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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

in this regard in the fieldwork is demonstrated through an extract from myresearch diary (27/04/08) regarding the research partnership in Ethiopia:„My methods have been designed on the basis of promotingautonomy, freedom and critical thinking but the reality is thatthey are very different from the educational ideals of thesystem within which I am working. The government would behorrified at the idea of education leading to these things. Infact, it is exactly the opposite of their desire for education thatleads to productive, obedient citizens who will fuel theeconomy: not surprising for a repressive regime.‟Iginio Gagliardone, an academic conducting research in Ethiopia(25/04/08), highlighted in an interview with me the significance of the clashin educational philosophy between OLPC and the MoCB. He noted that theOLPC educational philosophy is based on technology driven constructivismand a mission-based misconception of education in Africa. Conversely, thetechnology centred approach of the MoCB is maintained due to the aspirationfor modernity and the assumed causal link to economic growth anddevelopment. Neither of these approaches represents the holistic rationalefor education that the team responsible for monitoring and evaluation wereworking to promote. However, the point of the observation is that thepresence of ICT in education may provide a useful tool for achievingobjectives that are different from those of the primary stakeholders, in thisinstance OLPC and the MoCB. Gagliardone again emphasised how thepresence of the technology and the associated aspiration enabled the clash ineducational ideology to go undetected (25/04/08):„There is a clash in educational philosophy between OLPC andthe Ministry of Capacity Building but this was hidden by thetechnology. The supposed pedagogy is lost on the Ministry,they see it as a technology thing not an education thing.‟The presence of the laptop meant that the programme was perceived astechnological rather than educational, despite the claims of those promotingthe OLPC as an educational initiative. Whilst there were significant308
associated negative consequences to this, here I highlight another potentialpositive unintended impact.The challenging contrast in values, agendas and objectives that define manymulti-stakeholder education partnerships may become more pronounced dueto the presence of technology that might obscure, or encourage actors toignore, underlying conflict regarding visions of appropriate pedagogy. Whilstunidentified, the underlying tension may cause an insurmountable challengeto programme viability. However, if identified then there is potential to utilisethe aspirational status of the technology in order to facilitate progressivechange (section 8.2).The Ethiopian national educational objective to „develop good citizens‟ (MoE2002) is in itself a relatively innocuous statement, but it serves todemonstrate the intent of the government. Developing good citizens is analternative articulation of the intent to use education as a tool to developeconomically productive yet politically docile citizens who do not interferewith the power structures of the nation. In Ethiopia this is expressed in agovernment predilection for pupils learning maths and hard sciences ratherthan humanities and social sciences. Rolf (07/04/08) acknowledged this andexplained why our monitoring and evaluation exercise would need to focuson assessing impact in maths and hard sciences in order to be deemedcredible by the government:„Maths is seen as very important – because they all want ageneration of young engineers – not people who will join theopposition … so political science is not what they want.‟The driving force behind educational practice is often more focused onpolitical expediency than social change (Steiner et al. 2000). Indeed, theEthiopian objective of education shaping pupils into future obedient andproductive economic servants makes it unsurprising that critical thinking ismarginalised. An anonymous member of the donor community expressed309
Page 4 and 5:
the research findings to emphasise
Page 7 and 8:
3.4.5 Drawings ....................
Page 9 and 10:
5.4.1 Plurality of methods ........
Page 11 and 12:
8.3 Implications of aspiration ....
Page 13 and 14:
List of figuresFigure 2.1: MDGs (UN
Page 15 and 16:
List of appendicesAppendix A: Resul
Page 17 and 18:
NOLNet Namibian Open Learning Netwo
Page 19 and 20:
I began this PhD two weeks after mo
Page 21 and 22:
number of ICT for education program
Page 23 and 24:
innovative alternatives, and the ce
Page 25 and 26:
2.2 Substance, rationale and approa
Page 27 and 28:
progress towards the EFA goals has
Page 29 and 30:
The critique posed to the market th
Page 31 and 32:
etween these two extremes as a resu
Page 33 and 34:
promoted to become „the character
Page 35 and 36:
appropriate application in recognit
Page 37 and 38:
can instigate both harm and good, i
Page 39 and 40:
Such an undertaking is central to t
Page 41 and 42:
- Availability of computer networks
Page 43 and 44:
assisting towards this end. The imp
Page 45 and 46:
eing rooted in specific socio-cultu
Page 47 and 48:
evaluation: „An evaluation carrie
Page 49 and 50:
Central within this is recognising
Page 51 and 52:
2.6.2 Maturing of the disciplineEar
Page 53 and 54:
that conceptualises ICT for develop
Page 55 and 56:
2006). This also requires the adopt
Page 57 and 58:
attempt to impose overarching solut
Page 59 and 60:
currently the lowest available „p
Page 61 and 62:
Garcia-Montes et al. 2006). This is
Page 63 and 64:
However, despite such claims and th
Page 65 and 66:
into knowledge and applied in life
Page 67 and 68:
dependent upon an increased emphasi
Page 69 and 70:
that ICT is having on education in
Page 71 and 72:
3. Methodology3.1 IntroductionThe p
Page 73 and 74:
2004) and instead focused on utilis
Page 75 and 76:
evaluation of ICT and development p
Page 77 and 78:
ICT for development programmes (Hee
Page 79 and 80:
organisations, explanation of the p
Page 81 and 82:
3.3.1 EuroTalk LtdEuroTalk (http://
Page 83 and 84:
further two weeks in Ethiopia in De
Page 85 and 86:
I was invited by InWEnt to particip
Page 87 and 88:
planning and implementation they co
Page 89 and 90:
the one on the adjacent line. This
Page 91 and 92:
drawings was as a precursor to anci
Page 93 and 94:
Photo 3.3: Students completing the
Page 95 and 96:
prior to implementation of the prog
Page 97 and 98:
provided regular opportunity for se
Page 99 and 100:
for education in Africa from a list
Page 101 and 102:
conversations with respondents, as
Page 103 and 104:
partially based on the flawed notio
Page 105 and 106:
in the research then all those unab
Page 107 and 108:
motivational and aspirational techn
Page 109 and 110:
In the light of the complex challen
Page 111 and 112:
It cannot be guaranteed that resear
Page 113 and 114:
Embrace the heterogeneity of commun
Page 115 and 116:
The majority of the research encoun
Page 117 and 118:
which each received 20 devices for
Page 119 and 120:
Figure 4.1: ICT for development pol
Page 121 and 122:
Photo 4.1: Students exploring the I
Page 123 and 124:
and engaged with children, teachers
Page 125 and 126:
the programme with all of them havi
Page 127 and 128:
widespread lack of textbooks and in
Page 129 and 130:
esources but also that it serves to
Page 131 and 132:
in order to reflect the involvement
Page 133 and 134:
Photo 4.4: Students in Ethiopia exp
Page 135 and 136:
on the donation of solar panels fro
Page 137 and 138:
Photo 4.6: Teacher training in Rema
Page 139 and 140:
4.3.10 Programme futureThe XO 5000
Page 141 and 142:
4.4.3 The importance of ICT for edu
Page 143 and 144:
theme focussed on the lack of budge
Page 145 and 146:
esponses, three dominant themes eme
Page 147 and 148:
The experience of interacting with
Page 149 and 150:
„In the institutions we have work
Page 151 and 152:
Access to a wide variety of resourc
Page 153 and 154:
assessment that emphasised the tran
Page 155 and 156:
have been mitigated had the project
Page 157 and 158:
and the need for sustained probing.
Page 159 and 160:
Descriptionof methodFocus groupsLoc
Page 161 and 162:
Classroomobservations24 in Malawi a
Page 163 and 164:
5.3.1 Baseline testingDiscussion at
Page 165 and 166:
indicated that although apparently
Page 167 and 168:
The lack of evidence from the basel
Page 169 and 170:
Choose the correct answer and write
Page 171 and 172:
eflection upon the format suitabili
Page 173 and 174:
you can follow that. It gives you g
Page 175 and 176:
Following the final iteration of gr
Page 177 and 178:
the method within its appropriate c
Page 179 and 180:
more innovative approach to catalys
Page 181 and 182:
to identify significant themes that
Page 183 and 184:
„Everything that the teachers wro
Page 185 and 186:
(Shurmer-Smith 2002, Herbert 2000).
Page 187 and 188:
5.4 Lessons for effective operation
Page 189 and 190:
and be provided with research assis
Page 191 and 192:
problematic problem but it is the o
Page 193 and 194:
elieving that methods that are base
Page 195 and 196:
teachers maintaining many external
Page 197 and 198:
weekend then they will be there and
Page 199 and 200:
coffee and dancing together in a ro
Page 201 and 202:
emphases can serve to reinforce eac
Page 203 and 204:
eferring back to previous experienc
Page 205 and 206:
Tilahun reflected on the reasons be
Page 207 and 208:
The limited emphasis on quantifying
Page 209 and 210:
5.5 Implications for capacity devel
Page 211 and 212:
improve and build capacity. Similar
Page 213 and 214:
These issues allude to the bigger p
Page 215 and 216:
esponses to questions regarding par
Page 217 and 218:
Month Activity Challenges Strengths
Page 219 and 220:
communicate alternative withappropr
Page 221 and 222:
EuroTalk are keen for thefindings t
Page 223 and 224:
6.2 Why partnership?The contributor
Page 225 and 226:
(Unwin 2005b). The notion of tri-se
Page 227 and 228:
assess the efficacy of the partners
Page 229 and 230:
6.3.1 Contrasting bottom linesPartn
Page 231 and 232:
to engage with the development pote
Page 233 and 234:
that could be distributed specifica
Page 235 and 236:
sector was the most significant cha
Page 237 and 238:
My suggestion that I might speak wi
Page 239 and 240:
approach is found in assessing the
Page 241 and 242:
the fieldwork. The effect of the ob
Page 243 and 244:
(13/04/08). Although prevented from
Page 245 and 246:
„We should have worked more close
Page 247 and 248:
since the language being used faile
Page 249 and 250:
demonstrated in an interview with E
Page 251 and 252:
discussions and various unsuccessfu
Page 253 and 254:
of partnership (Marriot and Goyder
Page 255 and 256:
„‟When we think of monitoring s
Page 257 and 258: the impact on ECBP from spending ti
Page 259 and 260: „It has to do with the history of
Page 261 and 262: 6.7.2 Potential to redefine practic
Page 263 and 264: monitoring and evaluation can provi
Page 265 and 266: Photo 7.2: Desks and benches in cla
Page 267 and 268: quantifying educational outputs. It
Page 269 and 270: of technology within education in A
Page 271 and 272: pedagogies, and new approaches to t
Page 273 and 274: eLearning in Africa. Training was h
Page 275 and 276: Second, alongside the enthusiasm ma
Page 277 and 278: in Ethiopia meant that the monitori
Page 279 and 280: „Akili has big potential - becaus
Page 281 and 282: „The main problem we are facing i
Page 283 and 284: colonial approach‟ (09/12/08) to
Page 285 and 286: The aim of providing free and unive
Page 287 and 288: Photo 7.4: Lessons in Malawi conduc
Page 289 and 290: Photo 7.5: Girls in Rema herding go
Page 291 and 292: teachers working in primary schools
Page 293 and 294: Teachers in Rema (22/04/08) gave a
Page 295 and 296: disaster. The contrasting potential
Page 297 and 298: 2006). This is demonstrated by the
Page 299 and 300: Indeed, between these two extremes
Page 301 and 302: „I use the laptop a lot at home f
Page 303 and 304: Critical thinking constitutes a sig
Page 305 and 306: misconception regarding the nature
Page 307: Bloom’s Original Taxonomy(1956)An
Page 311 and 312: adherence to a flawed promotion of
Page 313 and 314: „We are not interested with the t
Page 315 and 316: failing to complete primary educati
Page 317 and 318: has received some attention (Naraya
Page 319 and 320: The traditional dominant narrative
Page 321 and 322: Children reported that they felt mo
Page 323 and 324: from Golgota eagerly affirmed this,
Page 325 and 326: and 2 compared to Standard 3 and 4.
Page 327 and 328: two case studies from Ethiopia. It
Page 329 and 330: as a good way to communicate with p
Page 331 and 332: increasingly apparent that Rema was
Page 333 and 334: evaluation and sustained an overly
Page 335 and 336: symbol of something good that Malaw
Page 337 and 338: aspiration could be viewed as poten
Page 339 and 340: journalist whose article was publis
Page 341 and 342: and powerful if we have OLPC here i
Page 343 and 344: If every child in Ethiopia who is e
Page 345 and 346: population live on less than $2 per
Page 347 and 348: However, as is now explored, the ve
Page 349 and 350: the right to profit from sale of al
Page 351 and 352: 8.5.2 Private sector needs creation
Page 353 and 354: merely another context within which
Page 355 and 356: Commodity fetishism through aspirat
Page 357 and 358: The absurdity of the situation was
Page 359 and 360:
„As we are a part of globalizatio
Page 361 and 362:
of aspiration. Engaging effectively
Page 363 and 364:
(Ellul 1964) does delegitimize uncr
Page 365 and 366:
motivations for partnership. The im
Page 367 and 368:
educational challenges and opportun
Page 369 and 370:
choice of theoretical foundation, w
Page 371 and 372:
It is therefore my hope that the me
Page 373 and 374:
9.2.5 Ongoing potential for transfo
Page 375 and 376:
undoubtedly become more so in the f
Page 377 and 378:
esearch undertaken for this thesis.
Page 379 and 380:
9.5 Education: a final wordThe thes
Page 381 and 382:
BibliographyAAG, 2009. Statement of
Page 383 and 384:
Batchelor, S., Evangelista, S., Hea
Page 385 and 386:
Development Department Education Gr
Page 387 and 388:
learning: a sourcebook for evaluato
Page 389 and 390:
evaluation in education. Studies in
Page 391 and 392:
DFID, 2008. Private sector developm
Page 393 and 394:
EFA, 2001. Dakar framework for acti
Page 395 and 396:
Fadel, C. and Lemke, L. 2006. Techn
Page 397 and 398:
G8, 2007. Growth and responsibility
Page 399 and 400:
Greene, J., 2005. Mixed methods. In
Page 401 and 402:
Harrow, J., 2001. Capacity building
Page 403 and 404:
Hine, C., 2005. Virtual methods and
Page 405 and 406:
Illich, I., 1969. Celebration of aw
Page 407 and 408:
Oliver, G., (ed) 2005. Maitland+20:
Page 409 and 410:
Lasonen, J., Kemppainen, R., and Ra
Page 411 and 412:
Mansell, R., 2005. The fragility of
Page 413 and 414:
Mercer, C., 2006. Telecentres and t
Page 415 and 416:
Mutume. G., 2006. Harnessing the in
Page 417 and 418:
Olukoshi, A., 2006. African scholar
Page 419 and 420:
Paul, R. and Elder, L. 2005. The mi
Page 421 and 422:
Roy, S., 2005. Globalisation, ICT a
Page 423 and 424:
Shadish, W, Cook, T. and Campbell D
Page 425 and 426:
Sperling, G., 2008. A global educat
Page 427 and 428:
Thomas, J, 1996. Introduction: a de
Page 429 and 430:
UNESCO, 2006a. Teachers and educati
Page 431 and 432:
Unwin, T., 2009a. Conclusions. In U
Page 433 and 434:
Walker, J, 2005. Self-determination
Page 435 and 436:
Winch, C., 2005. Autonomy as an edu
Page 437 and 438:
Appendices437
Page 439 and 440:
439
Page 441 and 442:
441
Page 443 and 444:
Interviewee Company Details of Resp
Page 445 and 446:
UK LtdJohn Connell Cisco Brief resp
Page 447 and 448:
Appendix C: Sample of Malawi indivi
Page 449 and 450:
Tell me, when you see a school like
Page 451 and 452:
Appendix D: Sample of Ethiopia stud
Page 453 and 454:
classes‟.For final question promp
Page 455 and 456:
Children InformationInformation fro
Page 457 and 458:
Appendix F: Sample of Malawi focus
Page 459 and 460:
Appendix G: Sample of Ethiopia teac
Page 461 and 462:
esponsibility of being apilot schoo
Page 463 and 464:
laptop make to the livesof the chil
Page 465 and 466:
How have you found thisdiscussion?O
Page 467 and 468:
demonstrate, the eight questions an
Page 469 and 470:
the technology solution and initiat
Page 471 and 472:
made that rule. At the weekend I pl
Page 473 and 474:
When you are writing the diary plea
Page 475 and 476:
Do you think the laptops and Akili
Page 477 and 478:
done?..............................
Page 479 and 480:
...................................
Page 481 and 482:
Appendix M: Baseline test in Malawi
Page 483 and 484:
HIV?a. Yesb. No5. Are there medicin
Page 485 and 486:
It is important that the test is co
Page 487 and 488:
Teachers can teach students how to
Page 489 and 490:
Maths1. What is the LCM of 5, 10 an
Page 491 and 492:
HealthPlease explain how you can co
Page 493 and 494:
- Please explain why you think thes
Page 495 and 496:
495
Page 497 and 498:
In wanting to do the best evaluatio
Page 499 and 500:
Baselines (inc. retrospective const
Page 501 and 502:
Appendix Q: Report from eLA worksho
Page 503 and 504:
Incorporating more qualitative meth
Page 505 and 506:
Breakout workshop 3 - DonorsProblem
Page 507 and 508:
It is difficult to ensure the objec
Page 509 and 510:
appease donors and secure future fu
Page 511 and 512:
to demonstrate thatsomething works
Page 513 and 514:
Insights regarding effective evalua
Page 515 and 516:
Appendix S: Data table from Malawi
Page 517 and 518:
A 10% increase in correct answers r
Page 519:
with headgain overall perspective o
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?