Global Book Alliance at vCIES

The Comparative International Education Society, or CIES hosts a yearly conference which brings together professionals, students and volunteers from academia, research, NGOs and others to share findings, issues and ideas concerning international education. This year, the conference was converted to a virtual event known as Virtual CIES or vCIES.

This year’s conference featured a number of sessions focused on reading materials and the book supply chain. If you missed them, please check out the presentation materials and recordings below.

Panel: “Lean and Green” book supply chains: Efficient, effective, and climate-friendly book provision

Brooke Estes, USAID (chair), Maggie De Jongh, blueTree Group; Mamadou Goundiam, BurdaEducation; Ayan Kishore, Creative Development Lab; Simon James, EDC (discussant)

This panel includes presentations by actors from across the book supply chain who discuss the ways that decisions involved in book development, production and distribution can mitigate potential negative impacts on the environment.
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Watch the recording (password: 8j.74D4t)

Panel presentations

  • Introduction - Brooke Estes, USAID

  • Books for the other 90% - Maggie De Jongh, blueTreeGroup

    Given the lack of connectivity and electricity in schools in low-income countries, printed books remain a critical input to improve learning outcomes. How do we ensure the vast, annual demand in print is provided in an environmentally friendly manner? This presentation explores the Do’s and Don’ts of Lean and Green books supply chain management. 
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  • Protecting the Environment While Producing Books: Key Actions for Printers & Implementing Partners - Mamadou Goundiam, BurdaEducation 

    This presentation examines the following questions: · What approaches in book design lead to higher quality books and other teaching & learning materials, less waste, and learning opportunities for all?· How can state of the art book provision re-center itself around environmentally-friendly approaches?· How can modern book distribution improve book supplies while reducing the environmental impact of transportation? 
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  • Behavioral incentives, process innovation, and track & trace in book distributionAyan Kishore, Creative Development Lab

    This talk shares experiences in Creative Associates International implemented projects data driven methods to understand book delivery challenges, co-design and asset based approaches for book delivery improvement, the role of behavioral incentives in book distribution, the state of track and trace solutions and early findings from their scale up.
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Panel: Breaking Barriers to Equitable Education Access - the Role of Open Licensing

Presenters: Simon James, EDC (chair); Kyle Barker, The Asia Foundation; Rebecca Chandler Leege, Worldreader; María José Castillo Noguera, Juarez & Associates; Dr. Amber Gove, RTI (discussant)

This panel considers issues and implications of open licensing for implementers as well as the publishers with whom they work, and explores case studies on the use of open licensing in education programs in multiple contexts. Panelists offer thoughtful approaches on disrupting the status quo, while partnering with stakeholders to find sustainable paths forward.
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Panel Presentations

  • Introduction - Simon James, EDC

  • Supporting Children’s Storybook Ecosystems  - Kyle Barker, The Asia Foundation

    Let’s Read, The Asia Foundation’s initiative to address children’s book scarcity, has worked with communities in eight countries to develop a model built on open source licenses that respects the diverse needs of children, the concerns of authors and illustrators, and the interests of commercial publishers.
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  • Digital Publishing Models to Support Scalable Book Supply ChainsRebecca Leege, Worldreader

    This presentation outlines one organization’s digital licensing model and their work to build social cohesion through research and training of publishers. They present findings from a survey on metadata standards conducted with East African publishers to build capacity around cohesive content models that better support discoverability of content for education stakeholders.
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  • Open Licensing as a mechanism for enhancing educational resource development strategy - María Jose Castillo, Juarez & Associates

     This paper discusses the adoption of open licensing, under the Lifelong Learning (LLL) Project from USAID, as a key action for the development of a literacy teaching and learning resources strategy in early grades. It will present the results, challenges and lessons learned of incorporating Open Licensing in educational quality materials that consider universal design, cultural relevance and gender equity aspects.
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Panel: Increasing equitable opportunities for learning: Technology and the provision of learning materials

Penelope Bender, BurdaEducation (chair), Dorcas Wepukhulu, Saide; Maureen Ochaku, blueTreeGroup; and Christer Gundersen, Global Digital Library; Rebecca Leege (discussant)

This panel brings together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners, some who are working on very local initiatives and some who are working on a global level, to discuss the ways that using technology in the provision of learning materials can lead to more equitable learning opportunities.
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Panel presentations


Panel: Supporting Students through Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning Materials: Lessons from Afghanistan, Liberia, and Morocco

Penelope Bender, BurdaEducation (chair); Susan Ayari, Creative Associates; Pauline Brown, EDC; Fathi El-Ashry, Creative Associates; Christabel Pinto, Room to Read (discussant)

This panel focuses on the key role that the content and development of education materials plays in strengthening education systems and anchoring schools in their communities. The programs featured in this panel have made explicit efforts to develop culturally responsive materials through a process that has involved teachers, parents, students, and community members, in hopes that teachers will be more likely to use materials that respond to teachers’ needs and to the needs of the students who are in their classrooms.
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Panel presentations

  • Diversity and local early grade material development – the case of Afghanistan - Susan Ayari, Creative Associates

    This presentation outlines the material development process and how both the process and the product are an example of both building capacity around the science behind early grade reading and sensitivity to the Afghan context. We will share data from Afghan Children Read’s assessment of its reading materials and offer insight on how to adapt to a fluid and complex political and security environment in order to build consensus on what has potential to be highly charged and contentious for various social, linguistic and cultural groups.
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  • Formative evaluation for accelerated learning materials development in Liberia’s AEQ activity - Pauline Brown, EDC

    USAID/Liberia’s Accelerated Quality Education for Liberian Children (AQE) activity provides access to quality education through accelerated programming for children aged 8-15. Learners are diverse in their skills and knowledge, their strengths, and their educational needs. Curricula and materials for AQE are designed to address the varied needs and potential of this highly diverse group, supported by an iterative research and development process that allows lessons learned in implementation to be fed back into and improve the resources used in the classroom.
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  • Moroccan teachers’ perspectives toward new Arabic language textbooks in elementary schools - Fathi El-Ashry, Creative Associates

    In the school year 2018-2019, the MNEVT took the updated Arabic language curriculum for grades 1 and 2 to scale after experimentation in 90 schools located in eight Moroccan provinces. The scale -up process started with the training of the textbook authors who work with the authorized publishers. This presentation explores the training, curriculum and the research results.
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Panel: Developing digital books in Indigenous languages in the Global South

Fernando Rubio, Juarez & Associates (chair); Paul Frank, SIL LEAD; Sophia Maldonado, Juarez & Associates; Angela Becker, SIL Africa; Amna Singh, Pratham Books; Richard Jones, Save the Children; Brooke Estes, USAID (discussant)

The panel gives an overview of indigenous language in the Global South and discusses case studies from Guatemala, Kenya, India, and Papua New Guinea.
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Panel presentations

  • Indigenous language overview - Paul Frank, SIL LEAD

    This panelist presents an indigenous language overview, particularity in the Global South. There are thousands of indigenous, or local, languages spoken in the world today. Most are spoken in the “Global South”, and many are endangered. More than 300 are on the verge of disappearing. More than 2000 are experiencing language shift and loss of speakers. Another 2000+ are in vigorous use but are not institutionally supported in education.
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  • The experience of Guatemala in the development and use of digital reading books - Sophia Maldonado, Juarez & Associates

    This panelist discusses the Lifelong Learning Project, in partnership with the MOE and SIL LEAD Inc. to develop quality digital reading materials in local languages, using the Bloom software, that supports and responds to the national curriculum, the country bilingual education approach, the characteristics of the indigenous languages, are contextualized, inclusive, and reflects local culture.
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  • Using mother-tongue audiobooks for language and literacy development in a preschool in rural Kenya - Angela Becker, SIL Africa

    This panelist discusses a study which highlights the positive impact digital books in indigenous languages of Kenya can have in early childhood education, specifically affecting areas of digital literacy, language acquisition, and emergent literacy development. All of which play a vital role in educational sustainability through stories that impart knowledge of their community and the world and expand their imagination.
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  • StoryWeaver: Creating reading resources for children in the Indigenous languages of the Global South - Amna Singh, Pratham Books

    This presentation focuses on how Pratham Books’ open educational resource platform StoryWeaver is promoting the creation of books in indigenous languages and thereby aiding social inclusion and sustainable development of indigenous communities. The platform offers 16,000 books in over 200 languages, 60% of which are underserved, indigenous and endangered languages.
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  • Seeding stories with Bloom Reader in Papua New Guinea - Richard Jones, Save the Children

    This presentation discusses midline results of a pilot program using Bloom Library’s talking books in Papua New Guinea.
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