Education technology

In low-income settings, Education Technology (EdTech) can provide access to quality learning content for children, ongoing professional development for teachers and improved data management processes for schools and governments, amongst others. Mobile phones, solar power, radio, e-readers and tablets have been acclaimed as enablers in these environments. However, in a country as diverse as Nigeria, each State, school and community faces its own challenges implementing EdTech. With limited evidence evaluating EdTech models and demonstrating what works, ESSPIN sought to pilot a variety of EdTech initiatives and gather evidence of impact in the context of Nigeria.

EdTech innovations piloted in ESSPIN include:

  1. Worldreader | e-readers loaded with relevant reading materials were distributed to schools to improve pupils’ reading attitudes and fluency
  2. Learn English Audio Pilot in Nigeria (LEAPIN) | Energy efficient radios stored with audio English language learning materials aligned to ESSPIN Lesson Plans and National Curriculum
  3. Nigeria School Attendance Monitoring System (NSAMS) | Recording school attendance data using mobile phones and website providing stakeholders at all levels with near-immediate access to attendance data and trends
  4. Gbagan Gbagan radio programme | Radio drama delivering behaviour change messages around school improvement to key stakeholders in the community
  5. LGEA Education Management Database | Digital database is for the collection, storage, analysis and dissemination of data and information on pupils, staff, facilities, teaching learning processes and community participation at school level, collated at LGEA level and integrated into State Education Management Information System (EMIS).
  6. Geographic Information System (GIS) | Geographic Information System (GIS) used to map school location and provide visual representation of school data
  7. Good practice videos for teachers | Videos demonstrate teaching tips and best practice using ESSPIN lesson plans low-resource settings

For a more detailed review of ESSPIN’s work in EdTech see ESSPIN Practice Paper: EdTech which describe each of these pilot models, the lessons learned and an analysis of the factors that contribute to enabling or disabling success.