 | Interactive radio instruction (IRI) is a distance education system that combines radio broadcasts with active learning to improve educational quality and teaching practices. IRI has been in use for more than 25 years and has demonstrated that it can be effective on a large scale at low cost. |
| | IRI programs require teachers and students to react verbally and physically to questions and exercises posed by radio characters and to participate in group work, experiments, and other activities suggested by the radio program. IRI builds on local resources and knowledge. |
| | IRI has been used to teach nearly all basic primary subjects and audiences of all ages, as well as hard-to-reach and out-of-school populations. |
| There is consistent and significant evidence that IRI can increase learning across subject matter, age, gender, and rural or urban location. Students show progressively greater learning with time. |
| In Guinea, South Africa, and some Latin American countries, IRI programs have demonstrated that they can enlarge their audiences, sometimes reaching a million or more students. |
| There is evidence that the benefits of IRI can be sustained over the long term and can be adapted for other countries. |
| Incentives for investing in IRI include its cost-effectiveness compared with other technologies and the willingness of donors and lenders to assist with up-front development costs. |
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