My colleagues Sophie Asmus, Aideen Dunne, and I — like consultants everywhere — aspired to absolutely do the most we could for our E.dúcate client. Changing anybody's world in four weeks is a difficult thing. Any ambitions this grande are regrettably unlikely to be realized.
The fact is, our client — like most — actually knows what they are doing. E.dúcate was founded and is run by a very prominent, well-connected Ecuadorian family. Members of the family all completed advanced education. They understand the challenges of working in their environment far more clearly than we can even begin to suspect in four weeks. This requires us to rise to a very high consulting standard if are to contribute something of any meaning to E.dúcate.
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| Our workspace in E.dúcate's office as we left it upon departing for the final time. |
Our client E.dúcate enjoys a twelve-year track record of remarkable innovation in education technology. Their mission emphasizes giving all Ecuadorians access to at least the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Bridging the digital divide is one of E.dúcate's primary points of attack.
E.dúcate's crown jewel is a classroom-learning software application called Aprendeje Personalizado Complementario y Interconectado (APCI) (Personalized, Interconnected, Complementary Learning). More than 250,000 students in Guayaquil use APCI twice per week in in-school computer labs.
APCI supplements traditional classroom instruction in math and language (Spanish). Students find APCI fun and engaging. It gives teachers very precise information about how each student is progressing towards mastering national learning standards. Many U.S. school districts — even those that are highly technologically enabled — still struggle with figuring this out.
E.dúcate delivers APCI to all public schools in Ecuador irrespective of their socioeconomic status. APCI is also delivered to low-cost private elementary schools, Escuelas Particulares Populares (EPPs). EPPs serve some of Guayaquil's most-marginalized neighborhoods. Some schools' students mostly have computers and Internet at home. Some barely have connectivity anywhere in their neighborhood.
E.dúcate's remarkable accomplishment may have fallen victim to its own success. It is not novel anymore. E.dúcate continues to launch new computer labs at EPPs. EPP labs get refurbished hand-me-down equipment donated by businesses and individuals. One may be forgiven for mistaking APCI with old computer equipment, and in turn asking for something new and innovative.
Other technology investment projects by the Ecuadorian public sector — both at the national and municipality levels — introduce opportunities for APCI to grow and evolve. Guayaquil Mayor Jaimie Neto signed on October 7 a major contract to deploy 6,000 free, public WiFi access points throughout the city. Other national-level initiatives are planned.
Ubiquitous WiFi creates the opportunity for APCI to escape from the in-school computer labs within which it is now imprisoned. Isolated in computer labs — within which each screen is fully scheduled for the entire week — APCI cannot grow. It cannot be expanded to cover more courses in Ecuador's curriculum. Teachers with whom we spoke all want more APCI. They cannot get enough of it!
The IBM team working with E.dúcate suggested they explore reengineering APCI for "the cloud". Cloud APCI would allow students access to it from every classroom and for every course. They could use simple, inexpensive Netbooks. These are very simple laptops that only connect to the Internet. Google Chromebooks and specially designed laptops by the One Laptop per Child foundation are examples.
We leave E.dúcate with key elements of an outline of a relatively comprehensive business plan. Our recommendations included a technology strategy and roadmap; a fundraising strategy; and a marketing and communications strategy. We grounded our recommendations in agendas by the Ecuadorian government and fundraisers, and in trends in the Ecuadorian economy and labor market.
Little of what we recommended had not occurred to E.dúcate before. I previously observed that the foundation is run by a prominent family whose members are all well-educated. What then of the value of our contribution to this remarkable organization? Maybe we suggested a few things that they haven't suggested before.
Also important, we refreshed their perspective. The foundation's leaders are consumed by small, day-to-day battles to keep the piece-parts of the organization funded and operating. It is easy to loose sight beneath the daily struggle that one's work directly touches a quarter of a million young people twice per seek in E.dúcate-supported computer labs.
In conjunction with this, we perhaps helped E.dúcate look at things from a more strategic view. Many of our recommendations are things they have tried — and done successfully at times — in the past. Perhaps combining these things in a new configuration will lead to a successful new trajectory for growth.
In the end, activities like IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC) really are two-way streets. Sophie, Aideen, and I were novices at working in developing-market environments. Doctora Particia Hernandez de Soza, E.dúcate's director, made a substantial commitment of her valuable time and energy to get and keep us pointed in the right direction. We would have been lost without Patricia's investment in our success. In this regard, E.dúcate's investment in a small piece of IBM may yield returns that endure as long is IBM's small investment in E.dúcate.
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| A Friday, October 31 working session at E.dúcate's office. |
E.dúcate's remarkable accomplishment may have fallen victim to its own success. It is not novel anymore. E.dúcate continues to launch new computer labs at EPPs. EPP labs get refurbished hand-me-down equipment donated by businesses and individuals. One may be forgiven for mistaking APCI with old computer equipment, and in turn asking for something new and innovative.
Other technology investment projects by the Ecuadorian public sector — both at the national and municipality levels — introduce opportunities for APCI to grow and evolve. Guayaquil Mayor Jaimie Neto signed on October 7 a major contract to deploy 6,000 free, public WiFi access points throughout the city. Other national-level initiatives are planned.
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| The "Cool Shades Crew" (CSC): The "greater" team for the E.dúcate project (l-r): Valeria Celi, Pyxera Global; Aideen Dunne, IBM; Johanna Meza, E.dúcate; yours, truly; Sophie Asmus, IBM; and Gabriel Guavera, intern with Pyxera Global. |
Ubiquitous WiFi creates the opportunity for APCI to escape from the in-school computer labs within which it is now imprisoned. Isolated in computer labs — within which each screen is fully scheduled for the entire week — APCI cannot grow. It cannot be expanded to cover more courses in Ecuador's curriculum. Teachers with whom we spoke all want more APCI. They cannot get enough of it!
The IBM team working with E.dúcate suggested they explore reengineering APCI for "the cloud". Cloud APCI would allow students access to it from every classroom and for every course. They could use simple, inexpensive Netbooks. These are very simple laptops that only connect to the Internet. Google Chromebooks and specially designed laptops by the One Laptop per Child foundation are examples.
 |
| E.dúcate team member Sophie Asmus (misidentified as "Perdriset") and two other IBM CSC-Ecuador colleagues were featured in an article in the newspaper Expreso. |
We leave E.dúcate with key elements of an outline of a relatively comprehensive business plan. Our recommendations included a technology strategy and roadmap; a fundraising strategy; and a marketing and communications strategy. We grounded our recommendations in agendas by the Ecuadorian government and fundraisers, and in trends in the Ecuadorian economy and labor market.
Little of what we recommended had not occurred to E.dúcate before. I previously observed that the foundation is run by a prominent family whose members are all well-educated. What then of the value of our contribution to this remarkable organization? Maybe we suggested a few things that they haven't suggested before.
Also important, we refreshed their perspective. The foundation's leaders are consumed by small, day-to-day battles to keep the piece-parts of the organization funded and operating. It is easy to loose sight beneath the daily struggle that one's work directly touches a quarter of a million young people twice per seek in E.dúcate-supported computer labs.
In conjunction with this, we perhaps helped E.dúcate look at things from a more strategic view. Many of our recommendations are things they have tried — and done successfully at times — in the past. Perhaps combining these things in a new configuration will lead to a successful new trajectory for growth.
In the end, activities like IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC) really are two-way streets. Sophie, Aideen, and I were novices at working in developing-market environments. Doctora Particia Hernandez de Soza, E.dúcate's director, made a substantial commitment of her valuable time and energy to get and keep us pointed in the right direction. We would have been lost without Patricia's investment in our success. In this regard, E.dúcate's investment in a small piece of IBM may yield returns that endure as long is IBM's small investment in E.dúcate.
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