Using ICTs To Support Primary Education In Low Income Countries A joint infoDev – HDNED project, supported by the European Commission

Background Investment in ICT in education has grown steadily over the past decade and its increasing profile and importance are visible in both developed and developing countries. Despite this known increase, little is known about the effectiveness of investments in ICT in education in promoting education reform in general and in Education for All (EFA) in particular, and there is little hard evidence or consensus on the proper, cost-effective utilization of ICTs in this field.

Intent This three-month (September – November 2004) project aims to create a "knowledge map" of the impact of ICTs in education to date, with particular emphasis on their roles in achieving EFA goals. In other words, it will seek to identify "what is known about what works (and what doesn't work)", so that this information and knowledge can inform donor design of and support for education projects with technology components.

Particular interests Specifically, this report seeks to investigate the (potential) roles of ICTs on: Access to education Quality of education

Specific areas of inquiry The World Bank portfolio to identify and quantify technology components in existing (2001-2005) education projects, as well ask other ICT/education projects, with particular interest in various challenges (operational, strategic, donor-coordination, etc.). Donor support for education and information technology projects in low income countries. Research, results, best practice and lessons learned from ICT in education initiatives in OECD and other countries.

Deliverables A “knowledge map” of what is known about the uses and impacts of ICTs in education relevant to low income countries A “road map” for a larger, EC-supported project to be implemented in the next fiscal cycle

Relationship of this project to the Fast Track Initiative While this project is particularly interested in the needs and challenges of education in countries participating in the FTI, its relevance is not limited to them This project is not officially part of the work program of the FTI Secretariat, but it is hoped that it will be useful in informing their work

Defining ICTs We are interested in a broad definition of ICTs as their use may benefit education In other words: Not only computers and the Internet, but radio and TV as well Training and human capacity related to their use are also of vital interest

Our Bias infoDev – Information for Development We are agnostic about the use of technology in general – we are not a hammer looking for nails! We are very cognizant of the specific challenges and realities faced by the education sector in LDCs, and how this differs from the OECD

The secondary literature Secondary literature is voluminous OECD countries -- lots! LDCs not as rich (but emerging literature from non-OECD countries, especially India, China, South Africa, Thailand, Chile, Philippines, Brazil, Malaysia) Relevance of OECD experience to LDCs -- not too rich So--> information overload, lack of synthesized experience, relevance to LDCs

Dangers Simple transferral of lessons learned from OECD to LDCs may not be useful in many cases – and may in fact be counter-productive severe resource constraints space for innovation, but not experimentation

Existing toolkits Many good toolkits (synthesizing experience and policy and project implementation recommendations) have been and are being developed WBI, WB, WBICT COL, SAIDE BECTa UNESCO-Bangkok!! But many significant gaps remain!!

ICT/education Projects in LDCs around the world Very well mapped in Asia Mapped to a decent but incomplete extent in Africa Not as well mapped in western hemisphere Latin America Eastern Europe not looked at yet Sidebar: in FTI countries, they exist, but are typically small pilot projects, loosely (if at all coordinated) with other initiatives, often done in conjunction with outside donors and NGOs

ICT components in WB education projects Why look at this? Commonly held beliefs Supporting data Difficulties Coding/reporting (PADs) General data issues Focus on education sector portfolio

Monitoring and evaluation relevant to LDCs Incomplete Much self-reported, attitudinal Bias / independence is a real issue Lack of agreement on indicators (focus on inventoriable indicators -- number of PCs, etc.)

Monitoring and evaluation relevant to LDCs (cont’d) Lot of information on what people intend to do, and why they intend to do it Less on what/how they did what they did, and the impact Lots of information emerging on particular tools, of widely varying quality, control groups are real issue, more marketing than independent assessment Notable studies: SITES module 2 World Links Intel Teach To The Future

(Emerging areas of particular interest in this study) Open discussion (Emerging areas of particular interest in this study)

For more information Kerry McNamara Knowledge Coordinator infoDev kmcnamara [at ] worldbank.org Michael Trucano Consultant infoDev mtrucano [ at ] worldbank.org