Universität zu Köln

Magambo, Justine (2007). Use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in teacher education in Sub-Saharan Africa: case studies of selected African universities. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

The use of ICT in education in Africa should be discussed with regard to the global goal of providing Education for All and its impact on the demand of teachers on the continent. According to the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007, Africa needs a 68% increase in teachers so as to realise the second Millennium Development Goal Education for All. Because of the present infrastructure and the prevailing problems that Africa faces, it is unlikely that this demand for teachers can be met to enable Education for All by 2015. Today it is acknowledged that Africa needs new and improved methods in teacher training which will not only ensure that the demand for teachers is met but also provide teachers with quality training. Accordingly, the use of ICTs in teacher education and their potential in supplementing teacher training, especially where the traditional education systems are unable to meet the demand, is increasingly being considered. In this dissertation, efforts have been taken to explore: how ICTs are being used in African universities; what initiatives both local and international are being taken to enable implementation of ICTs in teacher education; how students training for the teaching profession in the Sub-Saharan countries are being prepared in the use of these new technologies; and how students and their trainers view the introduction and influence of these media in their learning and teaching. The literature review of this study shows that although ICTs, especially the computer, are no longer a phenomenon in African universities, they are however, still tools that can be afforded by a few, because of both financial constraints and lack of training. Furthermore, these results show that the use of ICT in teacher education is still at a low level and there are many barriers to its implementation on a large scale. Results from the case studies indicate that although a comparably big percentage (46.8%) of student teachers use ICT applications in preparing their assignments, a high percentage (ranging from 70 - 85%) have never received ICT training in their studies in any of the most common applications such as word processing. Interviews with teacher trainers revealed that there is a general concession that the use of ICT has an added value in teacher training, especially as: ICT facilitates gathering, organising, and finding information; it encourages and enables students to do independent research work and to do course work on their own; ICT widens teachers knowledge horizon; and as most ICT applications are interactive they make learning and teaching very interesting, holding students attention and supplementing learning resources such as textbooks. Teacher trainers, however, also agreed that the successful implementation and use of ICT would require that attitudes towards ICT among stake holders become more positive and that improving the technical infrastructure would make integrating ICT in teacher training much easier. Combined responses of students and teacher trainers show that training in and use of ICT in teacher education in the universities which took part in the survey still is at a relatively low level. Although only half of the students indicate they received training in this at their home institutions and actually make use of it, text processing using WORD is the most widely trained and used ICT application. There is indication that more than half of the students have access to ICT applications in their computer laboratories, while almost 80 % of the students also visit Internet cafes to use ICT applications. Nevertheless, findings indicated evidence of gender equality in use and access of ICT in these institutions with female to male participation of 83:103. This is also reflected in the interviews with lecturers (3:4). Although the ratio of female to male participation is not exactly 50:50, the proportion of female participation is higher than in other statistics on gender inclusion in Africa.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Translated title:	Title Language Nutzung der Informations- ud Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) in der Lehrerausbildung in Sub-Sahara Afrika: Fallbeispiele aus afrikanischen Universitäten German
Translated abstract:	Abstract Language In den letzten Jahren hat es in der Lehrerausbildung in Afrika Weiterentwicklungen im Einsatz der IKT gegeben. Afrikanische Universitäten bieten Fernstudien in der Lehrerausbildung an und es gibt eine Vielzahl von internationalen Initiativen, die darauf abzielen, eine IKT-basierte Lehrerausbildung zu fördern. Dennoch existieren immer noch Barrieren, wie die extrem hohen Kosten für den Internetzugang, der Mangel an Infrastruktur und der Mangel an finanziellen Mitteln und nicht zuletzt auch der Mangel an IKT-versierten Lehrkräften, die den Einsatz von IKT in der afrikanischen Lehrerausbildung erschweren. In dieser Dissertation sind Ergebnisse von meiner empirischen Studie zur Situation der IKT in der afrikanischen Lehrerausbildung, an der 186 LehramtstudentInnen und LehrerInnen teilgenommen haben, dargestellt. Zusätzlich werden die Ergebnisse von Interviews vor Ort mit Lehrkräften der Universität Kyambogo in Uganda vorgestellt. Zusammengefasst machen die Daten deutlich, dass ein Großteil der StudentInnen (70-85%) keine IKT-spezifische Ausbildung an ihren Universitäten erhalten hat. Immerhin sind aber rund 50% in der Nutzung von WORD unterwiesen worden. Die Interviews mit Lehrkräften der Kyambogo University in Uganda ergaben, dass die Lehrkräfte sich zwar durchaus der Mangelsituation in der Lehrerausbildung bewusst sind, aber sie sind ebenfalls alle der Meinung, dass der Einsatz der IKT in der Lehrerbildung sowohl für die StudentInnen als auch für die Lehrkräfte Vorteile mit sich bringen würde. Insgesamt ist der Einsatz der IKT sowohl in der schulischen Bildung als auch in der Lehrerausbildung noch relativ begrenzt. Trotzdem gibt es Anlass zu der Hoffnung, dass der Einsatz der IKT dazu führen kann, die Lehrerausbildung auszuweiten und zu verbessern und damit dazu beizutragen, dass die afrikanischen Länder dem Ziel der Bildung für Alle näher kommen. German
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Magambo, Justine magamboj@hotmail.com UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-21409
Date:	2007
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Ehemalige Fakultäten, Institute, Seminare > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Pädagogisches Seminar
Subjects:	Education
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Lehrerausbildung, Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien, Universitäten, Afrika German teacher education, African universities, information and communications technologies English
Date of oral exam:	10 July 2007
Referee:	Name Academic Title Rüppell, Hermann Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/2140