As in-person interaction slowly returns to our lives after years of pandemic-induced isolation and virtual meetings, many people are still coming to terms with returning to daily commutes to work. For Alison Earnhart, Tufts CEEO project administrator for the Tech and Play initiative, work took her 6,871 miles away to Kigali, Rwanda in early May.
After a year and a half of Zoom calls, Slack posts, and exchanging emails, this trip marked the very first in-person meeting of members of the Tech and Play cohort from all over the globe. Funded by the LEGO Foundation, Tech and Play brings together organizations from the United States, Brazil, Denmark, Kenya, and Rwanda to explore bringing playful, hands-on learning through technology to classrooms. With a suitcase full of electronics and robotic components, Earnhart made her way to Rwanda’s capital city to meet up with colleagues from the Education Development Center, the Scratch Foundation, MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten, the Brazil Creative Learning Network, IREX Kenya Play, Right to Play Rwanda, Creativity Lab, KEZA Education Future Lab, and the Maranyundo Initiative.
The opportunity for this landmark meeting arose in conjunction with the eLearning Africa conference returning to an in-person format in Kigali after a two-year pause for the pandemic. Founded in 2005, eLearning Africa is a world-class conference that features state-of-the-art information and communication technology in education from across Africa and the world. This major international event provided the inertia needed to help members of Tech and Play, including Earnhart, to finally gather together.
In addition to providing opportunities for inter-organizational networking and hands-on tech exchange, participants like Earnhart finally got to spend some quality time getting to know their colleagues. “Zoom calls just aren’t the same,” she said. “When you’re working with folks on these important issues like accessible tech development and culturally responsive student-centered teaching, everything comes so much easier when you’re able to interact and personally relate with your collaborators.”
“The highlight of the trip was definitely getting to visit some of the local schools and having the opportunity to see and experience what the educational environments are like in Rwanda”, Earnhart said. “Meeting with students and educators directly and getting to observe how they are developing these playful, hands-on learning experiences is absolutely fundamental to the work we’re doing in Tech and Play.” For more on the Tech and Play initiative, visit https://sites.tufts.edu/techandplay/.
