Letter from the mEd Desk

Anthony Bloome

Executive Director

Dear EdTech Connected readers,

We’re delighted to share the first issue of our EdTech Connected eZine with you! 

We hope that this publication, along with the other mEducation Alliance communication products (such as our eNews), will be a reliable source of quality information for you and your colleagues about EdTech activities, research, and upcoming opportunities, particularly taking place in lower-resource country contexts.

As we’ve all been impacted one way or another by COVID-19, our heartfelt wishes to you and your families in dealing with the pandemic — and applause to the EdTech community for rallying with our own collective efforts in response to this crisis.

As our own contribution, you’ll see that we’ve pulled together for this issue a variety of multimedia materials, primarily focused on COVID-19 response activities from Alliance members and other partners. 

This includes highlights from our COVID-19 EdTech pitch day webinars and recent Play Every Day Virtual Symposia event and policymaker, practitioner, and researcher interviews (A  huge thanks to all those who took the time to be interviewed). We also have several sections (e.g., Dear mEd, WantED, Research Spotlights) which we hope will continue to be informed by content suggestions from EdTech Connected readers throughout the year.  

Your feedback on this current issue and suggestions for its improvement and content in the future, including any new sections you’d recommend, would be most welcome. 

Would you like to be more actively engaged in shaping future Alliance activities including sponsoring future and special themed eZine issues? Please visit our website for sponsorship opportunities and to read about our other signature activities, including our crowdfunding campaign for Math Power!.

Thank you to our EdTech Hub partners for their generous support to the Alliance to help the development of EdTech Connected and other products. 

Special shoutouts to Nicole Carney, our Director of Engagement, and Scott Isbrandt, our Director of Strategic Initiatives, for pulling together this terrific first issue. Since the mEducation Alliance launched as an independent non-profit at the beginning of July, it’s an understatement to say that we’ve been busy, but it’s been terrific to be working with you and other members of the mEducation Alliance’s extended team over the last several months.

Have a wonderful October everyone!

Tony giving the opening remarks at the 2020 Play Every Day Virtual Symposia Event

Anthony Bloome

Executive Director, mEducation Alliance

The Mobiles for Education (mEducation) Alliance is a non-governmental organization focused on the evidence-driven and sustainable role of technology in education to advance quality educational outcomes. Initially formed in 2010, the mEducation Alliance is a unique, multi-stakeholder convening platform for government and donor policymakers, other investors, researchers, and practitioners to work together, particularly in lower-resource, developing country contexts. For more information about the Alliance, including about our signature activities, visit the organization web page.

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Jax Chaudhry

Jax Chaudhry leads Project Invent, a national nonprofit that empowers youth with future ready mindsets for individual success and global impact, through invention. Originally from the Southside of Chicago, Jax loves working with students, families and partners to ensure every student can attain success as they define it. For more than 10 years, she has worked with elementary schools, high schools, education nonprofits and led regional teams and operations to ensure student success.

Michael Leventhal

Kenneth Y T Lim operates at the intersection of neuroergonomics, the learning scienceMichael Leventhal is co-founder of RobotsMali, a pedagogical and AI4D laboratory and STEM education center in Bamako, Mali. RobotsMali has trained thousands of students from elementary school to high school in computer science, robotics, and artificial intelligence, coached national robotics teams that have won 32 medals in international competitions, and developed technologies using AI and robotics for the social and economic development of Mali. Before becoming an educator in Mali, Michael worked as a technologist in Silicon Valley.s, and cognitive psychology. In 2023, he and his team were identified by UNESCO to share their work on the affordances of Generative AI for meaningful teaching and learning, during UNESCO’s first annual flagship event Digital Learning Week, international forum on the implications of Generative AI for education, in the session on ‘Preparing students and teachers for responsible use of AI’.

Enouce Ndeche

Enouce Ndeche is the founder and Director of Vijana Amani Pamoja ,VAP a community scheme based in Nairobi Kenya that uses the power and the popularity of the game of soccer/football as a catalyst for social, educational and economic empowerment.Enouce holds a degree in sociology from Egerton university and he is also the 2020 individual award recipient “Diversity and Inclusion Eminent Leader Award Enouce is also a certified Sports Philanthropy and Executive, George Washington University and is a 2023 Gratitude Network fellow.

Kenneth Y T Lim

Kenneth Y T Lim operates at the intersection of neuroergonomics, the learning sciences, and cognitive psychology. In 2023, he and his team were identified by UNESCO to share their work on the affordances of Generative AI for meaningful teaching and learning, during UNESCO’s first annual flagship event Digital Learning Week, international forum on the implications of Generative AI for education, in the session on ‘Preparing students and teachers for responsible use of AI’.