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A World Bank Blog on ICT use in Education

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Exploring issues related to the use of information and communication technologies to benefit education in developing countries

March 2009

ICT & Education @ TED

Submitted by Michael Trucano on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 08:14

TEDtalk: Alan Kay (image used according to terms of CC license) With the buzz from this year's influential TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference (9-13 February) now starting to fade, I thought it might be interesting to re-visit some of the highlights from past conferences on topics related to ICT and education.  While presentations at the conference cover a wide variety of topics, some 'TEDtalks' provide quite illuminating, and sometimes quite provocative, glimpses and insights into how technology *might* be used in various innovative ways to enhance education in the future.  I am regularly amazed at the number of times that people in ministries of education all around the world ask me about something they first learned about through TED. While we were, yet again, not in attendance this year, the conference organizers have done the wonderful (and laudable!) job of making available the 'TEDtalks' through the TED web site for free.

From Nepal to the Nordic countries, innovations in digital learning resources

Submitted by Michael Trucano on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 18:22

The recent launch of the E-Pustakalaya digital library in Nepal is one example of the innovative ways that countries are exploring how to provide learning materials to schools in electronic formats.

Why are there so many poor evaluations of ICT use in education?

Submitted by Michael Trucano on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 11:11

Despite increasing attention to the impact of ICT on teaching and learning in various ways, the ICT/education field continues to be littered with examples of poor evaluation work.  A few of them arrive in my in-box every week.

Phoning it in: Using mobile phones to collect data

Submitted by Michael Trucano on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 18:02

image courtesy of kiwanja.netGoing forward, isn't it more likely that the ICT tool of choice for students in developing countries will be the mobile phone, and not the computer?  This is a question of hot debate in many circles. Whatever the eventual resulution of this debate (and no doubt it will not yield a simple either/or answer), there are still precious few widespread examples of the use of phones for education purposes in classrooms in developing countries.  It's inevitable that various forms of low cost handheld computing and communication devices for students  (and perhaps one of these will be something still called a 'phone') will proliferate in schools in developing countries in the coming decade.  But perhaps the mobile phone's impact in the education sector will be more widely, and quickly, felt in another way?

A Survey of ICT & Education in the Caribbean

Submitted by Michael Trucano on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 17:02

infoDev Caribbean surveyinfoDev has released its two-volume Survey of ICT & Education in the Caribbean.  This work, which includes an overview of regional trends and initiatives, as well as sixteen country reports, complements earlier work that infoDev did in Africa and that UNESCO released (way back in 2004) for the

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