Samuel Morris Scholars Program: An Unforgettable Impact

Elizabeth Vu
Learning Equality
Published in
4 min readMay 22, 2014

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With limited resources and only nine coaches, a group from Taylor University made its way to Butaw, Liberia, in partnership with the Golden Veroleum Liberia Elementary School. For this deployment, the goal was to have a four day mathematics workshop for the students in order to examine the effectiveness of KA Lite in rural Liberian schools.

Sixteen teachers from the Golden Veroleum Liberia Elementary School and four Greenville high schools spent the first day learning to use the computer and how KA Lite worked, and then picking out 16 students from each of the 5th, 6th, 9th, and 12th grades. Over the following 3 days, each of these students participated in six sessions of about an hour to an hour and a half in length, twice each day.

One student beams at the camera as she starts using the laptop.

There were sixteen laptops set up in two different classrooms, with students paired and matched to computers based on their basic math abilities, determined by pre-testing before the program began. Unsurprisingly, their scores were overall extremely low, representative of the challenges facing post-war rural Liberia’s educational system.

To begin using KA Lite, the students first had to learn to familiarize themselves with the computers, as many had never seen or used a computer before. In order to learn how to use the mouse, the keyboard, and other basic functions of the computer, students worked together and used a variety of instructional programs. The initial teamwork and collaboration showed that the students were collectively engaged in the learning process, and willing to help one another as they embarked on this unforgettable learning opportunity.

Students were all smiles as they learned to navigate laptops for the first time.

Students were given a “Samuel Morris Scholars Program” t-shirt that all of them wore enthusiastically for the remainder of the program, and that will serve as a physical reminder of this unique experience. Samuel Morris was a young Liberian, son of a Kru tribal chief who, in 1891, found his way to the United States and Taylor University, and dramatically impacted the future of the University.

Students wearing their Samuel Morris shirts while working through their math lessons.

By the second day of instruction, the children had learned to login to the program and were eagerly getting to work. They watched videos, mastered exercise sets, and spent time collaborating on ideas and solutions to the problems they encountered. Once again, this cooperation proved that this was not an individual journey for each student, but instead a collective effort to help each other, and ultimately, help themselves.

Students shared laptops, which encouraged collaborative learning and cooperation.

At the end of the third day of instruction, the students were given a post-test to reveal their progress after using KA Lite for three consecutive days to learn mathematics. Students’ scores improved by an unexpectedly high average of 29%! In simply eight hours of total class time, the children not only learned how to navigate Windows and operate KA Lite, but they also showed marked improvements in their math skills.

On the final day of the deployment, the students received “Samuel Morris Scholar” certificates, validating all of the hard work they had poured into this program. Their progress was undeniable, and served as a lasting memory for all of those involved.

On the final day, all students gathered to receive certificates signifying their hard work and accomplishments!

Based on the success of the inaugural Samuel Morris Scholars Program, the group from Taylor University has plans for a second deployment in Butaw, Liberia next January, with another set of coaches. The goal for this deployment will be to check up on the students and to conduct some follow-up sessions with the schools. In the meantime, FLE continues to support deployments like these around the world, and we are hoping to share more stories over the coming months. Can’t wait? Then visit our forums now and have the chance to connect with other KA Lite deployers! If you have a story to share, we’d love to hear it! Contact us at stories@learningequality.org

Originally published at learningequality.org.

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Program Associate, Sloan Foundation; Co-Founder and Advisor, @LearnEQ