The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank, with the support of the African Union, are producing a new ‘flagship’ report on how ICTs, especially mobile phones, have the potential to change fundamental business models in key sectors for Africa.

The overall goal of this effort, which is known as eTransform Africa, is to raise awareness and stimulate action, especially among African governments and development practitioners, of how ICTs can contribute to the improvement and transformation of traditional and new economic and social activities in a number of sectors, including: agriculture; climate change adaptation; education; financial services; health; local ICT; public services; trade and regional integration; and ‘cross-cutting’ issues.

The final draft of the eTransform Africa education sector study (Transformation‐Ready: The strategic application of information and communication technologies in Africa. Education Sector Study), which was prepared by a team of notable consultants at ICT Development Associates, is now available online. This 144-page report identifies specific opportunities and challenges, and recommends areas of intervention for governments, educational institutions, the private sector, NGOs, and development partners, with a particular focus on five general themes. (Long-time readers will remember these as previous topics of discussion)

• Teacher professional development
• Digital learning resources
• Affordable technologies
• Education Management Information Systems (EMIS)
• National Research and Education Networks (NRENs)

The report identifies six areas where specific opportunities for action currently exist:

1. policy
2. access
3. NRENs
4. management and administration
5. digital learning resources
6. building human capacity

while at the same time noting (some) of the critical related challenges across the continent, including:

1. absence of comprehensive policies
2. lack of financing and prioritisation of ICT investments
3. limited infrastructure
4. lack of capacity at all levels to integrate and support the use of ICT in education effectively
5. many teachers do not have the necessary ICT skills
6. lack of appropriate content
7. lack of accurate, comprehensive, up-to-date data on education
8. equity

The report’s conclusion includes a set of five recommendation for policymakers:

1. Ensure that all investments in ICT in education (including those made by governments, development partners, and individual educational institutions) are – to the greatest extent possible – directed by a single, integrated ICT in education strategy so that they are working towards common national strategic objectives.
2. Adopt a suitable global professional development framework to guide national implementation of ICT professional development.
3. Adopt a suitable global professional development framework to guide national implementation of ICT professional development.
4. Consider judicious investments in content creation and aggregation to ensure compliance with African curricula, or local language demands, motivating usage by educators and students.
5. Promote data-driven decision-making at all levels.

There is much more to this report than just these lists, of course. The authors, who have extensive and varied experience working across Africa on ICT/education projects, have offered up much food for thought, and have referenced scores of interesting initiatives and programmes across the continent that may be new to many readers of this blog.

Importantly, they note that, “in all instances, planning of new interventions aimed at harnessing ICT to improve education must begin with contextualised needs analysis and careful planning that takes account of the realities within which implementation will take place.” Such a statement might seem obvious — so obvious, in fact, that it should almost go without saying — but experiences with numerous projects across the continent over the past decade, some of which are referenced in the report, do suggest that more than a few folks need to be reminded of this very practical suggestion minimal requirement.

The full final draft of the eTransform Africa education report, and its various contituent parts (e.g. landscape analysis, case studies, etc.) available online as pdf documents on the eTransform Africa web site. Those of you pressed for time may wish to go directly to the 19-page executive summary [pdf].

In case it might be of any additional interest:
Some previous analytical work sponsored by the infoDev program and/or the World Bank’s Africa region on ICT/education issues in Africa includes:

• Survey of ICT and Education in Africa (Volume I): A Summary Report, Based on 53 Country Surveys [2007]
• The NEPAD e-Schools Demonstration Project: A Work in Progress. A Public Report. [2007]
• Designing Open and Distance Learning for Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Toolkit for Educators and Planners [2005] [pdf]
• Enhancing Learning Opportunities in Africa – Distance Education and Information and Communication Technologies for Learning [2002]

(And of course, the EduTech blog includes regular posts about ICT/education topics in Africa as well.)

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I think all people will agree that training in the use of new technology is important. Nobody will disagree this is necessary. The more important questions may be to “Train for what?” and “How to train?”

Wrong Training Focus

Today, much of the training is on how to use the technology and is usually done by a technical person who has little experience in teaching. The training covers things like turning on the PC, using the mouse, typing etc and then gets into using Word, Skype and perhaps some educational games or searching for resources with Google.

The trainer does not understand the pedagogy of teaching and there is little focus on how to use ICTs in the classroom for teaching and learning. It is generally assumed that the teacher will be able and willing to work out how to apply the technology to teaching. In many developing countries, the assumption that teachers have the initiative and time to learn how to effectively use ICTs to teach better may not be valid.

The little training that is teaching and learning focused is lapped up with most teachers saying they want much more, which brings me to the second issue of how to train.

Wrong Training Style

All reports I have read on deploying ICTs in schools, the feedback is that teachers need more training. Taking this to an extreme, it seems we could never satisfy the need for training. So we have to draw the line somewhere. I suggest that one part of training must be to teach teachers how to learn from each other. Sharing what works and what they are struggling with can be very helpful and most people I talk to say that is how they learnt much of their ICT knowledge

It is often assumed by trainers from developed countries, that such sharing will automatically happen, but there are at least two organizational and cultural issues at play that often make such assumptions invalid.

1. The organisation most likely will not support teachers experimenting and learning new things by themselves. Such learning may not be in accordance with the curriculum and may not be consistent with policy. Most Education systems in developing countries are very conservative and reluctant to change. Individual experimentation is discouraged.
2. Cultural issues may prevent people taking the initiative or sharing their new found knowledge. In many developing countries, there are fairly strict hierarchies and rules about who is allowed to speak out and how and when.

So I would submit that any training must also include behavioral change.

Change Must be Driven From the Top

I suspect that such change in behavior will not occur without strong leadership, for example from the principle, the school inspectors, the curriculum development team, and even the secretary of education. Change must be driven from the top.

So ICT training must also occur at the all levels in the organisation and be supported by Policy to legitimize the new behavior.

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Will there be a continued focus on flashy but educationally suspect hardware? Could this the year Linux, lead by Ubuntu, breaks out? Can Windows 7 bring back the luster to Microsoft? Or will multi-platform Android make both moot?

Enough about technology – where is the educational breakthroughs? Will Constructionism flourish in 1:1 computer deployments? Can Open Content gain traction in curriculum development? Might teacher training actually get more than lip-service?

Finally, will we really stop wasting children on ICT4E assessments?

For the January Educational Technology Debate, we’ll take a fresh look at the low-cost information and communication technology trends emerging in 2010 and discuss what they mean for educational systems in the developing world.

To capture these trends in a holistic fashion, I’m soliciting commentary from each of you. What do YOU think are the top trends and their impact? Feel free to summit your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

At the same time, if you find yourself with too much to say in a comment box – Stop! Email it to me instead and I’ll publish it as one of this month’s posts.

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