Month: September 2023

Impressions of Kathmandu and Patan Durbar Squares

A recent work visit to Kathmandu in July 2023 provided brief opportunities to visit the old Durbar (Royal) Squares in Kathmandu and Patan. Both had suffered serious damage in the 2015 earthquakes, which killed nearly 9,000 people and injured a further 22,000, with some 750,000 houses being damaged or destroyed. While much restoration work still remains to be done throughout the country, it is impressive to witness the extent of the restoration of these important historical monuments and museums. We were so grateful to Nayan Pokhrel for taking us to places we would never have found without him, and for unravelling the complex layers of cultural history that lay behind their original construction. I hope that the images below convey something of the beauty and splendour of these wonderful places and their surrounding streets.

Kathmandu Durbar Square

Under the dark clouds of the monsoon rains…

Patan Durbar Square

Digital learning and measuring impact: challenges and opportunities

It was a very real pleasure to have been invited by The Digital School to speak today on monitoring and evaluation of the use of digital tech in learning at UNESCO’s Digital Learning Week held in Paris.

Should anyone be interested, my presentation is available here (without transitions). In summary,

  • I had a simple aim: to persuade the audience that we still need to do much more to embed quality monitoring, evaluation, research and learning when using digital tech in education
  • Drawing on UNESCO’s recent Global Education Monitoring Report (thanks Manos) I explored why, after decades of implementation, we are still unsure about the impacts and outcomes of “digital learning”?
  • I suggested that we need to shift our focus away from measuring technological inputs to concentrate much more on learning outcomes.
  • The presentation then explored three of the main reasons why so many digital tech in learning initiatives have not undertaken effective monitoring and evaluation:
    • Insufficient rigorous baseline studies focusing on learning outcomes
    • Insufficiently detailed financial models
      • Essential for value for money measures
    • An approach that does not compare “like with like”
  • In moving towards a conclusion I also briefly touched on two other issues:
    • The “me syndrome”, and
    • The environmental impact of digital tech
  • To close, I highlighted the adverse impacts that are likely to ensue if we don’t pay enough attention to rigorous monitoring and evaluation.

I am very grateful to all those who took the time to engage with me afterwards and help build the conversation that we all need to have to make a difference in the lives of the poorest and most marginalised. Do ciick on the links below for a copy of my presentation.

Click on this link to access the above presentation in .pdf format.