In the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi, Jospin Hassan did not have access to the educational opportunities he sought. So he decided to create his own.
Hassan knew that the booming fields of data science and artificial intelligence could provide job opportunities for his community and help solve local challenges. After earning a spot in the 2020-21 cohort of the Certificate Program in Computer Science and Data Sciences From the MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT), Hassan began sharing MIT knowledge and skills with other motivated students in Dzaleka.
MIT ReACT is now Emerging Talent, part of the Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) at MIT Open Learning. Emerging Talent's year-long certificate program, currently serving its fifth cohort of global students, incorporates high-quality computer science and data analytics courses from MITx, professional skills development, experiential learning, apprenticeship work, and networking opportunities with the global community of MIT innovators. Hassan's group honed their leadership skills through interactive online workshops with J-WEL and the 10-week online MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp.
“The most important thing I learned was networking, collaboration and learning from each other,” says Hassan.
Today, Hassan's organization ADAI Circle offers mentoring and education programs for youth and other job seekers in the Dzaleka refugee camp. The curriculum encourages hands-on learning and collaboration.
Launched in 2020, ADAI Circle aims to foster job creation and reduce poverty in Malawi through technology and innovation. In addition to its classes in data science, artificial intelligence, software development, and hardware design, its Innovation Hub offers Internet access to anyone who needs it.
Doing something different in the community
Hassan first had the idea for her organization in 2018, when she encountered a barrier in her own educational journey. There were several programs in the Dzaleka refugee camp that taught students how to code websites and mobile apps, but Hassan found their scope limited.
“We had good devices and Internet access,” he says, “but I wanted to learn something new.”
Teaming up with co-founder Patrick Byamasu, Hassan and Byamasu set their sights on the longevity of ai and how it could create more jobs for people in their community. “The world is changing every day and data scientists are in higher demand in various companies today,” says Hassan. “For this reason, I decided to expand and share the knowledge I acquired with my fellow refugees and the surrounding villages.”
ADAI Circle is inspired by Hassan's own experience with MIT's courses, community, and emerging talent training opportunities. For example, him MIT Boot Camps The model is now standard practice for ADAI Circle's annual hackathon. Hassan first introduced the hackathon to ADAI Circle students as part of his experiential learning capstone project for the Emerging Talent certification program.
ADAI Circle's annual hackathon is now an interactive and effective way to select the students who will benefit most from your programs. Local school curricula, Hassan says, may not offer enough academic challenge. “We can't teach everyone and accommodate everyone because there are so many schools,” says Hassan, “but we offer another place for knowledge.”
The hackathon helps students develop skills in robotics and data science. Before beginning to code, students must convince ADAI Circle teachers that their designs are viable, answering questions such as: “What problem are you solving?” and “How will this help the community?” A community-oriented mindset is equally important to the curriculum.
In addition to the practical skills Hassan gained from Emerging Talent, he leveraged the program's network to help his community. Thanks to a social media connection Hassan made with the non-governmental organization Give Internet after one of Emerging Talent's virtual events, Give Internet provided internet access to ADAI Circle.
Closing the ai gap with dissatisfied communities
In 2023, ADAI Circle connected with another MIT open learning program, Responsible ai for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE), leading to a pilot of a project-based ai curriculum for high school students. He ai-for-computational-action/”>Responsible ai for computational action (RAICA) equipped ADAI Circle students with ai skills for chatbots and natural language processing.
“I liked that program because it was based on what we teach at the center,” says Hassan, speaking of his organization's mission to close the ai gap to reach unmet communities.
The RAICA curriculum was designed by education experts from the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP Lab) and artificial intelligence experts from the MIT Personal Robots group and MIT App Inventor. ADAI Circle teachers provided detailed feedback on the pilot to the RAICA team. During weekly meetings with Glenda Stump, RAICA and J-WEL educational research scientist, and Angela Daniel, RAICA teacher development specialist, teachers discussed their experiences, prepared for upcoming lessons, and translated learning materials in time. real.
“We're trying to create a curriculum that is accessible around the world and for students who typically have little or no access to technology,” says Mary Cate Gustafson-Quiett, curriculum design manager at STEP Lab and project manager for RAICA. “Working with ADAI and students in a refugee camp challenged us to design in more culturally and technologically inclusive ways.”
Gustafson-Quiett says feedback on the ADAI Circle curriculum helped inform how RAICA offers teacher development resources to adapt to learning environments with limited Internet access. “They also exposed places where our team's Western ideals, specifically around individualism, infiltrated lesson activities and contrasted with their more communal cultural beliefs,” she says.
Eager to introduce more ai resources developed by MIT, Hassan also shared MIT RAISE ai Day study plans with teachers from the ADAI Circle. The new ChatGPT module gave students the opportunity to improve their chatbot programming skills that they acquired with the RAICA module. Some of the advanced students are taking the initiative to use the ChatGPT API to create their own projects in education.
“We don't want to tell them what to do, we want them to have their own ideas,” says Hassan.
Although ADAI Circle faces many challenges, Hassan says his team is addressing them one by one. Last year they didn't have electricity in their Innovation Center, but they solved it. This year, they achieved a stable internet connection that is one of the fastest in Malawi. Next, they hope to secure more devices for their students, create more jobs, and add additional centers throughout the community. The work is never done, but Hassan is starting to see the impact ADAI Circle is having.
“For those who want to learn data science, let them learn,” says Hassan.
