High Touch High Tech (HTHT) for All

Programme Partner: Education Development Centre

Region: Cambodia, Indonesia, & the Philippines

High Touch High Tech (HTHT) for All is a multi-country initiative spearheaded by the Learning Generation Initiative (formerly the Education Commission), now part of Education Development Center (EDC). High Touch High Tech for All is an integrated approach that aims to deliver adaptive and personalized learning for all learners by combining the unique strengths of the teacher (High Touch) and the power of technology (High Tech).

The technology provides adaptive content and assessment to develop students’ foundational skills while the teacher focuses on developing higher-order and 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and socio-emotional learning. There is growing evidence that such approach could be most beneficial for those furthest behind.

70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries are now experiencing “learning poverty”, which means an inability to read a simple text (World Bank, 2022). The HTHT approach, grounded in the evidence-based Teaching at the Right Level principles, has the potential to help catch up on these learning losses, which were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

HTHT aims to expand its work across the Philippines, Cambodia, and Indonesia through innovative pilots in K-12 and teacher education as well as seed work in Ghana through rapid testing and feasibility assessment. In the Philippines, the HTHT approach would be used in Grade 3 pilot to improve numeracy skills. In Cambodia, the intervention would be used in secondary schools to improve Maths outcomes. In Indonesia, the HTHT approach would be adapted to enhance teacher quality so teachers would be best equipped as they teach. In Ghana, a rapid testing of the HTHT approach in pilot schools would be rolled out with the potential to scale further. Through these pilots the overall vision is to help catch up on learning losses rapidly and enable children to succeed in the future.