reading to children in delhi, india
TRANSCRIPT
Reading to Children in Delhi, India
Findings from the formative research phase ofMobile Reading to Children
Molly Jamieson EberhardtResults for Development Institute
Reading with children from a very young age, even before they are literate or verbal themselves, increases learning outcomes later in life.
But many disadvantaged children do not have access to such early reading experiences.
At the same time, mobile phones are becoming more and more ubiquitous, even for disadvantaged families.
What is the potential for mobile phones to play a role in increasing access to quality reading experiences for young children?
Can we foster…
habit of reading
culture of reading
love of reading
motivation to read
access to text
future educational benefits
using…
Mobile Reading to Children (mR2C)
1. Access
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2-year pilot in Delhi, India
2. Awareness 3. Knowledge and practice
Mobile Reading to Children (mR2C)
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2-year pilot in Delhi, India
3. Knowledge and practice
▪ What should this look like?
▪ How do we best encourage and empower caregivers to read with their young children?
R4D’s Adaptive Learning approach
Stage 1: Design1. Define and understand the problem2. Develop the theory of change3. Sketch out a program design
Stage 2: Experiment3. Test small first, learn quickly 4. Define alternatives, test simultaneously and assess5. Adapt, rinse, and repeat
Scale and evaluate
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Formative Research: Methodology
Phase 1: 25 key informant interviews with caregivers
Phase 2: 108 key informant interviews with caregivers▪ Topics
▪ Time use▪ Beliefs/attitudes about reading to
children▪ Mobile use▪ Current reading behaviors▪ Content preferences
▪ Inc. 25 follow-up interviews▪ 5 focus group discussions with teachers
Phase 3: Usability testing with 25 users
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4 month pre-pilot effort
Target audience
What we learned
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Attitudes Knowledge
Behaviors Content
▪ Storytelling and reading have different purposes
▪ Reading: not a joint activity; academic (form of study), studying → higher SES
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Attitudes
▪ Caregivers are not aware of educational and developmental benefits of reading to very young children, especially when they are pre-literate and pre-verbal
▪ Caregivers are not aware of good (interactive) practices for reading with young children (though strong storytelling culture has similar features)
▪ Sources of knowledge: Caregivers trust and learn about child development and good practices from1. Healthcare workers (government or private clinics)2. Family and neighbors3. Teachers/schools
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Knowledge
▪ Lack of time is the biggest barrier to reading with children
▪ Gender and age: highly correlated to time spent with children and access to technology
▪ Men, regardless of age, spend less time with children but have more access to technology.
▪ Women are responsible for childcare, and therefore have more time with children. But they have less access to technology.
▪ Youth and young adults (brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles) are the most strategic access points given their more active reading behaviors and openness to technology.
▪ The least strategic is grandparents who have the lowest literacy levels and least access to phones.
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Behaviors
▪ Bilingual books were strongly preferred: way for both caregivers and children to learn English
▪ Books with moral lessons preferred
▪ Visually rich▪ Indian context▪ Poems and songs as a
teaching and joyful storytelling tool for children 0-3.
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Content
What we learned
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Attitudes Knowledge
Behaviors Content
How findings inform program design
1. Reaching caregivers through key influencers
▪ Healthcare workers, teachers, mothers’ group leaders
2. Using active community youth as network nodes
▪ Youth community leaders
3. Improving the user interface and adding preferred content
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Considerations for scale
▪ How will attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, and content preferences vary across contexts?
▪ Cultural▪ Rural/urban▪ Different SES groups
▪ Time horizon for changing attitudes and behaviors?
▪ Should we even try to build a culture and habit of reading at scale when contextual barriers may vary significantly? Small is beautiful?
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Questions?
Molly Jamieson EberhardtResults for Development Institute