Last semester, while sitting at her dining-room table, Hannah Poole helped young girls in southern Sudan to go to school.<\/p>\n
In that northeast African region, early marriage, coupled with fears of sexual harassment and gender-based violence, mean a high dropout rate for girls. But Poole wants to change that. Based on studies in the area indicating that female teachers have a positive impact on girls\u2019 school attendance and achievement, she helped to craft high-level education policies through her virtual internship.<\/p>\n
Her classroom discussions \u2014 which involved policy frameworks, gender education issues, and cultural norms that prevent young girls from attending school \u2014 contributed to her virtual internship, said Poole, who did extensive reading on the importance of female teachers to girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n
Using data compiled from Sudan\u2019s census, along with education statistics, she was able to chart the parts of the country with the fewest female teachers. She also completed case studies of successful education programs in other countries, such as India and Afghanistan, and used her findings to craft recommendations for southern Sudan\u2019s education officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really get to be part of shaping the country\u2019s future,\u201d said Poole, who is part of UNICEF<\/a>\u2019s education initiative. The Canadian hopes that her work, conducted out of her Cambridge apartment, will convince education ministers to increase educational opportunities for girls.<\/p>\n Using the Web, Poole and a group of her master\u2019s degree classmates at the Harvard Graduate School of Education<\/a> (HGSE) are gaining a kind of field experience without leaving home. They are part of an ongoing virtual internship pilot program offered through the school\u2019s Career Services Office <\/a>and its Field Experience Program<\/a> (FEP) in collaboration with its International Education Policy<\/a> (IEP) master\u2019s program.<\/p>\n The virtual internships represent a trend in an increasingly connected world, with communications technologies such as e-mail and video conferencing making it easier for those eager to explore career opportunities in distant locations to work remotely.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the Internet, we realized there was a limitless opportunity for students to work beyond the local area,\u201d said FEP specialist Sarah Deighton. \u201cIn terms of their future careers, we wanted to help them build connections and networks not only in this country but around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n Fernando Reimers, director of the IEP, developed partnerships with international institutions that agreed to work closely with the students during the semester.<\/p>\n \u201cInternational development institutions, ministries of education, and education policy think tanks abroad all offered their support to this programmatic innovation at HGSE,\u201d said Reimers, who is also Ford Foundation Professor of International Education. \u201cThe result has been a very rich experience for our students who are engaged in a variety of exciting programs.\u201d<\/p>\n Last semester 11 students worked on various international initiatives.<\/p>\n In the fall, master\u2019s student Simon Thacker and his classmate Jessica Malkin helped children in Jamaica to have more fun. Working with the Jamaican Ministry of Education, the pair developed policy around a child\u2019s right to play.<\/p>\n \u201cThe perception in Jamaica is that play is a waste of time, so don\u2019t let kids play,\u201d Thacker said, despite evidence that play is essential to a child\u2019s cognitive, linguistic, and social development. \u201cThis policy is to ensure that the children of Jamaica do get what they need.\u201d<\/p>\n Using Elluminate, an online platform with a phone and instant-message function as well as a public whiteboard that participants can use to mull over ideas in cyberspace, Thacker and Malkin connected with their contact, a senior adviser to the country\u2019s Minister of Education, to review their work.<\/p>\n In addition to affording him high-level policy experience and helping him to put his quantitative skills to use, Thacker said the program was a great way to network and search for employment.<\/p>\n There are some drawbacks. Students admit they miss the face-to-face interaction available in a traditional office setting. The flexible nature of the internships \u2014 students are required to devote at least eight hours a week to their projects \u2014 involves a greater degree of discipline. Getting in touch with contacts can sometimes be a challenge, and stopping an officemate or co-worker in the hall for the answer to a quick question is impossible. Still, they agree, the tradeoffs are worth it.<\/p>\n \u201cThis program shows you that the work that you do has real-life consequences,\u201d said Poole, \u201cand that gives you a really good perspective on what you learn and its implications.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last semester, while sitting at her dining-room table, Hannah Poole helped young girls in southern Sudan to go to school. In that northeast African region, early marriage, coupled with fears of sexual harassment and gender-based violence, mean a high dropout rate for girls. But Poole wants to change that. Based on studies in the area […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-334986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}