About

The Educational Technology Debate (ETD) seeks to promote a substantive discussion of how low-cost information and communication technology (ICT) device initiatives for educational systems in developing countries are relevant to the very groups they purport to serve – the students, teachers, and their surrounding communities.

We advance the conversation in weekly posts on a monthly topic of discussion – like these previous topics. You are encouraged to augment each post with comments, related information, and relevant news items. You can also apply to be a moderator or discussant at any time, just contact us.

ETD Goals

Through this monthly debate process, ETD will achieve three overarching goals:

1. Stimulate a public, holistic, and documented discussion on appropriate low-cost ICT solutions for educational systems in developing countries.
2. Become a primary knowledge repository and knowledge transfer mechanism to support implementations of low-cost ICT devices in education.
3. 3.Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of low-cost ICT device implementations in educational environments of the developing world.

These activities can be categorized into four mutually supportive and inter-related focus areas, each building on the other to create a true industry- and continent-spanning community of practice.

Sharing Information:
The main focus of the ETD will be to facilitate sharing of knowledge and perspectives, and to point people to additional knowledge resources. Sharing will happen between educational and technology practitioners, to increase the knowledge base of each practitioner, and the overall network of technology and education practitioners in six major groups. Information sharing can happen through almost any medium, but an importance will be placed on documenting the knowledge and its source.

Sharing Experience:
Each practitioner brings to the ETD different experiences with technology and educational settings, and through the community, each can share his or her experiences to enhance the network’s collective ICT in education expertise. The ETD will incorporate opportunities to share practitioners’ experiences at every turn, documenting and promoting experiences across the community.

Discussing New Innovations:
The community will serve as a platform to exchange ideas and opinions on appropriate technology and education solutions for the developing world – a conversation currently lacking a central point of communication between practitioners. This discussion will be open to external stakeholders from the beginning and also serve to promote thought leaders in appropriate technology for education.

Solving Problems:
The community will be a resource to quickly resolve outstanding ICT in education implementation issues through peer support – education and technology implementers will look to each other’s varying skills and knowledge to expedite solutions.

Sponsors

The Educational Technology Debate was started by a partnership between infoDev and UNESCO to stimulate conversation around low-cost information and communication technology (ICT) device initiatives for educational systems in developing countries and how they are relevant to the very groups they purport to serve – the students, teachers, and their surrounding communities.

Now, EduTech Debate is brought to you by Kurante, a partnership of Wayan Vota and Linda Raftree, and we welcome your input to expand the discussion and dissemination of the knowledge through this open process.

And while all of us support the ETD goals, the views and opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of infoDev, UNESCO, or Kurante.