Open Licensing digital storytelling for multilingual literacy development:

implications for teachers

Dorcas N WepukhuluAfrican Storybook Project (ASP)

July 2nd - 3rd, 2015, Nairobi, Kenya

Structure of presentation

• Introduction –background to the intervention• The problem to be addressed• Objective of the intervention• Model of the intervention • Results• Lessons learnt• Recommendations

Introduction

• Brain science informs us – reading is acquired not inherited.

• Special neurological pathways in brain

• Brain has to be wired to learn to read (Wolf,

2007; Hruby, Goswami, Frederiksen and Perfetti, 2011).

Introduction• Practice is necessary – decode individual

words before sentences

• There is more to reading than decoding words

• Reading involves emotional engagement

• Learning to read much easier in familiar language

The Problem• Obstacle to achieving early literacy in Africa is

shortage of appropriate reading materials.

• No exposure to reading materials no reading culture no demand for materials limits on commercial publishing Vicious cycle

This leads to a vicious cycle

few or no books

no reading no

demand for books

not cost effective

to produce books

ASP Objective

• ASP Objective - contribute to improvement of literacy among African children aged between 3-10.

• Achieved by collecting and distributing enough openly licensed digitized story books that are contextually appropriate.

ASP Model

• Underlying hypothesis - use of digital technologies and OER supported by an extensive partner network can achieve access and use, even in under-resourced African contexts.

• OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others.

ASP Model (Cont’d.)

Features of ASP Model include:• A website with tools for translation and or

adaptation and creation of openly licensed stories.

• Story development from and in the contexts of final use.

• Pilot sites in pilot countries to test delivery methods, website access and story use by the intended target audience.

ASP Model (Cont’d.)

• Nurturing of partners who use stories and contribute to website by creating, translating, adapting & commenting on stories.

• Systemic implementation to test implications for scaling up.

Main Activities

• Selection of pilot sites in pilot countries• Appointment of country coordinators• Partnership development• Supporting pilot sites• Dissemination through conferences• Advocacy

Results

• Access- Use of website to find stories for use- Create new stories- Translate existing stories- Adapt stories for various audiences- Almost 2000 registered users

Results (Cont’d.)• Number of stories- There are stories in 49 languages: - English 393, Kiswahili 102, Luganda 95, Maa 56,

isiZulu 86 etc.• Influence amongst partners- There is evidence of growing capacity & interest in

digital literacy- In pilot sites, those with skills have supported those

that did not yet have sufficient skills

Results (Cont’d.)

- Some partners shown significant interest in selecting and re-publishing ASP openly licensed stories for use

- Increased planning and collaboration - Teachers report emotional and cognitive

engagement with stories in local languages by children

- Resource gap for lower learners being filled

Results (Cont’d.)- Evidence on creativity and innovation by

teachers and librarians- Teacher agency in literacy is enhanced- Learner input is enabled by teachers- “People have done many of the same things

we have done, but no one has clearly tied language, level, need for stories, and technology into one clear, simple concept” (Judith Baker)

Lessons learnt

• The project is not only about literacy, but about stories for multilingual literacy development.

• In African countries, literacy means literacy in the language of wider communication as well as the language or languages of the local community.

• Support for educators to access and use • Refining tools for easy access is vital

Main recommendation so far

• Literacy development organisations to Collaborate, and to boost the role and importance of open

resources in the society and in education in Africa and in the rest of the world.

Conclusion• ASP aims to develop and refine website tools that

enable access to stories for literacy development• There is evidence that ‘going the open way’ produces quantity;of both enthusiasm for and use of the website and its

stories;• Digital access for rural/peri-urban users is possible;• Options for sustainability still need to be explored; • Need for more focused research on how parents,

teachers and children use the stories.

So, spread the word about ASP!

Thank you! Asanteni!