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Session Submission Summary

Interactive audio instruction: A cost-effective tool for confronting crises in education

Wed, February 22, 8:00 to 9:30am EST (8:00 to 9:30am EST), Grand Hyatt Washington, Floor: Independence Level (5B), Independence C

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Education in crisis took on new meaning with the advent of COVID-19. Schools shut down worldwide and the vast majority of students either missed out on schooling all together or the quality of instruction was greatly reduced. However, schools were already in crisis in many countries before COVID, due to factors such as the dismal quality of instruction provided, conflict or natural disasters. For decades, interactive audio instruction has addressed these challenges through its ability to broadcast, by radio, into crisis-ridden contexts such as Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti. COVID amplified the already existing state of educational crisis in many countries by the sheer fact that now the vast majority of the world’s students needed a flexible form of education that could, if necessary, reach the home. Interactive audio remained an optimal response.
Audio has enjoyed a rebirth with the advent of digital recording capabilities and the smartphone. Podcasts have become a form of entertainment and education that didn’t exist when interactive radio instruction first became popular in the 1970s. In many contexts, audio programming is no longer limited to radio. Teachers and students are able to download or share audio files even if internet access is limited. The ubiquity of audio and the renaissance of the medium has meant that interactive audio instruction is no longer considered an outdated form of instruction.
Dissemination is not the only element of audio that has been affected by new digital formats; the production of audio programs is no longer relegated to professional studios and large, expensive equipment. Programs can now be recorded and edited at home and audio files are easy to share. COVID restrictions on studio access has afforded an opportunity to truly explore new options for producing interactive audio instruction.
This panel will explore how these new developments in production and dissemination technology have improved processes for interactive audio development and delivery, and examine the cost-effectiveness of new approaches. Our first panelist explores the cost-effectiveness of the medium as a tool for improving the resiliency of educational systems. The panelist will review the approach and historical studies on cost-effectiveness while also updating how costs have been impacted by new technologies used for both production and dissemination. Next, we will consider three cases in which IAI has been implemented to address educational crises since the start of COVID and during civil unrest: Zambia, Haiti and Ethiopia.
In Haiti, interruptions to access of formal education began long before the start of COVID. Once school closures began on a larger scale, it was clear that the vast majority of students would not have constant access to the internet, a device such as a computer or a smartphone and the electricity to run it. Additionally, a review of online options demonstrated that, as is the case in many countries that had immediately turned to online programs, not nearly enough online courses existed to provide instruction even if the delivery mechanisms were in place. The Ministry of Education used the opportunity to retrofit programs previously produced and disseminated in order to demonstrate the ability of interactive audio instruction to reach audiences whether at home or in school. While this pilot was limited to a small number of programs and a geographic area limited to Port-au-Prince and the National Radio Station, the lessons learned stemmed from the development of a process to retrofit the previous programs and produce the spots necessary to alert and train teachers, parents, students and Ministry officials as to the use and availability of the programs remotely and locally. The project also worked towards the development of a national distance education strategy that would help coordinate the various products and strategies being developed and ensure their support as official materials.
In Zambia, the MoE and partners created a series of interactive audio instruction programs delivered via radio for literacy, numeracy, and science for grades 1 to 7 that could be followed at home during school closures. The Learning by Doing Approach and shift from classroom-based instruction to learning at home meant that children were more able to make the connection between what they were learning during their lessons and their everyday lives.
Finally, in Ethiopia, the IAI programs were developed during a time of relative peace and stability in order to provide English language instruction to student teachers in the Colleges of Teacher Education. Fortunately, the multi-channel approach and digital production methodologies used in the development and dissemination of the programs enabled the team to finalize the programs after the outbreak of COVID-19 kept most team members at home and provided ways in which the programs could continue to be disseminated even after the outbreak of the civil war.

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