Technological Infrastructure and Use of ICT in Education in ... - ADEA

Technological Infrastructure and Use of ICT in Education in Africa: an overview
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31.6% of people have access to a radio (and this does not take shared
use into account). These comparisons highlight the importance of using
the most appropriate ICT for a given environment rather than making the
focus of ICT and education efforts on computers, specifically.
As will be further highlighted below, when discussing access to ICTs,
the physical infrastructure is but one aspect to be considered. The
same applies in the context of education. Physical access to computers
is a fundamental starting point, but alone will not lead to computer
use or enhanced learning outcomes. Teacher training is one essential
requirement for successful use of ICT in education (Haddad & Draxler,
2002; Lundell & Howell, 2000; Khanya Evaluation Report, 2002; SchoolNet
South Africa, 2002).
Lundell & Howell (2000) note the following factors in the South African
context (but relevant more generally too) that prevent schools from using
computers for teaching and learning:
• Insufficient funds;
• Insufficient numbers of computers;
• Lack of computer literacy among teachers;
• Lack of subject teachers trained to integrate computers into learning
areas; and
• The absence of properly developed curricula for teaching computer
skills.
In addition, many of those schools that do have computers still do
not have access to the Internet, which is an important requirement
for supporting networking for learners and teachers, as well as for
collaborative learning. The Internet can provide a wealth of learning
resources, access to which is, at present, very limited for many African
education institutions. In Ethiopia, for example, only nine of the 12,000
primary schools had Internet access at the end of 2001, and ten of the
424 secondary schools (Jensen & Sarroco, 2002). Further, the costs
of Internet access can be prohibitively high for many schools, both in
Africa and elsewhere. In a study conducted in the US, it was shown that
subsidies to schools for Internet access (which ranged from 20-90% of
costs depending on school characteristics) led to 66% more classrooms
with Internet (Goolsbee & Guryan, 2002).
According to Isaacs (2002), the main obstacles faced by African schools
(and tertiary institutions too) with respect to Internet access specifically
are:
5. Socio-Economic Context of Sub-Saharan Africa