Evaluation of the Jordan Education Initiative

I was a member of the team that evaluated the Initiative. Here is a link to the report:

"The Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) was created in 2003, with the assistance of the World Economic Forum (WEF), to leverage public-private partnerships to improve the application of information and communication technology (ICT) in grades 1–12 in Jordanian schools.......

"The familiarity gained from interviews, surveys, visits and observations have helped us understand where the JEI is on the path to integrating ICT into the Discovery Schools and promoting the MoE’s reforms at the classroom level. The JEI has been able to mobilize its network of partners to provide the Discovery Schools a broad range of ICT resources, including hardware and software as well as development of e-content. While the student-computer ratio is still higher than that of wealthier nations and there are on-going challenges to providing stable connectivity, the data show that teachers are able to use the ICT resources they have. Howevethe most frequently observed uses of these new resources do not yet align with the vision of udesired by the JEI and MoE. The data indicate that most educators still have a traditional viewheir role as teachers. Teacher-centered practices still predominated among most of the teachers we interviewed and observed. Innovation requires taking risks, and many teachers expressed concern that the highly centralized education system, and the emphasis on coverage in the curriculum and preparing for the tawjihi exams, limited their flexibility to experiment with new practices.

"Nevertheless, there are some bright spots that suggest where the JEI should focus its work going forward to promote deeper changes in the use of e-learning resources in Jordanian classrooms. thin the ten case study schools chosen from among the nearly 100 Discovery Schools there are a nmber of capable principals and teachers who have embraced the new approachesgrating active learning strategies and student-centered practices and are using the e-learnes in more innovative ways."