{"id":864,"date":"2010-05-11T09:18:44","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T13:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/?p=864"},"modified":"2012-09-27T10:37:31","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:37:31","slug":"benjamin-vergel-de-dios-human-tendencies-and-organizational-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/is-ict-in-schools-wasted\/benjamin-vergel-de-dios-human-tendencies-and-organizational-choices\/","title":{"rendered":"Benjamin Vergel De Dios: Most ICT are Wasted in Schools due to Human Tendencies and Organizational Choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Educational Technology Debate is one year old this month and to celebrate, we had a Live Debate: Are Most Investments in Technology for Schools Wasted?<\/a> at the World Bank offices in New Delhi, India. With six great speakers, we focused on the issues around technology implementation in educational systems of the developing world. <\/p>\n

This is the opening remarks and initial response of Benjamin Vergel De Dios, Programme Officer for ICT in Education at UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, Thailand, to the question: Are most investments in technology for schools wasted?<\/i><\/p>\n

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\nBenjamin Vergel De Dios<\/b> (download the podcast<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Good afternoon. Most investments are wasted as a result of human tendency and organizational choices; I base my argument on true to life examples from real countries. I will use however fictitious names for these countries for political sensitivity. <\/p>\n

Country Alpha<\/u>
\nCountry Alpha made huge investments in two areas. ICT infrastructure in schools and content development for teachers. People in country Alpha needed no convincing that technology can do wondrous things. It is like a superhighway they said, where cars can run as fast as 200kmph yet the Ministry of Education is perplexed as to why schools and teachers are not using them. <\/p>\n

They are of course two government agencies. First deploys infrastructure in schools and the second develops content for teachers to use, because of ongoing turf war between these two agencies, they never talk to each other. So there were schools that received equipment but the teachers could not use them because they are without content. And there were teachers who received training how to use the content but no equipment in their schools. The result, huge investment not working as intended. <\/p>\n

Country Bravo<\/u>
\nCountry Bravo is one of the few leading countries in deploying technology in schools. Most countries do it in few selected schools, mostly in urban areas where electricity and connectivity are stable. But country Bravo has done it in almost all schools, so imagine the investment! A large chunk of the national education budget spent on technology. <\/p>\n

The government prides on that accomplishment, and then I had a chance to talk with one of the contractors supplying equipment to schools. He told me that the unit cost of computers is only about five hundred dollars. However the government insisted in adding specs that teachers are not likely to use, the cost ballooned to almost two thousand dollars per set. With forethought, expensive investment is not always equal to wise investment. <\/p>\n

Country Charlie<\/u>
\nCountry Charlie is a small but rich state. It is also smart by asking companies to do a bidding war. The winner will exclusively supply branded computers to all government offices, schools and teachers. The big contract was awarded a few months before we conducted a workshop in Country Charlie. <\/p>\n

And the director of ICT came to me and confided, \u201cI wish we had this workshop last year\u201d what did he realize? The government made an investment based on what is the best technology out there where in fact the question should have been which technology would best serve the countries educational needs. <\/p>\n

Country Delta<\/u>
\nCountry Delta is a populist developing country where education budget is not always enough due to sheer number of schools and students. The government boldly decided to putting up computer labs in more than 30,000 secondary schools. With funds obviously not enough, the government will always play cut shop. By the time all the schools are covered, many of the computers will need replacement. <\/p>\n

Why did Country Delta choose to invest in 30,000 secondary schools rather than prioritizing a few hundred higher educational institutions? Big investments bring more visibility and major mileage. Governments use ICT investments as political showcase rather than a genuine educational solution. <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/u>
\nThese examples are only from poor countries but the human tendencies and organizational changes and organizational choices that they make are characteristically universal. Most likely they also exist in many other countries:<\/p>\n