About LearnLink

Between 1996 and 2003, LearnLink implemented nearly twenty information, communication, and technology (ICT)-based activities globally to support socioeconomic development. Activities spanned 17 countries in three continents and strengthened work in sectors ranging from basic education to teacher training, professional development, participant training, lifelong learning, economic development, municipal networking, health, and institutional and organizational strengthening. For details on LearnLink's field work, see the Projects page on this site.

On the basis of its field experiences, LearnLink produced a variety of publications to share results and inform future work. Many of its newsletters, country papers, one-sheets, articles, reports, and CD-ROMs are available under Publications, some in Spanish and French as well as English. These documents describe field activities, summarize lessons, and provide the development community with insights into employing ICTs in a variety of sectors.

Coming soon will be a series of future-oriented concept papers exploring theoretical and conceptual aspects of ICTs. Tentative topics include "The Last Mile," "Strengthening Indigenous Cultures and Languages with ICTs," "Pedagogical Uses of Web-Based Chat," "Prospects for E-Commerce," "The Last Mile," "ICTs and Constructivism," and "Evolution of the Users: An Evolutionary Taxonomy of Internet Users."

At the end of 2002, LearnLink will publish Digital Opportunities for Development, a sourcebook featuring six "models-of-use" that describe technology applications and provide practical guidelines and strategies for assessing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, and institutionalizing ICT-based activities. The models-of-use focus on:

Community learning centers
Computer-mediated professional development
Computers in schools
NGO strengthening
Foundations of E-Commerce
E-Government

Case studies of field activities in each area accompany the models-of-use, illustrating and illuminating lessons learned from the experiences that can inform future efforts with ICTs in developing countries. In all, over ten stories from the field provide in-depth insights into working with ICTs, all drawn from actual field experiences globally.

For other information on ICT programming at AED such as expansion of LearnLink TO1 activities in Uganda, Namibia, and Guatemala, go to www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://ict.aed.org.