Strengthening Access to Early Grade Reading Resources with the Global Digital Library
Literacy is a keystone of any educational program, especially those focusing on digital content. Having materials that encourage reading is critical, yet over 617 million children and adolescents are not learning how to read, perhaps due to the fact that there are limited reading resources in a language they can understand.
Recognizing that such materials are in short supply all over the world, especially in the form of multicultural, locally-relevant open educational resources, we’re fortunate to see and be part of a global reversal of that trend. As part of that objective we’re thrilled to provide offline access to a full selection of high-quality children’s picture books in underserved languages from the Global Digital Library, launched April 26th with the support of UNESCO at an event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
What is the Global Digital Library?
The Global Digital Library is a collection of early grade reading resources available in 10 languages to start with at least 25 languages by the end of 2018, as well as plans to integrate select literacy-building games in the future such as EduApp for Syria award winner Feed the Monster. Its library contains two types of books leveled by lexile level: classroom books, which are approved by ministries in the relevant countries, and library books, which are leveled for grades 1–4, but not necessarily government-approved. The Library has been tested and iterated upon in Nepal, Cambodia, and Ethiopia, and has a commitment to quality assurance and localization over 100 languages by 2020.
The project, one of the three pillars of the Global Book Campaign and part of The Global Book Alliance, is a cross-stakeholder collaboration incepted under the All Children Reading program, with support from UNESCO and led by the Norwegian Digital Learning Arena and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. It recognizes that global illiteracy is in part a function of lack of availability of books in local languages, and strives to correct this by way of materials committed to maximum accessibility: available under a Creative Commons license, and compliant with all WCAG 2.0 AA requirements and more than 15 of the AAA requirements.
Announcing Kolibri as Part of the Global Digital Library Ecosystem
These steps are part of the Global Digital Library’s commitment to accessibility as an action taken to rectify a disparity throughout an ecosystem, from the production of content to its presentation to its distribution. This is where Kolibri comes in, making these materials available to offline learners. We are proud to be part of a vibrant life cycle for open educational resources and distribution system which ensures that at every step, barriers to accessing and making best use of learning resources are circumvented.
“We’re excited by Learning Equality’s Kolibri software and related tools to demonstrate how GDL content can be shared and remixed to best suit the needs of different users,” says Christer Gundersen, CTO of the Global Digital Library.
At a panel at Mobile Learning Week, we demonstrated how Global Digital Library content works offline alongside the The Asia Foundation, who is working to localize and provide translation services for these materials, and we consider our joint efforts vital in enhancing the entire ecosystem, and showcasing how responsibility to work together is distributed across digital interventions.
To browse and make use of Global Digital Library content on Kolibri, simply download Kolibri and import the Global Digital Library channel. Stuck? Detailed instructions are available. You can select specific resources, reorganize them, add them into predetermined channels, and more by using Kolibri Studio, which you can learn more about and request access to here.
Stay in touch and let us know how you are using Global Digital Library content in Kolibri!
