males. It has a population of 37,500 of which 65% is 25 years old or younger. Most of the youths (between 15 and 25 years old) are unemployed and lack skills to generate their own sustainable livelihoods. One of the main factors is the low level of education. Many youths do not finish their school, and most of these school drop outs are unskilled and unproductive, which in turn negatively affects their self-esteem and leads to increased levels of loitering, alcohol abuse and criminal activity. The story is a familiar one.

But Chawama Township has tackled the problem in a way that deserves attention.

“We realized that there is a rampant employment among youth of Chawama Township. So we decided to come up with a skills training centre to give them life skills. This would help them to get employment or be self employed” said Rodgers Mulenga (Secretary General of the Chawama Youth Project).

Here is a video about the award-winning Project.



The Chawama Youth Project (CYP) is a community-based non-governmental organisation established in 2001 and registered with the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA). It offers ‘life skills’ courses in subjects such as Auto Mechanics, Tailoring, Carpentry, and ICT, to improve the young people’s chances of finding work. Teachers are using the internet to enhance content (e.g. by accessing diagrams of engines using Google Images instead of drawing on the blackboard); hand-outs are being produced quickly; existing lesson plans are now being stored and re-used.

You can download an IICD briefing on the project here.