Child Friendly Technology is a framework that lays out the considerations and processes involved when implementing an educational technology program. UNICEF country offices the world over are increasingly turning to technology as a solution to achievement gaps in their region’s educational system. This guide was created in order to assist in the planning of such deployments to maximize the potential benefit. Our group talked to many experts within UNICEF as well as several external specialists. These knowledgeable professionals were vital in helping us to shape the project into its present form. Because what we have formed is a framework, it was created to continually develop with useful and experience-driven information.
The design directions I had chosen were done for mostly practical reasons. The guide was sized to letter-sized paper, so anyone in any UNICEF field office can simply print out and use. The icons that delineate each section have their own pattern so that when printed out in grayscale, it is easy to differentiate one from the other. The varying levels of information are meant to be clear, accessible, numbered, and non-hierarchical, so users can skip to whatever section is useful for them and keep track of the different references. I also posted a CFT video on a UNICEF Innovation blog, asking for greater input in order to fill out the framework from people with experience in a corresponding field. My hope is that the project will be able to become a valuable resource that can be useful and guide ICT for Education deployments on a long-term basis.
Child Friendly Technology is separated into three areas. The first is intended to be a tool to facilitate discourse, the next layer is a detailing of educational resources, and lastly elaborated are the ways to leverage the expertise of others.
Child Friendly Technology is headed with a section called Local Environment. There is no perfect formula for every educational technology deployment, for this reason, Local Environment is essentially a tool for productive dialogue, to help individuals sit down together and identify their own barriers in education and in introducing technology.
Shown here is a detail of the Local Environment section. Each circle is intended to be a subtopic with an underlying worksheet. Our research led us to create several prototypical topics for every section, however topics can and should be removed or added as the need becomes realized.
As Local Environment is a tool for discussion, there is an interactive component. Every team member that is seeking to launch an ICT for Education project can fill out their own form and rate the potential problems they currently face with the coming project. Identifying a concensus on barriers to be overcome often leads to a better sense of the solutions to take.
Above is a detail for the Devices & Mediums section. This section falls under the umbrella of a resource for education. Worksheets in this section would deal largely with outlining the appropriate uses and drawbacks for each enumerated type of hardware.
Each circle corresponds to an underlying worksheet. Users of the framework can check off or mark a worksheet that they anticipate will be particularly useful for them.
The worksheets are resources that interested parties can turn to in order to make more educated decisions with their own ICT for Education projects.
This is a detail for the Solar Energy worksheet, users may reference this in order to calculate their own need for power generation.
This is a detail for the Content Development section. Content Development details sound practices in diagnosing educational needs and in using proven methods to form appropriate educational material to address them.
Above is a detail of the Teaching with Technology section. Teaching with Technology gives examples of successes and failures when implementing different types of methods and tools into education, and provides background for the factors and planning that led to different outcomes.
This is a detail for the Partners section. Partners describes the roles and recommended modes of interactions with various partners that can help aid educational initiatives, from the global to the local level.
Above is the Processes & Strategies section. This section examines the overall strategies and processes that can lead to a project achieving its goals. Some examples include strategies to elevate equity, ensure proper oversight, and to engage your community.
This project was created during my
DesignMatters Fellowship with the
UNICEF Innovation Team. In addition to the committed professionals at UNICEF, I also benefitted from collaborations with
Khairani Barokka (NYU ITP) and Han Wei (UC Berkeley) when bringing this project together.