ED-TECH ADOPTION & USE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY CONTEXTS: A CASE OF WAKISO DISTRICT, UGANDA.

Background

Today morning, I successfully defended my Viva Voce at Makerere University Business School. Let me take this opportunity to thank the faculty, especially my 2 research supervisors Dr.Samali V Mlay, and Mr.Keefa Bwiino for the unending support and constructive criticism that made me complete my research and successfully defend it. I have to also thank my Viva Voce Panel, composed of Dr.Sonny Nyeko, Dr.Geofrey Nkuutu & Dr.Rachel Nakigudde for the very grounded feedback on my viva voce presentation.

Introduction

My research was about POST-COVID19 USE OF ONLINE LEARNING: A CASE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN WAKISO DISTRICT. The background for this study was that both the global and national aspirations point to a need for a balance between equity and quality education FOR ALL. That explains why SDG4 is crafted thus: ’ensure inclusive, and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. This aligns with the Ministry of Education & Sports of Uganda, whose Vision statement reads ‘Quality Education and Sports for All’. This means that education strategies in developing country contexts should have a mix of both quality and equity-leaving no one behind. However, the reality is that in as far as the adoption and use of Education Technology (Ed-tech) is concerned, education systems in most developing countries haven’t adapted their curricula, methodologies, and human resource capabilities to the use of Ed-tech as an enabler of quality and equitable education.

Context

In Wakiso district, which is a central Uganda district, neighbouring the capital city Kampala, one would expect to find the adoption and use of Ed-tech to be high, given the ideal access to internet, computers, high literacy rates by teachers and school leaders etc. However, according to the district education office, only 25.7% of schools in Wakiso district adopted online learning as a strategy for ensuring continuity of learning during the COVID-19 school closures. The reflection question is, why would schools that have almost all socio-economic indicators working in their favour (compared to the rest of the country, especially the rural side) have such a low uptake, at a time when it made natural sense to transition to Ed-tech, since physical, face to face classes were on a halt? Also very importantly, with the resumption of physical classes (after the longest COVID-19 school closures), did the sector learn anything to the adoption and use of Ed-tech, or did we go back to business as usual?

Theoretical Framework

The research was based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and adapted for the study.

In this study, Performance expectancy(PE) refers to the belief that the use of a particular technology or method will, to some extent, be advantageous or performance-enhancing to the user. It is simply the thinking that a user will choose ICT solution A over B because it is perceived to be more efficient and effective in getting results. Effort Expectancy (EE) on the other hand is based on the idea that there is a relationship between the effort put forth at work, the performance achieved from that effort, and the rewards received from the effort. This therefore means that as a user of an ICT solution, I will choose solution A over B because I perceive solution A to be easier to understand and use, and hence there will be less effort on my part to use it. Social influence (SI) is defined as the degree to which an individual perceives the important others (such as relatives, peers, bosses and subordinates) believe that he or she should use the system. For example, if all my workmates use an I-phone and keep talking about its effectiveness, I will be bent towards buying and using the i-phone over other mobile phones. Facilitating conditions (FC) refers to the degree to which an individual believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support the use of a system. This implies that a user will choose an Ed-tech system if they believe that the necessary infrastructure eg laptops, cable network, Wi-Fi, ICT support & training etc are available to support their adoption and use of the ICT solution. Behavioural Intention (BI) is defined as the motivating factors that influence an individual’s behaviour towards particular actions. It simply means that the individual has the intrinsic motivation to use the Ed-tech solution. It considers behaviour as being subjective and that individuals are likely to perform particular behaviours where there is the belief that the behaviour is approved by the majority. It is determined by subjective constructs like gender, age, education level, experience, years of service, and voluntariness.  Last but not least, Use of online learning (U) is defined as the actual use of ICT solutions.

All these have an implication to adoption and use of Ed-tech in a developing context like Uganda. These are issues that anyone-from an ICT solutions developer, to a school leader, civil society leadership team or government official in the Ministry of Education should have at the back of their mind as they develop and roll out an Ed-tech solution.

In the research findings, I found out that Performance Expectancy (PE) had the highest positive significant association with Behavioural intention (BI) with a .644** correlation, compared to the other 2 independent variables Effort Expectancy (EE) that associates with Behavioral Intention (BI) at .508** and Social Influence (SI) that associates with Behavioural Intention (BI) at .516**. This means that for any developer rolling out an Ed-tech solution in schools in developing contexts, there is need to invest in the performance capabilities of the intervention, but also very importantly, invest in the marketing, branding, name recognition of the intervention, so that everyone knows its performance abilities. This will ensure more chances of behavioural intention to use the intervention. That said, Facilitating Conditions (FC) had a higher positive significant association with online learning at .696** than with Behavioural Intention (BI)-which was mediating Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI) with Use of online learning (U). What this means is the need to invest in having the right and effective facilitating conditions as mentioned above as they guarantee actual adoption and use of Ed-tech than the mediating role of behavioural intention to use ICT.

One key learning out of this research was that there is need to translate behavioural intention into actual use, as not all behavioural intention always ends up into actual usage. Just because a Headteacher intends to use Ed-tech doesn’t necessarily mean he/she will use it, if the other factors, ie, facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, effort expectancy etc arenot in place.

As an aside, Technology is surely the future of education. All education systems in the developing world should have by now learnt that, especially, due to the lessons from COVID-19 school closures. It is relevant, both as a pedagogical tool, and a life skill for a child moving into the world of work, or business start ups. However, there is need to develop Ed-tech solutions that are relevant, effective, efficient, and very importantly, have the requisite support system (hardware and software) in the community you are introducing them to. Need I mention, Ed-tech should amplify and strengthen the role of the teachers, not replace them, amplify learning outcomes for the child, not make them dependent on the Ed-tech solution.    

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.” – John Dewey.

Samali V. Mlay, PhD keefa Bwiino Microsoft for Nonprofits Enabel Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation STIR Education Harvard Business School Fundi Bots British Council USAID Educate! Amazon Brian Baptista Adrian R.M. Bukenya Mastercard Foundation Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund James Macbeth Forbes Strømme Foundation Embassy of Denmark in Uganda GIZ Uganda United Nations UNICEF Uganda Airtel Business Uganda MTN Uganda Sharath Jeevan OBE Girish Menon Andy Bryant Bryan Mbasa Barbara Kasekende Rebecca Ume Crook EquityBCDC Joseph Nsengimana Stanbic IBTC Corporate and Investment Banking