Digital learning has the potential to offer interactive and personalized learning for children. However, depending on their design, delivery, and use, education technologies (EdTech) can also exacerbate learning inequalities. More than half of the world’s children and young people are on the wrong side of the digital divide, limiting their access to the same learning opportunities as their connected peers. As education systems increasingly invest in innovative and resilient delivery methods in the wake of the COVID-19 school closures, the need for solutions to deliver digital learning to the most marginalized has never been more urgent.
To help fill this gap UNICEF’s Office of Research embeds implementation research into digital learning programmes to inform and improve the way governments, UNICEF and partners:
- Deliver digital learning at scale with or without the internet using the Learning Passport.
- Co-create Accessible Digital Textbooks to enable inclusive education and universal design for learning.
- Develop foundational skills with a fun learning app through the UNICEF-Akelius partnership.
Currently active in more than 20 countries around the world research follows three key stages based on the implementation of the digital learning programme:
