Paper details
| Paper authors | Marc Alan Sperber |
| In panel on | Innovations in Education in Emergencies and for Displaced and Disadvantaged Populations |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
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Abstract
Arizona State University (ASU), committed to expanding educational access, aims to contribute a distinctive perspective to the discourse on edtech in the context of inclusive education for forcibly displaced individuals. This brief paper sheds a light on ASU's Education for Humanity initiative, a University initiative that has collaborated with 40 implementing partners in 17 countries and co-leads the Connected Learning in Crisis Consortium with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Central to the focus on the paper is the pioneering ASU SunSPOT (Solar Powered Offline Teaching) model, which allows for interactive courses that can function seamlessly online or offline. SunSPOT emerged in response to a pertinent problem statement: How can access and completion rates for marginalized populations, including girls and refugees, be dramatically increased sustainably and cost-effectively? The model targets challenges linked to expensive and unreliable internet, transportation and scheduling issues that impede regular attendance at learning centers, and data expenses for learners completing coursework at home, specifically tailored to the realities of displaced learners. This paper begins to explore how cost-sharing of such a platform could be a solution for sustainability and scalability of refugee education programs, even for traditionally under-resourced organizations.
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