Bloggers

Mike Trucano is the World Bank's Senior ICT and Education Policy Specialist, serving as the World Bank's focal point on the topic within the education sector and leads the World Bank's related analytical work on under its flagship System Assessment & Benchmarking Education For Results initiative as it relates to information and communication technologies (SABER-ICT). In addition, Mike provides advice and support to World Bank country-level education projects seeking to utilize ICTs in various ways in multiple countries around the world; current areas of activity include ICT/education policy development, the use of mobile phones in education, ICT and education indicators, 'new economy skills for Africa', development of national ICT/education agencies, child Internet safety, and low-cost 'ICT devices'. A frequent public speaker on the use of ICTs in education around the world, he is also the principal contributor to the World Bank's widely read EduTech blog (http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech) and co-chairs the World Bank's internal cross-sectoral thematic group on ICT and education.

Mike previously served as the ICT and Education Specialist at infoDev, the multi-donor 'ICT knowledge shop' housed within the World Bank's Global ICT Department (GICT), where he coordinated activities related to information and communication technologies and the Millennium Development Goals ("ICTs for MDGs"), especially as they related to education.  He also led infoDev's work exploring the use of various low-cost ICT devices to meet developmental objectives in the social sectors, an initiative he continues to help lead from within the World Bank education sector.  Highlights during his time at infoDev include Knowledge Maps: ICT and Education (what we know, and what we don't, about ICT use in education in developing countries), over 75 country-level surveys of ICT and education in Africa and the Caribbean, a handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects, and the ICT in Education Toolkit for Policymakers, Planners & Practitioners (with UNESCO, used in over 25 countries to date).

Mike brings experience working in a variety of capacities with on-the-ground ICT/education initiatives in several regions of the world, including feasibility studies, evaluation and assessment, teacher training and professional development, appropriate technologies and targeted policy advice, especially related to uses of ICTs in education and community telecentres. He joined the World Bank Group in 1997, first with the IFC, and then serving on the Education and ICT for education teams at the World Bank Institute, where he was a core member of the team that developed the World Links for Development Program.

You can follow Mike on Twitter @trucano.

Michael was the lead Distance Learning Specialist at the World Bank in Washington, DC up to his retirement three years ago where he worked since 1997 on all aspects of the development of the Global Development Learning Network . GDLN is an initiative that promotes the exchange of knowledge and experience among development practitioners, using information and communications technologies and a blend of distance learning methodologies. There are over 120 GDLN Affiliates worldwide, open for use by all development practitioners.

Before coming to the World Bank Michael was founder and first Director of the Audio Visual Center at University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, and since 1986 he has pioneered the use of communications technologies for access to learning. Through the support of the European Commission, the European Space Agency, Intelsat, and other agencies the centre piloted and developed services using satellite broadcasting, cable and national TV networks, ISDN and VSAT videoconferencing and web based applications. He was a member of the Board of EuroPACE and President of EuroSTEP during the mid nineties.

Sheila is a Senior Learning Specialist at the World Bank Institute.