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…
At EdTech Hub, we’ve been reflecting on how coloniality is embedded in the work we do: from the colonial roots of the international development sector, to colonial practices embedded in research methods, to “core-to-periphery” design and deployment of EdTech interventions. We’ve just begun this journey, but in trying to embody one of our EdTech Hub values of ‘fearless and humble…
Two years into the Covid-19 pandemic that has globally disrupted school systems and shined a bright light on the possibilities and pitfalls of education technology, EdTech Hub and partners gathered educators, government stakeholders, development and technology partners, policymakers, researchers, and more in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to discuss two fundamental questions: what have we learned and what will we do…
In March 2022, EdTech Hub’s executive director Verna Lalbeharie joined partners from the Aga Khan Foundation’s (AKF) Schools2030 programme for a school visit in Tanzania’s Temeke district. The visit coincided with the Utafiti Elimu Tanzania conference, of which AKF and EdTech Hub were co-sponsors, as well as data-collection for one the studies in the EdTech Hub research portfolio. Toangoma primary…
In March 2022, I joined the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and spent a significant amount of time in a hall dedicated to exploring how things will be different 4 years from now (4YFN). The hall was full of startups showcasing the latest products for urban mobility, healthcare, education, and more. 4YFN invited me to moderate a fireside chat on…
Building a platform to allow governments to quickly select, approve, and reuse existing Open Educational Resources As the Covid-19 crisis led to school closures in March 2020, governments all over the world scrambled to move to remote teaching. But many countries struggled to find enough content to cover large parts of their curricula. Especially in Eastern and Southern Africa, fragile…
Kenya’s remote learning offerings are an example for the region — but how did they come about and what model does Kenya provide? The recent disruptions in education caused by Covid led many countries to quickly implement remote learning interventions. Kenya’s Educational Media Directorate — part of the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD) — provides a model for implementing…
In recent years, interest in the ways that educational technology (EdTech) can personalise learning has increased. Personalised learning approaches build on pedagogical models which enable students to access content and learning experiences that are matched to their level. Recently, research has begun to focus on the way that EdTech tools can support the learner-centred and flexible benefits of personalised learning,…
Introduction The use of messaging in education is listed as the only ‘great buy’ in the World Bank’s comparative analysis of cost-effectiveness in EdTech interventions. But, the different studies on messaging cited in the report represent different approaches and contexts. One analysis of nudge messaging in education suggests that interventions often provide diverging results, with outcomes dependent on context. Two…
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…
