Global case studies: effective learning outside the classroom

• In Event: Sustaining and scaling community solutions: leveraging ecosystem-appropriate ICTs to enhance social inclusion and achieve learning outcomes

Proposal

The Rumie Initiative believes that technology is the way of the future in helping to ensure that everyone has access to a quality education and valuable learning resources. Every conflict or crisis situation or displaced learner’s case, however, is unique and the development of educational technology must reflect that uniqueness. Rumie has adopted this approach by using the Principles for Digital Development - specifically, using a user-centred design and building for sustainability - and continuously works to upgrade our solutions to ensure as many learners as possible can benefit and are impacted.

Rumie begins with the LearnCloud - an online repository of high quality, digital, educational content which is crowdsourced by educators and other passionate volunteers in different languages and for different contexts. The LearnCloud was developed with the goal of creating a collaborative platform that would leverage the principles of the modern, shared economy for social impact.

Rumie then works with on-the-ground program partners around the world who choose the learning material that is most appropriate for their unique context from the LearnCloud and load that content onto the specialized Rumie Tablet or any personal Android device via the Rumie App for offline use. The Tablet and App collect ongoing usage analytics (even when offline) on what content is being viewed and for how long. This allows Rumie’s partners to evaluate the content, iterate, and measure impact.

This presentation is going to focus on two specific examples where Rumie technology is having an impact on non-traditional classroom learning. In Rwanda, Rumie is working with Kepler to prepare refugee students for the application process to programs of accredited American degrees in partnership with Southern New Hampshire University. These prep courses take place in the Kiziba refugee camp in Rwanda and attendance has been historically low as many refugees in the area come from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and are intimidated by language barriers. The introduction of Rumie Tablets into their program has become a draw for students, increasing attendance and the success of the program. At the time of the conference, we will have results to share from the first few cohorts of students.

The Rumie App was launched in 2017 after learning from feedback that our Tablets are not beneficial or feasible in every situation. The App was piloted in Afghanistan, in partnership with Roshan Telecommunications, where it is being used to improve access to a quality education, specifically to women and girls who have some of the worst literacy rates in the world. The Rumie App takes advantage of the trend of increased access to mobile phones, by enabling learners to access their digital learning materials anytime and from anywhere regardless of Internet connectivity. This is especially important in remote and rural areas where traditional education is not readily available. Students can continue their learning, even if they are unable to make it to a classroom. We will also be able to share results from the App usage in Afghanistan at the conference.

Author

• Matt Capobianco, The Rumie Initiative