BIO

Umar Anjum is an Urdu language instructor, a TED Translator, and a TED-Ed Innovative Educator in Pakistan, where he works with the University of California Berkeley’s Study Abroad program. Recently, Umar used his language and education expertise to create new learning opportunities for students in a village in Pakistan. Below, learn more about his TED-Ed Innovative Project: More About Visual.

IDEA

In Pakistan, once you leave the big cities, computers are rarely used in schools to aid learning. Even if multimedia technology is available in a classroom, language can also be a barrier to learning, as the majority of people do not understand English-based educational videos.

INNOVATION PROJECT

More About Visual will help students to overcome language barriers to learning by sharing videos that teach basic skills through gestures rather than words. The hope is that this platform will provide a digital curriculum that can benefit many people. Read more about this inspiring project, here.

Below, read Umar’s tips for introducing new multimedia equipment and education technology:

• Introducing a multimedia projector along with a laptop computer can be costly and might require additional equipment, e.g. I had to purchase a stabilizer to deal with electricity voltages.
• Some multimedia projectors are heat-sensitive. For example, our projector stopped working because it was too hot.
• It is important that you discuss your idea and its benefits with school staff. Questions like how different classes will use just one projector are important.
• The teachers must understand that a multimedia projector is an additional help and it is there to help making the learning process fun and interesting. The videos should be shown as an added tool to learning and not as standalone thing, though at times it is good to combine many classes and play something informative like a documentary.
• It can be a challenge to find videos that are not language dependent and yet reinforce learning. I have a small collection at More About Visual, but need to add a lot more. A fellow educator gave the idea that maybe children in technology-familiar contexts can produce videos for other children, perhaps via TED-Ed Clubs.

This article is part of the TED-Ed Innovation Project series, which highlights 25+ TED-Ed Innovation Projects designed by educators, for educators, with the support and guidance of the TED-Ed Innovative Educator program. You are welcome to share, duplicate and modify projects under this Creative Commons license to meet the needs of students and teachers. Art credit: Shutterstock.