Spring Newsletter

DIL Shares Localized Approach at UNESCO Mobile Learning Week in Paris

“Teachers are at the center of changes,” declared Mr. Markus Terho, Nokia’s head of sustainability at the opening ceremony of UNESCO Mobile Learning Week, which convened in Paris, France in February. The opening ceremony set the stage for a showcase of projects, including Developments in Literacy’s (DIL’s) Strengthening Content Knowledge of 200 Teachers via the Mobile Learning project.

DIL’s USAID-funded project is currently being implemented in four provinces across Pakistan and is one of approximately 60 out of a record number of projects selected to be presented at this international symposium dedicated to “empowering teachers with technology.”

Having operated schools in Pakistan since 1997, DIL is now at the forefront of leveraging mobile technology to improve teacher capacity.

“What makes DIL’s Mobile Learning project unique is the strong focus on quality and painstaking efforts we’ve made to localize content,” said Ms. Fiza Shah, DIL’s Founder and CEO.

In fact, customizing contextually appropriate mobile learning content was the topic of DIL’s presentation made at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The presentation provided a template for systematically evaluating open education resources (OERs) based on Developments in Literacy’s experience implementing a mobile learning intervention across Pakistan impacting 200 Math and English primary teachers.

Mobile learning practitioners and policy makers from around the world viewed the conference. Those who design mobile learning activities gained exposure to useful tools needed to anticipate local needs of rural populations. Policy makers came away better informed on how to assess mobile learning initiatives for quality to ensure teachers and students are provided appropriate content that they may readily apply in the classroom and to their lives.

DIL’s practical approach—with a strong focus on teachers and anticipated growth in learning outcomes— was presented alongside experts in the mobile learning field, and provided a refreshing compliment to the large-scale programs also featured at the event.