Global Literacy Matters

Education and literacy statistics are staggering—or rather, the low levels of literacy and quality education around the world. One teacher in Mexico and an educational technology professor in India, among others, are experimenting with innovative ways to address these problems, since traditional fixes (money, more teachers, etc.) are not always available. Many of ProLiteracy’s international programs use student-inspired programs, so the skills learned can be used immediately in the student’s daily life.   Not only is this useful for the adult learners who often have little time to play catch up in their education, but it is similar to how humans learn, according to recent research. According to this article , Sugata Mitra was chief scientist at a company in New Delhi, India, that trains software developers. His office was on the edge of a poor neighborhood, and on a hunch one day, he decided to put a computer into a nook in a wall separating his building from the neighborh...

Thursday, May 27, 2010 We left India on a high note, after meeting with the core team on Saturday to reflect on the training, review the evaluation forms and processes and to discuss issues and concerns, resources and next steps. A strong image came forward that day about the state of the Potali Project. It is like a tree whose seed has been planted and has grown into a sapling. There are many people who are watching this young plant and helping it to mature into a strong adult tree. We named this widening circle of support including 1100 participant families, 40 plus practitioners and supervisors, the core team and international team, three partner agencies, global stakeholders and many volunteers who share the value of strengthening families. We asked the question of what this tree will look like in its mature state. The branches of the vision include: 1) expanded program delivery; 2) staff development model; 3) international networking; 4) revenues from sales of Potali materi...

Day 1: The plan was for Miriam to arrive in Mumbai a day before the rest of the team so that she could help with the set-up of the team. Unfortunately, it took me over 48 hours to travel from Toronto to Mumbai due to the Volcanic activity in Iceland. Maryanna and Tina reached Mumbai before Miriam and Nasinya (Miriam's 2 year old daughter). Miriam is still waiting for her luggage to catch up with her. This has meant that we have hit the ground at a runners pace without much time to recover and definitely without our running shoes on. Nevertheless, it has been an inspiring time. Mumbai is over 40 degrees Celsius ---and because it is on the ocean, very humid. You don't have to do a thing to sweat. It is also a swirling mix of car honks, smokey diesel fumes, fishy smells, other scents that are unimaginable. From the window of a vehicle the thought of stepping out onto the streets is very daunting. I did today walk a block to get a coffee from a coffee shop and felt like I had ear...