The TechChange team recently returned to Maputo, Mozambique for the culmination of a two-year long partnership with the Coastal City Adaptation Project (CCAP), a USAID-sponsored program dedicated to preparing Mozambican urban centers for the adverse effects of climate change. The purpose of the trip was to deliver an intensive, three-day technical workshop on eLearning hosting and management in Articulate 360 and JoomlaLMS.

Shannon demonstrates the features of JoomlaLMS.

Our team first traveled to Maputo in January of 2017 to conduct a series of interviews with key stakeholders involved in climate change adaptation efforts around the country. After the trip, we worked closely with the CCAP staff to produce a comprehensive four-module, self-paced course that familiarized users to the science of climate change and its impacts; the fundamentals of adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and resilience. The course was developed with custom assets made by our Creative Team using Articulate Storyline 360 and localized into Mozambican Portuguese.  

Isabel assists a workshop participant with his demo course.

The objective of the workshop was to train the Knowledge Management Center, an organization sponsored by Eduardo Mondlane University, on how to edit and maintain an Articulate Storyline 360 project, and how to host the course online using JoomlaLMS. The team split the three days between teaching the basics of Storyline 360, walking through the best practices of managing an LMS, working through class activities and presentations, and troubleshooting any questions regarding Storyline 360 or JoomlaLMS. By the end of the third day, the majority of participants reported on our post-workshop assessments that they had a firmer grasp on how to manage and maintain an eLearning course.

Throughout the workshop, we captured many images and videos that will be used to support CCAP in their course promotion efforts. CCAP plans to launch the course in early spring and we can’t wait for this unique Portuguese resource to come online!

The TechChange team with the workshop participants.

“We want to rewrite the narrative about being the minority in the room and show each other we exist, we have been existing, we have been creating, we have been leading, and more importantly, we have one another to learn from, to connect with, to support, and to share our expertise. “

Excerpt from Welcome Address, Tech Intersections Conference Brochure
Maira Benjamin, Idalin Bobé, Tiffany Price, Ellen Spertus

This paragraph jumped out at me from the Tech Intersections conference brochure. It was a necessary reminder that in the room where I sat, we were all contributing to shaping a rich and powerful narrative; a narrative driven by women unafraid to claim space in a primarily male-dominated sector. As I looked around, peering at the people in the room, I made a conscious note to myself not only to be fully present with the inspirational women of color in the room but also to share the lessons and takeaways I gleaned from the conference far beyond the confines of the conference walls.

Tech Intersections was a conference that took place in Mills College in Oakland, California with the aim of celebrating women of color in computing. I had the opportunity to present on a panel with one of my great friends from Swarthmore College, Kendell Byrd, who currently works at BuzzFeed in LA, and a friend from Kendell’s Code2040 network, Patricia Perozo, who works at Brigade in SF. We all recently graduated in May 2017.

As we prepared our proposal for the conference, we realised that coming out of college, there is sometimes a misconception that there are single pathways or specific locations or organizations that computer scientists need to work in to “succeed” in their field. This led us to choose the topic, “Multiple Pathways: Choosing the Tech Job that’s Best for You.”

Our panel debunked the myth that there was a single narrow Computer Science pathway and highlighted how we had combined our multiple passions with our Computer Science background; passions ranging from entertainment and theatre to government, policy, and education. I spoke specifically about my Computer Science journey at Swarthmore College and how I was combining my interests in technology and education with my current job at TechChange!

From left to right: Sedinam Worlanyo, Kendell Byrd, and Patricia Perozo

At the beginning of the panel, we conducted a poll to better understand who our audience was. We observed that the majority of the attendees in our panel were people trying to break into tech. We also had some students who wanted to learn more about our experiences in college and in the workplace, and the resources we capitalized on to get to our current positions. We talked about everything from the definitions of a “good company fit” in our job searches to the highlights of our job experiences, and challenges we faced in transitioning from college to the workplace.

One important theme that came up was the “danger of feeling isolated”. On different levels, we each at some point had felt a bit isolated when we were studying Computer Science. Patricia recounted a relatable story about how in college, she was struggling when working on a CS lab and tried to find someone in her dorm to help explain some concepts to her. She came across a group of people working together on the lab. The realization that struck her was one that also hit me in college. It is important to intentionally seek out and build support and accountability systems. I think it’s also important that people share that no one is where they are solely because of themselves or hard work. That might help break some of the high pedestals on which people in tech are placed, and might make studying computer science more accessible to others.

In our TechChange courses, one tool we adopt is the “Study Buddy” system. Through that system, people can partner up with other members of a course for support and accountability throughout the course.

Image from our Blockchain for International Development course

Working independently is a great skill but in addition to that, we need to know when to ask questions, seek help, and collaborate. The “study buddy” helps people to do this on the peer level.

Attending the conference allowed me to reflect a lot on things we can build upon even further at TechChange. I’m Ghanaian and personally, I love when I look at the list of guest experts in our TechChange online courses and see that someone from the African continent is represented. That our voices are helping to shape the discussion of “international development”; voices that have often been excluded from conversations that drive decisions that affect them – that affect us. I also appreciate that in my work with client partnerships, I support our partners and also have the opportunity to see people from the African continent that are learning various technologies through these courses. Diversity in thought is important and I’m excited to see how we further expand voices and perspectives in our courses.

This conference was a tremendous learning and growth opportunity. A huge thank you to TechChange for helping to sponsor my trip to California!

As we settle into 2018 and launch a variety of new courses, workshops, and ways to innovate our approach to online learning, we’re thankful to you, our TechChange community, for your unwavering support! In the last year, we’ve trained over 7,000 people from 155 countries on our platform alone.

Check out a few of the cool things we were able to do in 2017.

We’ve released new features on our online learning platform!

  • Frontend editing: Course administrators can now type directly into the platform section that you would like to update or add information to. The new inline editing feature means easy access to editing/updating content, a cleaner design, and a direct way to see real-time updates of changes that you’re making to your course content.

 

     

  • Completion tracking: Course administrators can now track module completion with our new rules feature. By simply setting “rules” for each slide, submodule, and module, learners will be alerted with a green check mark if they have completed the appropriate section.

 

 

  • Progress view: Course administrators can now view the progress of their students holistically with the new progress view. Based upon the rules of each course, the progress view details where students are in relation to course completion, when they were last active, and which modules have been completed.

 

We’ve developed informative interactive modules!

  • IFC Gender Course: TechChange partnered with IFC (International Finance Corporation) to create a multi-module course on the business case for gender smart solutions. The course is customized with three different industry tracts that users can choose between depending on what is most relevant to their work.
  • Jhpiego MCSP: The Faculty Development Program represents a major accomplishment for the Instructional Design team over the summer and fall seasons. The program is centered around best practices for medical practitioners and is meant to improve educational quality and teaching skills for practitioners in Liberia and beyond.
  • CCAP: TechChange built a self-paced course for the Coastal Cities Adaptation Project of Mozambique that focused on the basics of climate change, adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and urban resilience. The course featured many video interviews (filmed by TC staff) with important stakeholders involved in climate change management in Mozambique.  

We’ve created some beautiful content!

  • Making Cents International Report: An exciting collaboration between the Instructional Design and Creative Teams for The Rockefeller Foundation & Making Cents resulting in a youth-oriented toolkit for demand-driven training. Click here to view the report and here to view the interactive website!
  • DCA animation and pamphlet: USAID’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) uses loan guarantees to increase access to finance and promote growth in developing countries. The creative team was tasked to create multiple short animations to explain how the Development Credit Authority works and its benefits to those in developing countries. Click here to view our whiteboard style explainer video and click here to view our mobilizing local wealth for entrepreneurs around the world animation .
  • DIAL animation: We had the pleasure of working with DIAL (Digital Impact Alliance) to explain the Principles for Digital Development and its importance to the digital development community. The team was tasked with creating a 2 minute explainer animation that is both attractive and informative. Assets and animation was spearheaded by our senior illustrator & animator John Kim. Click here to watch the video.
  • mPowering animation: The Creative Team worked on a beautiful animation for mPowering’s OpenDeliver, a mobile-enabled delivery system for health resources that includes a feedback loop to supply analytics. Click here to watch the video!

We’ve hosted interesting workshops and traveled to many places!

  • Mozambique for CCAP: In January 2017, Shannon, Emily, and John traveled to Maputo and Pemba, Mozambique to record interviews with key stakeholders involved in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts across the country. The interviews were incorporated into the four-module self-paced course built to empower individuals with the fundamentals of climate change, preparedness, and urban resilience.
  • Maine for PopTech: In October, the TechChange team headed to Camden, Maine for the 2017 PopTech Conference: Instigate, where we provided tech support, photography, and conference marketing support.
  • Boston for Connected Health Conference: In October, Chris, Yohan, and Meronne went to Boston, Massachusetts to provide event support with photography and video interviews.
  • Qatar for WISE: Chris and Austin traveled to Doha, Qatar for the World Innovation Summit on Education (WISE Summit) for a series of plenaries and workshops on the future of education.
  • Washington, D.C. for the World Bank Youth Summit: Nick gave an interactive workshop on blockchain for international development.
  • Instructional Design Workshops: Throughout the year at TechChange Headquarters, Isabel lead different instructional design with Articulate 360 workshops. Click here to sign up for the next one!
  • TechGirls 2017: For the fifth year in a row, we’ve had the honor of hosting two brilliant young leaders from the TechGirls State Department program. This year, Passant Abu-el-Gheit and Reem Saado shadowed the various teams hard at work making online courses in the TechChange office, and contributed a few creations of their own. Read the full blog post here!

We’re launching new online courses!

  • TC116 Blockchain for International Development: This four-week online certificate course will attempt to cut through the hype and evaluate the potential of this technology on everything from remittances to supply chain management, voting practices, smart contracts, land titling, educational credentialing, health record storage, and more. Learn about the course here!
  • TC310 The Future of Digital Health: This four-week online certificate course will explore how a range of emerging technologies — blockchain, artificial intelligence, drones, sensors and Internet of things, wearable devices, and more — are contributing to patient care and management, disease tracking, point-of-care support, health education, remote monitoring, diagnostics, supply chain management, and logistics.The course will also take a hard look at complexities surrounding patient privacy and security, limits to access, training and capacity building challenges, interoperability issues, regulation and policy hurdles, and more. Learn about the course here!
  • TC301 Artificial Intelligence for International Development: This four-week online certificate course will cover the basics of artificial intelligence from natural language processing and object differentiation, to comparative facial recognition and more. It will draw from a variety of case studies, particularly in financial services, education, and healthcare. It will also explore challenges to adoption that exist around automation, hype cycles, ethical concerns, security, sustainability, and more. We will also explore machine learning, a narrower subset of AI that focuses on data analysis and building algorithms that reduce the need for human intervention. Learn more about the course here!
  • TC101 Online Learning for International Development: This four-week course will include a number of innovative case studies as well as demos of our favorite emerging technologies to support and enhance learning. Over the past 8 years, TechChange has built 500+ online courses on all kinds of topics for a variety of audiences and in a range of formats. In that time, we have had to contend with every imaginable hurdle: diminished attention spans, bandwidth constraints, translation issues, security challenges, and more. This is why we’ve decided to package all of this experience into an online certificate course. Learn more about the course here!

As we continue to build and create beautiful courses, we’re excited to start licensing our online learning platform to organizations and continue building our expertise in online learning. A recent study on capacity building done by the Global Knowledge Initiative listed TechChange as the number one cited source individuals and organizations used most to improve curriculum design, further teaching pedagogy, develop online modules, and build presentation and facilitation skills. We look forward to continue building our online learning skill sets.

We hope to see you online, in person, or in a course!

We are very excited to announce a new course we have built for our partners at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture. In this training, users learn how to recognize and stop human trafficking, with the help of compliance officers Jose and Sofia. They also learn about other compliance principles such as fraud, abuse, and conflicts of interest.

The course takes learners through a series of scenarios that debunk myths and misconceptions about human trafficking. For example, many often associate human trafficking with women when, in fact, men and boys are also victims of human trafficking through avenues such as forced labor, debt, bondage, and child soldiering.

In one module, which focuses on harassment and discrimination, learners can categorize different behaviors as appropriate or inappropriate by clicking the red, yellow, or green lights on a traffic light. This kind of interaction is just another example of how we at TechChange are working to create new ways of presenting information in engaging and tangible ways.

The final module takes learners to Mali and Bangladesh and gives common trafficking scenarios to test their knowledge.
Does your company need an online compliance course? We would love to partner in creating an easy and interactive learning experience for your organization. Email us at info@techchange.org and let’s start a conversation.