Final Holistic Evaluation: Integrated Findings

Final Holistic Evaluation: Integrated Findings Dr. Somya Joshi ICCS

Introduction • Key findings to emerge from qualitative impact analysis • Integration of threads: commonalities & contradictions • Strengths/Weaknesses: overview • Sustainability of outcomes • Recommendations

Qualitative impact analysis methodology: • Interview data - two sets of questionnaires (NC/ End-user) • Case studies and focus groups (end users) • Signatures from end users on transcripts to ensure accuracy of reporting

Qualitative impact analysis - key findings: • Innovative learning environments emerging in some areas • Developing core nodes for rural communities - fighting isolation • Language and cultural dimensions - challenges & value added • Technical service & support - challenges & value added

Innovative Learning Environments (Israel) “I think that …an important lesson is the actual learning process and to find different resources in addition to the book or other conventional resources. It is a whole world they access in gigantic networks. Sometimes to find their way there is the actual learning. To orient yourself in a particular site; to find the information you seek.” ~ Headmaster Hura high school , “…we have no library. Therefore once we had access to the Internet that is very much like an electronic library…this means a wide exposure to the world” ~ Bir Ilmashash school

Innovative Learning Environments (Poland) “What we saw was that often pupils would help their parents to search information on agricultural issues. Participation in the RW project accelerated the organizing of ICT trainings for adults. As a result the school became a real cultural and social centre.” • “Due to Rural Wings infrastructure, the Astronomical Observatory at Mountain Lubomir has seen frequent visits made by the students from local schools and a subsequent increase in their interest in astronomy, astronautics and science in general.”

Innovative Learning Environments (Greece) “This has meant learning French through video-conferences (in multigrade schools in Greece there aren’t possibilities for students to learn a second foreign language). It also gave us the potentiality to communicate with students of other schools and to create a blog. It enabled our participation in the Organic Garden program, so all in all there were many new openings for learning and exchanging knowledge. ~ Sisses, Crete

Innovative Learning Environments - Milestones • Summer school • Conferences • Distance learning - in the case of French • Dspace (virtual lab experiments) & Youra • Virtual visits to museums, aquariums and observatories • Blogs

Core nodes in rural areas - fighting isolation “So there are plenty of things the students were exposed to through the Satellite. It is a very positive thing because there are no limitations. There is no need to talk about a future impact, I think it already made an impact on us. The students were more exposed to the world of science, with no exceptions, form primary classes up to the intermediate ones.” Bir Ilmashash school, Israel • “The project gives us a sense that we are no longer in a remote area as we are able to communicate with other schools.” Agios Lavrentious, Greece

Core nodes in rural areas - fighting isolation “Something that could never have been realized before but was facilitated by our involvement in the RW program, was the effective communication with institutions and collaborators. We could now search for new collaborators as well as make applications to funding programs. This allowed our learning programs to be sustainable and for us to try new techniques in forming collaborative relationships.” The Centre of Environmental Education, Vertiskou, Greece

Core nodes in rural areas - fighting isolation “A school opened to the world, with flexible knowledge which can be used when needed. A school in which we know how to generate the desire to learn in a meaningful way. A “learning school” (not only learning pupils) which advances and evolves as an entity, together with other schools. Also, a school which provides a common meeting point for the community.” ~ Spain

Language & Cultural dimensions - Broadcasting “Last Easter we connected with the site of Flomochori and made cookies (koyloyria) over a live broadcast with the Skype application. It was very entertaining for both the teachers and the students as all of us could participate. In addition, for the last 2 years we have exchanged the joy of Christmas carolling with the school of Pyles and last year with the school at Flomochori.”~ Salakos, Greece While in Mesta, Chios, the “glenti of patremenon” (“married people’s party” and the “aga’s trial”, two local events, which took place on Saturday, February 13, 2010, and Monday, February 15, 2010, respectively, which were presented live at the village’s web-site.

Language & Cultural dimensions - sharing traditions “ The choice of the activities, as well as the way of conducting them, was under the schools’ initiative. As a consequence, the network of rural schools reached a high level of autonomy in designing new activities, and finding out new application/tools necessary to their achievement. An example of this is Sharing Traditions, which is an activity in which schools show their local traditions by means of pictures, videos shared via a dedicated blog. This activity is an initiative of teachers, which they came up with during a focus group session, and is the result of their common decision.” ~ Spain

Language & Cultural dimensions - Barriers “RW offered an interesting educational approach based on e-applications but unfortunately due to the language barrier it only caused relatively small interest among our target group.” Poland “There were problems with the language as the majority of the population in Organi are using the local dialect, so most children do have problems in understanding the Greek language, let alone the English one. Hence we were reliant on a more or less visual method of teaching, however the speed was often too slow for this too.” Greece

Technical service and support (Romania) In Dezna: “sometime we tried and even succeed to solve the problem ourselves, by changing a cable or a plug, or resetting the system, however the connection speed is very slow & there is nothing we can do about that.” In Golu Grabicina: “The technical obstacles were the most frustrating. We asked for help many times, we waited too much for a solution from the satellite provider. It is a pity that now we just host this satellite antenna that doesn’t work.” In Arefu: “We don’t have technical skills and don’t want to mess up the equipment. In anycase, we didn’t have the competence to try to fix the antenna.”

Technical service and support “The truth is that you didn't leave us enough information, so when we had a problem we didn't know exactly what to do … if you would have left us a CD with definitions or something. By chance we saw a small sticker in the back of the modem and I entered the site and found the IP number.” Hura High School, Israel “The application our site had chosen was Science On-line. However there were problems with the connection and sometimes we weren’t able to complete an experiment …the problem of speed was never resolved. Furthermore the application was in English which was also a problem.” Orestiada, Greece

Technical service and support - positive perspectives • ‘‘Indeed, before the start of the project, nobody in the village could obtain an Internet connection. Thus, the school was the first building in the village to have access to Internet thanks to Rural Wings.’’ Balmonde, Spain • “Before we started the project, the internet we had would disconnect all the time and had all sort of problems. It wasn't as continuous. The RW project also helped develop all sort of ideas, different ideas that it's worthwhile to invest in, but before the project we haven't invested in them. For example the school website is one of the useful things we've done. Also there is the distant lab, which is an excellent tool. Until now for instance we have no science lab as good as this in the school, for physics, biology, science.” Atid High School, Israel

Evolving Expectations: A new mindset ‘The previous needs of the school were to open to the world and build relationships with centres that had similar needs and situations. Now that these needs have been satisfied, the issue is more about selecting and deciding which activities to share in order to generate deep learning. Now we have to filter, to select what we want from this open world, and what we want to bring to it”. Rellinars, Spain

‘The main lessons we learnt were that nowadays one can not do much without ICT – Internet, e-mail etc. It is extremely useful for day-to-day life as well as for professional activity. So we have to keep the path with the world. We will try to keep working, learning and training in this manner, because it is very interesting and efficient indeed to keep being in line with the modern educational solutions. RW has enabled us to some extent to get on this path.’ Cozieni, Romania “We have seen a shift of culture… in the way of thinking of the inhabitants regarding how doable certain things are and the discarding of an old fashioned (closed) school of thought which says that whatever is given to the community has to derive from a central local authority. Interaction between the locals with regard to the information provided by the net has contributed to the reduction of superstition towards technology in general. Thus we see a definite progress.” Aghios Nikolaos, Greece

‘Indeed, the school and the community are now used to Internet and to its educational implications. That is why, the school needs to count on a reliable Internet connection, otherwise it will regress to its previous needs, which will disappoint the local community. The school in Campos does not possess any ADSL, dial-up or mobile connectivity. Thus, the teacher stresses that the provided antenna is the umbilical cord of the school to the Internet world.’ Campos, Spain “The people have now got a “taste” of this kind of opportunity, and they don’t want to give it away. Therefore we can say that the expectations have been raised. In some ways the offered possibilities are even above the needs; some part of the target group is just not able to use all these wonderful possibilities in their best way yet; the using habits are still developing.” Estonia

“A year and a half ago what we needed was simply an Internet connection. Now our needs are more computers, better speed, because we got used to something and the students got used to something. If there will be change, let it be an improvement and not a step backwards.” Hura High School, Israel

Areas for Improvement: Existing vulnerabilities • Lack of international exchange:‘the project was only taking place in Spain’. In Ruhnu, Estonia, the same complaint was articulated: “There was no communication with other regions of the project.” • Need for more transparent and responsive internal exchange: From Dezna, Romania we heard: “RW is a big project, there are too many people in charge with the same problem, maybe there are too many intermediaries.” • Integration with existing curriculum: This was a major issue in both Greece and Israel, where it was seen as an added burden

Integrated Findings: • Differential uptake/ user patterns: autonomous users/ existing robust infrastructure • Education as key impact area: accessibility, self regulated learning • Disconnect between other application developers and promoters: HET/ ATD • End user participation/choice: decision making & sustained engagement in development of application/ platform e.g. Youra • Language & Technology barriers: consistent hindrance, bandwidth, stability of connection • CAP Tool - room for improvement, language & community feature integration • Maintenance and tech-support – more immediacy & responsiveness needed • More transparent and responsive internal communication • A growing sophistication in user needs and expectations

Overview & Outstanding Issues • Fighting isolation via communication • Connectivity - keeping up to date • Improved educational platform • Limited outreach of outcomes • Language and local relevance • Technological barriers • Overload vs. value added

Sustainability of outcomes - global level • Familiarity with ICTs - integrated into everyday use (esp. in the context of education) • Challenging resistance and preconceived notions: new mindsets of openness • Maturing user base - evolving expectations and needs • ‘Remoteness’ challenged via communication and exchange • Opening of market for telecommunication companies to enter previously closed sites. (e.g. ADSL following where satellite went).

Sustainability of outcomes - specific sites/ platforms • DORY - Greece • Agrupaciones Escolares - Spain • RURALeNTER & SoRURALL (Spain, Romania, Poland & Greece) • Albania/Cyprus - Hellasat • Romania - ADSL based continuity • Estonia - HET • France - Martinique • Hungary/ UK

Recommendations • Space needs to be created that is dedicated to dialogue between NCs, end users and management. Sustained seeding of discussions. • Link between technical platform developers and the ones responsible for their outreach, should be clearly defined from beginning. • Link between the connectivity providers (SSPs in this case) and the local technical support needs to be clearly defined from start. A dedicated officer is needed for local technical support (behind interface). • The match between the content and the technology needs to be synchronous. • Language is of critical importance: translation duties need to be defined and built into the project architecture. Relevance to local needs: customisability of applications needed. • Greater engagement with end users from start to end - voices need to be heard • Dedicated officer/ team for internal communication and formative evaluation • Smoother more transparent transition between end of service and new options

Final Holistic Evaluation: Integrated Findings