Year: 2021
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Educational technologies (EdTech) are important tools for learning, and yet they are not effectively utilized by all students. This is especially true in the Global South, as rapid population growth is compounded by challenges such as resource scarcity and digital divide, making effective EdTech use rare. Recognizing these shortcomings, many NGOs, governments, and start-ups work to improve EdTech uptake and efficacy. Yet, given how monumental these challenges are, no single organization can effectively address all challenges, necessitating partnership. Nonetheless though, partnerships themselves often struggle. Therefore, this study focuses on expanding the use of EdTech by improving partnerships in the East African EdTech sector. To do this, I start by reviewing the literature on partnerships, with a specific emphasis on challenges of coordination. I then introduce the EdTech sector in Africa and apply findings from the partnerships literature to draw out preliminary insights on how best to address the underlying challenges of coordination in this specific context. However, given that the partnerships literature comes mainly from studies in the Global North, it is unlikely that insights are fully appropriate. As such, I undertook an inductive qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews of 16 people involved in EdTech in East Africa. The interviews concentrated on the challenges and potential of EdTech, as well as participants’ experiences of partnerships in the sector. Drawing on this, the first part of my findings show that the inhibitors of EdTech use can be divided into four categories: systemic challenges, digital literacy difficulties, resource constraints, and geographical matters. The second part of the findings show that although there are numerous coordination challenges between EdTech organizations, there are examples of successful collaboration. Nonetheless, often these partnerships are best described as piecemeal, as they fail to holistically address the challenges of EdTech. The discussion section makes specific recommendations. For instance, organizations need to coordinate to better address the opportunities for scaling with offline technologies, which is especially salient in the context of East Africa. Moreover, the complexity of the context and the inherent resource constraints calls into question how applicable current findings in the literature are. In particular, while partnerships described in the literature are usually directed at a narrow goal, I contend that EdTech partnerships in East Africa need to be fundamentally different. Without taking a holistic approach, most partnerships – however well-intentioned – are likely to fail to improve the state of EdTech.
Source: Aaltodoc (Aalto University)
Author: Nieminen, Jessina
Institution: Aalto University
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7128670093