By Gerard McCarthy and Christopher Neu

Please note that this post pertains to a customized course developed with IREX for alumni of the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program in Pakistan, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, US Department of State (administered by IREX).

If you’re interested in learning online with TechChange, check out Global Innovations for Digital Organizing. Class starts on May 14!

Pictured: Talha, an exchange student with Global UGRAD-Pakistan

Last month we discovered that our enthusiasm about exchange 2.0 was exceeded only by that of our international exchange students in Pakistan. A select group of forty students, all alumni of the Global UGRAD-Pakistan program, shattered every quantifiable participation record at TechChange for online learning. One student received over a thousand Tech Points (equivalent to nearly 500 posts/replies) for participation, while another student wrote a first draft of their final blog post project on the second day of class. As we mailed out the completion certificates to cities including Lahore, Islamabad and Abbottabad, we wanted to share some thoughts on how online courses like ours can be used to engage with the alumni of exchange programs in the future.

So, in no particular order, here’s four key lessons we’ve learned that might be useful for anyone thinking about using an online course to reach out to international exchange alumni networks.

1.Encourage social learning: Come for the class, stay for the community
On the first day of class, we divided the forty students into four smaller moderated groups of 8-10 students. On the second day of class, the students created their own alumni groups so that they could reconnect with their friends in the Global UGRAD program. This was a surprise for us (as we usually disable this function), but it was also an opportunity for the students to make our platform their own. Instead of closing down on these unauthorized groups, we decided to fork their purposes: “Official” groups would be moderated to advance class discussions and work on projects, while the unofficial alumni groups could be used for off-topic interactions. The decision paid off and we were lucky since the students created their own space for conversation. Next time, we’ll actually plan on letting students create their own groups.

2. Implement collaborative projects: Learn together, work together
As fun as it was to let the students chat among themselves in their alumni years, we didn’t want them to only talk with other students they already knew. The best way we found to stretch the social experience is to give them something to do. So, each week we came up with an exercise:

• Week 1: Students selected health-based questions (specifically on malaria) to be asked in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by GeoPoll, a new text-message based survey tool that allows large-scale polling in hard-to-reach places including Afghanistan and Tunisia.
• Week 2: PEPL created a custom deployment of FrontlineSMS in Pakistan to demonstrate how their mobile polling and metrics and evaluation tools worked.
• Week 3: We received real results from the DRC from GeoPoll, and split the students into teams to verify and map hundreds of reports in a customized Crowdmap using Ushahidi technology.

3. Be aware of local context, but maintain an international focus
Working in Pakistan, we dealt with a gamut of issues: low/sporadic bandwidth, frequent power outages due to load shedding, and other issues which required flexibility and creativity. However, the most important consideration wasn’t the technical, but the social: Based in DC, we had little idea as to what programming in Pakistan is really like. So we quickly reached out to local partners to talk about how they were applying online tools to their work for local challenges, including Khudi who work on counter-radicalization and Pakistan Youth Alliance’s work on aid delivery during floods. However, we also wanted to keep an international focus, and one of the most popular guest experts was from Sri Lanka Unites, where students discovered that their challenges for building a nation and need for an offline strategy are shared around the world.

4. Make it last:
Students taking a four-week online course often are only getting settled in by the end of the first week when they realize that the class is nearly over. That’s why we keep our classes up and site open for three months after the class has concluded. We knew we were onto something when the students’ anguish over losing this opportunity to reconnect was uplifted by the realization that the conversations and collaboration doesn’t have to end when the class does. They’re already online and leaving with a new suite of tools to work together–what more could an educator ask?

In the end, the best way to make the experience last isn’t just to keep a site open, but to continue thinking critically about the best way to integrate online platforms with in-person international exchanges.

To quote our favorite USIP Special Report on Exchange 2.0, we need to make sure international exchange programs:

“Embed the virtues of exchange with ongoing contact. Sponsored exchanges can leverage the investment by enabling participants to remain engaged, continue to enhance their language abilities and cultural understanding, and share their experiences with a broader audience.”

Following this lead we’ve designed our online courses to be platforms for extended social and collaborative learning- and it’s resulted in unprecedented levels of student participation.

We’re sure our four lessons are not comprehensive though, so we’d like to hear from you about effective approaches to online learning and student exchange! Feel free to comment below and we’ll check in regularly. In the meantime, we’ve copied in below some of the course feedback from the Pakistani students. Over to you!

What Our Students Are Saying:

• It is a great course, and you will understand the basic purpose and benefits of social media and how to use them to have a great outcome of it.
• My expectations for the course were beyond imagination. I was able to learn the use of tools that can be applied in times of disaster, when one wants to help his fellows. and the tools and ways of communications that were different from my field
• I would highly recommend my colleagues to learn and experience the beauty of online learning
• I think I would highly recommend this course to all my friends who are running their NGOss or wish to work on welfare projects. It provides us a platform to learn from people who are serving their societies using modern technologies and innovations. Specifically I have learnt how a simple thing like text message can be so useful in collecting data and reaching out to people and revealing the truth.
• If you feel helpless that you can’t help people at the time of disaster then u should take this course because after completing this course you will learn quiet much stuff and you will be everywhere, while at home, to help people in trouble :)
• This was first online course and was very good experience. I gained very much useful information. I would recommend my colleagues to take this course as this is very effective in our daily global networking.
• If one wants to be successful in 21st century .. or really want to be accepted by the fast paced,post modern 21st century .. Then one should make sure to attend this course .. so that he or she will become pro of modern technology,innovations & communication tools. The Ultimate Course of 21st century!!
• Before taking this online course, I could never imagine how effective and engaging an online course can be!
• It is simply the height of innovation – come and experience the uniqueness of this virtual classroom!
• This was a great opportunity for us to learn different issues about social media and communication with the people of different locations. I would say that I have learned how can we make development, how can we work with organizations and how can we use our abilities in a good way… Rob and Stephanie explained different issues very well and i can say that if i started the project about community development that i have to, i wont have any problem and i will be able to overcome the problems correctly…
• It is worth-taking if you really want to explore the communication world, the ways that you would never had imagined!
• If you want to learn more in short time just go for TechChange
• The course is structured in a very learner-friendly style and the moderators are always there to guide you.

Editor’s Note: This post has been revised to reflect corrections submitted by PeaceTXT and Sisi Ni Amani

I’ve long been interested in how new media can play a unifying/integrating role vs. a divisive/partisan one and, in this regard, I came across some interesting information recently on a tool called PeaceTXT that I thought I would share. But, first, some background.

It all started with a meeting hosted by PopTech at Google headquarters in Chicago in May 2010. A group of social mobile leaders—including representatives from Ushahidi and MedicMobile—got together with CeaseFire Chicago, which has a long and impressive history of utilizing “interrupters” to prevent gun violence. The Interrupters is now an award-winning documentary. Based on the premise that violence can spread like a communicable disease from one person to another, CeaseFire uses a public health model that combines science and street outreach to detect violent situations and then applies disciplined strategies to cool the situation down. The question on the table for the exploratory group was what role new technologies could play in interrupting violence. The group worked collaboratively with CeaseFire staff, as well as high risk individuals to gain insights on the “triggers” for violence and, ultimately, developed text messages that could help defuse tensions in the “heat of the moment.”

PeaceTXT was launched at PopTech 2010 as a multidisciplinary project to explore the potential of mobile technology to amplify CeaseFire’s proven approach to reducing violence. The collaborative team developed a variety of messages and a mobile campaign fashioned on the same model as “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk” on the premise that SMS messaging could be used as a supplementary tool to help CeaseFire interrupt gun violence in marginalized neighborhoods.

Concurrently, those behind PeaceTXT have launched a pilot program in Africa as a next step, and before attempting further work on breaking through the infrastructure hurdles in the United States. Work began with Sisi Ni Amani in Kenya. Sisi Ni Amani (“We are Peace” in Swahili) was founded in July 2010 and developed a model to use mobile phones for peace promotion. Under this model, community members subscribe to a phone number in order to receive free SMS on civic education, civic engagement, and peace promotion. All the messages that go out are moderated and created by local chapters, which consists of vetted local peace and civic education leaders. The network in Kenya was at 10,000, and after the first two weeks of outreach supported by PopTech, it has doubled and is now almost 20,000 strong.

One of the longer-term goals is to cool down violence that may be associated with the elections later in 2012. A lot of election violence in early 2008 in Kenya was triggered through rumors, misinformation, and hate speech. Violent actors utilized widespread mobile technology, and specifically SMS, to spread inciting information and to plan and organize attacks. The problem at the time, added Filderman, was that there was little to counteract negative messages and dispel rumors. The aim this time around is to figure out how to use digital platforms to educate voters, to interrupt violent episodes, and as a tool for reconciliation.

PeaceTXT and Sisi Ni Amani are working together—with support from Poptech—to expand the subscriber base. And the Praekelt Foundation (the platform developer for this project) is also involved. Efforts right now are focusing on developing content as well as making the tool more interactive and scalable. There will be an 8-week test phase beginning on 1 April. CeaseFire staff will also be traveling to Kenya in the summer and the trip promises to be a fruitful two-way exchange. The aim is to see how the interrupter model can be adapted to the Kenyan context and also be used in conjunction with the SMS-based programming.

In short, a lot of groups are working together to explore how to effectively use these new tools to both interrupt violence and build networks for peace. It will be interesting to follow what comes out of these initial experiments … to be continued.

For more information, see an Ushahidi blog posted in December, 2011. (Many thanks to Leetha Filderman, Patrick Meier, and Rachel Brown for their input on this article!)

Zarrin Caldwell is a consultant with Global Dreams Consulting.  Her website www.modelsofunity.net examines models that bridge social capital across traditional divides of race, religion, and ethnicity.

Next monday (Feb 20th) we begin the TechChange four week certificate course on New Technologies for Educational Practice. I’m excited to announce that rockstar educator Daryn Cambridge, Director for Knowledge & Digital Strategies at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict adjunct professor at American University will be co-facilitating with me.

We’ve got an amazing group of educators, administrators, practitioners lined up from organizations like Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, UN University for Peace, USAID, Catholic Charities – Refugee Services, German Agency for International Cooperation, Close Up Foundation, IREX, Teachers College, Plan Finland, Graduate School, Marymount University, and more.

We’re also thrilled to welcome a number of guest experts to the course who will be giving presentations, fielding questions and interacting with the class.  A list of confirmed speakers so far (with a few more on the way):

●  Rafi Santo, New media & learning theorist Doctoral Student in Indiana University’s Learning Sciences Program.
●  Julie Lindsay, E-Learning & MYP Coordinator at Beijing International School. Co-founder Flat Classroom Projects
●  Noble Kelley, Executive Director of Teachers Beyond Borders
●  Rangan Srikhanta, Director of OneLaptop Per Child Australia

We’ve got an excited four weeks planned: we’ll be playing some video games for social change, learning about all kinds of new tools for classroom practice, diving a little bit into theories of social learning, active learning, connectivism, hosting twitter chats, discussing tablets and e-textbooks, trying to figure out if m-learning is for real, exploring case studies like Khan Academy, CodeSchool, engaging in online scavenger hunts and so much more.

There are still a few spots left so register today to reserve your spot and hit the ground running!

This past week, Raymond Besiga, my co-fellow on the Global Health Corps fellowship, and I met with Dr.  Paul Muyinda, a leading mLearning practitioner in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2008 Makerere University, started a mobile broadcast system of one way communication to students regarding administrative and academic support information.  This was the first step to an innovative mLearning project.  Since 2011, the distance learning team has been developing a 2 way communication tool of “virtual mLearning”, drawing on collaborative learning theories.  In this case, the student (user) would receive communication from their lecturer, such as a discussion question and respond to it via an assigned response code.  The questions and responses are stored in an online system for later reference by those with Internet access.  “Virtual mLearning” will be deployed in April 2012.

The Department of Open and Distance Learning is also developing a “Virtual mNotice Board”  support tool that will search within the University for the most sought after information.  Instead of students going to campus to find out that they have gone to the wrong office, need a different form, etc, they can search a directory of campus services on their basic mobile phone.

Lecturers are generally motivated to engage in mobile learning as it is convenient for them as well and they are often paid for participating on “External Program” activities.  These lecturers can stay up to date with students using mobile messages and track their students after they leave the classroom.  They do complain about privacy issues with the current mobile broadcast system where students call their personal numbers, send messages at odd hours of the day and are generally “too responsive.”

Dr. Muyinda brought up the issue that Mr. Okumu had discussed earlier this month about the project specific Learning Management Systems.  Each project has its own version of Moodle (in this case) as it is easier to set up and test your own copy than manage the technical bureaucracy of working with the main system during the project development phase.

The biggest problem Dr. Muyinda’s mLearning project faces is funding, where the short code costs US $2000. Also costs of SMS aggregation have to be factored in plus cost of acquiring test equipment.  There are also cost of developing the application itself.

The Project is looking forward to the realization of the Virtual mNotice Board (Virtual mobile learning notice board) and social media for use to achieve third generation open and distance learning.  Virtual mLearning will be piloted in April 2012 and updates will come about the success and challenges of this project.  As more mLearning projects are deployed, we discover more about how to use technology for education and about how we learn.

Makerere University is one of the oldest and most well reputed universities in East Africa. As a leading institution in the field, Makerere, or Mak (pronounced Muuk) as it’s affectionately called, has had a prolific distance learning program since the early 1990s. Much of this program followed the historical route of paper based correspondence learning until the early 2000’s.

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Tomorrow I’ll be giving a talk at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution on how emerging technology and crowdsourcing can enhance academic research in conflict-affected settings.  The TechChange team will be there for the talk, and I’ll be live tweeting the event all day (#confresearch).

Along with my talk, we’ll also be hearing from my George Mason colleagues as they discuss the challenges of protecting their informants in high risk environments, the legal issues of doing field research on terrorist groups, and the logistics of doing research in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

For those who are in the educational and research field, my talk will also be a good opportunity to learn a little more about what TechChange will be covering in their upcoming courses New Technologies for Educational Practice and our soon-to-be-posted Social Media and Technology Tools for Research (July 23 – August 10).

This post was contributed by Ferya, a participant in the TechChange course: “Global Innovations for Global Collaboration” developed for IREX for alumni of the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program in Pakistan, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, US Department of State administered by IREX. Learn more about our online course: New Technologies for Educational Practice

After going through our first class’ assigned reading “How mGive used texting to raise $40 million  for Haiti“, I realised how technology can help us do wonders. I myself have experienced a similar thing in the year 2005. Though it was not exactly the same but the main idea was closely similar.

On October 5 – 2005, Pakistan’s northern areas were hit by an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude, which left around 80,000 people dead and 100,000 injured. The earthquake is said to be the 17th deadliest earthquake the Earth has ever seen.

I was a high school student then and was very disturbed by the occurrence. It was something I had never seen in my life before and was very shaken. I wanted to do something to help my fellow citizens but really did not know what?

In Karachi, by evening everyone was texting each other to pray for the victims. But as time passed, people started exchanging ideas via messages of what can one do to help. People shared messages of possible food items, clothing stuff and medicines that can be donated. Addresses of various donation camps were exchanged throughout. A number of telethons were broadcast with celebrities asking people within the country and abroad, to help the people of the affected areas. Many mobile network companies also provided their services for donations via mobile phones.

The most famous and well organised camp of the city, which was set up by a known TV celebrity, was introduced to the people of the city via messages, that  were circulated religiously.

The word spread and soon the camp was flooded with volunteers as young as kindergarten students and as old as those KG students’ grandparents. People of all age groups, from different social strata and from different professions brought whatever they could get for the victims. The camp stayed open 24/7 for months.

The rehabilitation work was months long and was very organised and well executed. But it would not have been a huge success without the help of the young volunteers who not only contributed in material sense but were physically available all the time for any kind of assistance. And this mobilisation became possible only because everyone was connected via mobile phones.

Apart from messages with lists of needed items, messages with motivational poetry and quotes were also exchanged which helped everyone focus on their only goal – to help, no matter how.

This article is re-posted  from TechChange team member Charles Martin-Shields’s website “Espresso Politics”.  We thank him for being awesome and sharing his stories from paradise with us.  You can follow him at @cmartinshields. 

TechChange has a course coming up that breaks a little bit from the standard “ICT4D” content.  It’s titled “New Technologies for Educational Practice” and I was trying to think of how someone would put this knowledge to use.  It all seemed abstract, so wracked my brain for cases when I used technology in my own educational work, which included two years in Apia, Samoa as a Peace Corps volunteer doing English curriculum development.

While there is content related to video games, web technology and social media, in the TechChange course, I wanted to try to think of a practical example of using technology to enhance learning.

As I thought back to those wistful days in Polynesian tropical paradise, I remembered that a few teachers and I came up with a fun, elegant (IMHO), solution to the problem of Samoan secondary students texting in class.

To put it in context, this was January 2007, and Samoa had just taken their digital mobile phone system online.  Suddenly everyone had a GSM mobile phone and everyone was texting.  Mobile telephony went from 0 – 60 in Samoa almost instantaneously.  Naturally every student in grades 9-12 was texting during class, as rebellious youths are known to do.

The teachers tried the usual methods of corporal punishment, phone confiscation, and detention, but none of this seemed to deter the students from texting.  So I sat down with a few of the teachers over beers and we decided, if you can’t beat them, join them.

Our solution was to make text messaging part of the English learning process.  Students had the opportunity to text each other in class, read the texts (which were teacher approved), and were graded on the accuracy of their spelling and syntax.  The practice sentences of 140 characters or less were easier to handle for speakers of English as a second language, compared with the higher density books, and students could practice from home.

This exercise wasn’t a replacement for the more formal learning that took place in the form of longer texts and written exams, but it provided a space for students to practice using English that was accessible and fun.  While it might not have been a grand strategic shift in pedagogy, mobile technology provided a free tool to enhance the learning experience in a sustainable, enjoyable way.  Of course, I’d love to see comments about all of your experiences with technology, learning and development, since we’re always learning from each other in this space!

If you’re interested in learning more about education and technology, have a look at “The New Technologies for Educational Practice” as well as our other training programs on the TechChange site.

This past Fall, I was fortunate enough to participate in an online course offered by TechChange; Mobiles for International Development – TC105. If you’re unfamiliar with TechChange, their mission is as follows: “TechChange trains leaders to leverage relevant technologies for social change.” There are several resources I look to through my contacts, social media, and research in the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), and TechChange is one on which I strongly rely.

How important is formal education in this rapidly changing and growing field of tech for social change? Due to the fluid nature of technology and the necessity to apply sustainable tech solutions, where they also make sense. It’s important to have educational “institutions” where academics, but more importantly practitioners, can learn, interact and communicate on relevant topics. This serves not just as an educational forum, but a way of sharing best practices, use cases, project successes and failures. We as human beings, learn from these multifaceted approaches, both academic and experiential. Traditional education institutions have been rather slow to integrate the ICT4D discipline into formal graduate level degree programs, with a couple of exceptions at the University of Manchester and the University of Colorado – Boulder. So TechChange and their curriculum is serving to bridge the gap in education with their certificate courses. Other offerings in the TechChange catalog are listed here.

So this brings me to the title of this post, Planting Seeds. Through the TechChange blended learning environment, Twitter chats, Skype calls, etc…I was able to meet “like minded souls” already working in the social change space in Haiti. Once I found I’d be traveling to Haiti to conduct some work and assessments for our Notre Dame Haiti Program and two additional TechChange TC105 students were already working in the country, we discussed getting together for an informal lunch meeting to discuss mobile tech and more specifically, the application of FrontlineSMS in our respective programs. The seeds were planted!

 Our TC105 moderator for Team Deserts, Flo Scialom (Community  Manager extraordinaire of FrontlineSMS in the UK), offered her  expertise in community building to help pull us, and others together.  Each day, as we criss-crossed Port-au-Prince and Leogane with  meetings at various ISP’s and Mobile Network Operators, I’d get an  email from Flo, “Tom, do you have room for one more?”, “Do you  have space for another?”…etc…The seeds were watered and nurtured!

So what started with three or four for an informal lunch, turned into  17 individuals, representing five continents and eight countries – and  a full blown FrontlineSMS meet-up luncheon at the Babako  Restaurant in Port-au-Prince. The organizations at the table  represented many sectors in the aid and development community: microfinance, sexual violence, IDP camp resettlements, human rights abuses, education, and public health. It really was inspiring to look around that table and realize how many Haitians were benefiting from the dedication of these individuals and their organizations. A true force multiplier! The seeds sprout!

The talk revolved around FrontlineSMS setup, configuration and use cases, as well as other mobile and open-source tools in the social change arena, such as RapidSMS, Ushahidi, OpenMRS, openrosa, and more. So this group was not so much about a single software application, but more about affecting change with any technology – fostering a community of practice around ICT4D/M4D, and educating ourselves about opportunities for change using technology. The flower blooms!

The big win was looking around the table, as diverse as our needs and applications are; we all shared a common purpose, enthusiasm and a collective knowledge, to affect positive change with technology. It’s my hope this group will continue to grow – to blossom to include others and be self sustaining, which will amplify the positive impact for our Notre Dame Haiti Program, the other organizations at the meet-up and ultimately the Haitian people.

TechChange Year In Review

We’ve posted the video slideshow of our year in review, but we need your help to pick the accompanying music!

Tweet your suggestions @TechChange using #TCParty or just use the comments section below.

Suggestions from our staff:

• Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changing
• Theme: 2001 A Space Odyssey
• Blind Melon: Change
• Daft Punk: Around The World

See why we need the help?

Suggestions from Twitter:

• What abt RCHP "Can't stop" ? that seems apt. @TechChange @amaniinst @neuguy #TCparty

  December 2, 2011 2:05 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

  

  @vargheseanand

  Anand Varghese
• @techchange What about something by Thievery Corporation? #TCParty

  December 2, 2011 2:00 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

  

  @cmartinshields

  CharlesMartinShields
• #tcparty 'maps' by yeah yeah yeahs, 'technologic' by daft punk, 'computer love' or 'pocket calcularor' by kraftwerk

  December 2, 2011 1:47 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

  

  @thomandini

  Taylor Thomander
• @TechChange #TCParty music suggestion: The Romantics: What I Like About You http://t.co/JFJXdJWM

  December 2, 2011 12:33 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

  

  @neuguy

  Christopher Neu