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Educational technology in sub-Saharan Africa: toward access, innovation and equality of learning opportunities

Tue, April 16, 10:00 to 11:30am, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Street (Level 0), Regency A

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Technology has been more often than not identified with failure, unfulfilled promises and stalled potential. However, across Sub-Saharan Africa, a variety of technologies and innovative educational models employing technology are being utilized, with demonstrable results, to promote “long term capacity for improvement…(that will remain) long after the project money has gone” (Hargreaves and Fink, 2003, p. 3) in ways that attain both breadth and depth and reach large sectors of under-served populations.

The CIES conference theme, “Education for Sustainability” offers an opportunity to both deepen and broaden what we is meant by “sustainability” and how technology can be a lever for sustainability in ways that other tools cannot. The panel presentations are grounded in a multi-layered view of sustainability that involves issues of:

(1) Deep and lasting changes in a set of individual and institutional practices (Coburn, 2003)
(2) Shift in ownership of knowledge of an initiative such that it moves from externally imposed to what (the institution and individual) do (Coburn, 2003)
(3) Spread of an innovation to a larger population so that a critical mass of users develop buy-in and ownership of the innovation
(4) Capacity building focused on investment in people and institutions versus simply giving resources
(5) Existence of continued capacity within organization to develop and deliver reforms that hold positive impacts for beneficiaries (Coburn, 2003)
(6) Powerful partnerships among a variety of education stakeholders


The assembled panel offers an opportunity to both deepen and broaden what we mean by “Education for Sustainability”—to define key characteristics associated with sustainability; to develop taxonomies of sustainability by examining its various dimensions and levels within this taxonomy; and to share models of bringing diverse stakeholders together to work toward a common purpose; examples of how technology can improve the quality of educational delivery and management to sustain civic and social practices that benefit individuals, families, schools and societies.

The panel chair, Dr. Simon Richmond (EDC), who has spent much of his professional and personal life in Africa, will briefly introduce the panel members and connect the panel to the conference theme. He will provide general framing for thinking about what we mean by “sustainability” and will also serve as the discussant of the panel and provide summary remarks after the panel and facilitate a question-and-answer discussion with attendees.

Mary Burns of Education Development Center will set the stage for technology for sustainable education with her work on scale and focus on educational technology initiatives and across the continent that aim to reach girls, rural youth and out-of-school communities as well as innovative partnerships between governments and industry in the Sub-Saharan Context.

Dr. Corrin Varady, the CEO of IdeasSolution, shares his work with the Government of South Africa to address real disparities in access to textbooks and learning materials. Most critically, Dr. Varady discusses his organization's partnership with the South African Ministry of Education to provide all learners educational opportunities that focus on higher-level thinking and quality learning to level South Africa’s large educational disparities.

Dr. Jocelyn-Friend, the regional manager of SPARK Schools, a South African model of blended learning, discusses this unique South African model of blended education that provides education to students for the same cost as government-school fees and that focus on character development and social emotional development.

Paper 1: Built to Last: How Sub-Saharan African Countries are Leveraging Technology to Strengthen Educational Ecosystems, Mary Burns, Education Development Center

Across Sub-Saharan Africa, governments, alone and in partnerships with incubators, NGOs, communities and private companies, are employing technology to improve the quality of teaching, provide teachers with quality pre- and in-service education, furnish teachers and students with quality learning materials, extend learning opportunities beyond the two covers of the text and four walls of the classroom to homes and community. These efforts have not always received attention but in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, they are beginning to transform educational delivery.

This panel presentation offers a synthesis of major initiatives in trends in using technology to promote innovative and sustainable models of education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The author ill draw on 8 months of desk research and interviews with technology leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as multi-month case studies of educational technology initiatives in South Africa, Botswana, Cape Verde and São Tomé e Principé.

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