Inclusive E-Learning for Rural Ugandan Youth
In February 2019, Embrace secured over $200,000 from Global Affairs Canada’s Fund for Innovation & Transformation (FIT) program. The purpose of this grant is to undertake research activities to identify innovative programs that reduce barriers to inclusive, quality education for rural Ugandan students, especially girls and children living with disabilities.
Innovative Research Idea
Embrace’s FIT research project is taking place in 10 primary schools in the Fort Portal region of Western Uganda and includes approximately 1200 students. It is researching whether giving grade 5 and grade 6 students access to self-directed e-learning will improve their cognitive and non-cognitive skills. However, in addition to determining if the participating student’s math and language marks improve (cognitive skills), Embrace is also hoping to see if the students develop an enhanced sense of self-worth, confidence, and heightened ambition (non-cognitive skills). Additionally, this initiative hopes to ascertain if giving students access to computer labs will increase the number of children registering for primary school as well decreasing dropout rates.
Inclusion for Children Living with Disabilities
Perhaps what is most interesting to Embrace, however, is to see if the inclusion of special needs children in this research project will foster an improved culture of respect for children living with disabilities. In all of the participating schools, special needs children have been invited to participate, and will have equal access to the e-learning labs. This has required Embrace to find and install a wide range of Apps specifically suited for the numerous disabilities of these special needs children. To compound the challenge of finding high quality Apps for the hearing impaired, the vision challenged, those students with gross-motor impairment, and others with global developmental delay, all of these Apps have to function in an off-line environment. Internet service does not exist in the rural regions of Uganda where this research is being conducted.
Technology for Learning
To accomplish this project, a local server known as a RACHEL will be supporting each of the 7 e-learning labs that Embrace is setting up. RACHEL is an acronym that stands for: Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education & Learning. This extraordinary device serves as local WIFI and gives up to 50 smartphones or computer tablets access to a hard-drive loaded with thousands of educational resources, books, videos, and Apps. For those of you who are interested in learning more about this technology - RACHELs are manufactured and distributed by a charity in the United States called World Possible (www.worldpossible.org).
RACHEL’s contents are organized into a number of modules, which contain interesting educational resources such as games, tutorials, books and Wikipedia. For instance, one module might deal with African children’s literature and other modules could have subjects as varied as calculus for beginners, the creation of children’s toys from scrap materials, and / or a module containing the entire curricula for the Ugandan Ministry of Education’s primary schools.
Vision for the Future
If this model of Inclusive E-Learning is successful, the project could be scaled up to include all of the 62 schools, including approximately 18,000 students (540 children living with disabilities) where KCDC is currently providing services in the Western Region of Uganda. According to the World Report on Disability, over one billion, or approximately 10%–15%, of the world’s population has some form of disability. (WHO; World Bank. World Report on Disability; World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland, 2011). This pilot project has the potential to improve the education of students living with disabilities in many parts of the world, especially where there is no internet connectivity.
Inclusive E-Learning for Rural Ugandan Youth 2020-2023
E-Learning Research Results
Embrace International Foundation (Embrace) is currently implementing a novel educational program in the Fort Portal region of Western Uganda that was initially funded by the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT). The thrust of this initiative is to provide elementary school students with computer tablets connected to a portable server that is loaded with a substantial number of educational applications. These apps are geared for grade 5 & 6 students. The server is also loaded with applications designed to be used by children living with disabilities. These apps include programs designed for students who have Cerebral Palsy, visual or hearing-impairments, as well as learning disabilities.
Embrace has thus far set up 10 computer labs in 10 rural Ugandan schools. Each of these labs has 30 tablets and the students are given free access to this equipment. The students are not instructed on how to use the tablets nor which applications they should explore. This is a completely self-directed e-learning experiment that Embrace has been undertaking over the past three years.
This educational program was specifically designed to encourage children living with disabilities, and girls, to become computer literate while exploring a vast array of educational apps. The project is also studying whether having students working alongside children living with disabilities will foster a more respectful culture of inclusion within the broader school community. Furthermore, we have done research to see if giving access to computers would encourage an increased number of girls, and children living with disabilities, to both attend and graduate from primary school.
A study involving 1,200 students, explored the question as to whether giving children living in the rural areas of sub-Saharan African access to self-directed E-learning improved their cognitive skills, enhanced their sense of self-image, and increased the number of special needs children attending primary school.
This report includes important definitions used in the research, brief descriptions of the research purpose, design, methods, objectives, and highlights. This report concludes with a brief proposal for future research.
(See Appendix A for Recommendations for Future Research).
Purpose
The overall aim of the educational research project was to test self-directed E-Learning to improve learning outcomes for rural Ugandan children, especially girls and those living with disabilities. Children with disabilities in Sub-Saharan African countries suffer significant challenges in accessing school programs. To improve children’s educational outcomes and satisfaction with their educational experience, it is vital that alternatives be provided to augment traditional schooling. Children with disabilities have the right to learn in an environment where accessibility to knowledge is made possible for them, and their learning experiences are modulated by teacher respect and pedagogic relationships. A mixed methods research design was chosen to investigate both the everyday lived experiences of children in self-directed E-Learning settings, as well as their academic results achieved through self-directed E-Learning. Interviews and surveys provided qualitative data of descriptions of the lived experience of children in their after-school E-Learning labs. Investigation of academic outcomes provided possibilities to explain and develop causal possibilities, including antecedent conditions, mediating variables, and possible explanations for academic outcomes.
The research question guiding this project was:
Does access to inclusive, self-directed E-Learning by Ugandan primary school students, including girls and children living with disabilities, improve non-cognitive and cognitive skills, and promote mutual respect and acceptance of disabilities, and contribute to improving students’ overall learning outcomes.
Research Design
Preliminary research was completed within a case sampling of Ugandan primary school children living with disabilities. Mixed methods were used to provide analytical texture to the experience of children’s learning and living with disabilities. Interviews provided qualitative information about children’s perceptions and feelings regarding E-Learning. Assessment of academic outcomes provided numeric value and baseline data regarding children’s testing performance in math and literacy.
Ten primary schools were selected in the Western Region of Uganda that are as similar as possible in relation to class size, numbers of students living with disabilities, teacher qualifications, and socio-economic demographics. These ten target schools are all recognized as disability inclusive schools by their local educational authority. Of these, 7 were then randomly selected as intervention schools and 3 as control schools.
Methods
Baseline and End Line data was gathered and is described in this report. Four complementary survey methods were used in this Baseline Study in order to provide both qualitative and quantitative data that was then analyzed to better understand the beneficiaries targeted by this research project. These included tests, survey questionnaires, interviews, and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Students wrote math and literacy tests and completed Chedoke McMaster Attitude towards Children with Handicaps (CATCH) questionnaires about their attitudes towards disability; interviews were conducted with each student including general questions about their attitude towards school, gender and their daily life, and specific questions were asked pertaining to intrinsic motivation, self-confidence, and level of aspiration. Finally, FGDs were scheduled with groups of teachers, girl, and boy students, as well as children living with disabilities (CWDs
In March 2021, a Baseline Survey was conducted with 1372 grade 5 and 6 students in the Rwenzori Region of Western Uganda. This included math and literacy tests to measure cognitive skills as well as student interviews to gather qualitative data that explored future aspirations, attitudes to school and learning, and gender equality. Students were also asked to complete a CATCH questionnaire to measure their attitudes towards inclusion of students living with disabilities in their classrooms.
For the End Line in October 2022, this same math and literacy testing was conducted with all the grade 6 and 7 students in the 10 research schools (7 intervention and 3 control). A total of 1202 students were tested and also completed the CATCH questionnaires. Additionally, 343 students were randomly selected to participate in a 30-minute interview that explored future aspirations, attitudes to school and learning, and gender equality. Responses to these questionnaires and interviews were then compared to those conducted during the Baseline Survey. The analysis also compared the results of the intervention schools with those of the control schools.
Results:
Cognitive Skills Results
· Mathematics
1) The average math score for the intervention school students was 79% compared to 76% for control students. There was also a significant improvement in scores between the Baseline and End Line for intervention schools (increase of 63.4%) compared to control schools (increase of 45.1%) which suggests that children in intervention schools benefitted from the E-Learning labs.
2) 72% of intervention students scored in the top tier (75% -100%) in math tests compared to 65% for control students. It was noted that in intervention schools, the percentage of top tier students increased from 8% in the Baseline to 72% while the percentage in control schools increased from 20% to 65%, suggesting that there was a greater improvement in math in intervention schools than in control schools.
3) CWDs in Intervention schools enjoyed a 29% increase in average math scores (49%-78%) as compared to 20% increase (55%-75%) for CWDs in control schools. Also, the average math score was higher for CWDs in intervention schools (78% vs 75%).
4) 5.7% of intellectually impaired scored in the top tier in 2021, however, this increased to 76.4% in 2022. The hearing-impaired students in the intervention schools also enjoyed an improvement with 6.5% scoring in the top tier in 2021 and 60% in 2022.
5) Girl students in intervention schools improved their average math scores by 30% compared to those in control schools who improved by 17%. Similarly, boys showed a higher rate of improvement in intervention schools (25%) compared to 17% in control schools for average math scores.
· Literacy
1) The average literacy score for intervention students was 83% compared to 86% for control students, however, the increase in scores was higher in intervention schools (23%) compared to 17% in control schools.
2) The percentage of intervention students who scored in the top tier (75-100%) increased from 22% to 76% compared to control student scores that increased from 42% to 84%.
3) Girl students in intervention schools improved their average scores by 24% in literacy compared to those in control schools who improved by 16%. Similarly, boys also showed a higher rate of improvement in intervention schools (22% average score) compared to 16% average score in control schools.
4) As was expected, grade 7 students consistently scored higher than grade 6 students in both the intervention and control schools.
5) The average literacy scores for CWDs in the control schools (84%) were higher than in the intervention schools (80%), but there was a greater improvement from Baseline to End Line for CWDs from the intervention schools. For example, in 2021, 50% of the hearing-impaired students from intervention schools scored in the top tier of the literacy test but this increased to 70% in 2022. 58% of intellectually impaired intervention students’ scores in the top tier in 2021 but this increased to 80% in 2022.
Student Interview Results:
Self-confidence
In the 2021 Baseline, 78.5% of students believed that “other people in my family make all the decisions about how I spend my time”. In the End Line interview, this fell to 50% inferring that those students were enjoying increased decision-making freedom. There was a 43% increase in the number of girls CWoDs and 40% in the number of girls CWDs who felt they were able to make more decisions, which was a greater improvement than for boys.
Almost all students believed that “if they studied hard, they would be rewarded by a better job in the future.”
Teamwork
In control schools, 52.4% of CWoDs believed that they worked better alone, which was significantly more than for CWDs (35%) in those schools. In intervention schools, more than half of the students preferred to work with others (CWDs 62.9% and CWoDs 73%).
Intrinsic Motivation
The percentage of students who liked to “do extra work because they really like to learn new things” was significantly higher in intervention schools compared to control schools. 35% of control CWDs compared to 94.3% of intervention CWDs liked to do extra work.
Expression of Empathy for CWDs
In the End Line study, 95% of CWoDs of intervention students said that they felt sorry for CWDs compared to 88% in control schools. Empathy for CWDs increased more in intervention than in control schools from Baseline to End Line (intervention students increased 75% to 95% compared to control students who increased 74% to 88%).
85% of intervention CWDs believed that their classmates empathized with them, which increased from the Baseline (69%). This compares to 65% of CWDs in control schools, where this percentage decreased from Baseline to End Line (70% to 65%).
Educational Aspirations
In the Baseline study, 54% of intervention students expressed a desire to complete university compared to 61% of control students. However, by the End Line, these percentages rose to 80% for intervention students compared to 83% of control students. The percentage change was greater for intervention students (48%) compared to that of control students (36%).
Level of Contentment
In the Baseline and End Line interviews, students were asked how they felt about their lives – “excellent, good or not good”. The percentage of all students who answered “not good” increased from 4.6% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2022. Girl students and especially girl CWDs had the greatest deterioration in their outlook. (2021: 5.5% to 2022: 18%) In control schools, 20.5% of CWDs and 16.9% of CWoDs answered the question about they currently felt about their personal life, with “Not good” which was a considerably higher percentage than for intervention students (CWD 8.8% and CWoDs 10%).
Gender Equality
The majority of students in all 10 schools believed that girls and boys are equally smart. However, significantly more intervention girls (73.3%) believed this than control girls (63.8%).
Both boys (75.5%) and girls (82.6%) in control schools believed that they had equal opportunities to learn. In intervention schools, boys (67.6%) and girls (66.1%) were not as convinced.
Boys (82.2%) and girls (81.2%) in intervention schools believed that it was important to send both girls and boys to schools even when there were few financial resources. The responses were quite different in control schools where only 33.3% of girls and 38% of boys thought both boys and girls should be sent to school.
Most students from all 10 target schools disagreed with the statement: “Girls should only go to school when not needed at home. However, a significantly higher percentage of boy students from intervention schools (78.4%) disagreed compared to 64.2% of boys from control schools.
The majority of students from both intervention and control schools believed that students have equal opportunities to learn. However, they also stated that girls have more chores, boys have more time to study, and teachers tend to prefer boys. These factors all contribute to inequality of education in their schools.
Conclusions
Culture of Non-Violence: The Baseline Study showed that students were afraid of being caned by teachers (corporal punishment) and CWDs reported being bullied at school. Inclusion workshops were then conducted with all intervention students and the Education Assistants worked hard to create a culture of non-violence in E-Learning labs. Students were encouraged to ask questions without being ashamed of not understanding material. By the end of the project, intervention students were found to have developed a culture of reading and exploration demonstrated by feedback from interviews. Intervention students increasingly expressed the desire to work in teams where they explored educational material that was of special interest to them.
Improvement in Math & Literacy Scores: Students in intervention schools had greater improvement in both math and literacy scores compared to control schools suggesting that students in intervention schools benefitted from the self-directed E-Learning labs.
Interventions for Hearing Impaired Students: The midterm assessment revealed very weak performance by the deaf learners in intervention schools, which necessitated a follow-up to see how best these students could be supported. The project team and 2 special needs teachers conducted Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with deaf learners and were able to identify the learning gap. KCDC staff asked its educational consultant to add more apps to RACHELs in all intervention schools that would be appropriate for hearing impaired students in order to facilitate learning. The End Line testing demonstrated that adding additional educational apps specific for hearing impaired students greatly improved their math and literacy scores.
Bullying: The Baseline CATCH Survey indicated that only 54% of students in intervention schools and 47% in control schools stood up for CWDs when they were bullied. It was discovered that there was a lack of knowledge, stigma and discrimination in schools, hence the need for disability awareness workshops. To bridge this gap KCDC conducted disability awareness workshops in intervention schools to increase knowledge about disabilities and reduce stigma. The End Line data demonstrated that this strategy was effective as CWDs reported that their peers increasingly stood up for them if they were bullied.
Self-directed E-Learning: Intervention students were able to learn to use tablets and the RACHELs, which helped them to explore self-directed learning. This resulted in increased self-confidence and intrinsic motivation as evidenced in the feedback received during interviews.
Teamwork: Teamwork was encouraged in E-Learning labs. By the End Line, significantly more intervention students expressed their desire to do schoolwork with their friends and agreed that they work better in groups than independently. This was particularly true of girls. The percentage of students that said they liked to do schoolwork without help fell dramatically. These changes may have come as a result E-Learning lab where students spent a great deal of time working in groups.
Increased poverty: The percentage of students who complained about being hungry and not having adequate school supplies and uniforms rose significantly from the Baseline to the End Line, which may have resulted from economic hardships caused by COVID-19.
Gender Equality: Students in intervention schools demonstrated a greater commitment to gender equality than in control schools. They believed both girls and boys should be sent to school, despite financial constraints and that girls’ attendance at school should not be determined by family responsibilities. Additionally, more intervention girls than control girls believed that girls and boys are equally smart. Students’ experiences in after school E-Learning labs may have contributed to these positive attitudes towards gender equality as boys and girls learned new and exciting computer and research skills side by side in their classrooms.
Summary of Final Report to Fund for Innovation and Transformation November 2022 by Bev Carrick, Executive Director, Embrace International Foundation
(Full report including data and graphs, available upon request)