EdTech for Smartphones: Building Teacher Capacity in Low-resource Environments
This blog describes initial findings from two research projects in Pakistan: Technology to Empower Actors Across the Learning Ecosystem and Can Digital Technology Accelerate Learning and Skills? The team comprises researchers from Harvard University, University of Chicago, Pomona College, University of California, Berkeley and The World Bank. The team is grateful for funding support from EdTech Hub, The World Bank, and The Douglas B. Marshall Jr. Family Foundation.
Around the world, enthusiasm for education technology (EdTech) is growing. Research has found that EdTech can boost test scores and ease the burden for schools and teachers. Despite these documented benefits, the cost of EdTech may be prohibitive for low-resource environments. Providing devices to every teacher and/or student can be prohibitively expensive — and that’s before accounting for the additional costs of learning software, electricity, and internet. Given these potentially high expenses, it is possible the rise of EdTech may even deepen learning inequality if only wealthy areas or private institutions can afford these tools.
As outlined in the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT)’s National Distance Education Strategy, smartphones present a possible solution to reach learners in low resource environments. With a cost as low as USD 50 in Pakistan and wide network availability, smartphone adoption has risen and contributed to the mobile teledensity of 79% in 2023 (Pakistan Telecom Authority, 2024). High smartphone penetration and low costs raise the possibility that EdTech programmes can either provide cheap devices or leverage teachers’ existing personal smartphones, thereby making EdTech far more accessible and scalable (Zubairi et al., 2022). Teachers may also feel more comfortable using devices with which they are already accustomed, and this saves them from having to port around another device. This approach, however, requires teachers to understand how to navigate a new app, which may not come naturally to all users. Getting teachers the support they need to leverage a new technology can make or break the success of a programme.
The low-cost approach of using smartphones is key to the Targeted Instruction in Pakistan (TIP) program. TIP is a personalised learning program for primary schools to help fill learning gaps in math, Urdu (the national language), and English. In addition to the suite of lesson plans, teaching-learning materials, and learning assessments, the program is accompanied by a smartphone app (“the TIP Tech Tool”) that teachers can download on their devices to help them run the program. The tool allows teachers to monitor learning progress and gaps, access lesson plans and teaching materials to fill gaps, sort students into peer learning groups, watch training videos, and other tasks that are otherwise labour-intensive and prone to error. Wifi dongles were provided during training to allow teachers to download the app, and then they could choose whether to use personal data plans or periodic wifi connections to sync their data. Teachers without a smartphone can borrow another teacher’s device or use school-provided tablets. The tool was co-designed by local education experts and engineers at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan with regular input from schools and teachers, specifically for use in low-resourced, low-digital literacy settings.
Figure 1: The TIP Tech Tool. Credit: Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan.
The TIP program and tool were tested in two large scale pilots in public primary schools in Pakistan in 2022-2023. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the tool supported a remedial program that sorted students into peer groups across classrooms, while in Islamabad Capital Territory, the tool was utilised by teachers to personalise the difficulty level of learning within their own classrooms by assigning different children different content with varied levels of difficulty based on learning level. Collectively, these pilots covered more than 1,800 schools, 10,000 teachers, and 350,000 total students.
Figure 2: A teacher uses the TIP tech tool to record test scores. Credit: TIP field team.
While full results are forthcoming, initial findings show the promise — and potential pitfalls — of smartphone-based EdTech. Overall feedback from teachers was largely positive. Most teachers used the app regularly and found it eased the burden of admin tasks like quiz grading and lesson planning. As one teacher wrote on the final program survey, “[the] use of [the] tech tool is very impressive because it saves time grouping the students.” Nonetheless, not all teachers were well equipped to use the app at the start.
To build teacher capacity to adopt the new tool, the TIP team devised a multifaceted approach that leveraged traditional in-person training and mentoring, along with tech-enabled support tools and even existing peer networks within the school. These elements are detailed below, in the hopes that other programmes can leverage these techniques to support their own training schemes.
Traditional training and mentoring
Initial practical training: Teachers attended a 2-to-4-day training for the program, during which several exercises were conducted to have teachers practise key activities in the tech tool, such as sorting students into peer groups and entering quiz scores. Practical exercises were crucial to building skills and confidence with the app.
Figure 3: Teachers get support during tech tool training and exercises. Credit: Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan.
In-person mentor visits: Throughout the programme, field staff (“mentors”) visited schools to collect data and troubleshoot challenges. Mentors followed a script to specifically ask about program, pedagogy, and tech tool-related issues, and asked teachers to show them uploaded test score data in the tool, which prompted further discussion of issues. Mentors quickly discovered that teachers often had similar questions and problems, so they developed a living frequently asked questions (FAQ) guide that they could collectively add to and reference for ease of addressing teacher needs. In programme feedback, teachers almost always cited mentors as a leading virtue that facilitated their ability to use technology and implement the programme.
Leveraging technology
Training videos: During initial training, teachers were shown a series of videos covering foundational aspects of the program. These videos helped standardise training quality across the large sample and ensured key messages were conveyed. The videos were then stored on the app, allowing teachers to refresh their memories throughout the programme.
WhatsApp support groups: Because mentors could only visit each school a few times during the programme, they maintained WhatsApp groups with teachers from many different schools where teachers could ask questions and responses were shared more efficiently. Teachers were often most comfortable communicating via voice notes (a WhatsApp capability), which enabled them to ask questions quickly and communicate in a mix of local languages.
Helpline: Teachers could call or text a dedicated helpline agent for troubleshooting support. The helpline agent corresponded directly with the developers to escalate any technical bugs. In practice, teachers mostly relied on WhatsApp groups for help, but the helpline served as a backup if needed.
Activating peer support networks
Tech captains: The team quickly realised that traditional school leaders (i.e. principals/head teachers) were often the oldest teachers and were more likely to experience tech difficulties themselves. Often the youngest teachers were the best equipped to support other teachers with the new tool. The programme therefore designated a new role of “tech captain” where schools were asked to appoint one teacher as the first line of defence for tech questions. This official designation gave a sense of pride and ownership to teachers who were asked to take on additional support duties and added clarity on who teachers should go to first with their questions.
Figure 4: Teachers provide peer support to use the tool. Credit: Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan.
Conclusion
This multifaceted approach aimed to overcome the challenge of meeting diverse user needs while cultivating a supportive network where each teacher could confidently utilise the TIP Tech Tool. For any given teacher, it was generally a combination of these elements that came together to enable the support they needed.
Some of these methods, however, are more efficient than others. Videos require an upfront investment but then, can be accessed by any additional teachers at no additional cost. WhatsApp message groups with many teachers allowed staff to provide support to many teachers at once, without needing individualised support. As programmes transition from pilot to full-scale implementations, it is especially important to consider what tools can scale capacity without growing costs proportionately. This work has highlighted a range of potential methods to unlock the power of EdTech.
All images shown in this blog are owned by and credited to the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP).
