Information and Communication Technology for Development and Education (ICTE)

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative has been at the forefront of introducing low-cost computers in developing countries. We argue that the problem is not as much as a focus on the provision of affordable technologies, but the lack of consideration of deeply contextualized implementation design and the lack of understanding of psychological mechanisms at the user-level that influence learning impact. A longitudinal quasi-experimental design among nine rural Indian primary schools involved pre-and post-experiment measures conducted with both test (n = 126) and control groups (n = 79). The study objective was to prioritize local contexts during technology implementation design in order to attain educational impact in terms of improved learning outcomes for students. The Contextualized-OLPC education project utilized strategies identified by the Technology Community Management model to address contextually germane factors of teacher training, unbiased gender access, and local language use. A second objective was to assess impact of technology introduction while countering extant techno-determinist approaches of impact assessment. We first demonstrated that technological knowledge was associated positively with functional literacy. We situated the experiment in the social cognitive theory to demonstrate that computer self-efficacy mediates the relationship between technological literacy attained as a consequence of the Contextualized-OLPC education project and a specific learning outcome, functional literacy. Overall, the research illustrated that giving primacy to mere deployment of OLPC laptops has limited relevance to children , both in use and outcome. In support, the results demonstrated the role of contextu-alized technology in rural classrooms alongside an understanding of user psychology that influence learning impact.

This a training manual for ICT in Education for primary level education in Bangladesh. The objective of this training manual to provide necessary methodological support to the training Facilitators for conducting ICT in Education training. The training equip primary teachers and teacher educators to use ICT for education purpose. Access to Information (a2i) Programme and Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) designed and implemented this training for making teachers equipped to face 21st century's challenges.

Ce livre blanc recense des propositions pour un meilleur usage du numérique à l'Ecole. J'ai été interviewé sur ce sujet par l'équipe Microsoft éducation France le 17/09/2020 pour réaliser ce chapitre dont les principaux titres sont : (1) La continuité pédagogique à l’épreuve de difficultés techniques et pédagogiques, (2) L’usage du numérique peut apporter de la flexibilité aux dispositifs d’apprentissage, (3) Le numérique, un « amplificateur pédagogique » qui nécessite une formation des enseignants, (4) Une approche pédagogique différente pour chaque niveau, (5) L’école doit former les citoyens numériques de demain, (6) trois propositions.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the current state of digital literacy efforts for school students in Jackson, Mississippi, and to explore whether they are receiving the skills necessary for success in school, college and career. This study had two objectives: (a) to investigate how teachers in the metro Jackson area are integrating digital literacy in the classroom; and (b) to identify the obstacles and challenges teachers face in integrating digital literacy. This qualitative pilot study addressed these objectives through a set of semi-structured, confidential interviews of 9th grade public and private school teachers teaching in the Jackson metro area. These subjects were selected utilizing non-probability sampling employing a convenience method. Data was analyzed using themes that emerged through Grounded Theory applied to the observed qualitative data. The study’s
findings indicate that (a) in comparison with private school teachers, public school teachers remain significantly affected by the digital divide in their efforts to provide digital literacy to students; (b) a majority of private school teachers have the benefit of established technology initiatives to facilitate digital literacy; (c) the 9th grade public school laptop initiative offers public school teachers the opportunity to provide basic technology skills and digital literacy development; and (d) if particular obstacles can be overcome, such as the digital divide, public school teachers can provide the level of digital literacy development students need to succeed in an increasingly digital world.

Keywords: digital literacy, digital divide, teachers, students, 9th grade, Jackson

The World Bank Group and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), together with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD, invite you to a presentation of the World Bank Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends at NUPI the 28. January 2016.

Link to the arrangement: http://www.nupi.no/en/Events/2016/Launch-of-the-World-Bank-Development-Report-2016

Whether newly established, mode of instruction in universities, the use of information and communication Technology (ICT) and Media has taken place of lecturer student close interaction, in educational institutions such as universities and colleges. The need by universities to change their mode and design of learning process in future through media and ICT, results from its inevitability to changing and innovating experiences of technologies. Change varies in degree and therefore, the usage of media tools an ICT in educational purposes in any institution become reactive and anticipatory experience. This has led to educational innovation and implementation of new instructional techniques. Through proper planning, innovation such as teaching by media and any technological aid success can be achieved thus offering incentives in improved learning through several approaches by students like online learning. Though this posses major challenges in implementing, all university institutions should anticipate these new technological developments and prepare prospective lecturers for this role of new instruction. The paper seeks to evaluate how technology is enhancing education and how preparedness learners and lecturers are in embracing media and technology in any form of learning process.

Higher education institutions around the world have increasingly come to see information and communication technology (ICT) as vital to the business of teaching and learning. Institutions invest a considerable of amount of time and resources to erecting the appropriate institutional infrastructure, creating policy and practice, instituting strategy, training faculty, and building the capacity of technology staff. However, in under-resourced regions of the world, like Africa, ICT, the availability and use of, has several challenges to overcome: a lack of institutional infrastructure, sufficient bandwidth, and limited ability to employ ICT in the research process or the classroom. Universities report inadequate funding, poor management and infrastructure, resistance to change, inadequate training, and high costs associated with effective ICT use. Moreover, critiques of Western technopostivism surface misgivings related to the performance outcomes and appropriateness of ICT adoption in Africa. In this chapter, I will explore the work of international organizations and research and education networks in the diffusion of ICT discourse, consider on-the ground adoptions and innovation at universities, and reflect on the suitability and sustainability of technology adoption, all within an ICT for development (ICT4D) framework that lenses the evolution of technological applications in higher education. This chapter is significant in that it connects African higher education to ICT4D and frames the various discourses, policy landscapes, and practice arenas, as they relate to international actors, continental initiatives, networks, universities, and faculty.

How to develop ICT infrastructure, in particular fibre-optic cables, in a cost-efficient manner is a perennial challenge ICT policy- and decision-makers face across the globe. The high costs associated with construction and maintenance of fibre-optic cables are often passed onto users, which has led to unaffordable Internet and broadband services in many developing countries. In order to achieve the goals and targets set in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring inclusive and affordable broadband access would be of paramount importance. In response, some measures have been proposed to lower the construction costs; one of the prominent measures is co-deployment and co-habitation of fibre-optic cables along passive infrastructure, including highways and railways.
Against this background, this working paper was developed to assess the level of existing and planned co-deployment and co-habitation of fibre-optic cables along railways and highways in India and Bangladesh. The paper is intended to identify institutional setups, policies and regulations which enable or discourage such co-deployment and co-habitation.

The paper was on issues of conflict, political crisis and insurgency in Nigeria: the role of library
and information centers as a tool for solution. Problems of daily killing, corruption, unemployment,
conflict in political parties, poverty among people in African was the reasons the researchers wrote this
paper. The study adopted a descriptive survey research method and data were generated through a
questionnaire, randomly selected staff. The target population was 20, drawn from Madonna University
Library Okija and Taraba State University Library janigo the entire population of 20 staff drawn from
the surveyed libraries was used. Findings shows that abject poverty, idleness, unemployment;
Governments’ greed and biased approach to the distribution of scarce resources and other patronages
and when two or more people engage in a struggle over values and claims to status/identity as well as
when people are engaged in a struggle for power and among other things are the causes of conflict in
Nigeria. Other findings revealed that the nature of services that could promote conflict resolution in
Nigeria. This list might not be exhaustive but it is enough to give the serious‐minded library personnel
some food for thought

Nous proposons d’esquisser l’émergence d’une culture numérique, au prisme des principaux bienfaits, problèmes et risques alimentant les nombreuses controverses autour du numérique. L’individu vit dorénavant dans une société et un monde connectés : cela nous renvoie-t-il vers une forme de citoyenneté numérique ? La citoyenneté et l’École étant intimement liées, avons-nous l’utilité d’une École introduisant cette culture numérique, et au-delà des apports positifs, d’une École du risque numérique ?

Influential reviews of the field suggest that ICT4D is characterised by uncritical assumptions about the causal relationship of ICT to development, and by an under-theorisation of 'development'. High failure rates in ICT4D initiatives have been attributed to a 'top-down', technologically deterministic process in which 'intended beneficiaries' are not sufficiently involved in determining either the ends or means of ICT for Development.

Drawing on a theoretical framework combining Jürgen Habermas' critical theory, the radical feminism of Maxine Molyneux and Ineke Buskens, and the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire, this paper outlines a normative and conceptual means to differentiate between the various types of ICT4D initiative, and proposes some elements of a critical theory and practice of ICT4D.

This paper elaborates a typology of nine different types of ICT4D illustrated by a matrix of three types of development intent (conformist, reformist and transformist) and by three types of practical human interests ('technical-control', 'communicative-understanding' and 'emancipatory responses to domination').he paper argues that an initiative is an example of 'Critical ICT4D' to the extent that it combines the transformist intent of tackling the structural root-causes of under-development, with the emancipatory interest of making the 'intended beneficiaries' the authors and subjects of ICT4D initiatives.

Development discourses in mainstream media is characterized by its pro-establishment coverage. Wittingly or unwittingly, the troika of government, industry and media think that ‘market will take care of the bad economic state’ of the country and provide a lasting solution by trickling down the benefits of the reforms to the larger public. We have been witness to rhetoric from the government leaders at innumerable platforms insisting on the inevitability of new set of economic reforms, aimed at further privatization of key sectors, for generating funds for welfare programs. All these postulations would have us believe that ‘free market policies’ are the solutions for the growing economy like India. But the ground realities suggest otherwise. Capitalist economic policies have damaged economies in United States of America, Greece, Mexico, Argentina and other countries. But unfortunately same set of policies are followed in many developing countries, including India. It is in this context, that alternative development approaches assumes importance. As the mainstream media is deliberately ignoring such views, people who are concerned in alternative approaches are forced to use alternative media. This paper throws light on myriad voices heard in the online media and provides a critical assessment of the potential of the same to harness strong development alternatives in the public mind.

In this paper, I will focus on the use of ICT for learning mathematics. The paper can be seen as a preliminary clarification of the theoretical framework I will be using in my study. I will briefly define e-learning, and recapitulate the technology-inspired terminologies of instrumental genesis and webbing. I will also summarise some main points of the learning theories that I have considered using in my project. Finally I will attempt to look at the learning theories, together with the use of ICT, and see how these can feed into my preliminary research questions and research project. Throughout, I will have in mind that learning in this situation is e-learning and that there is some kind of digital tool involved in the educational setting.

Ranjit Makkuni is an Indian interaction designer who currently runs the Sacred World Foundation, a laboratory in Delhi that develops experimental digital media based on natural interactions technologies, augmented reality and wearable computers. Makkuni started his professional career in the Xerox laboratories of Palo Alto, developing programming languages and the first GUIs (Graphic User Interface). The Xerox studies on GUI were then taken on by large computer companies such as Microsoft and Apple, to develop the near totality of operative systems and software which have spread in millions of copies around the planet.
However, at a certain point in his professional pathway, Makkuni effected a radical development; he considered the limitations of the applications that were produced by American companies principally for an American market and sold all over the world to people with extremely different cultures, habits and needs.
Following this line of thought, Ranjit Makkuni developed a syncretic aesthetic where interaction design devices get wrapped and decorated with Indian, multicolored traditional artwork and patterns as in the installations exhibited in the recent Crossing Project and Gandhi Museum in Delhi. Ranjit Makkuni pioneers the personalization of what he considers 'impersonal' technological devices through the inclusion of world motifs, patterns and crafts in products, thus restoring colors and ornaments as ways of inscribing personal narratives and stories in everyday objects.

This paper will focus on Ranjit Makkuni's work and especially on his latest exhibit in Delhi (Planet Health Museum) that explores the traditions of Ayurveda and Yoga and uses cutting edge non-textual interaction technologies. By examining Makkuni's work, this paper investigates the potential of interactive art based on non-textual interaction and synchretic technologies as dialogic, learning devices.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovations have made tremendous innovational impacts in empowering and enhancing women's capabilities globally. Despite these global impacts of ICT innovations on women empowerment, numerous investigations have shown that low literacy rate among women in Nigeria representing about 48.6%, and written language level used by ICT software developers, among others, pose significant gender digital divide reflected in women's poor adoption of ICT as compared to men. As ICTs become more complex, access and usage are increasingly constrained by literacy, income, and education levels. This study highlights the strategy to leverage ICT usage among female genders irrespective of one's literacy levels, gender or culture.The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) were adopted as the conceptual framework. In this study, the authors explored a narrative review of prior research that focused on the theoretical underpinnings of vast works of literature that revealed significant information on strategies ICT innovation developers use to create easy-to-use interfaces for the predominantly illiterates or semi-literates female genders. The authors also extracted peer-reviewed articles within the last five years from electronic databases, using some keywords such as "ICT usability", "ICT and illiterate users", "female gender and trends for ICT", etc. Results show that women ICT usability may increase if: (a) ICT interfaces designs that are easy-to-use. (b) ICT Interfaces incorporate the cultural backgrounds and literacy levels of users. (c) ICT Interfaces are user-centered, while pictorial images and voice prompts are engaged to cater for the literate, semi-literate and illiterate female users. The findings from this study may encourage ICT adoption, acceptance and sustainability among female genders that may positively close the gap in gender discrepancy in ICT usage, result in positive social change and national economic development in Nigerian.

This paper was written for ICT Cluster (PNG) cluster group aimed to address one of the quick-win project ideas to apply ICT in a government-led development. In this case for health and civil registry data. This paper seeks to understand the current status of Papua New Guinea’s health and civil registry data, identifies the challenges involved and recommends few points of intervention.

Motivated by concern about the ability of graduates to succeed in the workforce, universities frequently conduct surveys of local and regional employers, to understand those companies' expectations. These can uncover specific needs not being addressed. Following a similar line of inquiry, prior research at Oregon State University interviewed employers, with the aim of identifying skills of concern. The current paper takes this research another step further by presenting a survey-based study aimed at quantifying the prevalence and level of employers' desire for workers who have these identified skills. Although all skills were rated as moderately useful or better, most soft skills scored higher than most technical skills. Nonetheless, three technical skills (source code versioning, testing and agile methods) scored approximately as well as the soft skills; these three technical skills, like soft skills, were cross-cutting and applicable to more than one software development context. Further survey questions revealed that employers preferred that, to the extent that students focus on building technical skill, these learning experiences ideally should involve creating software that students can use as evidence of their qualifications.

ommunication for development must be systematically planned, implemented and coordinated. In the field of development communication there is need for more coordination and elimination of duplication of efforts. Otherwise, there is confusion, with the dissemination of conflicting messages to the population. National communication systems should be established to meet the needs of all the stakeholders and should draw upon the resources of all the partners (public sector, NGOs, universities and the private sector).

The question of digital divide has appeared frequently as impacting negativity on the provision of library and information services. The digital divide, a disparity in access to ICTs between countries and communities is caused by many factors. They include; inadequate infrastructure, high cost of access, inappropriate or weak policy regimes, inefficiency in the provision of telecommunication network, language divides, and lack of locally created content (Mutula, 2004).

The divide creates an environment where the disadvantage groups in society are unable to contribute and benefit from the information age and global communities created by the Internet. In most countries of Sub-Sahara Africa, the high cost of access to telecommunication services, is an impediment to access to ICTs.

In this research a survey was performed among the students of Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV) at Stockholm University (Sweden) and the students at the Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications (DCST) at National Research University of Electronic Technology (Russia). The research aimed at exploring the difference in acceptance rate of the e-learning platform as part of the education by the students in two different countries. Some of the findings were that the largest proportion of DCST students never previously used any e-learning software before coming to the university, while the students in both DSV and DCST prefer the traditional face-to-face communication with the teachers. It was also noted that there is a significant difference in the teachers’ proficiency in using the e-learning software as part of the educational program in University two departments, where the DCST had a much lower rate of support of online-based education compared to DSV.

L'usage du Numérique en éducation est souvent remis en question par les différents acteurs du système scolaire. Plusieurs raisons peuvent conduire à cela et nous en citerons deux : la première raison révèle un manque de maîtrise du Numérique éducatif et une indisponibilité des outils et équipements nécessaires, malgré une injonction de nos institutions à innover ; la deuxième raison relève de présupposés ou représentations bloquantes, à la transmission souvent virale. En effet, tout être humain possède un avis sur à peu près tout, du commérage de couloir au phénomène scientifique étayé ! Cela constitue un « fait social total » pour reprendre l'expression de Marcel Mauss (1923), et le milieu universitaire n'y échappe pas. Ainsi, nous avons pu révéler une problématique réelle, ressentie par nombre d'enseignants autour de la mise à disposition à l'avance des cours, de leurs supports pédagogiques. Nous avons donc cherché à savoir, de manière empirique, si cette "pré-disponibilité numérique des supports" était génératrice d'absentéisme et de distraction en cours, ou à contrario, encourageait les étudiants à lire le support avant le cours, à être plus disponible en cours et donc plus attentif, et enfin, à prendre des notes plutôt sur papier ou sur écran. Pour répondre à ces questions, nous utilisons les résultats d'une enquête sur les usages numériques des jeunes du collège à l'université et de leurs enseignants (Céci, 2019).

The researchers adopted the phases of Actor-Network Theory approach for the public senior high school teachers with the use of M-Learning technologies as pedagogy since most of them lack access in using different learning materials and textbooks. With this, the teachers find other ways on how to provide learning materials for their students. The study used free and open source educational software to support and sustain the needs of the students and one of the M-learning open source tools is Edmodo. Also, the teacher supplements the needs of the learners with the use of some technological devices such as mobile phone, tablet and desktop computers. The result of the study showed that it is moderately accepted in terms of using the free and open source Edmodo application. The respondents moderately accepted the use of such devices as an educational pedagogical strategy. Moreover, the satisfaction of ANT approach with the use of the m-learning technologies in the public senior high school students in terms of m-learning materials, activities and assessment was highly accepted with a total mean of 4.56. Lastly, the level of agreement of ANT approach as pedagogy in terms of functionality, efficiency, usability, availability, and reliability was strongly agreed by the students.

Nous proposons de cartographier les usages numériques scolaires des enseignants du collège à l’université, via une enquête quantitative, en intégrant notamment le genre et le niveau scolaire comme variables principales. En matière de numérique éducatif, nous montrerons que les souhaits, usages, préoccupations, difficultés d’intégration, besoin en formation sont différents en fonction du genre et/ou du niveau scolaire. L’accompagnement au développement professionnel des enseignants doit-il en tenir compte ?

With a focus on entertainment education, this article sheds light on the effects of radio drama in addressing conflict over land governance. The discussion is built around the broadcast of Bush Wahala radio series during the recent land acquisition process that has taken place in Sierra Leone. Through the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted by the author with rural farmers affected by this issue, on the one hand, this work generates reflections on the role of radio drama in providing listeners with alternative options to the use of violence and confrontation with the authorities in order to claim land rights; on the other hand, it represents an important contribution to the literature of edutainment in contexts of conflict, with a specific focus on the increasingly complex issue of land grabbing in the developing world.