Enhancing access and use of stories using ICT in literacy development in Uganda: Enabling and constraining
factors
Paper presented at The 2nd National Conference on Literacy
12 – 13 March 2014Juliet Tembe
Outline
• Introduction• ICT in education• Types of devices• Issues of access• Constraints in using ICT• The ASP experience so far• Conclusion
Introduction
• "In the small village of Hafizibad in Pakistan's Punjab province, a young girl is using her mobile phone to send an SMS [text] message in Urdu to her teacher. After sending, she receives messages from her teacher in response, which she diligently copies by hand in her notebook to practice her writing skills." (Winthrop, R. and Marshall S. Smith , 2012)
ICT in education
• The untapped resources• Use of mobile technologies in numeracy (GIZ) study• Improve teaching skills & curriculum• providing teachers with professional development
opportunities
…ICT in education
While many children enter school, yet few stay enrolled and
Even fewer are mastering the basic skills needed to progress in their education
Aim to provide African children with sufficient familiar language stories for enjoyable reading practice
Create a firm basis for literacy development
Issues of access
• Limited internet use (Only 16% )• Access mostly through cellphones – increase
in broad band• Masts are for network for remote rural areas• Free wireless for schools via “white spaces” by
Google and Microsoft
Types of devices
• A variety of devices abound that can enhance the use of technology in our classrooms for developing literacy skills.
Constraints in using ICT for literacy
• complacency in uptake of existing opportunities to use technology by many teachers
• general apprehension on the part of teachers in reskilling to embrace technology
• change in perceptions as well as policies. • Affordability? Connectivity?
The African Storybook Project
• resources that African children currently get to help them to learn to read,
• aim to exceed this quality and variety through the use of technology but without massive investment in infrastructure or devices
• Part of the goal in pilot sites is to test various approaches that fulfil this consideration
African Storybook Project
• Therefore designed with a simple, clean, non-bandwidth intensive interface that can be accessed via a variety of devices
• challenge of delivering digitized stories in contexts where there may be no electricity, and infrequent or absent internet connectivity.
African Storybook Project
• digital storage can reduce development costs and duplication of effort,
• has great potential for preserving texts,• facilitating in-country and cross-country
access, • creating versions in multiple languages.Webinar presentation by Maggie de Jong
Thank you