Workshop summary

This workshop was a step towards the development of a toolkit that will assist education policy-makers, planners and practitioners in harnessing the potential of ICTs to meet educational goals efficiently and effectively.

Attended by experts from the Commonwealth of Learning, the Educational Development Centre Pakistan, Knowledge Enterprise Inc, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning and World Bank Institute and policy-makers and practitioners from Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Samoa and Thailand, the 3-day workshop was spent in better defining policy-makers' needs, facilitating agreement on a clear ‘blueprint’ for a toolkit, while at the same time gathering transnational support for further development and piloting of the toolkit. Below is a more detailed description of how the three days were spent.

Country presentations
One of the expected outputs of the workshop was the clear articulation and documentation of user needs. To this end, representatives from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Pacific Island Countries (PAC), Pakistan, Thailand and Samoa each made a presentation.

Ms. Marilyn Jeffery gave an overview of the use of ICT in Cambodia: its history, obstacles to change, ICT stimuli, and what was still needed for ICT development in the country. She also gave detail on a UNESCO teacher training project.

Mr. Rusjdy Sjakyakirti Arifin from Indonesia spoke of his government’s five year action plan (2002-2007) and pointed out that this implementation process should be an integrated process if it was to be effective.

Mr. Steve Baxendale talked of ICT Planning and Policy in the Pacific Island Countries (northern countries). For example, he noted (with examples) that as part of needs assessment that there were three tiers of technology amongst these countries.

Mr. Anjum Pervaiz from Pakistan indicated the country’s commitment to ICT in education. Indeed the country was in the early stages of a new ICT National Strategy but as in some other countries, Mr. Pervaiz noted that he is being asked, “is it (ICT) cost-effective?” He outlined the process behind the new Strategy but remained interested in what other countries have done and in what mistakes they have made.

Mr. Rangsun Wiboon-Uppatum presented a case study of the Thai Ministry of Education’s Master ICT Plan development process. His delineation brought forth many chronological, intersectoral and intergovernmental linkages and made the workings of government a lot clearer.

The Minister of Education for Samoa, H.E. Fiame Naomi Mata’afa suggested that the computer revolution tends to overwhelm many decision makers. She went on to say that the Samoan educational system was going through a reform process and that “a small amount (of ICT support) goes a long way” in a country like Samoa.

Setting the stage
After this series of country and regional based presentations, Ms. Abdon presented the findings of a policy-makers needs assessment conducted by an outside consultant.

Mr. Wadi Haddad made several presentations about ICTs and education to set the stage and spark discussions. He looked at identifying and preparing an ICT-enhanced education programme. He introduced the purpose and types of (educational) ICTs and his belief in piloting during the process of implementation. He then highlighted various scenarios. The implication of the null scenario for ICT was particularly interesting and was characterized by the lack of ICT applications and tools.

Mr. Viz Naidoo from the Commonwealth of Learning then surveyed leadership in ICT and education policy, the role of government, and the issue of what constitutes good distance education policy.

Looking at the tools
Another major activity in the workshop was the presentation of existing tools followed by hands-on sessions. This allowed participants to acquire a clear understanding of what tool format(s), key features, and content that end users will be interested in and comfortable with. This exercise was done to get the participants thinking about what they like and don’t like in the existing toolkits and how they foresee the toolkit that is being developed to look like.

Mr. Robert Spielvogel from EDC presented the toolkit on reinventing educational change supported by IBM and focused on effective strategies in educational change management in the American context. Following his presentation, as was the case for each subsequent presentation, there was an extensive hands-on trying of the toolkit (and eventual critiquing) by the participants. The other three toolkits presented were EnGauge from the NCREL, World Bank tools including the Policymakers Workshop, and The Matrix Tutorial by BECTa.

Ms Cathy Gunn from NCREL spoke of their comprehensive technological use assessment programme that is in use across several States in America. EnGauge is a tool that organises data to assist users conduct a situational analysis and plan strategically. Several case studies on the use of the tool were distributed to the participants.

Mr. Michael Trucano of the World Bank Institute referred to several toolkits and gateways in use by the World Bank to assist in their development work. The Policymakers Workshop is one of the Bank’s tools. It has an emphasis on process and change management issues and is quite dependent on the instructor.

Mr. Cedric Wachholz from UNESCO then presented the British BECTa’s Matrix Tutorial. This useful tool is part of BECTa’s much broader policy development approach.

The participants then critiqued the various tools. Mr. Wiboon-Uppatum commented that EnGauge was interesting and useful up to the Ministry level but needed to be adapted for the non-American context. There was a level of disagreement on the international applicability of EnGauge. Both Mr. Wiboon-Uppatum and Mr. Steve Anzalone from EDC agreed that it was a “good, clean model.”

Mr. Viz Naidoo said the toolkit on reinventing educational change from IBM was useful with respect to change management, logical and reasonably interactive. Mr. Naidoo did say that the tool was text heavy and that one needs to come to the materials with background knowledge. The point was made by Mr. Spielvogel that a lot of language does come from business but Mr. Naidoo suggested that this was not necessarily bad. Several participants praised the site map. Whether this tool would be useful in developing countries was an issue for discussion.

Mr. Anjum Pervaiz commented upon The Worldbank Policymakers Workshop. He said it was meant for high level Government officials and focuses on computers. He pointed out that it is simple, structured and modular. These points were echoed by the Samoan Minister for Education, H.E. Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, who said that she could understand this workshop more than the other tools and as such it was good for her job. Ms. Dominique Altner from UNESCO voiced her agreement but added that the Workshop may need to be adapted for various cultures and countries such as Cambodia.

The Matrix was seen by Mr. Baxendale as being relatively easy to use and focused on the school level. He said that the Matrix was for users from the intermediate to advanced levels, the text was heavy and was obviously designed for UK schools. Mr. Ahmed Syed stated that the Matrix tutorial could not be replicated in developing countries even if it was visually appealing. Mr. Spielvogel did point out that the Matrix did not have a long introduction before it ‘got going’ while Ms. Jeffery appreciated its links to other tools.

The ICT in education policy-makers' toolkit
Following the critiques, Mr. Haddad made his presentation of an initial blueprint for the toolkit. Initially, he outlined in detail three schematic maps. The first focused on the mapping of the situation and identification and analysis of educational areas for ICT intervention. The second map looked at planning for implementation while the third examined evaluation of the pilot phase and the possibility of scaling up. As Mr. Haddad discussed his schematics, the participants voiced their suggestions. For example, Mr. Pervaiz asked about the institutional framework in developing countries. As a result a component on a technical facilitation team was added to the first schematic map.

The dialogue continued with a detailed review of the topic areas within the content outline. Mr. Sheldon Shaeffer, director of UNESCO's Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education took part in these discussions. As a result of the fruitful debate and to better meet the needs identified by the participants, five pages of the initial content outline were replaced.

Some of the key points from the discussion were as follows:

• The importance of videos within the toolkit
• The importance of being explicit about the audience at the beginning of each tool
• When mapping the educational environment the need to include national educational goals, finance, donor agencies, national communication plans and EFA
• The importance of working with the community and other stakeholders
• The importance of highlighting gender equity, technical and vocational education and non-formal education
• The link between ICT and universities was seen as important in Tool 3
• That the tables in Tool 4 need reclassification
• The importance of keeping the tool box updated
• The importance of the cultural aspect of curriculum materials
• That financing is a part of costing and budgeting

Wrapping up
To conclude the workshop, participants were asked how much they and their institutions would collaborate with what the group and UNESCO have completed through this workshop. H.E. Fiame Naomi Mata’afa stated she would “assist in any way.” Several participants offered to be a sounding board. Others said they would critique the output. Many said they would offer resources. Notably, Mr. Baxendale and Mr. Ahmed Syed were interested in piloting the toolkit. In fact, Mr. Ahmed Syed stated he may be prepared to trial the toolkit in each of four provinces on different educational levels. The others stated that they looked forward to hearing of further developments.

Results
The workshop yielded the expected outputs and was deemed a successful exercise. The agreed upon blueprint and content outline can be downloaded from this website. Development of the proposed toolkit will start immediately.