Phd Plan

1. ICT in Education: Technical Vocational Education & Training Institute Centered Diffusion of Innovation in Rural Bangladesh PhD Student Md. Saifuddin Khalid khalid@hum.aau.dk Supervisor Tom Nyvang, Associate Professor nyvang@hum.aau.dk Research Duration: September 1, 2010 – June 30, 2013

2. ICT in Education 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 2 ICT in Education is a multidisciplinary field which has inherent prospects and problems similar to any other innovation. ICT application benefits educating disadvantageous communities in the third word countries especially in Africa and Asia. Information ecologists claim that the effective and efficient use of technologies is deeply rooted to “why” people choose to use a technology, the local needs, values and norms (Nardi & O'Day, 1999). Information architects suggest organizing information content using appropriate media suitable for the users’ use context and return on investment (Morville & Louis, 2007). Present telecentre models of Bangladesh (Islam & Hasan, 2009), can be integrated with these theories. Multipurpose community telecentre and school-based telecentre were reported as successful . These models could be further integrated with ICT in Education.

3. Context: Bangladesh 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 3 About “Digital Bangladesh”. Population 149.5 million (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2010), About 76.90% living in rural area (SAARC Statistical Year Book, 2008), About 16 million students in 82218 primary educational institutes (BANBEIS Primary Education Statistics, 2008), About 6.8 million in 18756 secondary institutes among which 15785 (84.16%) institutes are in rural areas (BANBEIS Secondary Education Statistics, 2008). Digital Bangladesh initiatives should be rural focused and education centered. 47% power supply from national grid with per capita consumption of 156 Kwh (Consumption Pattern 2009, 2009), 11 years and above 34.2% are non-literate (BBS and UNESCO, 2008), lack physical access to ICTs, social class gaps and bias, family resistance etc. are barriers of Digital Bangladesh initiatives.

4. Context: Bangladesh (Cont.) 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 4 Telecentres are deployed by wide range of organizations in Bangladesh. School-based and multipurpose community telecentres are becoming common trend. MDG Target 1.B: “Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people”, employment to population ratio 59.3% (2009) & base 48.5% (1990/1991).

5. Why TVET institute is Selected? 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 5 In Bangladesh, (TVET) institutes were established to create employment opportunities and entrepreneurship ability for the youth. These institutes are attractive only for the lower middle and lower economic classes. For socio-economic background of family and academic environment, ICT skill level often remained low in any education stem. In this context TVET might prove sustainable for ensuring job or livelihood (Basu & Majumdar, 2009) due to higher subject association with ICT. Therefore, theories on “education for sustainability” (Huckle & Sterling, 1996), specifically livelihood or employment, for disadvantageous communities are considered in selecting a TVET institute for this project.

6. Research Problems/Questions 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 6 How disadvantageous communities value and adopt ICT? Thus from the viewpoint of disadvantaged rural Bangladesh community: What information communication technologies (ICT) are valuable and why? How can we get better employment or livelihood using these technologies? What kind of ICT readiness is required to access valuable information and services? What are the pros and cons of using ICT in teaching-learning practices? What are problems in using ICT in academic administration? How can we create our local information support system?

7. General Objectives 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 7 to qualitatively compare three communication strategies using diffusion of innovationtheory focusing ICTs in a vocational school to develop a specific methodology of Participatory Rural Appraisal around the school to conduct Participatory Action Research for integrating ICT training for Education for sustainability (livelihood/employment) to develop ICT learning targeted co-curricular/extra-curricular activities to identify factors affecting integration of ICT in curricular activities and academic administration to qualitatively study the response of teachers, students, parents and rural community towards technology integration in school to study the information ecology in current rural setting

8. Simplifying the Objectives 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 8 Objective in generalizing and theory adoption School-based PRA for local information collection, verification and storing A theoretical framework for effective school-based telecentre implementation Objectives to comply MDGs and National Goal to increase employment or livelihood for the young and village community to enable citizens and future citizens e-prepared for accessing information and e-services to create digital village with updated information access to local information to create ICT skilled educators to create skilled human resources for ICT support to address needs of new creativity focused national Education Policy of Bangladesh

9. Simplifying the Objectives (Cont.) 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 9 Educational Institute Specific Objective to create awareness on education for sustainability to study the e-readiness state before and after the diffusion communications to qualitatively identify most effective diffusion communication or ICT integration strategy (among three alternatives

10. Theoretical Dimensions for LiteratureReview 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 10 Information and CommunciationTechnology (ICT) eReadinessorePreparedness Digital Divide ICT in SecondaryEducation ICT-basedcurricular, cocurricularorextracurricularactivities in school Education for Sustainability (LivelihoodorEmployment) Information Ecology, CulturalEcology Information Architecture Ecopedagogy Diffusion of Innovation Domestication Participatory Action Research (PAR), Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) Telecentre, Multipurpose Community Telecentre (MCT)

11. Relationship among theoretical dimensions, project goals and scope 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 11

12. Action research using three communication strategies 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 12 Diffusing ICT in a village around a TVET Institute

13. Being Part of National Project 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 13 ”Information TechnologyEnhancedEducation for a Digital Bangladesh” under ”Public Private Partnership (PPP)” The Ministry of Science and Information & CommunicationTechnology D.Net (Development Research Network) Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VOB-NJ)

14. Feedback and Questions 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 14 “Literacy” can be one variable for pre and post communication study.

15. References (partial) 12/15/2010 PhD Student, Aalborg University 15 Chigona, A., Chigona, W., Kayongo, P., & Kausa, M. (2010). An emperical survey on domesticatin of ICT in schools in disadvantaged communities in South Africa. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 6 (2). Islam, M. S., & Hasan, M. N. (2009). Multipurpose Community Telecentres in Bangaldesh: Problems and Prospects. The Electronic Library, 27 (3), 537-553. Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations. New York: The Free Press.