Secondary Educational Institution Centered Diffusion of ICT in Rural Bangladesh

Md. Saifuddin Khalid

Publikation: Ph.d.-afhandling

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Abstract

This dissertation presents a holistic approach for exploring, analyzing, solving, and circumventing the barriers to the integration and adoption of ICT in relation to the learning environments of secondary educational institutions in rural Bangladesh. It contributes to the fields of ICT for development (ICT4D) and educational technology in the scope and findings as follows. The current literature lacks a holistic understanding of the complexities of the barriers that are rooted and entangled across individual, social, and organizational policies and power structures. Moreover, there is an absence of empirical studies for the diffusion of ICT using mixed methods, methodological appropriation, and practical diffusion strategy identification. Therefore, I have taken my motivation from the “Vision 2021: Digital Bangladesh” initiatives and consider that ICT is a relatively new field in the secondary education systems (i.e., covering grades 6–12) in Bangladesh. Having positioned this investigation within the transformative paradigm, I took six strategic approaches to diffuse ICT in the learning environment of the stakeholders in rural private vocational school. The ICT diffusion strategies were: an integrated purchase and training facilitation, smart classroom implementation, educational administration, extracurricular activities, a non-formal computer literacy center, and school-based internship. Two live-in field studies were conducted: from August 2011 to January 2012 and from August 20, 2012 to September 29, 2012. Building on ethnographic action research (EAR) methodology and applying participatory learning and action (PLA) methods, the stakeholders’ problems and inquiries were identified and the diffusion strategies were initiated or adapted. This dissertation is based on papers submitted, accepted, and published during the PhD period and consists of two parts. Part I introduces and positions the study in terms of ICT adoption barriers, introduces Rogers’ theory of diffusion of innovations as the guide for a change agent, and theoretically frames the strategic interventions. Part II consists of eight papers that focus on but are not limited to different aspects of the topic: project plan, literature review, application of PLA methods, and mapping the barriers in a framework of macro-meso-micro levels, current practices, and investigation of different diffusion strategies. Central to these papers are participatory methods and the iterative phases of methodology, which demonstrate the application of Rogers’ theory in qualitative research using mixed methods.
What I found was that central to the barriers are lack of funds, high distrust, a lack of skilled human resources—particularly computer graduates, subject-specific teachers—and a lack of technical support for computers, electrical devices, and electronics. These barriers are situated at the levels of individual stakeholders, organizations that are part education systems’ rules and regulations, and the external environment comprised of social and non-social factors. The public policies governing secondary education systems’ employment, curriculum, and assessment form a central diffusion system, where the overall control of decisions and the direction of diffusion is in the hands of government administrators and technical subject-matter experts. The barriers faced by the schools’ stakeholders do not have the scope to be heard and facilitated. Therefore, this dissertation devises a hybrid diffusion system that recommends applying two-way communication and appropriating skilled human resources at local levels. The question remains as to how a scale-up experiment of a hybrid diffusion system can be conducted to address the barriers to funding, knowledge, and skills in relation to ICT in secondary education.

LIST OF PAPERS
Paper I: Khalid, M. S. (2011). ICT in education: Secondary technical vocational education and training institute centered diffusion of innovation in rural Bangladesh. In Proceedings of International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED 2011) (pp. 1126–1134). Presented at the International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED 2011), Valencia, Spain: International Association of Technology, Education and Development (IATED).
Paper II: Khalid, M. S., & Buus, L. (Submitted, 2013). A theoretical framework mapping barriers of integrating and adopting educational technology. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning. Accepted for peer review.
Paper III: Khalid, M. S., & Nyvang, T. (2013). Application of PLA methods in educational technology research: A rural Bangladeshi case. In M. Georgsen & P.-O. M. Zander (Eds.), Changing Education Through ICT in Developing Countries (pp. 107–130). Aalborg: Aalborg University Press.
Paper IV: Khalid, M. S., Nyvang, T., & Islam, M. K. (Submitted, 2013). Moving beyond adoption barriers through exploration of teachers’ and students’ practice of ICT in education—a rural Bangladeshi case. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning. Accepted for peer review.
Paper V: Khalid, M. S., Islam, M. K., & Nyvang, T. (2013). Integrated Resources and Training Facilitation: A Strategic Priority when Promoting ICT in Developing Countries. Contemporary Educational Technology, 4(4), 263–280.
Paper VI: Khalid, M. S., & Nyvang, T. (Accept with change, 2013). From change agent to sustainable scaffolding. Presented at the International Conference on Participation and Power in Participatory Research and Action Research, Aalborg University Copenhagen. To be published as a chapter of a book published by Aalborg University Press.
Paper VII: Khalid, M. S., & Nyvang, T. (Revisions required, 2013). A change agent’s facilitation process for overcoming the barriers of ICT adoption for educational administration—a case of rural-Bangladesh vocational institution. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.
Paper VIII: Khalid, M. S. (Submitted, 2013). School-based extracurricular contests as a strategy to diffusing Internet literacy in rural Bangladesh. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning. Accepted for peer review.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Udgiver
ISBN'er, trykt978-87-89701-59-2
StatusUdgivet - jan. 2014

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  • Ph.d.-grad

    Md. Saifuddin Khalid

    08/05/2014

    4 elementer af Mediedækning

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