Online courses for developing the developing world

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aria-label="visualization (6 items)">visualization</a> </div> </div> <div class="js-ajax-frame"> <section class="post-list"> <h3>Recent posts</h3> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2014">5 Mar 2014</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">Gender role literacy: Girls in science?</a></h4> </div> <p>There are gender wars, and then there are casualties. It wasn’t until 2011 that the behemoth toymaker LEGO acknowledged girls’ desire to build with bricks, even though the company had long before made a seemingly effortless pivot to co-branding, video games, and major motion pictures. So it’s little wonder that girls face all-too-real obstacles when <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">Read more</a> </article> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2013">9 Dec 2013</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">Challenges of crowdsourcing: Analysis of Historypin</a></h4> </div> <p>Crowdsourcing can build virtual community, engage the public, and build large knowledge databases about science and culture. But what does it take, and how fast can you grow? For some insight, we look at a crowdsourced history site: Historypin is an appealing database of historical photos, with dates, locations, captions, and other metadata. It’s called History <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">Read more</a> </article> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2013">18 Nov 2013</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">Dinovember: Creative literacy starts young</a></h4> </div> <p>“Uh-oh,” Refe Tuma heard his girls whisper. “Mom and Dad are not going to like this.” It’s Dinovember, and his family’s plastic dinosaurs have been getting into mischief all month. Every year, Tuma and his wife devote the month of November to “convincing our children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life. Related <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">Read more</a> </article> </section> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <main role="main" id="main"><div id="twocolumns"> <div class="container"> <h1>Online courses for developing the developing world</h1> <div class="twocolumns-holder"> <section id="content" class="about-holder img-posts"> <article class="post"> <p><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-4228" alt="Bangladesh laptop user" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.17.13-PM-150x98.png" width="150" height="98" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.17.13-PM-150x98.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.17.13-PM.png 235w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Online education can have a real impact in the developing world. Last week, we needed to hire a programmer for a small freelance job. To my surprise, several candidates advertised they had completed programming <a title="Lessons to be learned from MOOCs, 2 years out" href="http://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/">MOOCs</a>. These were young programmers in their 20’s, in countries like Pakistan and Thailand, who lacked college-level coursework, but are trying to launch freelancing careers based on online courses.</p> <p>Online courses and MOOCs may be a poor substitute for in-person learning with a charismatic teacher, but they are light-years better than nothing, and are particularly relevant for higher education and specific skills, when students are self-motivated.<span id="more-4210"></span></p> <p>Universities, professional organizations, and educational nonprofits should keep these audiences in mind when developing new, free curricula.</p> <p>It’s a huge audience. Billions of people lack the knowledge and skills gained by a college education. The following map shows the fraction of people enrolled in college or university, relative to the number of college-age teens and young adults:</p> <p><img class="size-full wp-image-4218 alignnone" alt="Gross enrolment ratio. Tertiary (ISCED 5 and 6). Total is the total enrollment in tertiary education (ISCED 5 and 6), regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the total population of the five-year age group following on from secondary school leaving. " src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.03.43-PM.png" width="511" height="302" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.03.43-PM.png 511w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.03.43-PM-150x88.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.03.43-PM-240x141.png 240w" sizes="(max-width: 511px) 100vw, 511px" /></p> <p>Most countries fail to give their citizens a college education. Any country in the map which is not dark red is not college-educating a large proportion of it’s citizens. (The statistics exceed 100% when there are many adult-age students in school.)</p> <p>But as more and more of the population is online, particularly via mobile devices, there are real possibilities for online learning.</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4231" alt="Education in Swaziland is not required and it is not free for the majority of students." src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.31.39-PM-545x119.png" width="545" height="119" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.31.39-PM-545x119.png 545w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.31.39-PM-150x32.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.31.39-PM-240x52.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.31.39-PM.png 1254w" sizes="(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px" /></p> <p>In an extreme example, tiny Swaziland (landlocked within South Africa) has 1.2 million citizens, but only one university (serving <6000 undergrads, relative to ~120k young adults of college age). Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Swaziland’s school system allows few students to advance to secondary school or college. Of the 20 kids in the above photo, maybe one kid will go to college. However, in 2011, 18% of the Swaziland population was using the internet. Could they learn online?</p> <p>Similarly in Asia, Bangladesh has <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL">~150 million citizens</a>. 43% of the population over age 15 is literate. There are 88 universities, educating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Bangladesh">277k post secondary</a> students — only 13% of the college-age citizens. Internet is used by 22% of the population (<a href="http://www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=171715:33-million-internet-users-in-bangladesh&catid=132:backpage&Itemid=122">33 million people</a>), mostly via their mobile phones. (Mobile internet is the only internet most places outside the capital Dhaka.) Can Bangladeshis learn meaningful skills online?</p> <p>Some could. If we make more online courses available.</p> <p><strong>More statistics</strong></p> <p>The education statistics in Sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia are particularly grim. College educations in Malawi, Niger, and Chad hover around 1-2%. Madagascar is 4%. This is highly correlated to the wealth of a country.</p> <p>This measure, the Gross enrollment ratio (GER) is the ratio of the undergrads to college-aged citizens. Here is a graph of GER vs. per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of the economic strength of a country:</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4220" alt="Tertiary GER vs. GDP/per capita" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.27.28-PM.png" width="505" height="340" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.27.28-PM.png 505w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.27.28-PM-150x100.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.27.28-PM-240x161.png 240w" sizes="(max-width: 505px) 100vw, 505px" /> <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/country/madagascar?display=default"><br /> </a></p> <p>The overal diagonal trend is that richer countries send more of their students to college. Curiously, there are outliers, such as wealthy Qatar which has only 12% tertiary GER due to other social factors which suppress education in their society.</p> <p>Another way to look at this is to see how many high school students continue to college. In no society does everyone go to college. The following graph compares the fraction of society that goes to high school vs. college, in countries worldwide:</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4222" alt="High school grads that don't go to college " src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.41.41-PM.png" width="502" height="340" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.41.41-PM.png 502w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.41.41-PM-150x101.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-2.41.41-PM-240x162.png 240w" sizes="(max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px" /></p> <p>In the orange triangle above, potentially college-educated adults have their dreams squashed. For example, in the Arab world, 69% of society goes to high school and 23% to college; in developing sub-Saharan Africa, 41% of the population goes to high school and 8% go to college; in east Asia and the Pacific, 80% go to high school but only 30% go to college.</p> <p><strong>Technology itself is not the answer</strong></p> <div id="attachment_4229" style="width: 250px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4229" alt="Brazilian class using One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computers. " src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.24.51-PM-240x142.png" width="240" height="142" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.24.51-PM-240x142.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.24.51-PM-150x88.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-29-at-4.24.51-PM.png 437w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Brazilian class using One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computers.</p></div> <p>Of course, any dream that technology can conquer educational disparities needs a serious reality check. One of the more notable failures is the One Laptop per Child project, led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Nicholas Negroponte. Despite <a href="http://laptop.org/about/education">their claims</a> that by distributing $100 laptops, “we have seen two million previously marginalized children learn, achieve and begin to transform their communities.” In 2012, two separate studies — one in <a href="https://cde.buseco.monash.edu/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/ADEW/Uttam%20Sharma-%20OLPC_research_March2012.pdf" target="_blank">Nepal</a> and the other in <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2032444" target="_blank">Peru</a> — concluded that kids using the computers gained little or no benefit in terms of improved language or math skills or school attendance.</p> <p>But that does not mean we should not try. Cheap laptops, tablets, and internet-connected smart phones are proliferating at an amazing rate. More online courses, with substantial, meaningful content — delivered to these students online — can make a difference for increasing numbers of learners who otherwise lack any real options.</p> <p>The internet has demonstrated profound power to reshape societies, with social media fueling the protests of the Arab Spring. When classrooms are unavailable or limited, online courses are a huge deal. An online course has a clear curriculum, delivers content with text, audio, videos and/or interactivity, and provides some type of assessment. — And can potentially make a difference to millions.</p> <hr /> <p><em>Source: <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR/countries?display=map">Graph of tertiary enrollment</a> and other stats from UNESCO. In the GER map, countries in white don’t have current statistics from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.</em></p> <div class='yarpp-related'> <h3>Related posts:</h3><ol> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/11/what-is-an-online-course/" rel="bookmark" title="What is an online course?">What is an online course? </a> <small>“The debate about which is better, face-to-face learning or online learning is fast becoming obsolete,” says Jennifer Berghage, an instructional designer...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/" rel="bookmark" title="Lessons to be learned from MOOCs, 2 years out">Lessons to be learned from MOOCs, 2 years out </a> <small>Online courses with very large enrollments have rapidly matured in the last two years, led largely by experiments...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/10/15/75-free-courses-from-expensive-schools/" rel="bookmark" title="75 free courses from expensive schools">75 free courses from expensive schools </a> <small>Undergraduate education is valuable, but expensive, averaging $375/course at a community college, and $3.5k/course at a private university. As higher...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/24/online-courses-for-learning-skills-moma-nyt-knitting/" rel="bookmark" title="Online courses for learning skills: MoMA, NYT & knitting">Online courses for learning skills: MoMA, NYT & knitting </a> <small>Online courses can be a great way to teach (and learn) new skills. They can be small and...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/31/higher-ed-courses-with-massive-enrollments-a-revolution-starts/" rel="bookmark" title="Higher-ed courses with massive enrollments: A revolution starts">Higher-ed courses with massive enrollments: A revolution starts </a> <small>“Being able to teach machine learning to tens of thousands of people is one of the most gratifying...</small></li> </ol> </div> </article> <section class="section comments" id="comments"> <h3>One comment on <strong>Online courses for developing the developing world</strong></h3> <div class="commentlist"> <div class="commentlist-item"> <div class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-2355"> <div class="commentlist-holder"> <a href='http://www.vu.edu.pk' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>khalid</a> <p class="meta"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/29/online-courses-for-developing-the-developing-world/#comment-2355">03 Sep 2013, 10:25 am</a></p> <p>I think online course or study help those people who have to save their lot a time & money. There are many universities start quality of education to door step for any person. To use this modern technology we can get a lot of knowledge to pay minimum cost. This study is also helping those people who are working as job in morning and study through internet in evening. </p> <p><a rel='nofollow' class='comment-reply-link' href='https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/29/online-courses-for-developing-the-developing-world/?replytocom=2355#respond' onclick='return addComment.moveForm( "comment-2355", "2355", "respond", "4210" )' aria-label='Reply to khalid'>Reply</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section class="comment-respond"> <div id="respond" class="comment-respond"> <h3 id="reply-title" class="comment-reply-title">Leave a Reply <small><a rel="nofollow" id="cancel-comment-reply-link" href="/blog/2013/07/29/online-courses-for-developing-the-developing-world/#respond" style="display:none;">Cancel reply</a></small></h3> <form action="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform" class="comment-form"> <p class="comment-notes"><span id="email-notes">Your email address will not be published.</span> Required fields are marked <span class="required">*</span></p><p class="comment-form-author"><label for="author">Name <span class="required">*</span></label> <input id="author" name="author" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="245" required='required' /></p> <p class="comment-form-email"><label for="email">Email <span class="required">*</span></label> <input id="email" name="email" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="100" aria-describedby="email-notes" required='required' /></p> <p class="comment-form-url"><label for="url">Website</label> <input id="url" name="url" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="200" /></p> <p class="comment-form-comment"><label for="comment">Comment</label> <textarea id="comment" name="comment" cols="45" rows="8" maxlength="65525" required="required"></textarea></p><p class="form-submit"><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" class="submit" value="Post Comment" /> <input type='hidden' name='comment_post_ID' value='4210' id='comment_post_ID' /> <input type='hidden' name='comment_parent' id='comment_parent' value='0' /> </p><p style="display: none;"><input type="hidden" id="akismet_comment_nonce" name="akismet_comment_nonce" value="5210052d90" /></p><p style="display: none;"><input type="hidden" id="ak_js" name="ak_js" value="242"/></p> </form> </div> </section> </section> <aside id="sidebar"> <section class="widget inner-text"> <h3>Related posts</h3> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/11/what-is-an-online-course/">What is an online course?<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <p>“The debate about which is better, face-to-face learning or online learning is fast becoming obsolete,” says Jennifer Berghage, an instructional designer at Pennsylvania State University. The common goal is that “an online course should be, above all, engaging, so that the learner enjoys the learning and is able to not only assimilate it but retain it and apply it.” Online courses are <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/11/what-is-an-online-course/">[…]</a></p> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/">Lessons to be learned from MOOCs, 2 years out<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <div style="padding: 10px 0"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/"><img src="//img.youtube.com/vi/nsiQ6-JTOWM/0.jpg" height="125" width="150" /></a></div> <p>Online courses with very large enrollments have rapidly matured in the last two years, led largely by experiments outside mainstream academia by Coursera, Udacity and edX. Ambitious educators, technologists, and funders have created courses on diverse topics, and over five million students worldwide have registered for classes. And 3% have completed the courses. What can we learn? Related posts: What <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/04/22/lessons-to-be-learned-from-moocs-2-years-out/">[…]</a></p> <div style="clear:both"></div> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/10/15/75-free-courses-from-expensive-schools/">75 free courses from expensive schools<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <p>Undergraduate education is valuable, but expensive, averaging $375/course at a community college, and $3.5k/course at a private university. As higher education explores new business models, many are trying out free massive enrollment courses. These courses are typically not for credit (which is easier to administer and get internal approval for), and allows the schools to see what <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/10/15/75-free-courses-from-expensive-schools/">[…]</a></p> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/24/online-courses-for-learning-skills-moma-nyt-knitting/">Online courses for learning skills: MoMA, NYT & knitting<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <div style="padding: 10px 0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExQDM6zGwMI</div> <p>Online courses can be a great way to teach (and learn) new skills. They can be small and highly personal, or scale to thousands of students. As followup to my post about “What is an online course?”, let’s look behind the scenes at a few kinds of successful online classes, rich with video, feedback and large <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/24/online-courses-for-learning-skills-moma-nyt-knitting/">[…]</a></p> <div style="clear:both"></div> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/31/higher-ed-courses-with-massive-enrollments-a-revolution-starts/">Higher-ed courses with massive enrollments: A revolution starts<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <div style="padding: 10px 0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0WKJLovaZg</div> <p>“Being able to teach machine learning to tens of thousands of people is one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve ever had,” says Stanford University computer science professor Andrew Ng. Over 100,000 students signed up for his free, fall 2011 course on machine learning. The impacts were huge. Over 12% of the students completed the course, and received a statement of <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/01/31/higher-ed-courses-with-massive-enrollments-a-revolution-starts/">[…]</a></p> <div style="clear:both"></div> </article> </section> </aside> </div> </div> </div> </main> <aside class="info-links"> <div class="container"> <div class="left-holder"> <p><time datetime="2013">29 Jul 2013</time> , post by <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/author/idea/" title="Posts by IDEA" rel="author">IDEA</a></p> </div> <div class="right-holder"> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/massive-open-online-course/">Massive open online course</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/mooc/">MOOC</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/online-course/">online course</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/free/">free</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/tag/africa/">Africa</a></li> <li><a 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Online courses for developing the developing world – IDEA