When it comes to event planning in the face of a pandemic, the technology is the easy part. Shifting the training model will be harder, and international development is perfectly positioned to lead.

After returning from a successful week-long workshop in Kampala with Last Mile Health (featured image) to plan for an an upcoming online course, I wondered how many similar workshops were suddenly adapting to the growing concerns around the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. That’s because the growing list of cancelled world events ranges from GSMA Mobile World Congress to Facebook’s F8 2020, and the regular international convening opportunities at the intersection of technology and development are threatening to be next.

But crisis can create opportunities for innovation. In education, 200 million students return to school online in China, and even slow-moving US universities are suddenly moving face-to-face courses online in weeks, rather than years. That’s because in the seven years that have passed between Coursera’s “MOOC Mess” and our most recent TechChange course on “How to Teach Online,” technology has evolved far beyond the “watch-a-video, take-a-quiz” method of online training.

And as the sage on the stage lecture-based MOOC gives way to the “guide by your side” small-group workshop, organizers are wondering if they can move more than lectures onto online learning solutions. Remote conferencing providers such as Zoom are expected to benefit, while like Andreessen Horowitz helped raise $4.3 million in seed funding for “Run The World”, whose founder declares: “The ideal event to me isn’t one with 2 million people. I’d rather we hosted 2 million events with 50 people.”

But the technology may be the easy part.

Facebook Workshop

Facebook Workshop on Gender Data 101

That’s because most in-person workshops are far more complex than the Eventbrite-style offerings that are emerging and being funded. What we need is to recreate what participants gain from attending active workshops of their peers, not just from listening to a lecture with 10,000 other attendees. And that means going far beyond a platform-based solution, but also thinking through edtech as a service, as well as empowering local facilitators to design and facilitate active learning experiences.

That’s why TechChange is changing our model as well. This year, we are working with partners such as Facebook (pictured above) to think through active, blended online workshops on topics such as Gender Data. And why we are supporting partners such as DIAL (pictured below) in understanding and engaging learners for blended and online workshops on topics including the Principles of Digital Development.

In this way, we are hoping to approach online learning not as a series of discrete problems — platform, content, service, support — but as a process driven by educators, local facilitators, and partners community engagement over a number of years. And we’re hoping that in freeing participants and educators from the tyranny of distance, that we’ll enable these conversations to take place more often, more effectively, and more globally than ever before.

The digital transformation of online workshops is coming. And the intersection of technology and development — in delivering these trainings at low cost, in low-bandwidth, and in partnership with local facilitators — is perfectly positioned to lead the way.

DIAL Ideation Workshop

DIAL Ideation Workshop

Ariel recently joined the TechChange team as a Program Manager, where she helps elearning partners build and deliver learning experiences on digital health.

 

Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you end up working in education?
I was born into the ‘role’ of unofficial mentor and teacher as an older sister to two of the best sisters in the world, but it wasn’t until college that I taught in a classroom for the first time, leading a sub-section for a course on violence against women. After I graduated with a degree in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Public Health, I got a job in the international development space in Washington, DC. I developed and co-facilitated many trainings through my work at Social Impact, which propelled me to explore further how trainings can be more effective at instigating sustainable behavior change. I decided to go back for my masters in public health at Johns Hopkins where I focused on social and behavioral interventions, zeroing in on the challenges of creating health behavior change and how trainings fit into the puzzle. In school and out, I have found that most of my jobs usually require me to support some level of capacity building, so understanding how to transmit and translate information to action is something I am actively working to improve.

Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?
I was working with an organization called Clear Outcomes on a needs assessment for DIAL on the Principles for Digital Development. We presented our findings to both DIAL and TechChange, so that TechChange could use our findings to develop and execute a pilot training on the Principles for Digital Development. This was the first I had heard of an organization focused specifically on how to create and execute participatory, blended-learning courses in the social sector for a variety of clients, with a thought towards building supportive communities around these trainings.

Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?
I have been solely focused on content development in a space that I am very excited about: digital health. It’s rewarding to be able to apply my experiences in public health in and out of the classroom to developing course material that is useful and beautiful. But mostly, I have very much enjoyed getting to know the team here, especially over lunch and dessert(s).

Q: What excites you about this role?
I am most excited about not only using my own background and experiences in public health to develop this training, but also learning from TechChange’s subject matter expert on even more about the ins and outs of digital health. I can’t wait to see it piloted in Sierra Leone.

Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?
I’m looking forward to learning more about instructional design and applying a human-centered design approach to developing trainings in the health space and beyond.

Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?
I have won every hula hooping contest I have ever entered.