Teach by Tech

Access to quality education is difficult in resource constrained locations around the world due to a variety of obstacles including unreliable or nonexistent access to the internet and/or electricity. Globally 3.7 billion people have no internet access. Marginalized communities and low income households are among the groups that most often lack access to information, resources and technology. Teach by Tech uses a battery or solar powered offline digital library to deliver curated materials providing educational opportunities, vocational training and access to information to those that are not connected via internet and broadband. The digital offline library emits its own internal wi-fi hotspot, which allows wi-fi capable devices to connect. Once connected users have unlimited access to quality and applicable education and information based on their needs. The user can download this material to their device for continued access when they are no longer connected to the TBT offline digital library. 

We aim to supply unconnected communities and schools with appropriate, high quality education materials without the need for expensive long term infrastructure improvements. 

In  the United States, 21 million Americans don’t have access to high-speed Internet service. That includes nearly 3 in 10 people—27 percent—who live in such rural places as well as 2 percent of those living in cities. Research shows that 40 percent of schools lack broadband, as do 60 percent of health care facilities outside metropolitan areas. The lack of connection is broadening the gap of disparities in access to education, medicine, job opportunities and information often along racial and economic lines.   On average, those lacking digital literacy are less educated, older, and more likely to be Black, Hispanic, or foreign born. 

Globally, 3.7 billion people have no internet access. Only 1 in 5 people in the developing world are connected. Refugee and immigrant learners face enormous challenges: their lives have often been upended and their own families’ futures are uncertain. Often refugee and vulnerable populations are deprived of their right to education. Many children who do enroll in educational systems face overcrowding, under resourced and impoverished schools.

We use offline digital libraries to provide educational opportunities to those that are not connected via internet and broadband.  Our libraries are individually curated to meet the specific needs of the community. There are two primary avenues to use our offline digital library.

• non-credentialing route meant to provide access to information to people especially. The library is curated with information, such as library books, resource information, Wikipedia, Ted Talks, podcasts, how-to hobbies. Content can also be translated into multiple languages to overcome language barriers.   Users connect via a QR code, eliminating the need for advanced digital literacy skills.
• credentialing route. Faculty and instructors create industry or academic specific curriculum inclusive of pdf, audio and video files for students to access.  Participants have access to secure channels via usernames and passwords to complete and upload assignments/ projects. 

The digital library generates its own internal wi-fi hotspot which allows any wi-fi capable device to connect and users can download content to their device. Our solution includes a built in projector to increase access to trained teachers and accessibility for students. Offline digital libraries can hold 2 terabytes of information in text, audio and video format. It is portable, solar powered and inexpensive. 

In Kenya our focus is on school aged children and youth living in the Dadaab refugee camp who have limited access to educational resources and trained teachers. The inhabitants of the camp have limited to no access to the internet with erratic access to power.  Dadaab Camps are home to many people and communities who fled their home countries seeking mainly security and basic necessities such as food and shelter. The Camp is occupied by people from Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, Eritrea, and Uganda, however, most people in the Camp are Somalis.  As of July 2020, the Dadaab refugee complex had a population of 218,873 registered refugees and asylum seekers. More than half (57%) of the refugees in the camps were under 18 years of age.  The camp is located in Garissa County, where almost one in four people is a refugee. Garissa’s social development indicators count among the lowest in Kenya, and even local communities struggle to access basic services.  Refugees, even those with access to some form of humanitarian assistance, remain extremely vulnerable. The slightest shock risks upending their lives completely. Unfortunately, education in the camps and in the Dadaab region as a whole is limited. Those who can pursue an education, often limited to elementary school, face overcrowding, scarce access to materials and sanitation facilities, and poor instruction in many cases by teachers with insufficient training. While some schools are staffed by Kenyan nationally certified teachers, the majority of teachers are refugees themselves who have received only elementary or secondary education.  Despite significant gains in enrollment at all levels, almost half of school-age refugees are still out of school. The gap in enrollment widens with progression through the levels. One-third of refugees have access to secondary education in Kenya, and less than one-sixth have access to tertiary education, including technical and vocational education and training. With the closing of schools as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic the access to materials and quality teachers has significantly decreased and students are facing growing gaps in learning and increased uncertainty about the future. We work with local partners, the Youth Education Hub and educators in the community to curate educational and vocational resources both needed and engaging for a variety of school age children and youth in the Dadaab refugee camp.

In the U.S our focus is on adult refugee and immigrant populations who have limited English language proficiency. Colorado is home to over 532,000 residents that were born abroad. In 2014, CO reported that 1 in 10 residents are an immigrant. Data suggests that over 189,000 undocumented immigrants reside in CO. In Colorado 73.3% of the foreign-born population is working aged, defined as falling between the ages 25 and 64. Immigrants in Colorado are less likely to have either a bachelor’s degree or graduate level training than native-born residents. Instead, they are considerably more likely to have less than a high school education. More than one in three of the state’s immigrants have less than a high school diploma. Many immigrant families face language barriers.  83% of foreign-born families report that they speak a language other than English at home. While nearly half of Colorado’s immigrants have Limited English Proficiency, or “speak English less than ‘very well.’” Within Colorado, immigrants’ makeup 12% of the state’s working population and make substantial income and tax contributions. Our refugee and immigrant community are hard-working and resilient. There is a demand for greater educational and economic opportunities, but obstacles and barriers are preventing access to opportunity.

Refugee and immigrant learners face enormous challenges: their lives have often been upended and their own families’ futures are uncertain. The 21st Century demands understanding and abilities within:

learning skills - critical thinking, creativity, innovation, collaboration and communication

literacy skills- information, media and technology

life skills- leadership, productivity, advocacy and personal and social responsibility

All essential to knowledge creation. However, conflict and crisis, violence and human rights violations do not offer a solid foundation for the acquisition of these skills.

While there are language and vocational training available to refugee and immigrant or other marginalized communities,  they often require participants to travel to a specific location, have access to internet/broadband, understand technology and adhere to a strict schedule of classes.   In addition, many are not designed to readily overcome cultural and linguistic barriers. The road to success for refugee and immigrant  learners (and their potential to make substantive contributions to their new host societies) depends upon their ability to make sense of their new and often volatile environments. Language proficiency, social integration, new technologies and access to opportunities all foster that process.

For each project we become involved we work closely with local and community partners to provide materials and curriculum that are relevant and appropriate. We work with refugee leaders in the community to meet the needs and desires of the community. To better tailor to the needs of our beneficiaries we gather user feedback through user evaluation surveys, conduct field observations and record impact stories from our recipient partners. Our trainings, resources, software and programs, are then adapted based on feedback.

[1] The Contributions of New Americans, August 2016.

[2] Ibid 

Teach by Tech’s offline digital libraries serve unconnected schools and communities by providing appropriate curated education materials without the need for costly long term infrastructure improvements.  Because the device generates its own internal wi-fi hotspot which allows any wi-fi capable device to connect to the device, users have  unlimited access to educational material that they can search and download for continued access to information without being connected to the device.  Our solar powered offline digital library solution equips all users regardless of age, gender, education, location, or ability, with culturally relevant digital literacy skills, education resources and workforce trainings.

We are currently piloting this solution in the Dadaab refugee camp located in Garissa County, Kenya. We have partnered with the Youth Education Hub and Abdullahi Mire, Founder of the Dadaab Book Drive.  Mr. Mire was in search of solutions to overcome the lack of educational resources and books for students in the refugee camp. To that end we curated an offline library with over 500 books, comics for middle and high school students, , BBC audio podcast (HS)- 25 episodes, But Why audio podcast (Elementary)- 36 episodes, Mystery audio podcast (MS)- 14 episodes, Short stories audio for Elementary students- 27, short stories audio for toddlers-PreK- 25 episodes, Greek mythology podcast for 4th-7th graders- 17 episodes, Covid information, teacher resources for Math and Science and content from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. Currently, 150 students are testing solution. However, the total population is 210,500+ (56% are children). 

The Mobile Offline Library is used to overcome connectivity issues in locations such as refugee camps where the internet is unavailable.  Rather than try to connect the internet to the camp which requires expensive and expansive infrastructure improvements, we have created a device that contains hundreds of books, audio and video files and allows people to connect by phone.  This handheld device runs on battery-power and can be used in the most remote locations. By combining proven technologies using a raspberry pi 4 micro-computer in a novel way, we are able to allow users to download books, audio and video files to their smartphones without the need for internet access.  The device is designed to be a captive portal and a wireless-access point that allows for a fully-functional library site that is searchable and sortable and accessible to those even with limited literacy.  Nearly any phone can access and use this site and does not require any app to be downloaded.  And because the files are downloaded to the user’s phone the user can leave with the device and the user would be able to learn without the device being present.  In addition we have adapted the construction of the microcomputer to include a projector and internal audio in order to broaden the capabilities of the device as a learning tool. Because of the technology used, these devices are portable, durable, easy to use and extremely affordable.

We are currently piloting the solution with 150 students in Kenya (Dadaab refugee camp)

In one year we hope to reach 6,000 students/youths in Kenya

By year 5 we believe that using multiple devices we can reach 80,000 students youths in Kenya and over 1 million students/youth in East Africa.

Our expansion in Colorado will serve over 3000 Native Americans in the Mountain Ute and Southern Tribes 

Indicators to measure progress:

• -The number of times all content is downloaded. The number of times specific content is downloaded.
• -The frequency of the same phone downloading different content on different days
• -Rate of participation in use of device by students and youth in 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, 9 month and 112 month intervals
• -Improvements in school retention rates in the previous 12 months
• -Percentage of student/ youth use of device by demographics (sex, age, location)
• -Percentage of teachers using video supplements to support learning
• -Number of teachers trained to use the device and incorporate best practices into their teaching
• -Number of partnerships developed to expand the use of the device

1- FT

1-PT

2-Contract

2- Volunteers

Linnie Pawlek- 16+ years in education and hybrid/online curriculum development. MA in International Development University of Kent

Andrew Pawlek- 20+ years experience- specializes in software development, project management, graphic design, Q&A and web design/development

Ian Zhang - specializes in software development, web development and business application development. 1st generation immigrant in United States. BS in Computer Science, Cornell University

Abdullalhi Mire- communication consultant, Somali Refugee raised in Dadaab, freelance journalist

Leticia Sara - College professor of Political Science- curriculum development and online learning platforms

Tiffany Pippin- ESL teacher, Instructional Designer and Community Advocate

DEI statement- 

At Teach by Tech, we are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know that diversity generates better ideas to solve the complex problems of a changing and diverse world. We are always growing our network of people, programs and tools to represent and serve our clients and community. 

As a nonprofit we provide direct services, advocate, and lobby on behalf of underserved communities, groups, and stakeholders. As such, we are in a unique position to provide informed leadership and modeling of equity, diversity, and inclusion practices. To be better we have the following goals:

1. Increase refugee minority representation on our board of directors.

2. Provide Implicit Bias training to staff, board and volunteers.

3. Develop clear expectations with the ED, monitoring progress through the  ED review process.

4. Review current policies  and eliminate any policies or processes that

intentionally or unintentionally create bias or discrimination in any aspect of
our organization.

5. Engage with communities as full partners and to increase our ability to innovate collaboratively and facilitate social change in our community.

With funding provided by the challenge we would be able to expand our service to more marginalized communities, hire FT software developer, diversify our staff, grow our language offerings and interpreter services, and expand our research and develop of innovations to the design and hardware f the Raspberry pi. The greatest benefit of becoming a solver team is the access to mentorship, coaching, and strategic advice from experts, as well as the Solve and MIT networks. We know that our solution and product can have a positive impact on multiple populations while overcoming obstacles to education and information. Through mentorship and coaching we can create a sound strategic plan which will help us to grow our organization in the most efficient way. This opportunity will give us the chance to review and improve our monitoring and evaluation processes to ensure success of our solution and improve upon challenges and failures.  Becoming a solver team will provide us with he credibility we need to expand our partnerships and secure future funding

Robust and improved monitoring and evaluation tools will help us to limit many assumptions -- often based on personal and/or cultural biases or experiences -- about how we can serve our communities effectively. Without good data describing how our efforts are impacting our mission, it’s tough to plan thoughtfully and strategically, inspire our team, be accountable to donors and steer an effective course for Teach by Tech’s growth. But, most importantly, it’s hard to improve livelihoods unless we know our efforts are cost-effective and practical for the beneficiaries.

With proper M&E systems and requirements we can ensure that our programs are implemented in a strategic manner. With improvement to the development of our SMART annual goals our organization can really see what we are achieving. Good M&E of programs will allow us to make data-driven decisions at all levels of our organization and shows us what weaknesses you can improve on.

Our  work seeks to benefit people.  Teach by Tech has adopted a human-centered to advance our mission. We recognize the importance of creating and maintaining an environment people want to fully engage with, in which they eagerly use their existing talents to advance our mission and when necessary to acquire new skills for the greater good of the organization. Receiving training and planning to engage our board members and further  will improve the governance growth f our organization. 

J-PAL is an invaluable resource for data and evidence. We could learn a great deal on how to devise surveys, what data to collect and how to use the data to inform decisions. JPAL could also teach us how to implement RCT’s to prove the success or areas of weakness of our programs.

Rumie Initiative has been incredibly successful in integrating technology and education. From Rumie we can learn how to leverage our app and market our solution.

Open Learning Exchange has incredible local networks. OLE could offer advice on vetting potential partners and assist in making introductions with possible partner candidates in target countries.

UNICEF works around the world to support quality learning for every girl and boy, especially those in greatest danger of being left behind. This organization can help us to improve our solution and provide the educational and vocational training most relevant to marginalized communities.

40K Plus has a very similar method and approach to overcoming obstacles to education. We can learn from their experiences and work together to expand the availability of education to marginalized communities. 

Globally, 34% of university-age youth are enrolled in formal education, but that figure for refugees is just 1%. Only 61% of refugee children have access to primary education, compared to an international average of 91 percent. At secondary level, 23 percent of refugee teenagers go to school, compared to 84 percent globally.  The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated communities around the world, but refugees are among the hardest hit. Our offline digital library can hold 2 terabytes of information in text, audio and video format. It allows for refugees to retain access to quality education: There are two primary avenues to use our offline digital library.

• A non-credentialing route- The digital offline library is curated with information, such as library books, resource information, Wikipedia, Ted Talks, podcasts, how-to hobbies. Content can be translated into multiple languages. Community members have access to all content via the internal wi-fi produced by the device allowing people to connect via smartphone or tablet/laptop and download content to their device. Users connect to the offline digital library via a QR code, eliminating the need for advanced digital literacy skills.
• A credentialing route- a viable solution for colleges and workforce development centers to provide education and training to communities that are not connected via internet or broadband. Faculty and instructors create industry or academic specific.  With this option participants will have access to secure channels via usernames and passwords to complete and upload assignments and projects.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the digital divide throughout the world. Students are faced with a homework gap due to lack of access and digital literacy skills. Adults and parents are hampered in their ability to help children in school and find available resources/jobs because of their lack of access to high speed internet and digital literacy skills.  Our offline digital library overcomes these obstacles. It can hold 2 terabytes of information in text, audio and video format. There are two primary avenues to use our offline digital library.

• A non-credentialing route- The digital offline library is curated with information, such as library books, resource information, Wikipedia, Ted Talks, podcasts, how-to hobbies and basic digital literacy courses. Content can be translated into multiple languages. Community members have access to all content via the internal wi-fi produced by the device allowing people to connect via smartphone or tablet/laptop and download content to their device. Users connect to the offline digital library via a QR code, eliminating the need for advanced digital literacy skills.
• A credentialing route- a viable solution for colleges and workforce development centers to provide education and training to communities that are not connected via internet or broadband. Faculty and instructors create industry or academic specific.  With this option participants will have access to secure channels via usernames and passwords to complete and upload assignments and projects. Advanced digital literacy courses are included. 

Around the world 62 million girls are not in school. Millions more are fighting to stay there. As a girl grows older the fight to get an education becomes even harder. Her family must be able to afford and be willing to pay school fees. She risks long, dangerous walks to school. She may become pregnant or be forced to marry. And she often lacks access to healthcare and the support she needs to learn. As these girls transition to adulthood they often face increased exploitation in employment and relationships, child marriage, unhealthy medical and maternity practices, decreased economic opportunities and a perpetuation of the cycle of poverty.

 Education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. When girls are educated, they lead healthier and more productive lives. They gain the skills, knowledge and self-confidence to escape the cycle of poverty. They become better citizens, parents and breadwinners. An educated girl has a positive ripple effect on her health, family, community and society as a whole. Our solution can be used to provide access t quality education centered on the needs of women and focused on the skills needed by women to thrive. This solution overcomes the obstacles of cost, time and travel which often hinder women from seeking and completing education.