Global eScools at Work

The Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) was established in 2004, a result of the work of the United Nations Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Task Force. This organization believes that education is an area desperately in need of development. And, ICTs have the potential to create vast positive changes in the educational system. The UN ICT Task Force approved a proposal for a UN-affiliated organization to work in this field. Providing demand-driven assistance to communities in developing countries who are seeking to channel the potential of ICTs into improving the quality of education in primary and secondary academic institutions. GeSCI is headquartered in Dublin, with the support of the governments of Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and Canada which was one of the founding partners.

To get a better grasp on this, let us get an idea of what some of these acronyms mean. By now we should all know the the UN is the United Nations, which is composed of 192 countries world wide. Next, we have ICTs which is Information and Communication Technologies a general term that refers to "any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, the Internet, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as video conferencing and distance learning." ICTs are helpful in two ways: they help teachers and students be aware of the vast amount of information resources available to them via the Internet, “and by providing teachers with basic IT training to ensure that they have the appropriate skills to access, use and create new educational resources.”

GeSCI provides expert, strategic advice to the Ministries of Education in the communities of developing countries on the effective implementation of ICTs. Using a demand driven, supportive and comprehensive approach, GeSCI aims to improve the quality of teaching and learning through the appropriate and effective use of ICTs, thereby transforming education, empowering communities and promoting development. At its core, GeSCI's basic goal is to facilitate sustainable and quality education and community development, through the effective deployment of ICTs in schools.

At the local, national and regional level, GeSCI works to support the creation and effective implementation of ICT4E strategies, using a collaborative, comprehensive and demand-driven approach. Acting as guide, GeSCI fosters country ownership of ideas, strategies and implementation, allowing communities to maintain sustained development.

The ICT4E is:

- Learning with ICT to bring about a variety of instructional events surrounding the idea of learning and what that means, how it changes, how to implement it and so forth.

- Learning though the use of technologies such as computers, the Internet, and other digital platforms in and outside of schools.

- Having technology applications and digital learning need to be on the same page as the service objectives of the institutional and learning design.

- The technologies and application user interface, and multimedia selections must be aligned with the learner profiles and the learning process.

Placing a GeSCI ICT into community schools allows the system to begin teaching the people that there are ways to get information, how to question that information, how to develop the information and how to take ownership of the information. So, in the end result the individual and community become empowered to further perpetuate positive sustainable development.

Thanks to organizations like this and others around the world communities and countries in need of education are receiving help that will enable the people to pick up the touch of knowledge and pass it on.

GeSCI: E-Schools in Ghana

In the past five years Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) has starting bringing hope to the educational system throughout Ghana. There have been several steps taken during this period. Changes at this level take lots of research and planing.

The project began in 2003 when GeSCI start doing research concerning the issues facing Ghana’s educational system. What where the problems and what needed to be taken first and then next? In order to find this out GeSCI interviewed teachers, the Ministry of Education, non-governmental organizations, share holders and private sector groups. During these interviews they found out the most need issues was a high-drop out rate for all level of students. And the major contributor to this was an inadequate amount of trained teachers, materials and other tools for a proper level of education.

This research brought about an initial surge creating Ghana e-Schools and Communities Initiative as well as an oversight community insure the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ITCs). In the educational system.

In April of the following year, 2004, the UN founded group GeSCI sent representatives back to Ghana to hold a 2-day workshop. These two days were spent progressing the development of the national e-schools strategy. The purposes of the workshop where to:

- Highlight the questions that need to be answered in a detailed national Ghanaian e-schools plan

- Generate discussion around potential answers to these questions

- Facilitate the group in creating a time frame for writing sections of the plan and for the final version of the plan

- Identify people to be involved with writing the plan

Continuing with their work in Ghana, GeSCI hired Denise Clarke, a Country Programme Facilitator, to work with the Ministry of Education. Much of Clarke’s work has been focusing on:

- Developing the capacity of the staff within the Ministry. GeSCI has organized a number of workshops, as well as an ongoing series of peer to peer knowledge exchanges with counterparts from other African Countries;

- Conducting the ICT Deployment and Usage Survey to determine current practices, capabilities, and needs in the education system;

- Facilitating global partnerships to assist the Ministry in building up its ICT infrastructure;

- Developing a framework for integrating ICTs in curriculum development and teacher education.

Later that year in September, the Ministry of Education came together with GeSCI and came up with a work-plan for ICT4E. In January of 2007 the policy was finalized. The two groups worked together to insure the policies of the ICTs were aligned to support the educational reforms that were to be applied to the curricula in September 2007. Training Needs Assessments (TNA) were giving to the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD) and from that recommendations for the best course of action were made.

The Ministry of Education set a date in Summer of 2008 for the launch of the Implementation Plan. In the 12 months to follow, GeSCI assisted in the building capacity within the MoE; to contribute to the development of a detailed implementation plan as well as lend guidance to the Ministry of Ministry as they address some of the jointly identified challenges towards the achievement of this plan.

As you can see there has been substantial work done in Ghana. As GeSCI continues to work with groups in the country ICTs are being place into action and schools in these areas are poised to benefit. The more I learn about this organization the more hope I have for education in countries such as Bolivia, Rwanda, Namibia and India.