Online Learning for Students with Limited ICT Access and Skills
(2020) INTM01 20201Innovation Engineering
- Abstract
- Education is by the UN stated to be the foundation to creating sustainable development. Lately, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for educational purposes worldwide, but as many countries lag behind both in terms of uptake and usage of ICT, this limits their populations’ chances to participate. Given this, the aim of this thesis was to investigate and evaluate factors affecting the usage of online learning amongst university students in Tanzania with limited ICT access and skills. The study also aimed to explore the objectives, opportunities, and challenges for these students to pursue online learning.
The study, performed in collaboration with the Swedish-Tanzanian NGO... (More) - Education is by the UN stated to be the foundation to creating sustainable development. Lately, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for educational purposes worldwide, but as many countries lag behind both in terms of uptake and usage of ICT, this limits their populations’ chances to participate. Given this, the aim of this thesis was to investigate and evaluate factors affecting the usage of online learning amongst university students in Tanzania with limited ICT access and skills. The study also aimed to explore the objectives, opportunities, and challenges for these students to pursue online learning.
The study, performed in collaboration with the Swedish-Tanzanian NGO Help to Help, can be divided into two parts: First, a pre study consisting of a thorough literature review and interviews with field experts. Secondly, a single case study, including a questionnaire and qualitative interviews, with university students attending the Help to Help Academy program.
Overall, 57 factors affecting online learning were identified and investigated. In general, the Tanzanian students expressed great interest in using online learning with the main objective being increased access to material and courses. An important insight was that when initiating online learning it is important to not take things for granted and be attentive of the target group. Learning is an individual experience and the key to succeed, both online and offline, is to understand the group that is supposed to learn.
The findings of this study contribute to online learning theory by elaborating on the evolution and definition of online learning. In addition, the findings contribute to digital literacy theory by evolving on the digital setting in Tanzania for urban students. Finally, this study shows that online learning is a great source of potential to ensure quality education for all, but that there is a need for more user-centered studies and contextualized online learning platforms. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- Online learning has today become one of the most hyped educational tools giving old-fashioned, classroom education a run for its money. However, in Eastern Africa, many people lag behind both in terms of uptake and usage of Information and Communications Technology, ICT, hindering them from participating.
Our study - made in collaboration with the Swedish-Tanzanian NGO Help to Help - investigates the needs, abilities, and preferences of Help to Help’s students in Tanzania to be able to conduct online learning. The insight? The digital development in Tanzania proved to be better than expected and the students demonstrated both confidence, availability, and interest in using online learning. On the other hand, they had little practical... (More) - Online learning has today become one of the most hyped educational tools giving old-fashioned, classroom education a run for its money. However, in Eastern Africa, many people lag behind both in terms of uptake and usage of Information and Communications Technology, ICT, hindering them from participating.
Our study - made in collaboration with the Swedish-Tanzanian NGO Help to Help - investigates the needs, abilities, and preferences of Help to Help’s students in Tanzania to be able to conduct online learning. The insight? The digital development in Tanzania proved to be better than expected and the students demonstrated both confidence, availability, and interest in using online learning. On the other hand, they had little practical experience of using online learning and stated a need for platforms adapted to their digital competence.
In Tanzania, higher education is limited for most of the population and a large gap is seen between young adults’ skills and qualifications compared to those required by employers, known as the skills gap. However, higher education is still the life dream of many, and the emergence of ICT can help make this more attainable. In 2011, Dr. Gajaraj Dhanaranjan, President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning stated: One would be foolish to question the importance of the internet for education in this new decade. Today, with the COVID-19 pandemic, this has never been more accurate.
The findings of this study showed that when initiating online learning in this context, it is important to not take things for granted, use an iterative approach to test things at a small scale and be attentive of the target group. As in any classroom, there needs to be clear rules and expectations on the platform and the teacher must understand the group that is supposed to learn. The material, length of modules and presentation style at the platform needs to be varied and it is crucial to provide continuous feedback during the course and a certificate at completion to maintain interest and motivation.
Many things could be listed further, but overall, our conclusion is that online learning is a great source of potential and something that cannot be neglected. Not only can it help ensure quality education for all, it can also create communities where knowledge can foster, and ICT usage become more established. There are still challenges to overcome in this setting, such as ensuring compatibility with the internet availability, power stability and ICT equipment accessibility, but put the user in focus and success will come.
Everything today is moving towards being online and it is only logical that education does the same. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9019838
- author
- Johansson, Sofia LU and Bergvik, Isabella LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- INTM01 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Online Learning, Tanzania, Information and Communications Technology, Digital Development, Skills Gap
- language
- English
- id
- 9019838
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-18 08:44:26
- date last changed
- 2020-06-18 08:44:26
@misc{9019838,
abstract = {{Education is by the UN stated to be the foundation to creating sustainable development. Lately, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for educational purposes worldwide, but as many countries lag behind both in terms of uptake and usage of ICT, this limits their populations’ chances to participate. Given this, the aim of this thesis was to investigate and evaluate factors affecting the usage of online learning amongst university students in Tanzania with limited ICT access and skills. The study also aimed to explore the objectives, opportunities, and challenges for these students to pursue online learning.
The study, performed in collaboration with the Swedish-Tanzanian NGO Help to Help, can be divided into two parts: First, a pre study consisting of a thorough literature review and interviews with field experts. Secondly, a single case study, including a questionnaire and qualitative interviews, with university students attending the Help to Help Academy program.
Overall, 57 factors affecting online learning were identified and investigated. In general, the Tanzanian students expressed great interest in using online learning with the main objective being increased access to material and courses. An important insight was that when initiating online learning it is important to not take things for granted and be attentive of the target group. Learning is an individual experience and the key to succeed, both online and offline, is to understand the group that is supposed to learn.
The findings of this study contribute to online learning theory by elaborating on the evolution and definition of online learning. In addition, the findings contribute to digital literacy theory by evolving on the digital setting in Tanzania for urban students. Finally, this study shows that online learning is a great source of potential to ensure quality education for all, but that there is a need for more user-centered studies and contextualized online learning platforms.}},
author = {{Johansson, Sofia and Bergvik, Isabella}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Online Learning for Students with Limited ICT Access and Skills}},
year = {{2020}},
}