ICT in Kenyan Education quick scan

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ICT in Kenyan Educationquick scan
Marcel Werner ARCHWAY Technology
Management mwerner_at_archway-africa.com www.archway-
africa.com Kenya ICT Federation ICT/Education
Workshop Kenya Private Sector Alliance /
AITEC Nairobi 4 5 December 2003
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About ARCHWAY

• ICT market social research
• ICT project conceptualisation
• Kenyan company, affiliations Nigeria, Ghana, S
  Africa, East Africa, Netherlands
• Many publications www.archway-africa.com

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Focus Secondary Vocational Education

• ICT policy policy impact
• Current ICT usage in schools
• eLearning resources
• eLearning projects

Not primary and academic education No particular
focus on professional ICT education
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ICT Policy in education (1)
STRATEGY Capturing influx from FPE will require
a diversity of delivery modes including open
learning and distance education. TEACHER
TRAINING ICT in teacher training calls for a
revolution in teacher training by introducing ICT
as tool of instruction, reducing over-dependency
on traditional modes of delivery teaching.
Develop training for ICT teacher training
courses. An ICT in-service teacher-training
programme for 43,000 teachers during 2002 - 2008.
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ICT Policy in education (2)
SCHOOLS During 2002 2008 reach goal Universal
student ICT literacy 2,500 primary and secondary
schools to be made ICT-ready annually (in
addition to existing tertiary institutions). CURR
ICULUM Development and review of ICT curriculum
at primary, secondary and tertiary
levels. MANAGEMENT Upgrading the Education
Management Information Systems (EMIS). PUBLIC/PRI
VATE INTERPLAY Promote the participation of
other players and stakeholders to strengthen the
delivery of ICT skills in the entire education
system. Source Prof G. Saitoti, Minister for
Education, November 2003
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External Factor Deficient Connectivity

• Rural telecom is economically viable if
• Telecom sector is fully liberalised
• Rural telecom operators can be licensed
• Regime for sharing of traffic revenue between
  telecom companies is in place
• Universal Access Fund is operational

The good news is this is a proven recipe that
has worked well across South America Eastern
Europe. The Communications Commission of Kenya is
keen to hear about rural telecom needs.
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Digital Access Index (1)where are we in Kenya

• Infrastructure (telecom)
• Affordability (price/per capita income)
• Knowledge (education)
• Quality (of access)
• Usage (of Internet)

new research, 2002 data (ITU)
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Digital Access Index (2)where are we in Kenya

• Sweden 0.85
• Hungary 0.63
• S. Africa 0.45
• Kenya 0.19
• Uganda 0.17
• Tanzania 0.15

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Digital Access Index (3)where are we in Kenya

• Climbers
• Korea
• Hong Kong
• Droppers
• South Africa
• United States

POLICY IMPACT (Kenya) The digital divide has not
narrowed, despite gains (GSM, Internet). Significa
nt gender bias remains. Competitive gap remains.
Internet access in U.S. public schools has grown
from 3 percent in 1994 to 99 percent in 2002, but
the digital divide still exists in homes with 41
percent of blacks and Hispanics using a computer
at home compared to 77 percent of whites (U.S.
Department of Education)
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What happens elsewhere

• S Korea (DAI 0.82)
• National ICT policy masterplan budget
• 100 classrooms ICT connectivity
• Curriculum revised to make ICT integral
• Teacher training on-line aimed at using ICT as
  tool for learning
• Impact measurement well advanced

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What happens elsewhere

• Philippines (DAI 0.43)
• 81 of schools no connectivity
• ICT not integrated at all in textbooks
• Depend on corporate sponsoring of teacher
  training (IBM, CocaCola)
• SchoolNets are being launched for online
  resources sharing

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What happens elsewhere

• Korea, Philippines - ICT/Education policy
  objectives
• Improve quality of teaching towards
  learner-centered foster problem solving
• Improve quality of learning outcomes,
  independent, collaborative, problem-solving
  skills join Knowledge Systems workforces

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What happens here

• Kenya Institute of Education vision
• Build ICT skills foundation
• Use ICT as tool for teaching learning
• Action most innovation happens in private sector
• Computer studies examinable subject since 98
• Computer studies subject may be modernised
• No large public investment yet

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• ICT education does not attract a fee/cost to the
  student in most secondary schools.
• ICT is becoming engrained in the syllabus as an
  examinable topic.
• Some restrictions may stunt creativity e.g.
  student wants to edit a multimedia product
  (music, video)

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Lessons Learned (1)within Africa very little
research
Developed countries shifting from instructivist
teaching to constructivist learning (learners as
designers) This is no policy issue in Kenya,
where most schools seem locked in a scoring
competition. Therefore we see most emphasis on
ICT as a subject The innovation is led by
schoolnet projects there are many of those
(SchoolNet Africa Global Teenager NexGen
Studio ThinkQuest)
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Lessons Learned (2)from instructivism to
constructivism
Students demonstrated great concern for accuracy
in their displays They quickly assumed the major
responsibility for content and editing decisions
despite structure provided by teacher They
accessed wide ranges of science materials and
sources to find the content they wanted Their
commitment to and enthusiasm for the project
remained very high On the negative side project
failed to integrate its activities into the
larger curriculum Source Reeves, 1998 (USA)
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Lessons Learned (3)language barriers
Other evidence ICT in language
teaching/learning better support for the
language development needs of learners
listening, speaking, reading and writing (source
Imfundo, 2003)
For example, one teacher created an animated folk
tale in Xhosa and English to support literacy
work ( S Africa)
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What Teachers Say
78 cite lack of time as the number one
reason for not logging on to the Internet 46 -
50 list lack of equipment, speed of access or
lack of technical support as hindering their use
of online resources 44 cite lack of knowledge
about how to use the Internet 32 list lack of
leadership from the principal or administrators
as reasons for not logging on
Which country?
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What teachers say (2)
Dont include Internet in new lessons or
classroom projects 57 Update existing lessons
plans with materials found online 38 Lack of
time greatest barrier to using Internet within
classroom 78 Internet as a research or
information gathering tool for lessons 55 Using
the Internet for communications with other
teachers 42 Lack of leadership from principals
hindrance to Internet in education 32 The
Internet hasn't changed the way they
teach 67 But more impact on private (40) than
public school teachers (27) Source NetDay
Survey 2001 (USA)
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Literacy higher levels perceived at entry level
than that of teachers. Drastic increase in 12
months for teachers and entry level students (F
1-2). Higher levels (F 5-6) near 100 presently
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SchoolNet Africa Curriculum Integration
Resources
Home-grown African sites are portals to GLOBAL
resources local (African) content is scarce
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SchoolNets Global SchoolNet, US example (1984)
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ThinkQuest students project
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ThinkQuest students project
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• Creative use of ICT
• 12 urban and rural SS schools from across Kenya
• Students picked their theme (sports, farming,
  environment, inventions), tutors only technical
  facilitators
• Ability to conceptualise a project dramatically
  low with rural students
• Rural students almost literally re-invented the
  wheel (water-clock)
• Greater innovation and enthusiasm exhibited by
  rural schools
• sponsored by three small Kenyan firms

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UK network content awards activity weeks
how-to guides
Booklet CD-Rom how to make a school web-site
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NGfL approved sites lesson notes, course plans,
etc, etc.
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Many hardware sponsoring initiatives (UK,US,
Switzerland, Japan.
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A near even distribution of reasons why schools
want to have computer labs. However, greater
focus is on equipping students with a tool to
learn mainstream subjects better.
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where the money does NOT come from
In most cases, school board decides on
acquisition of computers. In 20 of schools,
decision is by Principal/Head Teacher.
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PC Cost/Pupil
- Total Cost of Ownership unknown concept -
Networking, maintenance and software costs very
high
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PC Cost/School ESCALATION ICT examinable subject
only 1 PC per 25 - 50 pupils ICT-for-learning
requirements 1 PC per 15 25 pupils
Early vision focused on ICT/Engineering Current
vision focus on ICT/Learning This doubles the
computer lab capacity requirement
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Conclusions

• Policy development is encouraging
• Small schoolnet projects are invaluable for
  innovation
• Requirements for computers connectivity are
  soaring
• thanks and over to you now