SOPALA
Sopala is a collaboration of individuals and organizations
focused on innovative uses of OER (Open Educational Resources .)
Sopala means ‘innovations’ in the Dagbani language.
Use AI to translate
OER reading resources.
Here’s an example – of a book translated from English to isiXhosa using AI and edited by Nomvuyo Mgoqi, one of our team members.
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Remote locations without internet and only intermittent power can have the same resources as urban centers with modern technologies.
Learning data from either remote locations or technology-enabled urban locations.
Analyze data to provide applicable enhancements to instruction.
A comprehension quiz on a book in the student’s mother tongue, Dagbani. The school has no internet access. Students read the book and take the quiz via MoodleBox and their WIFI devices.
A book created from an assignment given to the students by their teacher. None of the student’s parents have phones or TVs. Internet is not available at the school. Students took the pictures with their WIFI devices and added captions using MoodleBox in their classroom.
Teacher Professional Development
Learning collaboratives of any size group of teachers.
All content and management software is openly licensed/open source.
These girls are in a school in the Northern Region of Ghana. The book is in the Dagbani language, their mother tongue, The book was downloaded from African Storybook and then uploaded to the MoodleBox in their classroom by their teacher. Internet access is not available in this school. Print books in Dagbani are rare. Digital books make literacy in their mother tongue possible.
MoodleBox = Moodle + Raspberry Pi
a small box that brings Moodle
to the whole class without internet.
MoodleBox + Kiwix = key websites accessed even when the internet is down.
MoodleBox + Kolibri = content assessed in any classroom equally with or without internet access.
Our Team
Our team is an international group of professionals with extensive careers in teaching and learning who have previously worked together successfully:
Dan McGuire, (US) – Executive Director of SABIER, OER support for teachers; Team Lead
Nicolas Martignoni (Switzerland) – Founder of MoodleBox;
Steve Miley – (US) – Project Manager / Software and IT Architect;
Gerald Henzinger (Austria) Co-founder and Managing Partner think modular Gmbh
Marcus Green – (UK), Moodle developer; Learning design
Peter Amoabil – (Ghana) Founder of Rural Literacy Solutions; teacher professional development
Nomvuyo Mgoqi – (South Africa.) Founder of Khulisani Child Development Academy; Research and teacher professional development
Paul Spiesberger (Austria) TU Wien – Chair ICT4D.at. Research, software development, and project management
Stephane Coillet-Matillon (Switzerland) CEO and co-founder Kiwix
Philipp Leitner (Austria) Technische Universität Graz, Digital Learning & Learning Analytics Expert
(Mexico) Director of Online Learning, Universidad de Xalapa, A.C.
Robert Murphy (US) Owner and Principal Education Research Consultant, LFC Research.
And other educational leaders.
Here’s the review of our pilot project.
SOPALA is currently in development. If you’d like to join or support our work, contact [email protected]