Since launching the AI Observatory, we’ve been in listening mode — meeting and discussing AI with people across the world. These conversations have surfaced key trends, tensions, and paradoxes that shape how AI is evolving in different contexts. Signal spotting Some of the paradoxes that are coming up: AI is evolving at breakneck speed… and yet, not fast enough, with…
Call for Submissions
The British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) invites contributions for a special section titled “EdTech Implementation Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.” This section aims to address a critical gap by exploring implementation research that bridges educational research and practice in LMICs.
Why Implementation Research Matters
Implementation research examines how interventions—policies, programs, or practices—are carried into effect. While established in fields like healthcare and poverty alleviation, it remains underexplored in EdTech, particularly in LMICs. This approach generates evidence in real-time, enhances scalability, and prioritizes sustainability, distinguishing itself from evaluation or design-based research.
Scope of the Special Section
This special section seeks empirical studies focused on EdTech implementation in LMICs, engaging with decision-makers and addressing real-world challenges at various educational levels. Contributions will strengthen the evidence base, bridging the divide between research and practice, and fostering “evidence-informed practice” and “practice-informed evidence.”
For detailed criteria and submission guidelines, visit https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/14678535/homepage/call-for-papers/edtech-in-lmics.
Over the last four years, EdTech Hub has worked closely with education leaders and researchers to empower people in low- and middle-income countries with evidence for effective technology use in education. In this post, we join the conversation about the demand for evidence in EdTech referencing a recent blog written by Rohan Carter-Rau and Brad Olsen at The Brookings Institution.…
Utafiti Elimu Tanzania (Swahili for Education Research Tanzania) is an annual evidence-into-policy forum bringing together collaborative planning efforts across the education system in Tanzania. In 2022, the conference focused on teacher continuous professional development (TCPD), data for decision-making, EdTech strategy, inclusion, school safety, and gender. In 2023, two main themes — teacher workforce planning and climate change — were selected…
In Sierra Leone, the education data landscape has continued to grow and expand, with the government focusing on using data for decision-making now more than ever. Since the launch of the Free Quality School Education (FQSE) programme in 2018, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and the Teaching Service Commission have prioritised collecting and using this data to…
Technology exists within a broader system of factors that need to work together to make impact at scale. EdTech Hub has codified the system into 6Ps: people, product, pedagogy, policy, place, and provision. EdTech programmes need to engage and integrate with all parts of the system in order to be successful. We have created the 6Ps Audit Tool to assess EdTech…
This is Part 2 of a six-part blog series inspired by discussions with partners working in the EdTech space who recognize they do not have the information they need to make informed decisions and recommendations. So, we put together a series summarising what we have learned so far in each of our focus areas: Data for Decisions, Digital Personalised Learning…
Historically, the Sierra Leonean government has struggled to attract teachers to work in the most hard-to-reach areas of the country. Today, the country’s education system has one of the highest pupil-to-qualified-teacher ratios in West Africa. The challenge of attracting teachers is most acute for schools in rural locations. Here, the pupil-to-qualified-teacher ratio currently sits at 76:1. This ratio compares to…
Today, EdTech Hub is pleased to announce the launch of our research portfolio, representing the largest public-private investment in primary research around EdTech evidence in low- and middle-income countries to date. The nearly GBP 5.5 million-portfolio was commissioned to fill the evidence gap decision-makers grapple with when choosing EdTech interventions to support children, teachers, and school communities. “While the Covid-19…
In Part 2 of our strategy, we go deeper into EdTech Hub’s integrated approach to how we work, where we work, and how that comes together with our topics to inform our theory of change. Verna Lalbeharie, Executive Director The EdTech Hub integrated approach We do research because it is imperative to build deep quantitative and qualitative insight regarding how…
