College of Education and Human Development
Mason Students Create Education Videos for Sierra Leone Orphanage
June 1, 2015
A youngster at the CRC uses a tablet to play education games and watch videos such as those created by Mason students.
When the Ebola outbreak hit the West African country of Sierra Leone last year, the town of Bo closed its schools to help contain the deadly virus.
It was then that Laura Horvath and the staff of an orphanage located in Bo decided to find a way to keep their children learning.
Horvath, who taught for several years in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University, is now based in Chantilly, Virginia, where she works as a program director for the Child Rescue Centre (CRC). The CRC is a residential home in Bo that provides food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, and trauma treatment for 43 children ages 5-17 who have been trafficked or who are at risk of forced child labor.
As the Ebola crisis continued, the CRC stayed on lock down, which meant the children were unable to go to school.
“We originally thought it was going to be four months,” says Horvath, not knowing that the children and staff would end up quarantined for eight long months.
“That’s when we decided to ‘home school’ the children," she says. "To keep them engaged even while confined inside 24/7.”
The CRC staff dubbed their effort “The School of Champions.”
Laura Horvath, EdD (left) and Kristy Park, PhD (right) developed a partnership that provided George Mason University students with an experiential and technology-rich learning experience while creating instructional units for Sierra Leone children.
Classes at the CRC began meeting six days a week, with a skeleton staff of aunties (house mothers), security guards, and administrators acting as de facto instructors for subjects in which they had some knowledge.
The children focused on core academic areas in the mornings ― English, math, and science ― often using tablet computers for instruction. None of the staff members, though, were teachers or had teacher training. To keep the children engaged, more curriculum content and enrichment activities were needed.
That's when Laura Horvath decided to reach outside the center’s walls for assistance, and found help from a George Mason University class called EDSE 624: Applied Behavior Analysis.
Answering a Need
Kristy Park, an assistant professor of special education in the Graduate School of Education at Mason, saw and responded to Horvath’s request.
“It immediately occurred to me that students in the ABA program could help answer this need for curriculum content while also learning how to apply ABA concepts in an international setting,” says Park.
In addition to creating the videos for the children, the Mason graduate students also developed accompanying lesson plans for the instructors to use.
ABA is an acronym for Applied Behavior Analysis, an applied field of study that uses the principles of learning theory to to help shape an individual’s learning. ABA practitioners develop and analyze procedures that produce effective and beneficial changes in behavior. At Mason, several options are available for ABA study and certification, including an undergraduate minor, graduate certificate, online program, on-campus program, and more. Students learn how to use the approach in a broad range of settings such as schools, private practices, psychiatric hospitals, and senior centers.
Horvath's request to Park was for online educational materials that the CRC children could learn from while quarantined. “The partnership with Dr. Park's class came out of a desire to give the CRC children access to online curricula and to provide the instructors with resources electronically,” says Horvath. “Not only a wall but an ocean separated us.”
Sarah Berline, a master's degree student in the Special Education program, created this video to describe different arm and feet positions when doing a jump and a leap.
Fourteen graduate students in the ABA program ended up developing instructional units that teach a skill step-by-step ― such as how to sew a button, brush your teeth, or skip count by 5 and 10. The students created video lessons for the Sierra Leone children to watch, follow-up activities to help the children practice, and accompanying lesson plans for the CRC instructors to use as a resource.
In choosing topics, the class had to be mindful of cultural assumptions. “One skill the students considered teaching via video was how to iron a shirt,” says Park. “It became an ‘aha’ moment, though, when we learned that irons in Sierra Leone are not electric ― they open up and a hot coal is placed inside to heat it.”
Making Connections
Throughout the semester, Dr. Park and Dr. Horvath’s partnership involved regular check-ins as the lesson plans came together.
“This was an amazing opportunity to work with a community organization and provide Mason students with a goal that is so meaningful and relevant,” says Park.
The Mason students agree. “This has been a great way to learn,” says Rachel Paugh, who is pursuing certification in ABA and a master's degree in special education. “We have to put what we know into practice, which is what we will be required to do out in the field. But the most exciting part was knowing that we are helping these children who are in such a remote area.”
Being able to deliver the videos and instructional materials electronically helped close the distance between the children quarantined in Bo, Sierra Leone with the graduate students learning about instructional techniques in Fairfax, Virginia.
Just a few weeks ago, almost eight months after the CRC chidren were first locked in, they were finally able to return to their regular school.
The lessons created by the Mason graduate students and other agencies will continue to be used as enrichment material and ongoing resource at the CRC.
“Working with George Mason University is like a priceless gift,” says Horvath. “It always makes a huge impact.”
This article was written by Stacey Schwartz and Pam McKeta.
For additional information:
- CEHD Communications: cehdnews@gmu.edu
- Graduate School of Education: gse.gmu.edu
- Applied Behavior Analysis program: gse.gmu.edu/aba
About the college:
George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) includes two schools: the Graduate School of Education, one of the most comprehensive education schools in Virginia, and the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. CEHD offers a full range of courses, certificates, and degree programs on campus, online, and on site to more than 4,000 students each year. CEHD is fully accredited by NCATE, and all licensure programs are approved by the Virginia Department of Education. George Mason University, located just outside of Washington, D.C., is Virginia's largest public research university.
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