Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa - Royal Holloway, University of ...

1. IntroductionSignificant attention is currently focused on the potential for ICTs to assist inleapfrogging educational problems within developing nations (Pye andStephenson 2003, Tinio 2003, Leach 2005) and there is much enthusiasmfor a possible technology-enabled „breakthrough in learning‟ (Wagner 2005ap.6). However, considerable debate surrounds the question of whether theinfusion of technology into education has actually instigated more thanincremental changes to the field. Proponents assert that the last decade hasresulted in the emergence of „a new landscape for education‟ (Keats 2005 nopagination) with technology positively affecting student motivation (infoDev2005) and, when implemented with fidelity, leading to a significant increasein learning (Linden et al. 2003, Lemke and Fadel 2006). This is challengedby sceptics who argue that achieving structural technological change inschools takes far longer than anticipated (Cuban 2001) with no substantialevidence existing that the introduction of technology has yet caused anyfundamental changes to education (James and Miller 2005).Establishing which of these positions is a more accurate reflection of reality,or, more precisely, what are the conditions and contexts within which one orthe other is more likely to occur, is a pressing concern. This is because, inaddition to pedagogical concerns, the use of technology in education is drivenby substantive economic, political and ideological motivation. Anunderstanding of the varying appropriateness and efficacy of usingtechnology within education in Africa has significant and long lastingconsequences for the way education is undertaken across the continent. Thenature of these consequences is dependent upon effective monitoring,evaluation and impact assessment.Wagner et al. (2004) note that there have been a variety of outcomes fromICT for education projects, with negative impacts including the reinforcing ofdependencies, imposition without community involvement and collapse dueto lack of funding or political commitment. Due to the rapidly increasing20