Presentation to MOES-RIES and partners for the final packaging workshop for textbooks and teacher guides of M3 (LSE) in Thalad District, Vientiane Province, Lao PDR by Joel Wayne Ganibe, BESDP Dep Team Leader for Component 2 (Quality)

1. I WANT TO REMIND YOU HOW FAR WE HAVE TRAVELED
TOGETHER…THE VICTORIES YOU ACHIEVED AND HOW MUCH MORE
YOU CAN DO NOW THAT WE HAVE CROSSED THE IMPOSSIBLE!
From BIG PICTURE to detailed discussion/from STRATEGY to TACTICS… JOEL WAYNE GANIBE,
DEPUTY TEAM LEADER FOR
COMPONENT 2 ,BESDP

2. remember
The BIG WHY…

3. MOES’ Strategic objective under BESDP:
TO IMPROVE THE RELEVANCE AND QUALITY OF
FORMAL LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION
Ok…remember how?

4. For those who forgot…
The BIG HOW
(the strategy)

5. WHAT TO TEACH: update standards/outcomes
LEARNER-CENTERED,
CURRICULUM DESIGN OUTCOME/COMPETENCY-BASED, WITH CLEAR
MEASUREMENT STANDARDS & PROCEDURES
IMPROVE THE TOOLS for learning
UPDATE,
IMPROVE,
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
DELIVER!
DESIGN & AVAILABILITY
IN-SERVICE
Improve HOW TO TEACH
QUALITY OF
INSTRUCTION
TEACHER TRAINING
PRE-SERVICE

6. The mission of RIES and PARTNERS is
to help make this happen by
producing improved instructional
materials on time, based on a new,
outcome/competency-based
curriculum that is learner centered

7. REMEMBER HOW EASY?!!!!!
INSTEAD OF ORIGINAL PILOT PROVINCES:
WE HAD TO IMPLEMENT NATIONWIDE
INTEAD OF ORIGINAL 5 YEARS
TIME, WE ONLY HAD--
LESS THAN A YEAR!
INSTEAD OF JUST A FEW TITLES, OUR TARGET WAS 100 TITLES!
WHO AND HOW MANY REALLY UNDERSTOOD THE TRUE MEANING OF
LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH?
WHO REALLY HAS ENOUGH EXPERIENCE AS PROFESSIONAL EDITOR?
HOW MANY EXPERIENCED BOOK DESIGNERS WE HAVE ?
HOW MANY CONTENT-EXPERTS?
OBVIOUSLY:
RECOVERY OF DELAYED MILESTONES
CANNOT BE DONE IN THE USUAL
“NORMAL OPERATIONS” MODE.

8. Produce 100 TITLES in less than a year!
IMPOSSIBLE!
IT’S NEVER You will not finish!
BEEN DONE! YOU WILL FAIL!
You will be put to
Nyahaha! shame! HEHEHE!
Bo dai--
You cannot
do!
Hahahahahahahah HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA HEHEHEEHE HOHOHOHO!

9. Many
people
laughed--… So we
asked for
Many LAO PDR
people power…
cried--…
Including
you and me!

10. GO!GO!GO!GO! PAISUSU PAISUSU PAISUSU! HAHAHA HEHEHE HOHOHO!
PDR:
• THE POWER
License to • TO DELIVER
Act • & RESPOND
Out of the box (rapidly)

11. For those who forgot…
The LITTLE HOW
(the tactics)
I KNOW THIS IS HISTORY ALREADY BUT LISTEN CAREFULLY TO MAKE
SURE WE LEARN FROM PAST MISTAKES SO THEY WONT BE REPEATED.
THIS EXPLAINS WHY WE ARE STILL HERE TODAY TO DO THIS WORK.

12. For those who forgot…
WE BRING IN EQUIPMENT;
WE RECRUIT THE PEOPLE;
WE TRAIN THE PEOPLE;
WE TEST THE PRODUCT BY
USER (STUDENTS/TEACHERS)

13. FIRST, WE ORGANIZED THE SUBJECTS, TITLES AND REQUIRED
PEOPLE— We even analyzed the best number of pages that can
actually be used in a school year; the desk size; the students’ size, etc.
PROPOSED CONFIGURATION
TEXTBOOK PLUS TEACHER GUIDES TEACHER GUIDES only
CACIM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM
9 PMs
OK, NO
CCR EIC EIC EIC EIC EIC EIC EIC EIC EIC 9 EICs
2 WRITERS 9 MAJOR SUBJECT AREAS
1 GRAPHIC
Communicatio
Education
LANGUAGES M Social Studies
ns Technology
Information &
PRACTICAL
MUSIC & 26
Physical
ARTIST/LEVEL
GEOGRAPHY
Natural
Science
A
LANGUAGE/
4 TITLES L Lit 4 L Lit 3 L Lit 2 L Lit 1 LITERATURE
ARTS
FOREIGN
History History
Culture
Civics/
T ARTS art
4 TITLES LL 4 LL 3 LL 2 LL 1 LAO
EN H
G
FRENCH directors
M1 NatSci 4 NatSci 3 NatSci 2 NatSci 1
MATH 4 MATH 3 MATH 2 MATH 1
4 TITLES CC4 CC3 CC2 CC 1
FR 1
G1
PE 1 MUSIC & ARTS 13 Managing
1 MANAGING EDITOR PER /
E1
ICT 1 PA1 Team Sports 1 Editors
History
M2 13 Managing
FR 2
G2
PE 2 MUSIC & ARTS
PROBLEM!
E2
PA2
LSE level
ICT 2 Editors
2
Team Sports 2
History
M3 13 Managing
4 TITLES FR 4 FR 3
G3
PE 3 MUSIC & ARTS
4 TITLES E4 E3
ICT 3 PA3 Team Sports 3
Editors
Histor
13 Managing
M4 4 TITLES G4 PE 4 MUSIC & ARTS
y4
ICT 4 PA4 elective 4
Editors
IDEAL IS
4 TITLES
4 TITLES
4 TITLES
4 TITLES
4 TITLES
4 TITLES
4 TITLES
18 Person -Team 42
PER SUBJECT:
1 PM managing
1 EIC editors
4 MANAGING Editors
4 Graphic/Layout
artists
44 textbooks + 44 teacher guides + 12 teacher guides 100 titles
8 WRITERS Deploying CACIM/CCR and RIES domain specialists, plus external contributors, to produce 44
18 PAX
EXTERNAL
textbooks and 56 teacher guides (100 TITLES), means we need to deploy 86 Editorial Board members
ILLUSTRATORS PAID and 104 writers or a total 190 able professionals with a dedicated pool of 36 desktop PCs to churn out
PER PLATE content and final artworks within the allotted time

14. PROPOSED EDITORIAL TEAM PER SUBJECT
M1 Writer 1
Managing Writer 2
Editor Graphic Artist
M2 Writer 1
Publishing
Managing Writer 2
Editor
Manager Graphic Artist
Editor
In-Chief M3 Writer 1
Managing Writer 2
Editor
Graphic Artist
M4 Writer 1
Managing Writer 2
Editor
Graphic Artist
CURRICULUM PROCESS CONTENT
EXPERTS EXPERTS EXPERTS
And for the first time, we encountered and fought
with a creature called “EDITOR”

15. What is an “editor”
• Not just subject expert but Process/Instructional design expert who
more fully understands curriculum objectives— (understand how
the student and teacher will use the book)
•
•
OK, NO
Understands the production process, how to meet the deadline and
with quality standards
S/he makes the sentences shorter and the statements more precise
PROBLEM!
and easy to understand so that the material is less wordy. (so even if
the writer "writes" in long complicated sentences, the editor is
authorized to cut it down to size.
• the editor is thus more powerful, more expert than the writer. The
writer KNOWS his topic, but the editor KNOWS his
audience/reader better.

16. • no writer is EVER greater than the editor. If this is not clear in the
contract or agreement with the writer and the writer insists that his
work not be touched by the editor, he must be reminded that the
material belongs to RIES not to the writer because it is a
commissioned work and the writer must create the material
according to the specs of RIES and not the other way around.
•
•
OK, NO
If not, then we know we have picked the wrong person or that we
failed to clarify expectations from the start.
This is then the responsibility of the EIC and Managing Editors who
•
PROBLEM!
personally picked/chose the contributors in his/her team and had a
chance to change this after the first workshop.
as far as the project is concerned, the editors are expected to "edit"
meaning to cut the rough manuscripts into crystal clear/diamond
like gems FOR THE EASY USE OF STUDENT AND TEACHER.

17. • THE EDITOR, “EDITS”– NOT “RE-WRITE”!!!!
(AT THIS POINT, WE NEED EDITORS, NOT WRITERS)
• THIS IS WHERE THE DELAYS HAPPENED, FROM A BASIC
MISUNDERSTANDING OF ROLES:
• Writer was late in submitting manuscript
OK, 2 issues:
• Editor was late in editing manuscript
• Maybe did not know how—maybe tried to re-write
• Maybe editor did not have time because busy doing other
important/urgent things OR MAYBE AFRAID OF WRITER
technical + process
• Maybe the “editing” was just talk during workshop, no formal
“marks” and signature on the material
• Maybe corrected directly on e-copy and forgot to save as
can fix now! 
different file name like, “version 2” and so cannot trace which
version they hold.
• Wrong export process to pdf
• Did not use the “dummy board” effectively to track such
danger signs

18. LESSONS LEARNED:
PROCESS:
MISUNDERSTANDING OF ROLES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
EDITORS VS. ART DIRECTORS
• EDITORS PLAYING ROLE OF “VISUAL DESIGNER”
• DESIGNERS LACKING EXPERIENCE/RESOURCES
• DESIGNERS EXPECTED TO BE “ENCODERS” FOR WRITERS WHO DON’T
KNOW HOW TO USE COMPUTER
• DESIGNERS ASKED TO PROOFREAD OR EVEN “EDIT”
EDITORS VS. WRITERS
• CONTENT/SUBJECT EXPERTISE VS. TEACHING EXPERTISE
• UNDERSTANDING USER CONTEXT/LIMITS
• LIMITED AUTHORING SKILLS OF WRITERS
• CONFUSION BETWEEN “GROUP OF WRITERS TRYING TO EDIT”
VERSUS SPECIALIZED EDITORS (WITH LIMITED EXPERIENCE)
AFTER WORKSHOP…EVERYONE LEFT…WHO WAS LEFT BEHIND TO CARRY
THE WORKLOAD? (BECAUSE NO CONTRACT, ONLY WORKSHOP
ATTENDANCE)

19. LESSONS LEARNED:
TECHNICAL:
VERSION CONTROL
• FILING SYSTEM (START WORKSHOP FILE VERSION 1) WITH HARD COPY
(PROOF 1)
• GROUP EDIT FOR CONSISTENCY WITH CURRICULUM, RIGHT POSITION
OF GRAPHICS, CAPTIONS, GRAMMAR, USER-FRIENDLY TERMS, CLEAR
ILLUSTRATION, SEQUENCING (RIGHT ORDER SAME WITH TB/TG)
• MANAGING EDITOR’S SIGNATURE WITH MARKS ON HARD COPY
(PROOF 1). USE HIGHLIGHTER AND RED PEN. MAKE IT EASY TO FIND,
ALL PAGES WITH CORRECTIONS.
• ART DIRECTOR ADJUSTS LAYOUT/TEXT/GRAPHICS BASED ON THE
AUTHORIZED MARKS ON HARD COPY. PRINTS CORRECTED FILE AS
HARD COPY (PROOF 2)
• MANAGING EDITOR’ CHECKS PROOF 2 AND CORRECTS FINAL FILE AND
SUBMIT TO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.

20. Ok, now we understand more and have experience
But look at
the big picture
again!

21. How long will the Lao students wait for a The mission
very perfect textbook to be printed and of RIES and
PARTNERS is
delivered to his school?
to help make
this happen by
producing
improved
instructional
materials
ON TIME,
based on a new,
outcome/
competency-
based
curriculum
How long will the child have to wait that is
before the plant grows and fruits and learner
then he can eat? Centered

22. Despite the many challenges:
Delivered the textbooks & teacher guides from
design, writing, layout, user-testing, final
approval, printing to delivery… within 300
days!!!
Students and Teachers now using…
No matter what people say, they received the “bread”
they “taste” it and they are nourished. Maybe salty to
some, too sweet to some, “new taste” to others—but
definitely BETTER than the old bread.

23. Now we have experience…
Now we have tools…
Now we have equipment…
Now we have proof:
Nothing is impossible!
It can be done!

24. GOOD LUCK!
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER AND
BETTER!