Background

Macedonia is a small country of two million people located on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. Macedonia is a young country, having gained its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. At the time of its independence, Macedonia was one of the least developed former Yugoslav republics, though the country has slowly attained economic stability. As the country has developed, so has the technology infrastructure. Of the total population, 19.2% of Macedonians have access to the internet, an increase of 1200% since the year 2000. World Links' goal has been to make sure every teacher has access, thus spreading the technology to the youth of Macedonia.

World Links in Macedonia

Location

Background

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is located in West Africa and is the most populous country on the continent with more than 80 million inhabitants. Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. Nigeria faces the daunting task of reforming a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement, and institutionalizing democracy.

Nigeria is currently experiencing its longest period of civilian rule since independence. Nigeria’s infrastructure is rapidly developing. Since 2000, internet usage has increased by 2400%. There is still a lot of work to be done as most of the development is in urban areas and 97% of the population is still without internet access.

World Links in Nigeria

Location

Zimbabwe Virtual Reality Program

Over time and through many projects at the Naledi3d Factory, a South African company that explores ways to use virtual reality as a social and development tool, we have regularly seen just how virtual reality can offer high returns on basic human (social) development.

Being both intensely visual and interactive, virtual reality easily overcomes the text-based and language barriers to learning in an engaging way and one that’s also characterized by a high learning retention.  Modern understanding of the human brain shows that the area of the cerebral cortex devoted to processing visual inputs is an order of magnitude more powerful than that responsible for text and speech.  Using virtual reality to demonstrate concepts and show knowledge visually greatly enhances comprehension of many topics.  Thus, we can easily offer effective skill development to those who are functionally illiterate.

Location

The World Links program was introduced into in Rwanda in July of 2002. World Links Rwanda provided the hardware for 20 labs and trained teachers and headmasters at primary and secondary schools throughout the country.

The World Links program in Rwanda was comprised of three components:

Primary Schools: World Links worked to develop computer literacy in Rwanda's primary schools by providing hardware and training to more than half of all primary schools in Rwanda. World Links provided each school with at least one computer equipped with Birchfield Interactive software and Microsoft Office. Two teachers from each school were trained in basic ICT concepts and the use of educational software.

Location

The World Links India Program was initiated in January 2002, with the training of thirty master trainers from Delhi and Karnataka. As part of Stage I of the World Links India Program, World Links targeted 32 rural and underserved government schools in Delhi and Karnataka, partnering with the Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya school systems in Delhi and the Government of Karnataka schools in Karnataka.

In its first year of program implementation, World Links trained 200 teachers in Phase I of the World Links teacher professional development program (Introduction to the Internet for Teaching and Learning). In 2003, World Links expanded its India program to reach a total of 80 rural and underserved government schools in Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.

Location