{"id":570197,"date":"2021-03-31T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=570197"},"modified":"2021-03-30T17:59:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T21:59:20","slug":"trying-to-improve-remote-learning-a-refugee-camp-offers-some-surprising-lessons","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/trying-to-improve-remote-learning-a-refugee-camp-offers-some-surprising-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Trying to Improve Remote Learning? A Refugee Camp Offers Some Surprising Lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared at The Hechinger Report<\/a> and is published in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Exchange<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

L<\/span>ast year when teachers and students transitioned to remote instruction, Iraqi instructor Mohammad Hameed and his students in the Arbat Refugee Camp in the Iraqi Kurdistan region weren\u2019t caught off guard.<\/p>\n

While the pandemic and the sudden shutdown of schools provoked fear, the teachers at this remote refugee camp in northern Iraq weren\u2019t worried about how students would cope: They were confident their students were prepared to take their learning fully online. They didn\u2019t have a high-tech classroom with fancy equipment \u2014 in fact most students didn\u2019t even have laptops or access to the internet. They had something more important: basic digital literacy.<\/p>\n

Hameed\u2019s students are participants in various programs through Hello Future<\/a>, a nonprofit organization that works with teen refugees to bridge the education gap by teaching digital and financial literacy, critical thinking and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

The students at the Arbat camp are Syrian refugees who fled that country\u2019s civil war. With limited education opportunities available inside the camp for the 13-18 age group, Hello Future saw a gap that could be bridged through media and digital literacy, the ability to find, create and share content online. These skills not only expand students\u2019 educational landscape but can also become a \u201cgame changer in terms of employability,\u201d said Charlie Grosso, founder and executive director of Hello Future.<\/p>\n

The program operates in what she calls a \u201cmobile-first environment,\u201d meaning 90 percent of the program is taught on a phone, even though classes are in-person. At the start of the program, students are given an inexpensive smartphone with internet access, which they get to keep once they complete the program. While access to other technology is limited in the camp, Grosso said many refugee families have access to a cell phone but primarily use only four to five apps, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram or YouTube.<\/p>\n