Lessons Learned from Educators around the World
Dr. Diana D. Woolis, PHD
(Please share with your network)
In the face of the COVID 19 pandemic, we are solidifying our resolve and focusing our resources on refugee educators for the foreseeable future. We are supporting those in the refugee educator ecosystem deliver teaching pathways to their teams including for pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education, in both formal and non-formal settings.
“Refugee” for our purposes includes all those who are displaced by conflict, persecution, and crisis whether formally recognized as a refugee or not. Our Refugee Educator Academy aims to support those who are working with refugee, migrant, and displaced communities worldwide.
What We Are Offering
- Refugee Educator Foundations of Practice Course (US Educators in AZ NY WA)
- Refugee Educator Foundations of Practice micro-credentials
- Communities of Practice
- Webinars
- Peer-to-Peer Forums
- Facilitated Meet-Ups
We have learned some very important lessons as we have been in communication with refugee educators around the world and across contexts over the past two years, and especially in this current pandemic moment:
- The staggering lack of preparation of education institutions and organizations to effectively use online tools to support students, teachers, faculty, and staff
- The isolation and lack of support teachers and faculty are getting to help them continue to do their jobs in this moment and online
- Educators are drowning in content but dying of thirst for curated, targeted, tools for triage in their own context
- The need for support for tutors, counselors, administrators and others in the ecosystem of refugee education
What We Are Doing
We are working with those serving displaced populations, to deliver or build new, online professional development activities for their teachers, faculty, and staff. And short courses to support educators working with Students with Interrupted Formal Education (in our catalog) and courses from partnering orgs (USAHello and CE International courses).
- An open Refugee Educator Foundations of Practice Course (both self-paced and facilitated options)
- Virtual Office Hours – Refugee Educators can sign up for time with experts
- Curated Content – Organized by topic, grade level, and region.
- Targeted Micro-Courses and Micro Content
- Supporting communities of practice
- Facilitating online meet-ups of various kinds
What You Can Do
1. SHARE WITH YOUR NETWORK
Share this PRACTICE NOTE with your networks
2. VOLUNTEER YOUR EXPERTISE
We need people with experience in the refugee education ecosystem. Specifically, we are looking for a volunteer coordinator, online instructional designers, translators/multilingual skills, content specialists, online community facilitators, individuals with expertise in social and digital media and in analytics. We need “creatives” who can design infographics and create short informational videos. And we need researchers who can help us assess, quantitatively and qualitatively, the work we are undertaking.
3. SPONSOR REFUGEE EDUCATORS
Underwriting course enrollment fees helps refugee educators take advantage of our programs. Every $100 gives a teacher one year of access to a host of online offerings.
4. DONATE TO THE REFUGEE EDUCATOR ACADEMY
Support our core operations, communications, the production of new courses in multiple languages, content curation, and the staffing of “office hours” and a help desk to make experts more available to those seeking help.