User:Jumpbean

Jennifer DeBoer

I am interested in investigating and evaluating the capacity of the OLPCs as educational tools. I am currently working on developing a health education intervention (HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases/hygiene) to go on the laptops and then serve as the treatment in a randomized field trial in rural Mozambique.

contact: jumpbean@alum.mit.edu or feel free to leave a message on my page

Last edit:

Jumpbean 20:58, 23 February 2008 (EST)

Background

My Work

I am currently

Intervention

Literature Review

Capacities of computers in health education

While traditional educational tools cannot be disputed as being useful, there are capabilities offered by newer technologies that are nearly impossible when using textbooks or classroom instruction. Laptops like the OLPC can be adapted in real time to the specific profiles of their users. Further,

Shegog et al. (2007) [1]

Specific needs of this area

The area Mulkeen (2007) [2]

Region

The area in which the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health has established an extensive partner network is Zambezia.

<googlemap lat="-16.130262" lon="37.155762" zoom="7"> -16.866667, 37.158333, Zambezia, Mozambique </googlemap>

The current structure of the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health in Mozambique is set up in six districts of the Zambezia province. The Institute works with provincial and district health authorities and is also connected to the Ministry of Health. The Vanderbilt Institute works through its affiliate Friends in Global Health and has offices in Maputo and in Quelimane, Zambezia. While no educational intervention has been conducted yet, the team is well-established locally. They will be able to provide the in-country support necessary to sustain this research project.

Research Design

Sampling Frame: Our sampling frame will consist of the schools in the Zambezia province of Mozambique, where the Vanderbilt Institute of Global Health has set up clinics in six districts. We will sample from elementary-school-aged students (number determined based on statistical power needs and number of laptops available) and randomly assign schools to one of the three intervention categories.

Intervention: The three-part intervention for the larger field trial will divide subjects into the following three groups (see diagram below):

1. standard XO software (control group)

2. health education software

3. teacher training on health education software

Program

The added health education intervention is a game-like program that will be available on the laptops along with the standard hardware for the two treatment groups (numbers 2 and 3).

Links

Peabody School of Education

http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/

Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/medschool/globalhealth/

Reference

1. ^  Shegog, R., Markham, C., Peskin, M., Dancel, M., Coton, C., & Tortolero, S. (2007). "It's Your Game": An Innovative Multimedia Virtual World to Prevent HIV/STI and Pregnancy in Middle School Youth. MEDINFO 2007.

2. ^ Mulkeen, A. (2007). What do we know about the Deployment, Utilization and management of Teachers: The case of Rural Schools in Africa. Paris: UNESCO. (October 3rd.)