Learning Toolkit+: Abracadabra/Concordia University (Rwanda/Kenya)

• In Event: UDL to improve literacy in school and community settings: lessons learned from leveraging EdTech in Africa and Asia

Proposal

Lessons learned during the pandemic about using technology as a teaching and learning tool has led to many Ministries of Education (MOE) investing in improved technology infrastructures so that EdTech solutions may be more widely and effectively employed to address learning losses and accelerate the acquisition of foundational competencies. Yet in 2016 the Kenya MOE had the foresight to invest in a national Digital Literacy Program, deploying tablets in all primary schools. In Rwanda, since 2009 the MOE has gradually deployed devices in elementary schools, and in 2024 announced a One Laptop per Teacher Program.


Within these two contexts and with KIX-GPE funding, researchers at Concordia and Wilfrid Laurier universities in collaboration with World Vision, studied the use of an evidence-based blended literacy teacher professional development program and subsequent classroom integration of evidence-based early literacy software called ABRACADABRA (complemented by READS a catalogue of digital stores), into teachers’ literacy instruction. Drawing on the UDL principles, the interactive and flexible software is designed to develop all the necessary foundational literacy sub-skills, allowing virtually all children—with a special focus on those with ‘invisible’ learning disabilities-- to experience success at a pace appropriate for them and with a high degree of learner control, maximizing learner engagement and active interaction.

Despite variability of instructional contexts between and within countries, data revealed that the two program components, literacy TPD and use of ABRA-READS, significantly benefited teachers and students. Specifically, (1) teachers learned to use more learner-centered teaching methods and successfully implemented effective literacy instruction by targeting important literacy sub-skills (e.g. phonics and phonemic awareness) that are often overlooked in national curricula; (2) teachers learned important technological-pedagogical skills that enabled them to teach with technology and integrate the ABRA-READS software into their lessons. Their comfort with using technology progressed from initially “knowing the basics but lacking confidence” to being able to “integrate computers smoothly in teaching as an instructional tool”. The teachers learned to be flexible -- they prepared for scenarios when technology did not work and were able to swiftly pivot to offline teaching and extension activities; (3) the quasi-experimental student validation study revealed substantial literacy learning gains for Kenya and Rwanda students (including for girls and those in remote communities). Students with lower initial reading scores gained significantly more from the ABRA - READS instruction than their low reading peers exposed to traditional literacy instruction. Most significantly, after learning to read with ABRA - READS, the gains of struggling readers enabled them to catch up with the good readers receiving traditional instruction in the Kenyan control sample and surpass them in the Rwandan control sample. This finding is of critical importance as it indicates the potential of ABRA to reverse the cumulative disadvantage that weak readers usually endure in school known as the Matthew Effect.

Yet despite these national ICT-related initiatives, some challenges still remain in terms of high computer-student ratios, malfunctioning classroom devices, a lack of ongoing technical support for teachers, and lack of teacher professional development on digital literacies.

Author

• Anne Wade, Concordia University