Research Spotlights
Research Spotlight pieces are written by various contributing authors and reviewed by two academics in the EdTech field: Dr. Helen Crompton, Associate Professor of Instructional Technology Director of the Virtual Reality Lab and Director of the Technology Enhanced Learning Lab (TELL) at Old Dominion University and John Traxler, FRSA, Professor of Digital Learning in the Institute of Education at the University of Wolverhampton. Both Dr. Crompton and Professor Traxler are members of the mEducation Alliance. If you are interested in submitting a research activity to highlight in a future mEducation Alliance publication, please fill out this form.
Research Initiative by Professor John Traxler
Written by: Stephen Spanos, Georgetown University
John Traxler, Professor of Digital Learning at the University of Wolverhampton, reflects on his work with the SMS Education Management Application (SEMA) project in Kenya. The program shaped much of Professor Traxler’s later work. His reflections are relevant for any education development researcher, designer, or project implementer.
In 2003, the new, democratically elected government of Kenya announced Free Primary Education (FPE). Primary enrollment rates ballooned by nearly one million, demanding increased numbers of trained teachers and an improved education management information system (EMIS) at the local and national level. As a response to this need, SEMA (which means speak out in Kiswahili) was conducted for eight months after it was established as a pilot project in 2006.
With support and collaboration from various groups, including the World Bank, the Kenyan Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST), the University of Wolverhampton, and the BBC, SEMA assisted teacher training delivery through ICT platforms including SMS mobile technologies. The SMS component was based around a toll-free number available to registered users. In addition to delivering study guide materials and lesson module information, the SMS system allowed Ministry of Education officials to collect teacher management data such as student enrollment numbers.
The previously used paper-based record system required administrators to fill out multiple pages and answer unrelated questions. Information processing was often delayed by a year. Professor John Traxler, one of the lead figures on the intervention, says, “As an instrument for intervention, all you were doing was solving a misrepresentation of last year’s problem. So, we proposed and developed a system that used mobile phones. The teacher could just mark off the number of boys, the number of girls, press the button, and it’s done.”
Information then could be displayed on a dashboard for government officials to see in real-time. Important social issues could potentially be programmed into the data. For example, sudden drops in female enrollment during certain grades might indicate increased rates of child marriage.
Used by over 300 schools in two districts, Nairobi and Kajido, SEMA has been cited by organizations such as UNESCO as illustrating mobile phones’ potential to improve data collection, information sharing, and communication between teachers and Ministry of Education officials. While the initiative has been viewed generally as a success, it was not without challenges. Professor Traxler, looking back, does not hesitate to raise such issues.
He stresses the importance of not only finding a culturally appropriate answer to the issue at hand, but first, accurately identifying and framing the problem. “We were kind of parachuted in to provide a technocratic solution,” Professor Traxler says, “but maybe it answered the problem we thought the government had rather than the problem they thought they had.”
He adds that it is important to keep different stakeholder perspectives in mind when working on digital interventions. For instance, digital projects can lead to less bureaucratic paperwork and more direct channels of communication from end users to decision makers. The resulting fewer authorization requirements may shift or reduce the prestige and authority of governmental officials, complicating project implementation.
Additionally, program designers can build a rational, technocratic solution, but without receiving input and feedback from end users – in this case, teachers — the intervention may not align with participant needs. Or, the product may be difficult for participants to use. This can be a consequence of cultural or institutional barriers making end user participation problematic.
Contextual awareness and avoiding one-size-fits-all solutions also are essential to program success. “The issue is when you have this one solution, this magic bullet that’s attractive to whoever’s funding you, and you think that’s going to solve the problem,” Professor Traxler says. “If you’ve got a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Perhaps most importantly, an anecdote that Professor Traxler shared underscores the benefits of adaptability and collaboration, as well as pure happenstance. During a meeting with SEMA stakeholders, discussion around lunch shifted to documenting student learning outcomes. Head teachers at the time were filtering out students who scored poorly on national exams when reporting to government record keepers. Dialogue led to the eventual implementation of a premium-rate phone number which parents could message in order to view their children’s results. Besides parents, government officials could access the scores. The cost-effective change increased sustainability, transparency, and accountability. Years later, the system remains in use.
For more details contact the researcher:
Website: https://researchers.wlv.ac.uk/John.Traxler
Researcher names: Professor John Traxler
Researcher email: John.traxler@wlv.ac.uk
