Catalpa News | Starting your day with some good news

Despite high hopes of an uneventful new year, 2022 already has us navigating and processing many challenging world events. We hope you and your networks are safe and well.

In times like these, we lean into our community who remind us of the many talented people driven to make a positive impact in the world.

We do our work because we believe in the humanity of ourselves and others. We know that kindness, sharing and working together is where real change begins.

We’re coming to you today with our good news. We hope it brings a little positivity to your day.

Image above: Catalpa’s ICT Specialist Lindon Smith & eLearning Specialist Joana Liliu deliver elearning equipment to Matevulu, Vanuatu.

Strong buy-in for SIP management system in Papua New Guinea

Catalpa’s partnership with the Government of Papua New Guinea continues to break new ground, and provide evidence that a functioning and fully integrated District Information Management System (DIMS) and SIP Management System is possible.

The Wabag District administration delivered an impressive presentation of the online platform to the High Commissioner of Australia, High Commissioner of New Zealand, Governor of Enga Province and other senior members of DFAT.

The presentation demonstrated the district administration’s keen interest to use the platform for data collection, reporting and planning. This has offered strong early evidence of buy-in by regional teams.

Working within the challenges of the latest wave of COVID, the Catalpa PNG team continues to work with partner Provincial and District Administrations around the country - most recently in Nuku District and Wabag District - to assist district administrators, sector advisors and finance staff with data management and input, and to provide training for the platform.

Improvement to platform mapping capabilities and national level baseline data, as well as analytics have continued. Regional and electorate specific dashboards are now available and are able to pull relevant data from SIP historical reports, SIP project data and DIMS.

Thanks to our partners DIRD and DFAT.

Pictured left: Catalpa’s Project Officer Miok Michael facilitating a platform induction session with officers from the Wabag District Administration.

Pictured right: Staff from the Nuku District Administration completed a DIMS workshop.

eLearning equipment delivered across the Pacific Islands

The Pacific eLearning Program team has been crossing land and sea (literally) to meet with remote schools and teachers in Cook Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Twenty-six schools have now received smartphones and projectors, along with hands-on training to use the program resources which will assist with science teaching for year 10 students. A further nine remote schools will be visited in the coming weeks, after COVID-related delays in Solomon Islands and Cook Islands.

Course content has received positive feedback from ministries and teachers. This is a tribute to the co-design process which ensured local science experts were central to content development, ensuring learning concepts and examples were sourced from the daily lives of students.

Some of the lessons were even used for a kids’ science program aired on Samoan TV!

The mobile learning program is built using Bero, Catalpa’s unique microlearning management system. It delivers engaging lesson plans, surveys teachers for real-time feedback and collects data for reporting.

Thanks to our Pacific eLearning Programme partners MFAT, Wintec and Nanogirl Labs.

Pictured left: All aboard! The Catalpa team visits remote schools in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.

Pictured right: Teachers in Samoa receive training to use the Pacific Learn app led by ICT Specialist Renon Tautiaga

Agricultural researchers participate in mobile learning pilot

The ACIAR Learn program is a mobile-first learning program for agricultural researchers across Asia Pacific and Africa.

It will extend the professional development opportunities for Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) project staff and alumni, and provide flexible learning opportunities suited to a post-COVID world.

The pilot wrapped in December, providing valuable insights for the team to iterate and improve the learning experience.

Content and platform are being designed to engage diverse learners including researchers at different stages of their career, across many cultures and geographic locations. Learning will be available offline for researchers based in remote, low connectivity environments.

For an even more engaging experience, each subject is complemented by a buddy, group work and a synchronous session on Zoom, deepening connection and peer learning throughout the program.

ACIAR Learn is built with Bero, Catalpa’s mobile-first learning management system.

Thanks to our partners ACIAR and UQ.

Pictured left: ACIAR Learn is a mobile learning application designed for diverse agricultural researchers working in remote areas of Asia Pacific and Africa.

Pictured right: Agricultural researchers inspect holes in the base of a canarium tree.