What are the most exciting examples of AI for Education Training and Learning, particularly for adult learning and global development?

Here are the 6 things I’m most excited about (some which we’re already doing on the AI front at TechChange) 

1. Powering captioning and translation services: Translating training and learning materials has been a huge challenge for TechChange over the past decade. I see huge potential in the global development sector for AI technology to reduce cost and time needed to translate and caption content for our cohort based learning experiences. Live captioning for our events has also been something we’ve worked hard on through partnerships and the AI for live captioning continues to improve. And lastly our multilingual learning and events platform is already available in dozens of languages but AI tech has opened up the possibility for hundreds more less spoken languages to more efficiently be used in our stack. 

2. Creating more opportunities for accessibility. The AI accessibility revolution is upon us. We are big on inclusion at TechChange from making our courses 508 compliant to providing sign language service options for our partners for virtual and hybrid conferences. AI tech will allow us to provide more inclusive spaces for those who need it. 

3. Generating virtual environments and scenarios for simulation-based learning: Simulations are a powerful way to build skills and demonstrate learning. I see huge potential for AI to power the building of complex scenarios and environments quickly and efficiently, especially when paired with VR/AR. At TechChange we have designed many 3D virtual environments for events and conferences and are excited to be piloting some immersive training projects with several partners this year. Get in touch if you are interested in working with us on this. 

4. Recommendation and matching engines: At TechChange we believe that building relationships is as important as building skills. We are social creatures and we learn better with other people. That’s why we’re excited to experiment in the coming months with engines and tools that help facilitate networking connections and personalized learning experiences for our learning cohorts. 

5. Summary generation: ChatGPT and other tools are great for generating content but I am really excited about summary generation. We have been capturing summaries for meetings, summaries for trainings, summaries for conferences, etc. – Both text based and video based – that can be easily processed and shared at speed. In today’s FOMO world I think this is a powerful application that will only improve.  

6. AI-supported workshops and trainings: We also see potential for using ChatGPT and other tools within flow of activities exercises to support learning outcomes for both in person and virtual experiences. AI can help to do time bound do-read outs of group conversations, support with research and synthesis prompts, pair groups and participants up more effectively based on specific criteria and more. 

7. ???

Educators and global development professionals- Curious what you think? How are you using AI to support your learning outcomes? 

Some other news… 

We are excited to bring back our AI for global development online cohort course. This was one of our more popular offerings from 2017-2020 and given the interest and demand in 2023, we are thrilled to be revamping it and adding additional content related to ethics and responsible data. 

We don’t have a specific date yet but you can register for the waitlist here

Get in touch if you want to explore how TechChange can support you in delivering best-in-class AI-powered learning and convening experiences.

What does it take to create an engaging, online learning experience? TechChange aimed to answer this question in their trip to El Salvador in 2018. The team, in partnership with USAID Domestic Resource Mobilization Project implemented by DAI, traveled to the country’s capital San Salvador to deliver a two-day workshop for government officials working to build up their local eLearning capacity.

The workshop, entitled “The Fundamentals of Online Learning,” focused on the TechChange model for designing self-paced content, leading participants through the steps in our project life cycle – from the kickoff to the finalization and everything in between.

Our team began the workshop by presenting the basic theory behind our instructional design process, sharing our templates for effective scripting and storyboarding, and moved on to introducing two industry standard tools for authoring courses – Camtasia 9 and Articulate 360 – and our best practices for using this software.

Participants integrate Camtasia screencasts into their Articulate file.

Throughout the two day workshop, participants shared the training challenges that they were facing in their daily work and used them as real-life case studies for the group. We used these challenges as inspiration for the final project and asked the participants to separate into teams and create their own short, self-paced Articulate learning solutions, complete with a script, storyboard, narration, images, and interactions.

Teammates work together to develop a self-paced Articulate project.

A lively round of presentations and applause finished out the workshop and each participant received a signed certificate of completion. The participants hope to use their eLearning skills to promote transparent government and development and create educational resources for all Salvadoran citizens.

 

The TechChange team recently returned to Maputo, Mozambique for the culmination of a two-year long partnership with the Coastal City Adaptation Project (CCAP), a USAID-sponsored program dedicated to preparing Mozambican urban centers for the adverse effects of climate change. The purpose of the trip was to deliver an intensive, three-day technical workshop on eLearning hosting and management in Articulate 360 and JoomlaLMS.

Shannon demonstrates the features of JoomlaLMS.

Our team first traveled to Maputo in January of 2017 to conduct a series of interviews with key stakeholders involved in climate change adaptation efforts around the country. After the trip, we worked closely with the CCAP staff to produce a comprehensive four-module, self-paced course that familiarized users to the science of climate change and its impacts; the fundamentals of adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and resilience. The course was developed with custom assets made by our Creative Team using Articulate Storyline 360 and localized into Mozambican Portuguese.  

Isabel assists a workshop participant with his demo course.

The objective of the workshop was to train the Knowledge Management Center, an organization sponsored by Eduardo Mondlane University, on how to edit and maintain an Articulate Storyline 360 project, and how to host the course online using JoomlaLMS. The team split the three days between teaching the basics of Storyline 360, walking through the best practices of managing an LMS, working through class activities and presentations, and troubleshooting any questions regarding Storyline 360 or JoomlaLMS. By the end of the third day, the majority of participants reported on our post-workshop assessments that they had a firmer grasp on how to manage and maintain an eLearning course.

Throughout the workshop, we captured many images and videos that will be used to support CCAP in their course promotion efforts. CCAP plans to launch the course in early spring and we can’t wait for this unique Portuguese resource to come online!

The TechChange team with the workshop participants.

by mPowering and TechChange

mPowering Frontline Health Workers is delighted to introduce a new video, developed with TechChange, that explains how publishing content under a Creative Commons license can maximize the reach and impact of health training materials.

Frontline health workers play a vital role in delivering health services to their communities. Yet these health workers often lack the training and information they need to feel confident and to do their jobs effectively. NGOs, academics, and governments are all developing materials to improve training, but often the content is not widely shared and does not reach the people who need it the most.

To address the shortage of high-quality health training content, and to ensure this is available for sharing widely between health workers, their trainers, NGOs, Ministries and others, mPowering launched ORB.

ORB

ORB is an open source content platform that connects health workers and training organizations with mobile optimized training content and job aids. With a focus on quality, ORB brings together multimedia content (videos, audio and text files) that can be used to deliver educational programs, refresher training, or counseling tools for health workers.

All of the content on ORB is released under one of the six Creative Commons licenses. Publishing under a Creative Commons license means that authors can retain their intellectual property while allowing others to re-use and share their materials. In many cases, users can also adapt and translate the content for use in a wide range of contexts.

mPowering believes that health content is a public good. Training resources, health information and job aids for health workers contain life-saving information and should be shared as widely as possible. Creative Commons or other open licensing allows more people to access this information. It also saves time and costs so that training can happen faster; and content can be remixed, translated, and compiled into courses.

This video gives more information on what Creative Commons licenses are, how they work, and why they matter. TechChange developed the animation to represent diversity and access to information; and to communicate the significance of a Creative Commons license in public health training. Through the short and compelling animation, TechChange delivers this core mPowering message – make health content freely available – in a simple and powerful way.

To learn more about how you can apply Creative Commons licensing to your work, we invite you to watch the short video and read the FAQ on ORB, or to contact mPowering at info@mpoweringhealth.org

This post also appeared on mPowering Frontline Health Workers blog

Should you answer a text message while talking with your supervisor? How do you resolve workplace conflicts with your colleagues? A new online version of IYF’s Passport to Success® life skills curriculum is helping prepare young hospitality staff to answer these kinds of important on-the-job questions.

Educators and employers all over the world have relied on in-person PTS training to equip young people for the world of work. Now, more youth than ever will have the chance to learn, improve, and practice their life skills through Passport to Success for Hospitality Online, the first of its kind web-based, proprietary life skills instruction.

IYF developed this interactive animated course for Hilton Worldwide and their team members. Each of the course’s five modules, summarized in the introductory video below, highlights essential skills in a simulated, fictional hotel:

  • Communication and interpersonal skills: At the Hotel Aquatic, a luxury underwater hotel, learners practice listening, asking questions, and being assertive.
  • The hospitality mindset: This module reinforces having a positive attitude and respecting diversity and personal values at the Desert Oasis, a peaceful desert retreat.
  • Responsibility and ownership: Learners practice setting goals, respecting themselves and others, and managing their time at the first-class Alpine Lodge ski resort.
  • Problem solving and critical thinking: Skills taught in the simulated rainforest Treetop Ecoresort include stress management, conflict resolution, and being a team player.
  • Business etiquette and professionalism: Set at Skyline Suites, top business hotel, this module introduces workplace protocols, the keys to being a good employee, and teamwork.

IYF collaborated with Hilton Worldwide to ensure industry and brand relevance and TechChange, a technology for development company, to build colorful and fun activities to bring the online learning experience to life. IYF has a long history of adapting PTS to meet industry and local needs; now, with life skills online, we are increasing access to this proven program. Under water, in the desert, or in a rainforest, your passport is waiting.

To learn how your company or institution can use Passport to Success to achieve business and social goals, contact Karen Phillips.

Interested to see how TechChange can support your organization’s training? Check out our enterprise page!

(This post was originally published on International Youth Foundation’s blog)

When setting new year’s resolutions, we often set goals that include getting healthier, improving our relationships, and advancing our careers. We are fortunate to live in an era where the Internet contains an enormous amount of educational content including online courses that can keep our skills sharp and expertise relevant in a competitive global job market. However, it can be tough to keep up with the all the webinars, articles, blog posts, industry publications, and online courses with life’s competing demands.

Here are some tips on sticking with your professional development goals through online learning from several members of the TechChange alumni community.

1. Define your end goal
Be clear on what you want to get out of the online class. Catherine Shen likes to approach online learning by looking at two specific types of benefits: 1) concrete skills or knowledge, and 2) a course certificate to provide evidence of these new skills or knowledge. “By clearly defining what you want from an educational experience, you are more likely to keep motivated throughout the course with your goals you want to achieve in mind. This goal-oriented mindset is especially important to maintain the discipline needed to regularly log into your courses to earn that certificate when you’d rather be eating chili and watching Game of Thrones,” says Catherine.

Perhaps your goal might include getting a new job or switching to a more social mission-driven career. If that is the case, look at an interactive online learning experience as an investment toward achieving these goals by networking with professionals who could connect you to your next opportunity. Maybe your goal might be to get up to speed on any new industry vocabulary/jargon that you need to be aware of for your current or next job.

2. Schedule in your online learning time like you’d schedule a meeting.
Block off a regular time for your outside learning. Routines can be helpful to structure in time set aside, which might be a daily time or a weekly day for a few weeks. With this regimen in place, you’ll mentally prepare yourself and budget the time needed to get the work done.

If your online course has live interactive learning components like several TechChange courses do, make sure to take advantage of these live sessions as much as possible.

According to mHealth alumna, Lauren Bailey, it is very important to “be diligent and set aside time every day to log into the course — even if you can only spend 20 minutes. Try to attend live events and make sure to ask questions that enhance the discussion.”

Serial TechChange serial alumna Carolyn Florey also agrees with Lauren about the importance of live events. “Make attending live events a priority. Look at the live event discussions as part of your continuing education,” says Carolyn. “Rarely will you get an hour of access to these industry experts. “

According to Mobiles for International Development alumna, Ivy McCottry, who now works at AT&T, “The ‘live event’ sessions are very helpful. Even though these sessions are recorded and archived, it’s good to sit in live because you can contribute questions in real time and process the context of what’s being presented. You also don’t have to mull over content independently – you can send questions immediately or expand on an idea that has been mentioned. When attending these events, I always made sure the facilitator knew I was there at the session so my interests would be covered in the presentation.”

3. Focus on what you’re most interested in and what is most relevant for you.
As mentioned earlier, knowing your end goals helps you focus when your time and energy is limited. “The more you know precisely what you want to gain from the course, the more you will get out of it as you can prioritize those topics and ask questions that will focus discussions on areas you care about most,” said Ivy.

According to mHealth alumni, Dr. Layla McCay, “Various exercises [in TechChange courses] are tailored to what I happen to be interested in so I don’t have to complete every single thing. I can just see what’s relevant for me and take a deep dive into that.”

 

4. Integrate and apply coursework into your current (or dream) job

Especially for professionals who get professional development funding from their employers, it can be very helpful to set expectations with a supervisor before beginning a course to discuss how to apply learnings into current or future projects. Applying your new skills/knowledge to your work could mean starting a new project or sharing your learnings with a team-wide presentation or brown bag lunch sharing session. By making your employer aware of your professional development goals and let them know how you’re going to use this class next in your work to benefit an organization, you can further your career.

Mobiles for International Development alumnus, Trevor Knoblich, recommends leveraging TC105 or other courses within your own organization. “If you’re advocating for your organization to adopt new mobile tools and applications, you will have a variety of useful materials from TC105 to help make your case,” says Trevor.

Many TechChange alumni also use their online courses as a testing ground to experiment with new technologies in their current work projects. For example, Sairah Yusuf at Generation for Peace did so by visualizing the participants of a training program by creating a map of participants across the Middle East using MapBox. A team based in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City at FHI 360 Vietnam created mHealth pilots to address HIV based on the knowledge they acquired from taking their mHealth online course as a group.

5. Make connections by participating as much as you can.
Ivy highly recommends networking with guest speakers and course participants. “If speakers represent organizations that you want access to, definitely enroll in the course. The access that TechChange provides at this dollar value is unheard of and a great return on investment,” said Ivy. “Read profiles of other people who were taking the class and alumni as well. I was definitely inspired by the success stories of Carolyn Florey and Trevor Knoblich who advanced in their careers with the help of TechChange courses.”

Carolyn also suggested for online learners to “Read through other participants’ comments and questions. Often, other participants will have experience you don’t, so they’ll have some informed questions and insightful comments.”

According to Trevor, “You’ll ultimately get more out of the course the more engaged you are with your classmates, the professionals who are presenting, and the TechChange staff.”

Lauren agreed. “Be sure to reach out to classmates and find out more about their backgrounds and career paths. It’s great to have connections from all across the globe!” Throughout the duration of the course and even after, there will be opportunities to connect with course participants online and offline, from Washington,DC to Lusaka, Zambia.

 

Any other tips that have worked for you? Please share your online learning tips in the comments or tweet us @TechChange. Don’t forget to invest in your career by taking a course with us.

Filming of Malaria Consortium staff doctor counselling a client on proper treatment of malaria. Uganda. (Photo credit: Maddy Marasciulo-Rice, Malaria Consortium)

Malaria in Context

There is an undeniable malaria problem in the world today. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2014, half of the world’s population is at-risk, hundreds of millions of cases are reported each year, and hundreds of thousands die annually of this disease. Around 90% of these cases occur in Africa, with children under 5 years old making up the largest demographic affected.

The burden of this disease on the health care systems of developing countries is immense: Uganda has the highest malaria incidence rate in the world with 478 cases per 1,000 population per year. Fully half of inpatient pediatric deaths in Uganda are caused by this disease and in Nigeria, the most populous African country, 97% of the population is at risk.

(Source: WHO 2013 Global Malaria Report)

How are the countries of Uganda and Nigeria addressing malaria?

While both Uganda and Nigeria have national malaria control and elimination programs, due to long waiting periods and frequent stock outs of the appropriate medications at local health facilities,  individuals prefer to go to private clinics, pharmacies and local drug shops to solve their health needs. When these pharmacists―often untrained in accurately diagnosing febrile illnesses―see a client complaining of fever, they often presumptively prescribe antimalarial medicines. The reverse scenario is also a common problem: pharmacists do not always give out artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs) when it is actually needed.

Pharmacists in Uganda

Pharmacists in Uganda assist customers with recommending antimalarial medications (Photo credit: Maddy Marasciulo-Rice, Malaria Consortium)

Presumptive treatment ― the overuse of antimalarials greatly increases the chances that malaria parasite resistance will develop and spread. In the future we might have one less weapon in our arsenal against these parasites. This overuse also means that the medicine is put over

How can rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) help treat malaria?

Fortunately, rapid diagnostic tests, or RDTs, allow malaria to be diagnosed quickly, accurately, and cheaply, using only a drop of blood and a few drops of a solution. The problem is―there is no official quality control within the private healthcare sector―the pharmacists who provide the RDT to the patient have no way to choose a good RDT from the many options on the market and the wrong choice could lead to inaccurate diagnosis. Furthermore, many of the RDT sales representatives haven’t been trained to properly explain their product to their clients.

Challenges of RDT Training for Malaria in Uganda and Nigeria

RDTs to test for malaria and drugs to treat the disease are currently available in the private healthcare sector. However, there are several challenges to scaling up RDTs in this sector in Uganda and Nigeria.

1. Lack of training with Rapid Diagnostic Testing Materials

The primary barrier to appropriate care is the lack of training among pharmacists and RDT sales providers about how to use the test and interpret the results correctly to effectively diagnose and treat a range of febrile illnesses.

Malaria Consortium, based in the UK, is one of the world’s leading non-profit organizations specializing in the prevention, control, and treatment of malaria and other tropical diseases. Their projects can be found across twelve countries in Africa and Southeast Asia. The organization strives to find effective and sustainable ways to control and manage malaria through research, implementation, and policy development. They came up with the design for a plan that could greatly help manage the disease in both Nigeria and Uganda:

If the RDT sales representatives and RDT providers can be trained to correctly use the RDTs and recognize the symptoms associated not only with malaria but with other common illnesses, then the burden of misdiagnosis and mistreatment can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, as the sales representatives travel and frequently interact with providers, they can act as trainers and further disseminate the knowledge and skills necessary to accurately diagnose and treat these diseases.

2. Prohibitively high costs

The costs associated with arranging such a training are enormous―between transporting the students and teachers to a centralized location, renting a venue, arranging lodging, and coordinating a schedule, the budget for a large-scale training would quickly be out of control. Additionally, pharmacy owners and other stakeholders working in the private sector would most likely have to assume a loss of revenue during their time away from their business while at a training.

3. Technical limitations

An eLearning platform is much more ideal for these circumstances―it’s flexible, participants don’t need to travel far, you need fewer instructors, and the information can be processed at the student’s pace and repeated when necessary. The information is also standardized and consistent, which means that a large number of people can benefit from a high quality training experience.

 But how do you deliver an eLearning course when your audience has intermittent power and whose computers are not only often out-of-date, but lack the RAM, bandwidth, and software standards that such hi-tech learning platforms have come to expect?

eLearning Solutions for Reaching 3000+ Healthcare Providers for Malaria

Malaria Consortium partnered with TechChange to build a comprehensive digital course to train private sector health workers and RDT sales representatives in this context. This 11 module course includes around 400 slides for 6 hours of content takes participants through the biology behind the malaria parasite, discusses the medical philosophy behind diagnostic practices, and walks users through interactive scenarios for patients presenting a range of symptoms.

Testing TechChange Malaria Consortium modules in Uganda

Sales representatives and drug store owners in Uganda testing eLearning modules designed by TechChange and Malaria Consortium on rapid diagnostic testing for malaria. (Photo credit: Catherine Shen, TechChange)

1. Offline access and Ease of Use

Despite significant benefits such as flexibility and scalability, e-learning courses also face challenges in the developing world. Lack of sufficient internet bandwidth, reliable computers, and computer skills can pose major barriers to a training’s effectiveness.

To troubleshoot the technical issues, this course is designed to require nothing more than a computer and headphones – it comes preloaded onto USB drives so not even an Internet connection is necessary, allowing health workers in even the most rural areas to access this training. A computer tutorial is also included for health workers with little to no prior experience with computers. Our tech team is also devoted to helping solve any other technical issues that arise due to out-of-date software and hardware malfunctions, working as a remote IT team as Malaria Consortium rolls out the project.

 2. Localized content

In addition to including the relevant national laws, case studies, and local examples, the narration features Nigerian and Ugandan voice actors, art, and scenarios to make the training as culturally-relevant as possible.

 3. Hybrid learning

Only one part of the training won’t be computer-based; participants will still practice actually conducting the RDT tests in a face-to-face session before they begin pricking patient’s fingers for diagnosis.

The course is designed to reach upwards of 3,000 healthcare providers in the two countries and build their capacity to effectively serve their community’s needs. We look forward to seeing the impact of this training in improving quality of care in Uganda and Nigeria hopefully in the near future.

To learn more about TechChange’s custom training solutions, please contact us at info@techchange.org.

Emily Fruchterman, Catherine Shen, & Charlie Weems contributed to this post.

TechChange Program Coordinator Matthew Heck explains technical aspects of Google Maps Engine to UN Summer Academy Director, Patrick van Weerelt (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

In June 2014, TechChange Founder & CEO Nick Martin and Program Coordinator Matthew Heck conducted a training at the 2014 United Nations Summer Academy at the UN headquarters in New York City. 45 participants from across the UN system based in 25 different countries joined Nick, Matt, and TechChange Mobiles for International Development alumnus and guest expert, Arjen Swank of Text to Change in a hands-on workshop on “How to use innovation and technology for development”.

In the session, participants learned about and experimented with online tools for development including CommCare, Google Maps Engine, Magpi, Open Data Kit, and OpenStreetMap, Text to Change, TextIt, and more.

Here are some highlights from the workshop:

Nick Martin at 2014 UN Summer Academy

Nick Martin meets the participants of the 2014 UN Summer Academy and gives a quick introduction about TechChange and ICT4D.

 

Arjen Swank TTC at UN Summer Academy

TechChange TC105 alumnus Arjen Swank leads a workshop on TTC for the participants (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

Check out Arjen’s latest blog post on the training and “Why basic mobile technology is still powerful” here and the UN’s summary of the event here.

Arjen Swank TTC at UN Summer Academy2

In smaller break-out groups, Arjen Swank demos how Text to Change can be used via tablet (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

OpenStreetMap UN Summer Academy 2014 demo

UN Summer Academy participants experiment with OpenStreetMap (Photo: S5R3 / Simon Ruf).

If your organization is interested in training with TechChange online or in-person on technology for social change, please contact us at info [at] techchange [dot] org.

Tech entrepreneurs of the world unite! Last Friday, TechChange was proud to present on a short panel for The Tunisia Community College Scholarship Program (TCCSP) at the 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, MD. The Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Program, TCCSP “builds the workforce capacity of a diverse group of Tunisian students in technical fields through US-based training and practical experience in their professional fields through academic study, community engagement activities, and internships.”

TechChange has participated in similar student programs with TechGirls for #JobShadow day and IREX’s Global UGRAD-Pakistan program, but we found this topic particularly urgent given the continuing youth unemployment crisis in Tunisia. However, while the specific panel topic was “Journeys to Global Citizenship and Professional Success,” but the best part of the event was listening to the students pitch their ideas and professional goals during a poster session on “My Professional Self-Portrait.”

Picture of discussion during poster session at IREX

 

While walking around and chatting with the students, three lessons stood out:

1) Combine tech, design, and entrepreneurship

There was one moment while walking around where I saw three “Professional Self-Portraits” next to each other. The first was for graphic design, the second for network engineers, and the third was for starting a small business for IT solutions.

2) Pitch your ideas, but listen more

Turns out the idea of starting a business wasn’t unique! During the panel, I asked the audience to raise their hand if they intended to start a business someday. About half of the hands went up. But more impressive than those starting a business were those who took time in the event to connect.

3) Networking is key

A funny thing happened when I started talking to the three students mentioned earlier — they started to listen and talk to one another. Given that successful startups often require two or three founders with synergistic–not overlapping–skill sets, this gives me hope that the relationships will continue after the students leave DC.

 

If some of these lessons seem familiar, well, they’re pretty much spot-on for what the industry professionals came up during #EdTech for the last Tech@State. Thanks again to IREX for hosting us last week — we’re proud to take part and excited to see where this program goes next!

Photo credit: Images taken and provided by IREX.

Last Thursday, TechChange was proud to participate in the TechGirls program by inviting two young women from the Middle East to shadow our team during a work day. While we’ve always been committed to tech capacity building in the Middle East, it had been almost two years since we conducted a series of trainings in the West Bank, and we couldn’t pass up a chance to invite future colleagues into our home and share our enthusiasm. According to the State Department, the TechGirls program:

“[P]rovides girls from the Middle East and North Africa with the knowledge and resources to pursue higher education and careers in technology. This program builds on the U.S. global commitment to advance the rights of women and girls around the world.”

Nagham joined us from Nablus, Palestine. She is 16 and started using the computer at the age of 5; and she would like to study IT or Science. Nagham expects to improve her programming and game design skills. Sondos is from Zarqa, Jordan. She is 16 years old and has taken classes in robotics, Visual Basic, Oracle, Invention, Photoshop and HTML and SQL programming. Sondos is especially interested in pursuing technological interests that will aid the field of medicine.

With that in mind, we set up a variety of hands-on workstations that included:

Hands-On Coding and Electronics: Combining Art, Problem-solving, and Circuitry

Screenshot of our office temperature as measured by Arduino sensor.

Python-powered office temperature website

Since both TechGirls were interested in both programming and hardware, we started off with our in-house code ninja, Michael Holachek. Michael is 18, an avid robotics enthusiast, and will be attending MIT in the Fall to study Electrical Engineering. Michael started off with a short discussion about the connection between art and electronics (including a TED talk on painting circuits), introduced some basic programming in C and Python, and then demoed a few cool circuits on the Arduino and Raspberry Pi. They then worked together to make a TechChange mood lamp that played the TechChange theme song and display the office temperature on a website. At the end of the session, Sondos and Nagham came up with several ideas for applying these new skills to new problems, including attaching a room thermometer to an Arduino board to trigger an alert if the room became too hot for a baby.

Making Graphic Elements: Generating and Animating TechGirls Avatars

With their new Arduino boards built, both Nagham and Sondos sat down with Pablo Leon and Rachel Roth to try illustrating themselves and then animating their avatars in After Effects. Rachel provided a sketch of our guests and then we loaded them on our custom tablets for illustration. Trying their hands with our stylus, they learned about creating layers, sorting into folders, using filters, etc.

Illustrated avatars of TechGirls

New avatars illustrated by TechGirls!

After they finished creating avatars, Alon Askarov demonstrated how to use the Puppet tool to teach them how create short animations. Given that we were limited by time and that TechChange animations take time (see our blog post on this), these were kept to minimal facial expressions, but we still had fun doing it!

A brief animated loop of Sondos

Animated Sondos

Designing a Four-Week Course: A Tour of mHealth

Since Sondos was interested in public health projects, we tried to show off what we’d been working on for our mHealth and maternal health initiatives. We opened up the most recent course that we had built with the UN Foundation on Mobile Phones for Public Health,but rather than the speakers or content, what seemed to be the most interesting was the 161 participants in the course from all around the world. We agree: It is pretty cool.

Student map from our mHealth class

Student map from our mHealth class

But on top of the novelty, we also chatted about how we believed connecting these students was a core part of online learning — not just transferring knowledge on technology, but building a community of practice. After all, technology is the easy part when it comes to mHealth.

Building Interactive Learning Experiences in Articulate

TechGirls Articulate screenshot

But a platform isn’t enough for online learning. Catherine Shen discussed how to structure content for educational purposes. This meant walking through the current courses being designed for State Department, USAID, and the World Bank. Catherine used a current course from OTI Lebanon on advocacy for the TechGirls to see the mechanics of course design at work.

The TechGirls then created a short interactive presentation on their TechChange day, integrating their animated avatar with a survey that the girls used to tell us about their experience. Using a Likert scale, the girls gave their impressions of their shadow day.

The results were clear: Both of our participants strongly agreed that the job shadow day was fun and inspiring, in addition to being informative and interactive.

It was for us as well. Thanks to the TechGirls team for joining us!

Funny group picture of TechChange and TechGirls

Thanks TechGirls!

This post was written with contributions from the entire TechChange team. Thanks specifically to Catherine Shen and Michael Holachek for contributions in the sections above.