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MITx: Technology Evaluation for Global Development

Learn how to evaluate technologies within a global development context from the perspective of suitability, scalability and sustainability.
6 weeks
10–12 hours per week
Instructor-paced
Instructor-led on a course schedule
This course is archived

About this course

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When a person lives on less than $2 a day — as some 2.7 billion people around the world do — there isn’t room for a product like a solar lantern or a water filter to fail. Investment in failing products undermines future innovation by reducing confidence and depleting scarce resources.

It’s a challenge faced every day by development agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and consumers themselves. With so many products on the market, how do you choose the right one?

This course, developed by MIT’s Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE) will explore the fundamentals of technology evaluation for global development. It includes a deep dive into CITE’s 3S methodology, looking at products from three angles:

  • Suitability—does a product perform its intended purpose?
  • Scalability—can the supply chain effectively reach consumers?
  • Sustainability—is it a product that can be used correctly, consistently, and continuously over time?

This course is designed for academics and global development practitioners; those interested in conducting their own technology evaluations to promote data-driven decisions through research or development practice.

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated skills:Data-Driven Decision-Making, Supply Chain, Scalability, Innovation

What you'll learn

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  • Week one: History of appropriate technology, the rise of technology use in global development
  • Week two: History of evaluation, different styles of modern evaluation, and the definition of evaluation; how to conduct desk- and field-based scoping studies, and what a scoping study can teach you
  • Week three: Methodology, research design, and applications for product suitability
  • Week four: Methodology, research design, and applications for product scalability
  • Week five: Methodology, research design, and applications for product sustainability
  • Week six: How to complete an evaluation and summarize results for presentation to various audiences, how to generalize results, and alternative approaches to evaluation

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