Last week the World Leadership Foundation held its annual board meeting in the Sarapiquí region of Costa Rica. The objective of
the trip was to visit the site of the Mobile Tablet Lab at work at La Lucha Primary School, meet
with the educators and community members implementing the program, and report
findings back to the board members.
Overall, the trip was a huge success. Everyone present was struck with the incredible work being done by Ana (La Lucha's Director), Natalia (teacher trainer), and Meghan and Davis (coordinators) in bringing the Mobile Tablet Lab alive for children at La Lucha. La Lucha kids are now using both Raz-Kids (Math) and DreamBox (Reading) software and, at the same time, have accomplished some very creative tablet-driven projects around digital bookmaking, gardens, etc. This project is on track and we expect to see some very interesting learning data when the project wraps up in December.
Rob and Ross arrived in Costa Rica on Wednesday night, in order to spend Thursday meeting key contacts in San José, Costa Rica's capital. On Thursday morning, they first met with Katherine Murillo Solís (see photo below), the education consultant that is helping us collect learning data on the Costa Rica MTL. Katherine explained her evaluation
criteria. Katherine’s
dedication and superb methodology will be critical in quantifying the success
of WLF’s pilot program.
Later that day, Rob and Ross attended the Tri-Association’s Annual Educator’s Conference to hear about
creative education strategies throughout the Americas. They attended workshops
on a wide range of subjects including 21st century learning, mobile
technology in classrooms, and academic coaching. After the conference they picked up board members Sam Schlehuber and Michael Lindley at the airport and headed down to the Sarapiquí lowland rainforest region, where WLF is working with La Lucha primary school.
During our visit to La Lucha on Friday morning, we were all struck by the the teachers and kids at La Lucha and their involvement with the MTL. The owners of the Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat, Meghan Casey and Davis Azofeifa, described the difference that WLF has made not only in providing the Tablet Lab, but also the continued support afforded to the program through the presence of a teacher trainer and the data-rich feedback offered by Katherine’s surveys.
During our visit to La Lucha on Friday morning, we were all struck by the the teachers and kids at La Lucha and their involvement with the MTL. The owners of the Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat, Meghan Casey and Davis Azofeifa, described the difference that WLF has made not only in providing the Tablet Lab, but also the continued support afforded to the program through the presence of a teacher trainer and the data-rich feedback offered by Katherine’s surveys.
The cost-benefit of the MTL was clear during a visit later in the day to a high school in the village of El
Paraíso. The director of the high school, Henry Ramirez Vásquez, showed the visitors 26 laptops that
were donated by the Chinese government but contained only basic Windows
operating systems and no other software.
The school received no training in how to use the laptops. Mr. Vásquez explained that he not only lacks the training, but more importantly the funds to build an air-conditioned, secure room to contain all these laptops. What was a gift has now become a burden. The experience underscored the unique value proposition of both the MTL (a humidity proof box that can be locked up and taken home each night) and the year-long teacher trainer.
On Saturday morning we all met for a 3-hour long board meeting, which included a conference call with stateside board members (see "News from 10-11-14 Meeting" below).
The visit was a tremendous success and WLF’s board members and directors were proud to see that their first project would yield definitive data and, more importantly, equip La Lucha’s talented faculty with the resources necessary to implement a 21st century curriculum. Of course, the program would never have moved past the planning stage without the dedication of Meghan and Davis of the Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat, Katherine, Natalia, Ana and the faculty of La Lucha Primary School.
Minutes from 10-11-14 Meeting:
Present: Sam Schlehuber, Michael Lindley, Rob Morlino, Ross Wehner, Natalia Silva Maffo, Ana (Director of La Lucha), Meghan Casey
On the phone: Bill Sullivan, Jim Dulin, Melissa Scott, Michelle LaBorde, David Maher, Skip Feeney
The visit was a tremendous success and WLF’s board members and directors were proud to see that their first project would yield definitive data and, more importantly, equip La Lucha’s talented faculty with the resources necessary to implement a 21st century curriculum. Of course, the program would never have moved past the planning stage without the dedication of Meghan and Davis of the Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat, Katherine, Natalia, Ana and the faculty of La Lucha Primary School.
Minutes from 10-11-14 Meeting:
Present: Sam Schlehuber, Michael Lindley, Rob Morlino, Ross Wehner, Natalia Silva Maffo, Ana (Director of La Lucha), Meghan Casey
On the phone: Bill Sullivan, Jim Dulin, Melissa Scott, Michelle LaBorde, David Maher, Skip Feeney
*Finances -- WLF's annual revenue increased from $116,000 in 2013 to $151,000 YTD in 2014, because of increases in school, individual and corporate donations. We currently have $24,000 in the account but $16,000 of that is earmarked for Ericsson's Tanzania MTL. This means we have $8,000 for Rob's salary and other admin expenses, which should get us to January 2015 when we can expect new corporate and board donations.
*New MTLs -- We currently have $16,000 in funding from Ericsson for a MTL in Tanzania, and we have made grant applications to both Farmers Insurance and Kinder Morgan to fund a MTL in Cortez, CO (Four Corners area). Other potential locations include India, where St. Mary's Academy of Denver is traveling this spring and has raised $20,000 in funding, and Sierra Leone, where the organization TakingITGlobal has contacted World Leadership School about $15,000 they would like to spend on a MTL there.
*Technology — The decision was made to introduce smaller tablets (probably Android) that use open source operating systems and use World Possible's Raspberry Pi instead of the expensive remote server. These changes result in approximately 65% savings in the cost of providing a new Mobile Tablet Lab. We are also looking carefully at the new BRCK device, which is similar to the Raspberry Pi but more robust and able to handle a mobile SIM card.
*Working Plan — We agreed that we would roll out a detailed working plan to the board to outline the next six months of work, during which time we hope to receive our first major outside funding.
We know that the main areas of work are:
--Packaging the Costa Rica MTL results, including data, images, and stories.
--Creating a compelling video using data
--Launching a new website and ramping up social media
--Launching two new pilots in Cortez, CO, and Karatu, Tanzania
--Applying for funding through technology foundations and high-wealth individuals
--Fundraising - Sam walked us through fundraising. We will be asking all board members in December to participate in Colorado Gives Day (12/9), which will allow us to fund further work in Costa Rica next year. The goal is to raise $10k total. Sam said he would also be reaching out to board members individually in February to inquire about contacting friends who might be able to help us raise money.
