Join World Education at the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference. We are eager to discuss this year’s theme, “The Power of Protest,” through eight World Education presentations. These will highlight what we’ve learned about leveraging digital learning tools, teaching in local languages, engaging families, and investing in young people to improve learning outcomes.

We also invite development and education professionals to visit our exhibit table (R25) to discuss this work and more.

Our Sessions at CIES

Thursday, March 7th

A Decade of EdTech Innovations in Cambodia: Why Have Some Things “Stuck” and Some Fallen by the Wayside?

Virtual | 9:00-10:30am

Over the last decade, Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) has been recognized globally for its forward thinking approach to the use of technology to help the country meet its education goals. World Education has accompanied MoEYS on much of this journey. The decade-long perspective gives World Education a rich opportunity to critically look back at some of these digital innovations, both those that have endured and remain in use by MoEYS personnel, teachers and students, and those that have not. Analysis of the reasons for the differing levels of success of these innovations will use, as its starting point, the lens of the Principles for Digital Development. The presentation’s final conclusions will attempt to summarize key learnings and pick out which of the Principles for Digital Development appear to have been most pertinent in the context of these five ICT innovations in Cambodia at the time.

Monday, March 11th

The Impact of a Virtual Reading Tutor towards English Language Learning in Ghana

Third Level, Johnson 2 | 6:30 – 8:00pm

Mother Tongue-based education programs are now common across the world. However, we are seeing that, despite improved student learning in their mother tongue, there are challenges when it comes to the transition to the national language. In Ghana, we’ve seen that many girls need support to build English skills, so we partnered with with an EdTech company to pilot use of the Read Along app and explore its impact on English language proficiency of students in primary school. Girls from three schools used the app to practice English daily for three months. This presentation will discuss findings from an impact evaluation, comparing learning gains from the target group against a control group.

Shifting the Paradigm of Top-Down Research: Youth-Led Research on ICT Instruction and Positive Youth Development in Schools in Saint Lucia

Terrace Level, Tuttle North | 8:00–9:30am

A global survey by the International Labor Organization found that the decrease in youth earnings and earning potential resulting from business closures during the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected youth’s mental health and optimism towards the future. These challenges have exposed the need for quality instruction to develop students’ skills for employability and workforce readiness. This presentation will examine the power of youth-led research to protest the traditional research paradigm and include youth in designing the solutions to address the challenges they face and to build their futures.

Saint Lucia ConnectEd Activity: Strategies for Ensuring Long-Term Impact of ICT-Teacher Training, Youth Digital Skills Development, and OER Creation

Terrace Level, Orchid A | 9:45–11:15am

The USAID-funded Saint Lucia ConnectEd Activity, codesigned and implemented by World Education and the Ministry of Education in Saint Lucia, aims to develop youth digital skills, foster positive youth development, and improve the quality of teaching and learning by equipping secondary school teachers and students to become digital literacy leaders within their respective schools and communities. This presentation will explore the way ConnectED has intentionally built long-term sustainability into operationalizing its goals as well as reflect on what strategies have been most effective, challenges confronted, and learnings that will guide future work.

A Case Study of an Intergenerational and Family Literacy Programme in Egypt

Terrace Level, Gardenia C | 6:30-8:00pm

Ample evidence shows that educated parents (often linked to socio-economic status) tend to prioritize their children’s education more than those without an education and thus their children are more likely to perform better in school. This case study describes an intergenerational family literacy program that helps mothers of primary-school-aged children in rural areas of Egypt learn to: (1) read or improve their nascent reading skills, (2) help their children succeed in learning to read in school, and (3) have productive discussions with their husbands and other family members about how they, too, could help their children learn to read well.