Gemin-i

This initiative draws on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to connect schools for educational development.

For example, Gemin-i.org's Rafi.ki is a free social network of schools that gathers students and teachers from (as of this writing) over 600 schools in 84 countries to facilitate project-based learning and to provide an international dimension to all aspects of the curriculum. By creating an online learning community, organisers aim to improve academic achievement while bridging national, religious, and social divides. It also strives to create global citizens by helping pupils collaborate with each other on charity-driven projects. Specifically, using technology funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Department for International Development (DfID), and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Rafi.ki provides a series of structured, cross-curricula projects that cover areas such as climate change, slavery, conflict prevention, recycling, modern foreign languages, and creative writing. Each project includes lesson plans, expansion activities, and resources such as videos, pictures, and sound clips. Many projects also involve celebrity interviews where pupils can pose questions to prominent people. In some projects, there are also opportunities to meet politicians and express the participanting classes' views on particular topics. In 2005, pupils from Kenya, Malawi, and England presented their perspectives - in person - at the G8 Summit in Scotland.

To detail the strategy further, organisers claim that its interactive nature adds an extra dimension to the classroom, enabling students to gather evidence from and share cultural and other information with fellow students across the globe. Teachers may also use Rafi.ki to share experiences, ideas, and information. The specific tool is a built-in communications centre which allows for a number of different methods of asynchronous and synchronous communication, such as instant messaging, video conferencing, audio conferencing, email, online discussion forums, and weblogs (a drag and drop design tool which pupils can use to create media-rich blogs and other web-pages). These features are contained within a secure community, and messages, posts, and communication are mediated and contributed to by trained project facilitators.

Another means of creating partnerships between schools across the world is Reflect - a software-based training tool designed to facilitate the teaching process, and to provide guidance and connectivity to the work of teachers throughout the UK. This tool allows teachers to film their lessons from multiple angles, so they can watch, annotate, and share their recordings. Following a pilot in schools in Manchester, UK, and then an evaluation by Manchester Metropolitan University, a nationwide roll-out is expected in 2008.

Finally, Gemin-i Webtools is a social enterprise that builds web-2.0-based websites, learning tools, and online communities for those in the public, not-for-profit, and private sectors. For example, organisers developed tools for Global Action Schools, a project through which over 80 pilot schools are exploring how small changes in their day-to-day operations could help reduce global poverty. And the Computer Club for Girls (CC4G) is a website that aims to change the way girls think about technology and information technology (IT) careers; Gemin-i built the "Club Room" area of the site, which is an online community where the girls can share the work they have done in other parts of the site, get help, and chat with each other.

Education, Technology.

Organisers say that "Rafi.ki uses ICT programming as an innovative approach to bridging cross-cultural divides by linking school communities, designing exciting projects and curriculum that integrate an international, socially-conscious dimension to learning, and to facilitate communication and capacity building between teachers worldwide." In addition, they claim that, "In our experience students are more engaged when there is a real audience with whom they can share their work, and as a result often achieve higher levels of learning."