Barriers in rural technology integration: A case study from the trenches

Abstract

Teachers recognize the importance of integrating technology into their classroom practice and the endeavour has attracted much attention. Teacher Professional Development (TPD) initiatives have focused on enabling and supporting teachers. Rural teachers are acknowledged as having specialized needs and limitations that are seldom addressed through general TPD efforts. The ICT for Rural Education (ICT4RED) initiative has, adapted and improved a TPD course that was specifically developed to address the challenge of rural teacher’s use of ICT in classroom practice. This paper’s focus is on the fourth iteration of the ICT4RED TPD Curriculum deployed in a vastly different setting than in which it was designed and developed. The extent to which external (first order) and internal (second order) barriers were mitigated by the intervention was recorded and is presented towards further scaling within the same context.