Early Childhood Development: Global Strategies for Implementation
Table of Contents
Course Overview
- Gain knowledge about the state of the science on effective interventions for early childhood development.
- Learn what makes programs successful around the world in supporting early childhood development and why some programs fail.
- Reflect on changes for your program, becoming familiar with the steps to design successful interventions that support early childhood development and understand what services you need to prioritize.
- Explore strategies to enable widespread adaptation of quality programming and evaluate the effectiveness of your programming.
| Module Number | Module Title and Subsections |
|---|---|
| 0 | Welcome to the Course |
| 1 | Understanding Basic Concepts: ECD & Frameworks for Implementation of Programs a. What is ECD and why is it important? b. Why should we invest in ECD interventions? c. What protective factors support ECD, and risk factors threaten ECD? d. What types of interventions, platforms and sectors support ECD? e. What Implementation features matter to implement ECD interventions? |
| 2 | Designing Interventions that Promote ECD a. What are the active ingredients of effective ECD interventions? b. What can we learn about active ingredients from case studies of ECD programs around the world? |
| 3 | Thinking About the “How” of Evidence-Based Implementation for Early Childhood Interventions a. Understanding Delivery and Dose b. Understanding Demand c. How to make program quality improvements? Plan- Do-Study-Act (PDSA)? |
| 4 | Achieving Scale: Strengthening Systems to Support ECD a. What implementation strategies help systems to support ECD interventions? b. Learning about four implementation strategies: Workforce development, advocacy & communication, costing & financing, multisectoral coordination c. Applying implementation strategies in global contexts |
| 5 | Measuring Change: Are our Programs and Policies Working? a. What to consider when measuring progress in ECD interventions? b. What to consider when measuring progress in ECD policies? c. What challenges might we face in eliciting change, and how can data collection efforts and partnerships help us identify potential solutions? |
| 6 | Moving Forward: Frontiers in ECD Programs a. What challenges do we foresee for children in the coming years? b. Frontiers for ECD implementation strategies |
Grading & Certification
Module 0-Welcome to the Course [5% of final grade]
Module 1-Understanding Basic Concepts- Early Childhood Development (ECD) & Frameworks for Implementation of Programs [15% of final grade]
Module 2- Designing Interventions to Promote Early Childhood Development (ECD) [15% of final grade]
Module 3- Thinking About the "How" of Evidence-Based Implementation for Early Childhood Interventions [15% of final grade]
Module 4- Achieving Scale- Strengthening Systems to Support ECD [10% of final grade]
Module 5- Measuring Change: Are Our Programs and Policies Working? [20% of final grade]
Module 6: Moving Forward: Frontiers in ECD Programs [15% of final grade]
Module 7: Conclusion [5% of final grade]
You will be able to see the answers to all questions after the due date has passed, after you have used up your attempts, or when you get the answer correct.
Passing the course, and certification
The passing grade for this course is 60% (using the weights above).
If you register for a Verified Certificate, and your score is 60% or above, you will receive a certificate in electronic form. They are not mailed to you. Instead, you can generate them on your Progress page. The final day to sign up for a verified certificate is (INSERT DATE HERE).
Guidelines For Collaboration
We encourage class participants to collaborate on assignments! But be sure you learn how to do the assignments yourself, and please do not post solutions to discussion forums until after the due date. Staff will proactively remove solutions posted before due dates.
- It is OK to discuss or work jointly to develop a general approach to an assignment.
- It is OK to get a hint from peers or course staff if you get stuck on an assignment.
- You should work out the details of assignments yourself.
- It is not OK to copy someone else's solution.
- It is not OK to take someone else's formula and plug in your own numbers to get the answer.
- It is not OK to post answers to a problem.
- It is not OK to look at a full step-by-step solution for the purpose of submitting an answer.
Discussion Forums
We encourage you to use the course Discussion Forum! It has many uses, and we'll prompt you to participate throughout the course.
Some good uses of the Discussion Forum:
- Asking questions about course content and assignments.
- Collaborating appropriately on assignments.
- Contacting course staff.
- Starting discussions related to course content.
- Commenting on course content, including giving the instructors feedback, disagreeing with us, or suggesting improvements.
Our discussion forum guidelines
- Be polite and encouraging.
- Work together and work independently.
- Post hints rather than answers. If you're not sure where to draw the line, follow the collaboration guidelines.
- You can and should discuss questions, consider possibilities, and ask for hints.
- You should not request or give out answers, even answers that you know are wrong.
- Use your vote. If you agree with what someone says, don't write a post. Just click the plus button!
- Tag your posts. If there is an issue that absolutely needs staff attention, put the word [STAFF] in brackets in your subject line. Course staff will be in the forums every day, but it may take up to two days to get a response sometimes, especially around holidays.
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Research Statement
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