research review

an overview of the route my research has taken so far:


beginning: interest in researching web 2.0

web 2.0 -> focus on rss & podcasting
...literature review: future potential for rss
spoke to nathan jenkins & jim wynn, who were excited about possible uses of rss in education

refined focus to web 2.0 and education

spoke to rich wenner, rich shotton & ewan mcintosh, which led to looking at web 2.0 and education in the developing world

looked at one laptop per child project, infrastructure/resources for distrubuting/providing approved education for the developing world; online delivery of curriculums

looked at unicef's 'school in a box' concept, ie: for tsunami-affected schools; replacing/complimenting with an online version, free/accesible

avoid influencing child's learning, despite any good intentions

adapt idea for vocational/further education for adults in developing world, provision of skills

geared up for sri lanka research as case study: child or adult education? usefulness of online content? ...questionnaires, interviews, emails

sri lanka: sinhalese new year - all schools closed, unable to complete research. visited unicef ... education resource wouldn't work for various reasons

...concept needs to avoid politics. what's important? = communication
concept evolved to cover social networking between schools

friendsreunited success in social networking
...adapt for schools => schools:united concept

schools:united = providing infrastructure and means for greater communciation between schools around the globe, based on penpal/twin-schools schemes. allow institution profile pages, with bio details, photos, student work, contact details etc

sri lankan research

the main focus of my primary research was to be to visit sri lanka as a case study of the feasability of my product concept. i'd planned to visit a number of local schools, including ones affected by the tsunami, to pitch my ideas and gather feedback from staff and students

it didn't quite work out like that

thinking i'd done all my preparation before leaving the uk, there was one thing i hadn't accounted for: the sinhalese new year. this week long public holiday fell on exactly the dates i was in the country, and as a result, every school was closed

stressed by my own incompetence for not checking public holiday dates, i had to think fast as to how i could still gather some valid data. social and language barriers prevented speaking to children outside of the classroom, and no staff were to be found at any school premises

then, like a glittering beacon of salvation, the unmistakable blue and white unicef logo presented itself a few miles outside of galle, restoring the last shreds of hope of collecting some useful research, and i arranged a meeting with melania cacho for the next day. during our meeting, we ran through my prepared questions and discussed some of my concepts, and melania went on to explain some of the problems with my ideas; such as lack of infrastructure, insufficient skills, financing and inevitable politics

my original concept of a universal (web 2.0-based) education resource for the developing world is simply too politically unfeasible for the real-world; a crushing blow to what i'd hoped could develop into a great project

however, from this grew the idea of improving social networking for schools online, which should allow me to continue along a similar route as before, whilst removing any connections to curriculums or politics

schools:united was born: the friendsreunited concept applied to developing-world schools, allowing them to create social links with each other along the lines of a penpal/twin-school scheme. there's still a lot of development and research to do to prove the concept is valid; but hopefully i'm back on track!

interview with melania cacho

Interview with Melania Cacho
Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Sri Lanka (Galle)
12.04.2006, Galle, Sri Lanka

While visiting Sri Lanka, it was found to be Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, meaning that all schools were closed for the duration of the stay there. In an attempt to still collect some useful information, an approach was made to the UNICEF office in Galle to request an interview. Melania Cacho is the resident Child Protection Officer, and was available for a discussion regarding the research project.


The main points raised in the interview are as follows:

UNICEF stands for the United Nation’s Child Fund (retaining its familiar acronym for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), whose aim is to help build a world where the rights of every child are realised. It has the global authority to influence decision-makers, and a variety of grassroots partners to assist accomplishing its projects [www.unicef.org].

UNICEF’s Galle office opened shortly after the 2004 Tsunami as a base for directing their efforts along the south coast, which suffered heavy damage and losses to the disaster. The majority of UNICEF’s efforts in Sri Lanka are concentrated in the North and East of the country (politically contested territory between the Sinhalese and Tamils), and their activities include a programme of immunisations, improving health-care services, providing nutrition for women and children, and since December 2004, supporting large-scale rebuilding and recovery efforts in the South.

Melania’s role as Child Protection officer is to supervise Early Child Development, the Learning Years, Child Protection, and Health, Water & Sanitation in her region. Dr Aberra Bekele is the Head of Education for the Galle office, but was unavailable for an interview, therefore Melania offered to answer questions to the best of her knowledge.

When asked in which ways UNICEF makes use of the internet, Melania stated that each UNICEF employee has an account which provides them with access to UNICEF’s computer, internet and email facilities, including access to restricted materials on their intranet. Very little use of the internet is made as part of UNICEF projects; its role is as a communications medium within the organisation. In local schools, it is common for only the head teacher to have a computer and/or access to email and the internet.

Melania had limited personal knowledge of how the web could aid the delivery of education resources beyond its current use in her department, although recognised that it is a very effective communications tool, and that this could potentially be applied to an educational context, such as a long-distance communications tool to aid rural schools.

UNICEF, in the Sri Lankan environment, works through the Ministry of Education and with other specialist NGOs in order to aid local schools. “The ministry takes a responsible, pro-active interest in education materials by trialling and approving them. The government has its own, self-developed, training modules and agenda relevant to their context and culture, and UNICEF’s role is to help deliver this programme of study.” International education resources are limited in Sri Lanka, as they may not match the local syllabus content.

UNICEF’s education interests focus on basic education for children, and not on social learning.

From this interview, it could be seen that in Sri Lanka, an internationally-approved, web-based curriculum (as was the proposed concept up to this point) was unfeasible due to the government’s control of the education system. Sri Lanka is a Democratic Socialist Republic, a form a government found in a number of developing countries, and as such it is reasonable to assume that similar barriers to a universal curriculum would be encountered elsewhere. As a result, reference was made back to earlier research in an attempt to identify other areas from which a concept could be developed, whilst retaining the relevance of the most recent progress.

negroponte defends OLPC project

nicholas negroponte recently defended the One Laptop Per Child project, and hinted to future developments of the scheme

ctc visit

on thursday i visited john cabot ctc. as well as catching up with some of my former teachers and checking out what was new at the college, i spoke to some of the staff regarding my research project

paul stephens-wood

paul is a humanities teacher who spent several weeks in nigeria establishing links with a local school, as part of ctc's global communities project. he explained for me some of the differences between uk and nigerian education models, and outlined how the two institutions stand to benefit from each other, such as with student and staff exchanges. while discussing the nigerian model, he noted that their system is based on victorian methods, a remnant of british colonialism. he highlighted that the majority of knowledge in the developing world is shared by word of mouth, rather than written texts or archives. he also suggested that montageworld may prove useful for my research

nathan jenkins

nathan is the head of design and technology, and the department is one of the most advanced in the uk. he has spent the last few years working to encourage other establishments to upgrade their dt and tech facilities to take advantage of c21st resources, such as cad/cam and rapid prototyping, in order to better equip their students with relevant skills. he is in the process of developing a bespoke vle for his department, which he then hopes to export to other schools. nathan and i discussed how engineering technology has evolved over recent years, and how he has adapted their curriculum and teaching methods to match

jayne crosby

jayne is a languages teacher who also works on the college's global communities scheme. following my previous interview with her, we discussed further issues surrounding the westernisation of developing-world teaching models, and the impact that technology is having by providing improved and instant communications, interactive learning, free and permanent resources, and accurate information approved by governmental bodies, ngo's and charities