MIT and Haiti sign agreement to promote Kreyòl-language STEM education
MIT and Haiti signed a new joint initiative today to promote Kreyòl-language education in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines, part of an effort to help Haitians learn in the language most of them speak at home. “This government will make every effort to make this initiative a big success,” Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said at the signing ceremony in MIT’s Vannevar Bush Room. “Haiti is moving forward.”The project will take MIT-developed and technologically based open education resources, translate those materials into Kreyòl, disseminate them in Haiti, and evaluate the materials’ effectiveness. The work will be done in conjunction with professors and educators from a variety of institutions in Haiti, including the State University of Haiti, Université Carïbe, École Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haïti, Université Quisqueya, NATCOM and the Foundation for Knowledge and Liberty.“MIT folks are very collaborative,” MIT Provost Chris Kaiser said at the event. The initiative, he...