Hi, All. Recent new member Bill Smith here. I read a BBC report on the crushing of many young Afgan students’ professional dreams, due to lack of university openings. ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8280765.stm ) This strikes me as the key to developing a stable, prosperous society, but it will have to happen fast! Do those of you with loads of online teaching experience and/or familiarity with that nation have any thoughts on this? Thanks!

The biggest barrier to eduFire or other on-line education would be the availability of internet access. Only 1.8% of Afghans have internet access
(http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm#asia). Though I believe there are some eduFireans who are in Kabul.

Jacquie pointed out the main problem. I’d be happy to donate some time and teach some Afghani students. The key is the Internet connection.

Hmmm. Given the above comments, I see two major requirements: 1. Hardware and 2. Connectivity: 1. Are computers available to these aspiring university students? If a shortage exists, it might be addressed by a program similar to the “One Laptop Per Child” campaign: http://laptop.org/en/ 2. Is internet even provided across significant portions of the country? If not, a combined government/private enterprise joint venture might be able to expand coverage. Thanks, Jacquie and Alan!

I just tweeted this thread: online educ help in #Afghanistan; http://bit.ly/1F51yT

I emailed a photographer that works with the UN in Afghanistan asking him to forward this thread to the correct party.

added:
I too would be happy to donate my time.

Me too ready to donate my time on teaching HEALTH/MEDICAL topics and BIOLOGY…..Feel free to ask me

You can also count me in! I would definitely like to donate some time to help others out.

WOW – You guys are super!
….Now if the government and service agencies will just support such a program! :)

I, too would love to help. However, as with the television industry, the internet is limited in most cases not by technology but by politics.

One of the reasons there are several different types of television signals such as PAL, NTSC, and others is due mainly to the problems with national boundries and the differences in political philosophy. The same can be said with the internet.

Although there is quite a bit of work that needs to be done, simply by working with online educational sites such as eduFire and using social web services such as twitter I believe will prove extremely valuable in helping spread low cost educational services throughout the world. As sites such as eduFire continue to grow, it would be interesting to see how we can affect change in a positive way.

If McDonalds can count the number of hamburgers they have served, wouldn’t it be great if eduFire can find what classes are needed in Afganistan and other areas in the world and find ways to provide these classes. It would be nice to see how many classes could be donated by eduFire teachers and students to such a great cause.

But again, the problem in many of these places is the restrictions placed on citizens by their own government. If the tools to download educational programs and classes so that they can be used to help educate the citizens are not allowed by the governments in such countries, the sad reality is that the cycle of educational povery will continue.

That is why I spent time hunting the UN and UNAMA sites for contacts. I’ve got my reservation about the UN but they are in a position to coordinate help that may go beyond country borders and political egos.

Maybe something like this:

http://www.digitalopportunity.org/spotlight/an-internet-for-rural-india

We won’t know until we try.

Also happy to help, if possible, though I have no knowledge to add as to logistics.

I will be watching this thread… I am very interested in contributing time and content. I have a program that has been used for at risk youth and for transitioning adults that I think would be really helpful to a developing nations people to see what is possible for themselves beyond or inspite of broders or rules where it is a win / win for all…

It is nice to see that there are generous people here so willing to give their university level knowledge for free, but also remember that educational poverty is linked to actual poverty. (edit According to world bank statistics only 24% of the population is urbanized. Other reports say that a considerable % of the population live without electricity.) Even if the infrastructure is made available for more people to have internet access, having the resources to pay for internet access may be beyond the realm of the vast majority of those who would benefit most.

That doesn’t mean give up trying on something worthy but I agree with Ron, that the issue is more far complex than just getting internet access.

I’m ready also to help and donate some of my time to help Afghani students.

i am willing to give one hour everyday to help not only Afghanistan but all the third world countries. illiteracy and ignorance are ugly and i do not want to see them on the face of the earth. but the task is so big that only USA is able to do it with the help of individuals.

Given the comments above (especially Ron’s and Dave’s), this sounds increasingly entrepreneurial to me (IE, we’re discussing delivering a new/unique product to an unserved market. Everything else builds off the answers to three “foundation questions” for any new venture: (1) To whom will we provide this service?, (2) What is the exact product that we can offer to meet their needs?, and (3) In what form (format, schedule, etc.) will this product produce the biggest benefit for the lowest cost? All comprehensive organizational plans, whether business or nonprofit, derive from the answers to those three deceptively simple questions!

Before there was an eduFire, I use to advertise free ESL lessons on Craigslist. I’ve had students from Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Colombia, U.S., and China. Students are happy with just a voice connection like Skype and I’ve emailed students documents to discuss during the lesson.

Many places that have Internet access have dial-up. Keep it simple and this idea could work. I’m happy to help however I can.

My best story about the infrastructure problems we may encounter is – I was teaching a student from Vietnam and there was a lot of background noise. I asked my student what the noise was and he said that was someone cranking up the generator so he would have enough electricity for his Internet connection. Eventually, the noise subsided and we had a good lesson.

EXCELLENT anecdote, Alan! A beautiful example of what I like to call “guerilla education” – ie, in the trenches and “jungle” (metaphorically), where it’s needed most! My brief experiences in that realm were easily the most rewarding of my career.

Great story Alan… I think the if we build it they will come model may work here. I have a friend who taught children in africa from one computer… they all gathered around for the lesson. Kinda like the generator story! I think putting in place the teachers and the subjects offered will attract the students. they will do what it takes to receive the gift.
@William – Since it’s your vision and your idea… how do you see it going forward? …. seems a few people here have contacts and ideas about it and you have a few willing teachers. maybe a group or a “free class” where we could all meet and talk about what we see as a workable plan… I look forward to what you come up with…

WOW, Alaia! There are so many unknowns and so many possible avenues by which to approach this, I think we need someone “in the field” in Afganistan. Ideally, we’d have several, since personal knowledge and personalities vary so much among all populations. These folks could react to the group’s ideas and offers, and perhaps give guidance as to what works and HOW to make it work. (It is SO easy to commit faux pas when working across cultural lines that I consider the HOW to be more crucial in this case.)
The idea of a meeting is tempting; for the time being, this forum thread seems to be working nicely.
I love your “children gathered around one computer” story – another great “guerilla education” example!

Seems that if there is a idea in place not just for the children and people of Afganistan but other third world countries as well… they will seek out the solution and they will inform what is appropriate or not. Many cultures have certain things that must be met but until there is a process started there is no way to know what those are. Kinda like edufire… If Jon had waited until he had all the tutors and all the students and all the subjects in place we would not be here. He put the foundation together to meet a need that he saw… and then the other things started to fill in. At least that seems to be the way it has unfolded. I still see here on the boards people suggesting things and the team saying “we are considering this or that”…. They are implementing as it unfolds to meet the needs of the people coming forth.
If there were no class then the children could not have gathered around that one computer. If my friends group had said we need to have an internet connection for the children and we need to have electricity and we need to have books… you get my drift… If we start with the “BIG” vision of providing the opportunity and that being available to peoples of less developed nations and then work backwards from that reality to what we would offer and how often then maybe look at how the word gets out. There are organizations that connect with developing nations organizations like KIVA and CARE and of course the UN who could help spread the word that the opportunity was available. Then of course there’s twitter youtube and the like where the information could go viral. but first something has to be created for people to talk about.
You’re right the forum thread is working nicely for gathering input. It sounds like a promising and exciting project. I really hope it moves forward…One final thought check this video
click here

Beautiful and important video, Alaia! I’m forwarding it to email and Facebook friends.

Does this summarize your thoughts (above) accurately? “Once you’ve identified a need, start small and anyway you can. As people start to use the innovation, then expand appropriately.”

KIVA, CARE, the UN, etc. are very well placed to provide guidance with this sort of project. As you observe, they can best support that which has already been initiated.

Yes, I’m saying those of us here do what we do best… create programs, and teach. Once we have the programs and the information ready to present and the word out that our offer exists allow the people to be empowered by their desire to learn and let them do what they know best to do… survive and thrive in spite of difficulties, government corruption and political intrigue. They know their situation best and they know how to cope with it. If the information is available they will find a way. And if it is open to all developing nations then more people can be helped thereby lifting the cloud of poverty worldwide.
Maybe one starting point is to determine what talent is available here on edufire and figure out what and how they can present it to best serve entry level university students in a developing country. Organize that group of teachers with a proposed ciriculium, possibly present it to whomever is interested even the underpriviledged in the US, to iron out some of the roughest spots and see where the glitches are and then approach some of the organizations that are already in place, showing them what is available… they can provide more insight to what else may be needed… and start the viral ball rolling to get the buzz going that the program exist.
Soon it will take on a life of its own…I can see the potential here of creating something revolutionary…. Yes start where you are with what you have doing what you do best!

With a lot of grassroots organizations, working in areas where there is a lack of access to resources, educational and otherwise, it has proved most effective to provide information and training to local folks who are teaching others.

Very inspiring posts, some people have written. Are folks tweeting their posts, blogging them, trying to draw in a larger audience?

I have tweeted a link to this thread with the hash-tag “Afghanistan”. Do you know of a more appropriate hash?

I’ll bet there are blogs on digitalopportunity.org that would be appropriate to comment on.