The SolarSPELL Initiative in the News

Peace Corps| July 10, 2020

The Peace Corps and Arizona State University today announced a new strategic partnership agreement that will advance their shared interest in meeting the needs of learners in remote, offline communities globally by leveraging ASU’s innovative technology, SolarSPELL, a tool to build information literacy and to advance high-quality education.

ASUNow| July 10, 2020

The Peace Corps and Arizona State University have signed a strategic agreement that will help Peace Corps volunteers in the field advance their humanitarian work by using an educational device invented by an ASU professor.

Observatory of Educational Innovation | June 1, 2020

On December 20, 2019, Tec de Monterrey and Universidad de Los Andes, with the support of MIT Solve, launched the TPrize 2020 Challenge. This award seeks to encourage entrepreneurs to generate solutions aimed at social and educational problems in Latin America and the Caribbean.

State Press | April 16, 2020

The Juba College of Nursing and Midwifery will be provided with educational audio and visual material by SolarSPELL, a technology created by ASU students and professors.

When members of the SolarSPELL team visited Juba last year to assess the school’s needs, there was an immediate interest in supplying offline academic content to the students.

State Press | Feb. 6, 2020

ASU will provide community education for refugees and help with refugee operations in two cities in Ethiopia, ASU’s Education for Humanity initiative announced Jan. 26.

Campus Technology | Aug. 28, 2019

While online courses can offer the promise of education to a worldwide audience, what happens when the students have neither computing devices nor an internet connection?

ASU Now | July 25, 2019

In just five years, an Arizona State University student engineering project has grown into a global humanitarian mission that is now poised to transform the way health care is delivered.

SolarSPELL began when Laura Hosman, an associate professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, challenged her engineering students to create a solar-powered library that would fit into a backpack. Now the initiative has distributed hundreds of digital libraries filled with educational resources to communities in nine countries that have limited or no internet connectivity.

ASU Now | June 6, 2019

Education for Humanity offers coursework through SolarSPELL invention

When students in Uganda learn about the principles of agribusiness marketing, they really understand them, because many of them are already selling vegetables as their livelihood.

ASU Now | March 18, 2019

With a growing global population, farmers are working hard to feed the world. Throw climate change into the mix and maintaining a thriving, high-yield farm becomes even harder.

Facing these challenges, it’s important for farmers to monitor soil for conditions such as temperature and moisture level in order to keep crops healthy. Agricultural sensors make it easy for farmers to take these measurements, but the sensors are usually attainable only for industrial farms that can afford the technology and can access electricity and a network connection. Rural small farms don’t always have these luxuries, said Bruce Baikie, a senior sustainability fellow in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University.

State Press | April 5, 2018

An ASU-led project called SolarSPELL is preparing to make a push into more countries while it updates the technology that comes with its devices.

ASU Now | Sep. 3, 2017

Dr. Laura Hosman’s solar-powered digital library brings resources, educational opportunities to remote, off-grid communities

PLuS Alliance | Sep. 3, 2017

The PLuS Alliance Prize valued at USD$50,000 is awarded in two categories; Education Innovation and Research Innovation. Both winners are recognised for the development and implementation of innovative solutions to significant global issues. Additionally, two additional achievements are recognised for Global Leadership and Global Innovation.

PLuS Alliance Prize for Education Innovation winner:

Dr Laura Hosman for The Solar Powered Educational Learning Library (SolarSPELL) said, “It’s a great privilege to be selected as the education innovation winner for the PLuS Alliance Prize this year. SolarSPELL is making a difference in the lives of thousands of people living in remote areas around the world by removing barriers to learning. This distinguished award will help our team continue this important work.

ABC15 | Aug. 7, 2017

It might not look incredibly high-tech or that this small box could really change how things are taught in the classroom, but it can and it already is.

Cronkite News, Arizona PBS | Feb. 7, 2017 

Cronkite News covered the SolarSPELL initiative in their newscast on Feb. 7, 2017.

Peace Corps | Jan. 25, 2017

On December 12, 2016, 17 Tonga Volunteers received introductory training in the use of an innovative technology they will pilot in their schools and communities in the 2017 school year.

ASU Now | Sep. 12, 2016

Many islands in the Pacific Ocean lack two things that are essential for accessing information and performing educational pursuits: a library and the internet.

Without this access, many teachers are without strong lesson plans or curriculum and community members lack books and multimedia.

But a new Arizona State University faculty member has figured out a way to deliver a digital library that doesn’t depend on existing internet connectivity — rather, it comes with its own Wi-Fi hotspot.

VOA News | March 23, 2016

Alexis Cullen works as a volunteer in Vanuatu, one of the Peace Corp’s most remote postings.

In the village where she works, called Naviso, some people have never heard of the Internet. That is not uncommon in the South Pacific, where some people have limited access to learning resources.