The organization Helping Our People has been setup in 2011 by a team of education professionals working at the Virtual Centre for Innovative Technologies (VCILT) at the University of Mauritius. In 2009, the VCILT embarked on the SIDECAP project, funded by the EU-ACP in a consortium regrouping the Open University of the UK, the University of the West Indies, the University of the South Pacific and the University of the Highlands and Islands. The work of the VCILT in the context of the SIDECAP project was essentially focused on the repurposing of Open Educational Resources to fit in the local Mauritian Context. At the same time, the VCILT received an internal grant to work on the development of interactive learning materials using the integration of text-to-speech technology in instructionally designed PowerPoint presentations. In this paper we report how the research activities of the two projects led to a series of development and applications in the real-world context for the continuous professional development of educators, the establishment of a social entity, an NGO called Helping Our People, a partnership with Microsoft Indian Ocean and French Pacific under the Partners in Learning Program and the Youth Empowerment Program to alleviate the suffering of those living in vulnerable conditions in the country.

1. Santally Mohammad Issack
Associate Professor
Virtual Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies
University of Mauritius
Microsoft PIL Network Workshop – April 2014 @ University of Mauritius
A Multiple-Impact Social Partnership Model
to promote Educators’ Development, Youth
Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation in
Mauritius

2. The System
VCILT and Teacher Education
• Established in 2001 with the mandate to promote the
use of ICT in the teaching and learning system
• 2004 - the first online course, a Masters in Educational
Technology (formerly the Computer-Mediated
Communication and Pedagogies) was launched, mainly
targeting educators

3. VCILT and Teacher Education
• 2009 - another innovation in the teacher
training system by introducing the Honours
Bachelor online degree in Educational and
Instructional Technology
• a first step towards the implementation of a
formal recognition of prior learning as an
alternate entry route to University studies.

4. Educational Philosophy
• Time for Radical Change in Teacher Education –
Bob Moon (2010)
• time to implement new technologies in teacher
training courses so as to focus on the continuous
professional development of educators.
• Moon (2010) highlights “there is absolutely no
way the bricks-and-mortar institutions of teacher
training created in the last century will be
adequate for the 21st century needs”.

5. Model of online instruction
Knowledge acquisition phase
Knowledge application phase
Knowledge construction and reflective practice
phase
Role of the teacher/lecturer undergoes a
paradigm shift from the know-it-all to the
manager, orchestrator and facilitator

6. The Transformative Approach
• inculcate new educational culture in aspiring
educators who are embarked in a university
degree course of study…
• provide a route for in-service educators to
upgrade their qualifications through an
innovative degree in education technology by
transforming them into digital migrants..
• influence policy makers by demonstrating that
technology has increased access to education and
has transformed traditional practices.

7. The Projects
SIDECAP
• European Union (EU) funded project as part of its ACP-
EU Cooperation Programme in Higher Education
(EDULINK)
• A lifecycle model for the repurposing of OERs was
proposed which has been applied to the design and
development of online programmes
• Online continuous professional development course for
Mauritian Educators. The course which can reasonably
be considered a μOOC (Micro Open Online Course)
attracted about 300 educators in 2010.

8. Rapid e-Learning Methodology
• creating video lectures through the integration of
two simple technologies namely Microsoft
PowerPoint and Text-to-Speech.
• rapid e-learning methodology allowed for the
development of interactive learning materials in
reduced time period and with minimal technical
computing skills.
• disseminate the technique in workshops to
educators and education practitioners

9. Microsoft Partners in Learning
• rapid e-learning project created a link tunnel between the
SIDECAP project, the in-service educators and the Microsoft
Partners-in-Learning (PIL) Program (www.pil-network.com)
in Mauritius.
• rapid e-learning methodology relies intensively on
Microsoft PowerPoint as the prototyping and development
workbench.
• The idea is to decentralize the content development
process to enable educators to develop curriculum related
materials in a shorter time-span than it would normally
take a small-dedicated team of content developers, as is
currently the practice under the Sankoré Project

10. R&D Model

11. The Impact and Outcomes
From Academia to Community Practice
• Education for Development and Poverty Alleviation - The Helping
Our People Entity
– Very Early Childhood Programme
– Elder Persons in need
– Any type of direct support for genuine poverty cases
Some pertinent questions that we asked ourselves are:
– How can a child who sleeps with a half empty stomach concentrate on
school and study?
– How can a child who is deprived from basic necessary nutrition
develop his brain enough to be able to pass through our school system
effectively?
– How can a parent send his kid to school when that same parent is
unable to find basic amenities needed for a decent living?

12. Innovative Operation Model

13. Multiple Impact Social Partnership
• essentially an integration of the Research and Development model
in education technology and the community engagement model
with the establishment of the Helping our People Entity
• Based on the education research philosophy for social change
through action research and the Living lab paradigm for Teaching
and Learning
• 4P innovation framework where the Public sector is represented by
the VCILT and the University, the Private Sector represented by
Microsoft Indian Ocean and French Pacific or other actors in the
future, the People being academics, educators, the Youth
volunteers (students), the beneficiaries and the partnership among
those actors is mediated through a collective social movement
called Helping Our People.

14. A First Account of Field Activity
• Socially Oriented ‘Professional’ Activities
– Interactive Materials Development Training in
Mauritius
– Partners-in-Learning Network Initiation in
Rodrigues
– 2013 Education Technology Seminar
– PiL Network Bootcamp

15. Community Support
• Needy Students Support in La Gaulette State
Secondary School
• Donation of foodstuff to needy families
• Medical Expenses Support for Children with
Health Problems

16. Reflections
• Contrary to developed countries, Research and
development in the context of developing countries should
also embody community service as an important and key
element to promote social justice and alleviation of
poverty.
• Educational institutions are more and more called upon to
assume a preponderant role in the socio-economic
development process of the country through sustainable
initiatives to promote community building, social progress
and inclusion for all.
• The real issue in developing countries is that less and less
value is attached to research for development.

17. In a country like Mauritius where free primary,
secondary and tertiary education (to some
extent) has been a landmark in the socio-
economic development and political stability
in the country, it is deplored that research in
education for development has long been a
sidelined issue despite having three four
public universities and one dedicated
institution for teacher training.
Concluding Remarks

18. Living labs are emerging as a new model to support co-
creative, human-centric and user-driven research,
development and innovation in order to better cater for
people’s needs.
The Mauritian society is at a junction where traditional
models of research and development have started to show
their limits to sustain a modern society that can effectively
address growing challenges like education reforms, poverty
alleviation, global economic crisis, and environmental
protection.
The MISP model although operational at a micro-level and
is at an infancy stage, tries to embody the new open
innovation concepts as proposed by the Living Lab
ecosystems and can serve in the longer term as an example
for other initiatives.
Concluding Remarks

19. Thank You
Help us to Help Our People