When mobile makes a difference

DL4D/World Vision Project
Phnom Penh & Takéo, Cambodia
5-7 June, 2017

Provincial school, Takéo, Cambodia.

Provincial school, Takéo, Cambodia. Photo by Mark Pegrum, 2017. May be reused under CC BY 3.0 licence.

It was a great privilege to spend several days in Cambodia as part of the evaluation team for an early reading project entitled Total Reading Approach for Children Plus (TRAC+), a follow-up to the original Total Reading Approach for Children (TRAC) project which ran from 2012-2014. This project focuses primarily on improving the L1 Khmer literacy of struggling students in Grades 1-3.

In addition to meetings with World Vision and World Education staff, my visit involved travelling to schools in the Takéo province to meet with school directors, teachers, librarians and literacy coaches, and to observe primary students using the Aan Khmer app and engaging in benchmarking Interval Tests. In time, the evaluation team will produce a report, and subsequently discuss with the project team how best to disseminate what we have learned about using mobile technologies to support early literacy development in the Cambodian context.

Tablets in a provincial school library, Takéo, Cambodia

Tablets in a provincial school library, Takéo, Cambodia. Photo by Mark Pegrum, 2017. May be reused under CC BY 3.0 licence.

While using digital technologies in developed locations can lead to certain improvements in teaching and learning, using digital technologies effectively in developing locations – with due attention to the local context and stakeholders’ needs and wishes – has the potential to really transform students’ learning opportunities and experiences. It is very inspiring to see the efforts being made by NGOs, ministries of education, and educators at all levels to open up the learning horizons of children in developing contexts.

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