Background
In 2018, we set out to help Kenyans work remotely straight from the village. In 2019, we decided that the best way for us to do that was to teach in primary schools.
Before serving our local schools, we discussed our problem and solution with organizations doing similar work. What we learned from them is that most computer classrooms and resource centers set up by international organization eventually stop working.
Everything We've Learned
1. Minimum Commitment: Full-Time
- Tech support is hard; full-time teacher helps
2. Practice over Theory
- Kids need practice & activities, not theory
3. One Student per Keyboard
- Learning requires tactile practice; one student per keyboard is critical
4. Activities as Formative Assessment
- Assessment is hard; full-time teacher helps, activities = constant formative assessment, short cycle times + classroom controls = many revisions per lesson
5. Minimum Lessons & Spacing
- Schema / skill retention requires reinforcement & spacing; min 2 per w, ideally spaced evenly
6. Maximum Group Size
- Streams too big; 30 students or less no exceptions, add classrooms+teachers in bigger situations, use break/game/morning/evening times, min 25m/max 45m
7. Secure Logistics
- Security is hard, especially for schools (cost, capacity, logistics); full-time teacher helps, nobody helps pack/unpack, we track sending/receiving/snapshots
8. First Barrier: Confidence
- First barrier: confidence; games win, especially social games, later mastery from activities & typing, classteacher joining rather than commenting helps
9. Second Barrier: Touch-Typing
- Second barrier: typing; we have an offline app (type.techlitafrica.org)
10. Intranet is King
- Internet is expensive, dangerous, complicated, distracting; strictly offline LAN helps
11. Classroom Controls
- Distractions and boredom; classroom controls help
12. Expose Fundamental Networking
- Understanding networking is hard; LAN games & per-machine HTTP, SSH hosting helps
13. Cloning & Updates
- Updates are hard; clonezilla is free and good for you, LAN helps, we have a custom toolchain (help.techlitafrica.org)
14. Getting Computers
- Getting computers is hard; SavoStore + ecommerce is best (ebay cheapest, backmarket most reliable), we collect donations from companies (I can explain our method, but it takes 100x the time you're expecting)
15. Connect Teachers
- Teacher development is hard; we have a WhatsApp group, retreats, and library
16. Train Teachers In-Person
- Training is hard; full-time with regular in-person training works for us
17. Pay Well & Manage Respectfully
- Good employment is hard; full-time and managed for us
18. Maximize Inspiration
- Inspiring kids is underrated; maximizing open session time and encouraging teachers to prioritize excellence is working
19. Qualified > Professional > Certified
- Hiring good teachers is hard; full-time helps, we do this, bootcamps are good channel, we prioritize nurturing & growth-mindset
20. Evolving Curriculum
- Hands-on curriculum is lacking; we do this, ad-hoc deployment for iterations, managed teachers give feedback, we do software/curriculum development & tech support, integrated with the system
21. Track Activities
- Activity tracking is hard; we have a whole ERP & incentives system for that (erp.techlitafrica.org)
22. Teach Real Code
- Code is hard; we do shell, then websites, then backend, numeracy / reasoning is lacking (we will solve it this year)
23. Ship, Don't Drive
- Local logistics is hard; Fargo is great, tracking equipment by ID & with photos helps
24. Prioritize Age Groups
- Lesson prioritization was a problem / availability != efficacy; teacher incentes to focus (typically g4-6)
25. Don't Raise Pirates
- Licenses are expensive / easy to accidentally raise pirates; we teach linux & free tools
26. Linux to Windows is Easy, Windows to Linux is Hard
- Technical jobs need more than Windows, but Windows is easy from technical skills, so Linux is best
27. "Too Old" is a Software Problem
- New software makes old computers less useful; Linux *can* help, but stock benefits are overstated, we have a custom system for this (+5y = 10-15y)
28. Don't Require Authentication
- Authentication & authorization is complicated; students use "guest-mode" 100% of the time, save work in public storage
29. Public Storage
- Syncing settings & files is complicated; students learn & use public storage + HTTP / SSH (easy with full-time teachers)
30. Centralize Maintenance
- Maintenance; we have a hardware team & warehouse
31. Budget For Recycling
- Recycling; we raise for this when computers are donated, recycle via Close the Gap
32. Share on WhatsApp
- Donor alignment & engagement; teacher in WhatsApp group (weekly activity reports, monthly input/activity/output reports)
33. List of Software
- Software; games = ......, office = onlyoffice (libre is worse, google isn't offline), creative = ......, technical = ......