Week 9 - Worldreader.org

This week I found what is essentially a start-up charity.  They are only a couple years old and are still trying to figure out the best way to reach their goals, but they have made an impressive start.  The goal of Worldreader.org is to improve the functional literacy of children in the developing world.  To achieve this, they are testing the feasibility of distributing Kindle e-readers to students in developing countries.  They have partnered with Amazon.com, some publishing houses and a bunch of other corporations, universities and governments to try to sort out the best way to use these e-readers to help improve literacy around the world.

So far, they have done two trials to see how well their proposed methodology works.  The first was in Barcelona to look at the logistics of classroom use for the e-readers, and the second was in Ghana, to look at the logistics of getting the readers to a location, charging them, loading them, distributing them, and teaching the kids to use them.  Both trials were deemed very successful, and promising for larger scale deployment.  The organization published a report about the second trial and summed up the clear benefits as well as the challenges of a larger deployment.  This is what they had to say:

Here  are  our  key  observations  in  the  Ayenyah  school  that  lead  us  to  believe  that e-­‐readers  have  the  potential  to  be  deployed  successfully  in  similar communities and  schools  in  developing  countries:

· These  6th-­‐grade  students  in  a  village  in  Ghana,  who  had  used  cell  phones  but had  no  experience  with  computers,  were  all  able  to  learn  to  use  the Kindle successfully  after  several  hours  of  training  and  several  days  of  practice.

· Reading  digital  books  was  an  acceptable  alternative  to  reading  paper  books, and  the  kids  quickly  forgot  they  were  using  a  device  and  became  absorbed in the  stories  they  were  reading.

· Kids  were  excited  to  read  using  the  device,  in  part  because  it  was  novel  and fun  to  use,  and  also  because  it  was  less  intimidating  due  to  the  built­‐in dictionary  which  helped  readers decipher  the  meaning  of  new  words.

·  Kids  also  read  more  using  the  Kindle  because  of  the  variety  of  books  on  the device  and  the  instant  availability  of  thousands  more,  as  well  as  local  and timely  material  like  Ghana  football  scores.

·  The  Kindles  supported  the  process  of  learning  to  read,  especially  for  new language  learners,  due  to  the  built-­‐in  dictionary  to  look  up  words,  and  the text-­‐to-­‐speech  capability  for  pronunciation  (although  mechanical-­‐sounding).

·  The  infrastructure  already  in  place  for  mobile  phones  supports  e-­‐readers: Low-­‐power  Kindles  successfully  charged  from  solar-­‐powered  car  batteries  in an  hour,  we  were  able  to  download  books  via  the  satellite  internet  link  in  45 seconds,  and  there  was  cell  phone  coverage  in  the  village.

Here  are  the  main  challenges  we  observed  that  could  affect adoption  in developing  countries:

·  The  preparation  and  setup  of  the  e-­‐readers  -  buying,  unpacking,  charging, loading with  books,  etc.  -  was time-­‐consuming  and  will  be  challenging  to scale without  developing  new  methods,  in  cooperation  with  the manufacturers.  There  was  also  a  lack  of  tools  for  managing  many  devices;  for example,  there  was  no  central  way  to  see  which  devices  had which  books loaded.

·  There  were  a  number  of  usability  issues  with  the  Kindles  that,  while  not barriers,  increased  the  learning  curve,  such  as  several  ways  to  accidently  hide books,  and  a  setting  that  drains  the  battery quickly.    A  light  was  also commonly  requested,  so  the  students  could  read  at  night.

·  The  current  cost  of  e-­‐readers  and  books,  along  with  DRM  (digital  rights management)  policies,  would need to be  adapted  to  the  market  and  to educational  use.

·  Content  for  this  trial  was  purchased  using  personal  credit  cards,  but  new payment methods will need to be  supported  for  widescale  deployment,  such as educational  invoicing,  and  the  scratch-­‐off  cards used  for  mobile  phones.

·  There  is  currently  a  lack  of  local  content  available  on  e-­‐readers,  so  local publishers  would  need  to  be  encouraged  to  digitize  their  content.

·  While  ruggedness  of  the  devices  was  not  a  problem  in  our  study,  the conditions  we  observed  -­‐  dust,  dirt,  rain,  and  the  rigors  of  child  handling  -­‐ will  need  to  be  considered  by  e-­‐reader  manufacturers.

And  finally,  we  discovered  that  the  importance  of  buy-­‐in  by  the  school administration,  and  the  support  of  a  local  champion,  cannot  be  understated.  In our  trial,  the  headmaster,  Earnest,  and  the  6th-­‐grade teacher,  Philip, were extremely  enthusiastic  and  supportive,  and  this  contributed  to  the  success  of  the trial.

As you can see, this organization is taking careful, well planned steps to achieve their goals.  They are working with their partners to overcome some of the challenges listed above, like working with Amazon to make Kindles available for less and to make some of the software more conducive to the specific needs of outfitting an entire school with e-readers.  They are also working with local authors and publishers to quickly publish e-books in native languages and pertaining to local topics.  By all accounts, the methodology employed in Ghana, taken to a large scale, could transform learning in all of the developing world.  It could literally bring the whole world to the doorstep of millions of children.

This organization has not helped millions yet, but they are sure planning to do so.  I love their goal, and I am very impressed with their careful planning and insightful analysis of the challenges they face.  On top of all of that, their partners cover their administrative costs, so 100% of all donations goes directly to buying e-readers and e-books.  I am looking forward to watching their progress!

If you would like to learn more, or to donate, go to:

Worldreader.org