Shiny, New, and Sustainable EdTech? Diverse ICT Initiatives Invest in Codesign, Local Capacity and Leadership to Ensure Long-Term Impact

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Protests against disengaged implementation of digital interventions in education without stakeholder input or partnership have led to significant shifts in thinking and efforts around programs and the ways in which we as an education community “Build for Sustainability,” one of the key Principles of Digital Development. Since digital learning tools and content are “a social necessity to ensure education as a basic human right” and a means by which to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals for education (UNESCO 2023), it is essential that we embed the principles that many have fought for and learn how these too can be utilized in partnership and with the intent of those who will use them.
To ensure user and stakeholder support, the intended long-term impact, as well as sustainability and scalability of the multitude of technology-infused education initiatives, it is crucial to incorporate co-creation into their design and implementation. Local-led solutions involve tailoring interventions to the target communities' specific cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic contexts. Most initiatives address this by engaging local stakeholders to “Design with the User,” per the digital development principle. Sustainability also requires attention to the principle of “Understanding the Ecosystem” to identify barriers to access, use, and sustainability as well as what tools and efforts may already be in use. However, these steps are just the beginning.

Promoting sustainability requires a long-term perspective that goes beyond the project duration. It requires strategic alignment of the intervention with the priorities of the Ministry of Education, the intentional building of local capacity, thoughtful development of local leadership, and ownership, and other key strategies to ensure that an intervention or program can endure.

This presentation includes descriptions of three projects involving the integration of information and communication technology (ICTs) in distinct regions. The projects from Kenya, the Philippines, and Saint Lucia were also implemented at three tiers of scale -- at the district, regional, and national levels-- yet there is consistency in some of the top strategies to ensure sustainability. The panelists will reflect on key sustainability concerns and corresponding strategies incorporated into the design of the initiative as well as lessons learned from their successes and challenges. Additionally, all panelists will include reflection on how gender, inclusion, and educational equity are prioritized in project design and implementation. Technology such as audio or video will be creatively used to bring the voices and perspectives of the Ministries of Education and /or local leaders directly into the room during the conference if they are not able to attend in person.

Exploring opportunities and limitations of gender sensitive pedagogy and ICT training in rural Kenyan primary schools

IREX initiated the Girls’ Learning Through Technology (GLTT) project in 20222 in 15 schools in Kilifi County of Kenya with the aim of integrating technology and gender-sensitive pedagogy to enhance and accelerate upper primary (grade 4 and 5) educational gains in sciences, technology, and mathematics.
Key intervention components included a professional learning series for teachers, provision of school-based ICTs, and teacher coaching. Efforts to increase GLTT’s acceptability and sustainability included the creation of a Community Advisory Board, a master-training for Curriculum Support Officers who provide technical assistance and oversight to teachers, and collaboration with teachers to align materials with the Kenyan CBC. Preliminary analysis from a mixed-methods RCT indicates GLTT is an acceptable intervention for teachers and that gender-inclusive teaching strategies combined with ICT training and devices for rural primary school teachers can increase learners’ confidence to use technology and enhance students’ learning in STEM subjects.

Locally Driven Prototypes of Future Learning Spaces in the Philippines: Applying Education Technologies to Address Local Priorities

In support of the Philippines’ Department of Education’s goal to ensure that Filipino youth have equitable opportunities to become self-directed, work-ready, and flourish as life-long learners and citizens, and with USAID funding under the All Children Learning (ACR) – Philippines program, RTI International and the Department of Education developed the “Co-creating Learning Spaces for the Future in the Philippines” activity. The activity provided a series of professional development and human-centered design activities that culminated in a prototype workshop and scale-up guide for officials, managers, and school staff on “how to” develop future learning spaces that are both aligned with national education goals and responsive to local priorities (USAID, 2022). Panelists will share how the six prototypes were developed and how they have been operationalized through public and private assistance since the workshop ended.

Saint Lucia ConnectEd Activity: Strategies for Ensuring Long-Term Impact of ICT-Teacher Training, Youth Digital Skills Development, and OER Creation

In Saint Lucia, a country challenged by high youth unemployment and limited access to quality technological infrastructure, the Ministry of Education has prioritized increasing the capacity of educators to integrate technology to improve instruction and develop students’ digital literacy, a skill necessary for workforce readiness and the digital resilience of individuals and system. The USAID-funded Saint Lucia ConnectEd Activity codesigned and implemented by World Education and the Ministry of Education is supporting these goals while also fostering positive youth development and equipping secondary school teachers and students to become digital literacy leaders within their respective schools and communities. Connected has generated significant buy-in and enthusiasm from school principals, educators, and the youth. Some of the sratgiges for ensuring long-term sustainability include alignment with local priorities, codesign, capacity building, local leadership of the interventions, and embedding programming in existing institutions and their technology solutions.

The panel aligns to the conference theme, and especially subtheme 3: Theories, Methodologies and Protest- decolonizing methodologies, as the panel serves as an objection against the tendency of some implementers to develop unsustainable, foreign-led, ICT solutions. The panel challenges this trend by elucidating what strategies can be taken to makes edtech solutions sustainable and calling out the responsibilities of all projects to ensure long-term impact.

Sub Unit

• Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) SIG

Chair

• Priyanka Sharma, World Education

Individual Presentations

• Saint Lucia ConnectEd Activity: Strategies for Ensuring Long-Term Impact of ICT-Teacher Training, Youth Digital Skills Development, and OER Creation - Royston Emmanuel, World Education Inc.; Ben Vorspan, World Education; Alison Ascher Ascher Webber, World Education, Inc.

• Locally Driven Prototypes of Future Learning Spaces in the Philippines: Applying Education Technologies to Address Local Priorities - Elizabeth Randolph, RTI International

• Exploring opportunities and limitations of gender sensitive pedagogy and ICT training in rural Kenyan primary schools. - Lucy W Maina, International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX); Sarah Bever, IREX; Rachael Spencer, International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)