Using EdTech in Settings of Fragility, Conflict and Violence: A Curated Resource List

Abstract

This curated list of resources collates interventions that effectively deploy education technology in settings of fragility, conflict and violence (FCV). The World Bank (2020) states that by 2030 FCV settings will be home to up to two thirds of the world’s extreme poor; these settings have become increasingly complex over the past decade, with the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to exacerbate existing challenges. This list explores effective uses of EdTech in FCV settings. It particularly emphasises interventions and evidence relevant to the Yemeni context and distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis. These resources were selected with the intention to include practical recommendations on technology-enabled interventions which could support a proposed national distance learning system in Yemen.

Is a Phone‐Based Language and Literacy Assessment a Reliable and Valid Measure of Children's Reading Skills in Low‐Resource Settings?

“…Using a phone to assess language and literacy requires that the child understands how to use the technology, can hear any instructions and test items, and completes an assessment without scaffolding from a parent or older sibling. Literary assessments specifically require a child to read visual stimuli (i.e., read a list of words, read a passage), which are particularly challenging to administer using a simple phone relative to numeracy assessments (Angrist et al, 2020a; Joshi & Sudhanshu, 2021; Khurana, Kruske, et al, 2022; Khurana, Levin, et al, 2022; Koomar & Blest, 2020).…”

“…In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID‐19 (coronavirus disease 2019) a pandemic that triggered a global lockdown with consequences for nearly every sector of society, including in‐person scientific research. To mitigate the public health risks of in‐person research, researchers rapidly pivoted from in‐person to technology‐based remote data collection (Angrist et al, 2020a; Angrist et al, 2020b; Anwyl‐Irvine et al, 2020; Joshi & Sudhanshu, 2021; Khurana, Kruske, et al, 2022; Khurana, Levin, et al, 2022; Koomar & Blest, 2020; Nshimbi et al, 2020). There is now an emerging area of interest in remote data collection (e.g., video calls using platforms such as Zoom or Skype).…”

EdTechfor Ugandan girls: Affordances of different technologies for girls' secondary education during the Covid‐19 pandemic

“…For example, the MobiLiteracy Uganda Program (Pouezevara & King, 2014 ) sought to enhance literacy in primary school pupils (Grades 1 and 2) through audio content and SMS support. Twaweza’s two programmes, Uwezo and Sauti za Wananchi (cited in Koomar & Blest, 2020 ), also used this platform to conduct an annual citizen‐led assessment of children’s learning levels and a nationally representative interactive voice response (IVR) mobile phone survey, respectively.…”