SHARE (Strengthen Access for Quality Learning Experience)

Project SHARE is to strengthen equitable access and education ecosystem to support underserved K-12 learners to experience quality learning

In 2018, in collaboration with CubeNotes, an education technology solution developer that created an online learning assistance platform named “kejarcita”, we rolled out a digital learning platform that provide learning materials for K-12 learners. However, we identified two problems to solve:   

• The online learning assistance platform “kejarcita” is still not viable and equitably accessible by learners for many reason. Most of them are caused of the unavailability of devices and limited or even no internet connectivity  
• The knowledge and capability of parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors on digital literacy are low that unable to engage and support learners in utilizing education technology. 

Through project SHARE we want to make sure equitable access and adequate education ecosystem that support the learners in utilizing online learning assistance platform with viable connectivity access support and capable parents at homes, tutors at learning centers, teachers at schools and other education actors to meaningfully engage in the innovative learning practices using technologies.

To accomplish them we will: 1) Provide share-use devices and establish internet connection spots in the villages where our learning centers established so that our targeted learners can access and utilize online learning platform; 2) conduct series of capacity building for parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors on digital literacy to create supportive education ecosystem.  

Our proposed solution will increase learners' participation with strong support from parents at home and learning center educators and schools. It will enable sustainable, innovative learning that results in increased performance of learners.

As defined above, we identified two problems.

• The limited access to experience online learning assistance platform for K-12 learners in low connectivity environments.
• The low capability of parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors on digital literacy to engage and support K-12 learners in utilizing education technology.

To those problems, we try to address the root causes which are the unequal availability of the internet network to remote villages even though base transceiver stations have been built at many points throughout Indonesia; the low affordability of the community to have the devices such as smartphone or computers as well as to pay the access to internet; the gaps of knowledge and understanding of parents, tutors, teachers of even education actors on how technology and its innovation to education has an effective benefit for learners that beyond its fancy and sophisticated appearance, as well as how they also need to get familiar to it so that they can engage and support their children to learn innovatively. This solution is expecting to affect thousands of learners, parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors transforming to an innovative learning practice. 

This solution aims to help our targeted learners (children aged 6-18 years old) in NTT (East Nusa Tenggara), one of our working provinces that will cover 60 villages in 11 districts. About five thousand children who live in marginalized community which characteristically are DEV (Deprived, Excluded and Vulnerable) and experience limited access to the emerging innovation of education today will be reached. Their parents are typically less educated who make their living as unskilled labors and less familiar with technology such as smart devices and its use to support children learning. Tutor at learning centers and teachers at schools alone are facing gap in utilizing technology in learning process, caused of poor capability in digital approach that consequently create inadequate education ecosystem for learners. It also strengthened by the rooted paradigm of old school learning approach and methodologies from the local education officials that today’s need to transform education into a more digital and technology based approach remain challenging. 

Through our monitoring, assessment and consultation with our 4 local partners whose working in our target locations, we collected data and information of their constraints and needs to escalate the education transformation that will involve not only the learners, but also the supporting education ecosystem. Our solution will focus to address the limited access of learners in utilizing the online learning platform we have initially rolled out and low capacity of parents, tutors, teachers and education actors to support sustainable innovative learning practices to resulting increased of learning performance outcome.

The challenge to present accessible and affordable education technology solutions for our targeted learners are very much aligned with the two dimensions we will address that focus on strengthening equitable access and education ecosystem to experience innovative learning. Why? Because those two dimensions that based on our assessment and evaluation to the online learning assistance platform we have rolled out showed gaps on accessibility and affordability. What does it mean? The technology based education innovation in the form of online learning platform we provided in fact not equitably accessible nor affordable to many children in some locations with low connectivity. To have a device and access the connectivity are too expensive for most family, that it is not their priority. The digitally illiterate parents, tutors in learning centers or even teachers at schools also drive a bigger gap to have supportive education innovative learning environment.

By addressing those dimensions with the solution we described above through providing share-use device, connectivity access, capacity building for parents, tutors, teachers and education actors on digital literacy, expectedly fill the gaps and answer the challenge.    

The solution will be led directly by a Child Development Specialist of ChildFund International in Indonesia.

We call this solution “SHARE” that by philosophy means to deliver knowledge, resources, supports, motivation, innovation and all constructive aspects for a better quality and innovative learning opportunity and experience for children in place. The approach of providing sharing-device, sharing-connection, sharing-knowledge and capacity is something that we innovate for this solution. Shared-devices and spot for internet connectivity will be provided at more than 80 learning centers in 60 villages of 11 districts in NTT province to reach about 5 thousand children who will have equitable access and experience the online learning service and assistance. The learning center will be the accessible online shared-learning point for children that will be facilitated by local tutors accordingly. Parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors will be involved in series of capacity building on digital literacy so that they can engage support meaningfully

This approach will not only answer the need of equitable access to the online learning service and supporting ecosystem for a better learning environment, but also raise a collective learning spirit and motivation to both targeted learner and parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors involved. We do expect this shared and collective approach inspire local stakeholders to also take supporting action in accordance with their domain and capabilities.

A MEAL plan will be developed for the project together with 4 local partners in the project areas. The indicators will include, but not limited to:

• Increase number of learners in the areas visiting learning centres where sharing-devices and internet connection spot provided to access the online learning assistance platform;
• Increase number of learners in the area who are registered and actively accessed the available online learning assistance platform;
• Increase of learner’s performance outcome measured by basic learning performance assessment;    
• Number of parents, tutors, teachers and education actors participating in series of capacity building on digital literacy;
• Increase of knowledge and confidence of parents, tutors, teachers and education actors on digital literacy measured by pre-post training assessment;
• Increase of involvement of parents, tutors, teachers and education actors measured by engagement monitoring form. 

In the next years, we want at least 50% of our targeted learners are able to access and utilize the online learning assistance platform from the sharing-device and connection at learning centers. At least 50% targeted parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors are trained on digital literacy. In the next three years, we want 100% of our targeted learners are able to access and utilize the online learning assistance platform from the sharing-device and connection at learning centers resulting improvement of performance outcome.100% targeted parents, tutors, teachers and other education actors are trained and have increased capacity and confidence on digital literacy to engage and support the learners. And the solution scale up to at least 2 other provinces. In the next five years, we want this solution scale up to 5 other provinces. Since we work with local partners in all 8 provinces, the best practices of this solution will potentially be replicated at other location that fit the solution.

ChildFund had been operating in Indonesia since 1973. Our works spread throughout 8 provinces namely: South Sumatra, Lampung, DKI Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java, and East Nusa Tenggara that cover 196 villages in 31 districts/cities. We work together with 15 community base organizations as our local implanting partners to serve more than 1,3 million children and their family members every year. Our main programs include but not limited to child protection and advocacy, education and life skills, positive & responsive caregiving, skill development and work readiness, humanitarian response and recovery.

The development of this solution is based on our education program both the online and offline service for K-12 learners in our working areas. We have established hundreds of learning centers in many targeting villages earlier and rolled out an online learning assistance platform in the past three years to provide technology base learning opportunity and experience for the children. We want both learning channels can serve an integrated service to create an equitable access and support learning ecosystem.

As an organization that start with an ed-tech approach in its education program, applying and winning this solution challenge will be benefiting for us to develop a stronger work in the sectors where this global scale challenge will exercise us to result in an impactful solution that create changes in education and lives. This chance will also give us a comprehensive learning and tools as well as peer to peer support and access to valuable networks.

We expect through this partnership we can wide spread the ed-tech product and at the same time receive support to find ideas for financial sustainability that will ensure the project to reach more underserved learners in remote or poor areas.