TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND HOW IT RELATES TO DEVELOPING WORLD SCHOOLS: A REVIEW

In 2009, I conducted a case study of information and communications technologies (ICTs) or lack thereof within a school district in the Philippines. The study identified five themes that inhibited technology uptake in the schools in addition to cost.

These five themes were:
(1) regional infrastructure availability is not a predictor of ICT uptake;
(2) beliefs about cost may be as influential as actual cost;
(3) positive attitudes towards technology are not enough;
(4) technology uptake is inhibited by lack of ICT/pedagogical knowledge; and
(5) leadership and planning are important.

This study was presented at INTED 2010 and is part of INTED 2010 Proceedings (pp. 003569-003575).

In 2009, the complete report with recommendations for how to begin to implement technology within the school district was provided to the District Superintendent. In June 2012, the author conducted a follow up visit to the school district. The visit revealed that none of the 2009 study recommendations had been implemented. The school district was in the same situation as it had been three years earlier. Most of its schools still lacked ICTs. No teacher training in ICTs or in educational technology pedagogy had been forthcoming.

This review paper seeks to explore the reasons why such studies as the 2009 study and its 2012 follow-up continually fail to produce meaningful change. It specifically looks at the underlying theory behind educational technology through the lens of developing world schools. It highlights the difficulties with implementing such pedagogy in these settings. The paper proposes that educational technology researchers who wish to make a difference in developing world contexts must seek different research methodologies. The author proposes a participatory research methodology as an alternative way forward for future researchers who hope that their efforts will lead to meaningful change. While providing insight into the difficulties with implementing educational technology research that leads to meaningful adoption of technologies and educational technology pedagogy within a developing world context, the main purpose is to propose an alternative methodology for educational technology research within developing world school settings.