Developing effective learning resources for EdTech initiatives in low- and middle-income countries: Lessons learned from the Tech & Play Initiative

• In Event: Innovative approaches to learning in low-resource and underserved communities

Proposal

The Tech & Play Initiative promotes student-centered pedagogies through play-based strategies and tools in Brazil, Kenya, and Rwanda. A key component of this initiative was developing learning resources that introduce play-based learning approaches. Well-developed learning resources, including teacher PD materials, teacher guides, and model lesson plans have the potential to improve instruction and student learning (Ball & Cohen, 1996; IIEP, 2022) in low- and middle-income countries (Piper et al., 2018). Learning resources can help teachers enact curricula in their classrooms, emphasizing appropriate content, thoughtfully presenting concepts to children, and assessing student understanding, and they provide sustainable resources teachers can continue to benefit from after the programs end. Nevertheless, creating high-quality instructional materials is a complex process that requires depth of contextual, pedagogical, and content knowledge (Shulman, 1987), especially when curricula focus on utilizing new technology in contexts with differing access to resources. Focusing on understanding the learning resource development process, this study addressed the following two questions: Given the collaborative nature of the learning resource development process among international partners, did the design teams have access to the required knowledge (i.e., contextual, pedagogical, content, and technological) to develop the best possible resources? How did teams design the learning resources, and how did they expect teachers to use the resources?

Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 10 experts who developed the materials across implementing organizations, including training specialists, EdTech specialists, play specialists, and program managers. Additionally, to understand how the learning resources aligned to the pre-existing textbooks, the researchers conducted curriculum mapping of the resources for each context. Researchers used Shulman’s knowledge framework (1987) to address what capacities and knowledge resource developers should have, and utilized the Educative Curricula framework (Davis et al., 2017) to understand how implementers intended for teachers to use the resources (Davis & Krajcik, 2005). Researchers categorized the findings into four categories.

1. Importance of contextual knowledge: Effective learning resource design requires a deep understanding of local educational contexts, including alignment with national curricula, IT infrastructure, and teachers’ existing digital literacy skills. The learning resources were designed to complement the competency-based curriculum (CBC) to support teachers in making their lessons more practical, filling “an authentic need.” However, fully understanding the local context, such as the availability, accessibility, and affordability of resources for classrooms, posed significant challenges. Interviewees attributed these challenges to the small number of staff with direct experience in the country during the initial design phase. Interviewees reported positive changes when local staff familiar with the local educational system and school-level contexts joined the teams, and further highlighted the need to have technical advisors on the team who understood how educational practices function in country.

Interviewees suggested that international resource developers should visit classrooms in the target countries before developing resources. Unfortunately, this project began during the pandemic, and therefore international partners were not able to visit the schools until a year into the programs. Interviewees also reported that materials designed through needs assessments based on teachers’ actual needs were better accepted by educators than the previous materials. For example, materials developed based on teacher and parental requests (e.g., a digital literacy guide, parental guide, and Foundational Literacy and Numeracy activities) were more widely used.

2. Significance of pedagogical knowledge: All three countries recently transitioned from traditional content-focused curricula to learned-focused CBC. The learning resources developed for the Initiative aligned with the CBC priorities, and interviewees confirmed that this alignment supported the use of the materials by educators, as teachers are generally reluctant to use resources that do not correspond with the national curriculum. However, implementing organizations also recognized that teachers faced challenges in moving away from traditional teaching methods, which has hindered the transition to the learner-centered pedagogy advocated by the programs and in the curricula. Consequently, the concept of “mindset shift” was incorporated into teacher trainings across contexts. Despite this, even when teachers grasped the idea of student-centered pedagogy through play-based strategies, they often struggled to apply these concepts in their classrooms. The integration of technology introduced additional challenges, as student-centered learning with technology differs from traditional methods. Furthermore, the interviewees emphasized that classroom environments, such as large class sizes and limited resources, differ from the training settings, and suggested that trainings should be designed for the realities of classrooms and should offer practical strategies for classroom environments.

3. Need for content knowledge expertise: Effective content knowledge allows resource developers to create resources that support students with a meaningful learning experience. Interviewees across countries highlighted the importance of focusing on specific content areas. Programs yielded better results when they concentrated on incorporating play-based pedagogy into specific subjects and grade levels with a smaller number of teachers. To support the development of teachers’ content knowledge, the programs created model lessons and activities that teachers could use as templates. Nonetheless, teacher guides should explicitly communicate conceptual and content goals with direct links to proposed activities to provide meaningful learning experiences (IIEP, 2022).

4. Technology knowledge: The interviewees highlighted that resources need to first support teachers in learning how to use technology and effectively integrate it into their classrooms, and then help teachers understand how students engage with technology, including challenges and strategies for providing support. The programs relied heavily on local EdTech partners to design the learning resources, and while they brought valuable technical skills, they had limited classroom experience and pedagogical training. Furthermore, these EdTech specialists were not prepared to train educators with limited digital literacy or prior experience in coding, or to guide them in understanding how children learn from and interact with technology.

Overall, well-designed learning resources provide practical strategies and insights into meaningful concepts and pedagogy (IIEP, 2022; World Bank, 2021). EdTech projects need to focus on developing learning materials while ensuring that the design team includes local experts who bring knowledge about local classroom contexts, assets, and needs in order to create meaningful and pedagogically sound resources. Insights from this research can inform the development of resources that align with the needs and strengths of teachers in similar contexts.

Authors

• Hanna Girma Wedajo, Education Development Center (EDC)

• Amanda Cardarelli, Education Development Center (EDC)

• Daniel Light, DRL Research Consulting

• Megan Silander, Center for Children and Technology, Education Development Center