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Training qualified rural area teachers in Malawi using synchronous virtual learning (SVL) information and communication technologies (ICTs) platforms
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Training qualified rural area teachers in Malawi using synchronous virtual learning (SVL) information and communication technologies (ICTs) platforms
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Content
Training Qualified Rural Area Teachers in Malawi
Using Synchronous Virtual Learning (SVL) Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) Platforms
by
Isaac Mwiinga Moonzwe
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
December 2021
@ Copyright by Isaac Mwiinga Moonzwe 2021
All Rights Reserved
The Committee for Isaac Mwiinga Moonzwe certifies the approval of this Dissertation
Daniel Chatham
Kathy Stowe
Courtney Malloy, Committee Chair
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2021
iv
Abstract
Low qualified teacher supply in Malawi remains a problem despite decades of global efforts to
narrow rural education equity gaps. Rural area qualified teacher supply in Malawi may improve
if technology-mediated training schemes extend sustainable training access to the rural
environment. The rural education landscape in Malawi is multifaceted, complex, with much
contextual variance. This field study explicitly focused on whether Synchronous Virtual
Learning (SVL) Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can provide a means to
facilitate training for pre- and in-service teachers within the rural environment in Malawi. The
study aimed to identify the needs and assets related to knowledge, motivation, organization, and
sociocultural factors that influence the feasibility of training rural pre- and in-service teachers
through community-based SVL ICTs platforms. The Clark and Estes (2008) KMO model and the
Vygotsky (1978) Sociocultural Theory provided this research’s theoretical and conceptual
framework. This study used a qualitative research approach to collect interview data to answer
the critical research questions aligned with knowledge, motivation, organization, and
sociocultural factors. Purposeful sampling served to select participants to inform the research
findings. Interview data analysis provided emerging themes aligned with the KMO and
sociocultural theories and conceptual framework. The findings revealed what KMO and
sociocultural assets were in place to support technology-mediated pre- and in-service rural
teacher training and what KMO and barriers required attention. The findings provided
recommendations on knowledge, motivation, organization, and sociocultural factors related to
increasing rural area qualified teacher supply through SVL ICTs interventions in Malawi.
v
Acknowledgements
My Lord and Savior has deposited a passion for the plight of the marginalized in me. So,
all Glory to God! I extend heartfelt gratitude to my wife (my Promise) and all our Children. We
have walked through valleys and scaled mountains—we have seen the Lord’s Salvation and are
now in the Promised Land! I would also like to express deep and earnest gratitude to my Parents.
Dad and Mom, you have been role models throughout my life; you have provided the example of
faith, hope, and love. To my two Sisters, you have always supported your older brother in the
highs and lows of life; you are my bedrocks. I would also express my love to my extended
family in the United States, my Brother-in-Law, my two Cousins (you know who you are), their
Spouses, and the Kids. You have all been a part of this long journey in many more ways than
you know. Thanks and blessings to all the rest of my family and friends worldwide as well.
Thank you, Dr. Courtney Malloy, for your guidance, patience, and honest feedback have
been invaluable. Dr. Kathy Stowe, you provided much encouragement in affirming this work’s
importance; thank you! And Dr. Daniel Chatham, you helped this research make practical sense;
I am thankful! Committee, the application of this research will benefit countless souls in ways
you may never see; on behalf of all, we are grateful. I would also like to acknowledge all USC
Rossier Faculty and Staff who guided me through this educational process. Thank you for the
support and for laying the foundation for USC Rossier students to build on.
It has been a great honor to be a part of the OCL 12 Cohort. I have gleaned so much from
your beautiful minds and diverse perspectives. I remain inspired by your collective body of work
and look forward to your positive global impact. FIGHT ON! SHALOM!
vi
Table of Contents
Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv
Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................v
List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii
List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix
Chapter One: Overview of the Study ...................................................................................1
Context and Background of the Problem .................................................................2
Problem Statement ...................................................................................................3
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions .........................................................4
Importance of Study .................................................................................................5
Overview of the Theoretical Framework and Methodology....................................7
Definitions................................................................................................................9
Organization of Study ............................................................................................10
Chapter Two: Review of Literature ...................................................................................12
Education Reform in Malawi .................................................................................13
Characteristics of Remote Rural Areas ..................................................................15
Best Practices for Remote Rural Area Teacher Training.......................................16
Employing ICTs Into Rural Teacher Training .......................................................18
SVL ICTs Project Feasibility and Option Analysis ...............................................20
Knowledge, Motivation, Organization, and Sociocultural Factors ........................29
Conceptual Framework ..........................................................................................53
Summary ................................................................................................................56
Chapter Three: Methodology .............................................................................................58
Research Questions ................................................................................................58
Overview of Design ...............................................................................................58
vii
Research Setting.....................................................................................................59
The Researcher.......................................................................................................60
Data Sources ..........................................................................................................61
Data Analysis .........................................................................................................65
Validity and Reliability ..........................................................................................66
Ethical Considerations ...........................................................................................67
Conclusion .............................................................................................................68
Chapter Four: Results and Findings ...................................................................................69
Research Participants .............................................................................................69
Results and Findings ..............................................................................................71
Feasibility Analysis Findings ...............................................................................108
Chapter Five: Discussion .................................................................................................116
Discussion of Findings .........................................................................................116
Limitations and Delimitations ..............................................................................121
Recommendations for Practice ............................................................................122
Feasibility Study Report Conclusion ...................................................................133
Future Research ...................................................................................................137
Conclusions ..........................................................................................................138
References ........................................................................................................................140
Appendix A: Interview Protocol ......................................................................................158
viii
List of Tables
Table 1. Participant Demographics ............................................................................................... 70
ix
List of Figures
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework: ICTs Based Rural Area Teacher Training ............................. 54
1
Chapter One: Overview of the Study
Perennial shortages of qualified rural area teachers remain a challenge confronting
developing societies across Sub-Saharan Africa. Scholars have argued that teacher deficits in
African regions reflected those in the rest of the world, but the sheer size and scale of shortages
in Sub-Saharan Africa made training African teachers one of the world’s most substantial
educational problems (Moon, 2007). Researchers (Kazeem, 2016) concluded that Africa needs
19.6 million teachers by 2030. Sub-Saharan Africa will require 17 million of the 19.6 million
teachers. The region’s annual teacher attrition contributes to the loss of an additional 350,000
teachers per annum (Gordon & Postlewhite, 2017); this teacher “attrition catastrophe” (Pitsoe &
Machaisa, 2012) adds to the demand of 7.6 million teachers (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2016). In this milieu of education equity
demands facing Sub-Saharan Africa, the underserved rural communities in the region require 6.1
million teachers by 2030 (UNESCO, 2016). Unless a significant shift occurs to increase the
qualified teacher supply, rising education demands will continue to strain the overwhelmed
education sector of Sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO, 2014). The African Union (2006)
recommended technology adoption to expand education delivery, proposing technology-assisted
teacher training could provide the engine to increase qualified teacher outputs. McAleavy et al.
(2018) suggested that technology-assisted teacher training offers a means to improve teacher
skills in areas facing quality and quantity teacher deficits. These researchers highlighted the
qualified teacher gap as a persistent problem in Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural areas, where teachers
disproportionately suffer from inequitable access to continued professional training (EdTech,
2020; McAleavy et al., 2018; UNESCO, 2014).
2
Context and Background of the Problem
Situated in Sub-Saharan Africa, Malawi is a landlocked country bordering Zambia,
Mozambique, and Tanzania, and one of the least developed (World Factbook, 2020). Based on
official counts, Malawi’s population reached 21.3 million people in 2020, with 66.3% of the
population between the ages of 0—24, and most of the nation’s citizens (82.6%) live in rural
areas (World Factbook, 2020). UNESCO (2014) factored that Malawi accounted for about 2% of
the global teacher shortages, against a teacher force growing only at 1% per annum, resulting in
some of the world’s poorest learning outcomes. For instance, Malawi’s national average pupil-
teacher ratio (PTR) was amongst the highest in the world at 76.9 pupils to one teacher (United
Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF], 2018). The country’s rural communities’ PTR was even
higher, in some cases reaching 165:1 (UNICEF, 2018). Asim (2016) captured the teacher
distribution disparities between Malawi urban and rural communities:
The ratio for a relatively urban Zomba district is 57 students per teacher, while the remote
Mangochi district is 152. Within districts, the situation is the same. In a typical sub-
district in rural Blantyre, we found that the pupil-teacher ratio could range from 43 to 573
pupils within a cluster of 13 schools! (p. 1)
Considering the disproportion of qualified teacher distributions in Malawi, UNICEF (2018)
recommended that the Malawi government increase efforts to recruit, deploy, and train
indigenous rural teachers within the rural communities with assistance from the international
community.
For decades, Malawi’s education system aimed to expand fair access to education, uphold
improved learning outcomes, and promote effective service delivery (Malawi’s Ministry of
Education, Science, and Technology [MoEST], 2020). For instance, in 1994, the Malawian
3
government passed the free primary education (FPE) reform initiative. FPE reforms intended to
improve access to education, emphasizing the value of education by eliminating participatory
inequities and increasing the number of classrooms nationwide (Kadzamira, 2006). However,
achieving FPE’s desired goals remained elusive, most notably in rural communities (Inoue &
Oketch, 2008; Wamba & Mgomezulu, 2014).
In September 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted reformed 2030 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). The 2015 SDG 4 c encouraged the global community to train
qualified teachers in rural communities in the least developed countries. However, achieving the
SDG 4 goals presented African countries with significant challenges. For instance, Africa had
the fastest-growing school-age population, with less than 80% of primary school teachers
qualified to teach based on minimum mandated global standards (Kazeem, 2016). Researchers
attributed the teacher shortages to political instability, socioeconomic inequalities, high mortality
rates due to HIV/AIDS, and institutional capacity challenges (Chapman et al., 2007; Mehmood et
al., 2016).
Problem Statement
Acknowledging the need to improve education outcomes in rural areas, the Malawi
government determined the prospects of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
based solutions to assist in extending education access into rural settings to train rural areas
teachers (Chawinga & Zozie, 2016). The government turned to the local teacher training
institutions to expand distance and e-learning teacher preparation systems; however, the primary
teacher training institutions, the Domasi Teacher Training College, the University of Malawi,
and Mzuzu University, faced capacity limitations with supporting extended use of ICTs in
teacher training schemes (Chawinga & Zozie, 2016). The data highlights the challenges of
4
providing equitable teacher training in rural areas as a continual challenge requiring feasibility
study to determine the potential innovative technology-based solutions to address teacher
preparation in rural settings (McAleavy et al., 2018).
In recent years, ICTs based learning technologies and systems delivery capacities have
emerged as viable remote area education platforms in several developing countries (Burns, 2011;
McAleavy et al., 2018). This study focused on assessing the needs and assets required to train
teachers in rural areas and the feasibility of integrating modular labs (portable classrooms
manufactured using semi-truck containers), equipped synchronous virtual learning (SVL) ICTs
capacities to facilitate community-based rural area teacher training. A company in Australia
called Transportable Shade Sheds designed a modular lab as described. The idea behind the
SmartShed Modular Teacher Facility was to provide “an off-grid solution to power and sustain a
modular teaching facility that can be easily deployed to remote areas that do not have access to
education” (Shadesheds, 2018, 0:51). Transportation of the modular teacher facility uses a semi-
truck or airlifting to areas without access to land vehicles. The retrofitted self-contained
container is an air-conditioned classroom using solar panels and satellite communication to
provide wireless internet. The modular lab supports a large monitor for projection and portable
computers for synchronous virtual learning and content delivery, thus helping mitigate education
access, infrastructural, resource, and budgetary challenges.
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this research was to identify knowledge, motivation, organization, and
sociocultural needs and assets related to implementing SVL ICTs and to determine the feasibility
of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-based teacher training in
Malawi.
5
To accomplish this goal, the study addresses two central questions:
1. What knowledge, motivational, and sociocultural needs and assets are required to
implement SVL ICTs for pre-service and in-service teacher professional training in
rural areas in Malawi?
2. How feasible are foreign mediated SVL ICTs for community-based pre-service and
in-service teacher professional training in rural areas in Malawi?
Importance of Study
Despite the potential of ICTs to mitigate the persistent challenges of accessing rural
communities to train qualified teachers in the rural environment, the government and
development partners in Malawi have not successfully closed rural educator training gaps
(Gaible & Burns, 2005; ILO, 2016; Mehmood et al., 2016). In formulating a model of ICTs’
integration in teacher education, Engida (2012) proposed the need for a model to bring together
technology standards, teacher standards, and the teacher education process suited for the
environment of service. Therefore, this study is crucial in several ways. To start with,
considering the United Nations 2015 SDG 4c charge and the reform agendas the government of
Malawi has passed to train rural area educators, it is essential to address the contextual barriers
affecting training qualified teachers in Malawi’s rural areas. For example, the International
Labour Organisation (ILO, 2016) asserted that rural area teachers face more complex and
demotivating factors than their urban counterparts due to poor training and skills, low
professional motivation, inadequate work-related resources, and low confidence in rural area
education outcomes. The undesirability of rural teachers’ assignments has left many potential
urban teachers unwilling to relocate to live and work in rural areas. However, emerging research
has shown that recruiting and training teachers within the environment is promising due to
6
existent social support and adaptation to rural area situational realities of inbred teachers (ILO,
2016).
Secondly, Mehmood et al. (2016) foresaw that the traditional ‘brick and mortar,’ ‘face-to-
face’ approach of training teachers in rural contexts was ineffective to meet rural education
demands due to access limitations to training centers. Gaible and Burns (2005) acknowledged the
difficulties of extending the technology standards to address pre-service and in-service teacher
training programs as alternative training modalities (p. 11). Burns (2011) highlighted two critical
motivators to ICTs based online learning, first, its ability to replace face-to-face learning, and
secondly, ICTs’ ability to enhance the face-to-face learning experience. Burns (2011) went so far
as to suggest “as an enhancement activity, Web-based learning should produce outcomes that are
not simply equivalent, but measurably superior to those resulting from face-to-face instruction
alone” (p. 66). Consequently, this study also assessed the feasibility of introducing innovative
community-based SVL ICTs portable labs to facilitate rural area teacher training within the rural
environment.
Finally, studies have shown that the low quality and quantity of teachers across Sub-
Saharan Africa highlight systemic failures of the global education community to address the
ineffectiveness of current recruitment, training, and deployment strategies, particularly in rural
settings (UNESCO, 2014). UNESCO (2018) mentioned the importance of ICTs in teacher
education systems to extend access to information, disseminate knowledge, facilitate quality
practical learning, and service provision. Therefore, this study further explores why rural area
teachers are disproportionately affected by inequitable teacher education processes within rural
settings and whether ICTs can help mitigate rural teacher training gaps. Notably, this study
assesses the complex factors related to knowledge, motivation, organizational, and sociocultural
7
dynamics tied to dynamic rural forces to determine the feasibility of introducing SVL ICTs
platforms to extend access to train qualified teachers in rural areas.
Overview of the Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Clark and Estes’ (2008) KMO model and Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory
provided the lenses of assessment in this study. The KMO model enumerates the role of
knowledge, motivation, and organizational (KMO) determinants in achieving organizational
goals. Clark and Estes (2008) surmised that the first step in closing performance gaps requires
determining the causes of performance gaps. Clark and Estes (2008) theorized knowledge relates
to employees’ awareness of their weaknesses and abilities to achieve performance goals. The
motivation component in the KMO model considers employee internal and psychological
attitudes toward goal attainment, goal persistence, and mental drive toward attaining solutions.
The organizational facet of the KMO model considers barriers that create performance gaps due
to inefficient processes, procedures, materials, and resources.
Clark and Estes’ (KMO) model provided an adequate framework to determine the needs
and assets required to implement ICTs for pre-service and in-service professional teacher
training in rural areas in Malawi. The KMO framework assists researchers in identifying the root
causes of a problem and helps generate solutions to improve performance (Clark & Estes, 2008).
For instance, the need to train qualified rural teachers demonstrates a specific and measurable
performance problem and determining whether SVL ICTs can facilitate rural teacher training
offers a potential solution. In this regard, the KMO framework helped define barriers to using
technology to train rural area teachers, and institutional barriers hindering integrating ICTs into
rural teacher training schemes; motivational factors affecting rural teachers’ professional
8
persistence; and the related institutional barriers that sustain or prevent the potential
implementation of technology-based initiatives to train rural area teachers in Malawi.
The sociocultural framework espoused by Vygotsky (1978) helped factor the needs and
assets required to incorporate rural communities into technology-enabled change reform
agendas. Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978) considers critical factors related to an external
intervention’s impact on a community and its people (Gauvain, 2017). Pedro et al. (2018) noted
technological change initiatives affect the entire environment, and “so all the elements of the
ecosystem must adapt to the new conditions” (p. 11). This observation is beneficial because, as a
framework, sociocultural theory considers the outcomes of introducing new knowledge to
existing knowledge systems (Kalpana, 2014), such as rural communities in Malawi. Thus, in this
research study, the sociocultural framework is appropriate because it helped assess how
culturally appropriate SVL ICTs are for training teachers within the rural environments and the
adaptability of the culture to the technology-based interventions. The sociocultural lens
combined with the KMO framework helped provide a more comprehensive feasibility analysis
by accounting for critical cultural dynamics in the rural settings.
The researcher used a qualitative research design to address the purpose of this study.
Creswell and Creswell (2018) explained that the fundamental aim of qualitative research is to
learn about the problem from the participants and address the analysis to obtain that data. This
study well suited the qualitative research design, considering the small sample size of seven key
participants with direct engagement in rural area teacher training practice. The research
population sample included current and former rural area teachers in Malawi, government
officials from the ministry of education, rural area teacher developers, and university lecturers in
education. The needs and assets required to employ SVL ICTs platforms for rural teacher
9
training emerged from interviews, literature reviews, and extensive content analysis. A
comprehensive evaluation of the research findings helped determine the problem of practice’s
feasibility and generate solutions and recommendations.
Definitions
Several concepts were critical to understanding the approach to rural area teacher training
enabled through SVL ICTs related to the focus of this study.
Digital Divide: is “the gap between individuals, households, businesses, and
geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels concerning both their
opportunities to access information and communication technologies” (Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2001, p. 5).
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS): refers to the understandings, skills and
philosophies developed by societies” that “informs decision-making about
fundamental aspects of day-to-day life” (UNESCO, 2020, para. 1).
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs): include all communication
technologies such as the internet, wireless networks, cell phones, computers,
software, middleware, video-conferencing, social networking, and other media
applications and services. ICTs also refer to the convergence of media technology
such as audio-visual and telephone networks with computer networks through a
unified cabling system (including signal distribution and management) or link system.
These mediums enable users to access, retrieve, store, transmit, and manipulate
information in a digital form despite geographic boundaries (Sylvester, 2013).
Rural Teacher Attrition: pertains to voluntary resignation to pursue other, or more
lucrative career ventures (Mulkeen, 2010).
10
Rural Teacher Distribution: denotes the distribution of teachers, and the inequalities
tied to qualified teacher concentration in urban areas (Mulkeen, 2010).
Rural Teacher Supply: refers to the disparity between the “national requirement for
new teachers and the outcome of newly qualified teachers” (Mulkeen, 2010, p. 18).
Sub-Saharan Africa: is, geographically and ethno-culturally, the area of the continent
of Africa that are fully or partially south of the Saharan desert (New World
Encyclopedia, 2020).
Synchronous Virtual Learning (SVL): allows for live learning and interaction
between the teacher and learner with a live instructor facilitating the training from a
remote location (Racheva, 2018).
Teachers Professional Development (TPD): “the body of systematic activities to
prepare teachers for their job, including initial training, induction courses, in-service
training, and continuous professional development” (European Union [EU], 2010, p.
19).
Teacher Training: Teacher training focuses on using technology mediation to
promote teachers’ professional development, establish a system to recruit teachers
because of easy training access, and ensure the quality of sustained teacher training in
the rural environment.
Organization of Study
The first chapter introduces the problem of practice, the purpose of the project and the
guiding research questions, the study’s importance, the theoretical framework and methodology
used, and definitions of key concepts related to this study. The second chapter delivers a
systematic review of current literature related to the study. Chapter Two addresses synthesized
11
critical themes emerging from the literature about rural area teachers’ capacity to adopt
technology-based instruction for teacher training in Malawi and the nation’s required capacities
to support technology-mediated interventions to train rural area teachers. The third chapter
presents the methodology used in this research, with the next chapter describing the data
findings. The concluding chapter presents the implications derived from the research, delineates
the research’s limitations, and discusses proposed recommendations.
12
Chapter Two: Review of Literature
Chapter two of the dissertation reviews the literature regarding root causes of low
qualified teacher supplies in Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural communities and the feasibility of
integrating technology-mediated interventions to train pre- and in-service teachers in rural
settings. Approaches to addressing rural teacher training challenges in Malawi are a part of a
more significant systemic issue with multifaceted complexities. This research provides a starting
point to improve low qualified teacher supply in rural settings by assessing the feasibility of
technological interventions to provide rural teachers access to quality training within the rural
settings. This chapter’s rural area teacher training approach refers to comprehensive teacher
training access using SVL ICTs platforms within the rural environment. The literature review
begins with an overview of education reform in Malawi and provides a brief history of causes for
low qualified teacher supply and some current reform agendas related to rural teacher training
schemes. A synopsis of the characteristics of rural communities serves to acclimate the readers to
rural community realities in Sub-Saharan Africa, along with some best practices suited for
teacher training practice in rural settings. After that, an overview of how ICTs can address low
qualified teacher gaps within rural settings is discussed. The review also provides examples of
model distance education programs that have had measured success using technology mediation
to train rural teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review then examines KMO (Clark & Estes,
2008) and sociocultural (Vygotsky, 1978) factors impacting implementing SVL ICTs to train
teachers in rural environments. After examining KMO and the sociocultural factors, the
following section describes the conceptual framework used to guide this research, built on Clark
and Estes’ (2008) KMO model and the Vygotsky (2008) sociocultural framework.
13
Education Reform in Malawi
The following section summarizes education reforms and policy developments related to
teacher training schemes in rural areas in Malawi. The section will also provide a general
overview of enacted reform initiatives to support rural teacher training schemes using technology
to facilitate distance and e-learning programs due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
A Brief History
In 1961, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, heads of African states held the Conference of African
States on the Development of Education to provide a forum to prioritize education needs to drive
economic and social development across the African continent (United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa [UNECA], 1961). The conference attendees agreed that all African
children between ages 6 and 14 should have access to education. Despite these wide-reaching
efforts by African states with support from the international community to increase national
capacities to develop the education sector, by 1970, many African nations realized that the
education reform goals were unachievable (Bude, 1985). In 1964, Malawi became an
independent state and recognized the need to educate its citizens to promote social and economic
development (MacJessie-Mbewe, 2004). However, Malawi had inherited a foreign-based
education system that was far removed from the local communities and deemed alien, selective,
and elitist (Hauya, 1991).
Subsequently, In March 1990, the United Nations held a world conference in Jomtien,
Thailand, where all the 155 countries in attendance adopted a resolution, the Education for All
(EFA) plan, which enumerated several provisions addressing children’s needs, age 0 to 18. Some
provisions included universal access to and completion of primary education, improvement in
learning outcomes, expansion of basic education for youth and adults (Malawi Ministry of
14
Education & UNICEF, 1998). At the Jomtien conference, a delegate from the Malawi Ministry
of Education proposed an agenda to enact Universal Primary Education (UPE). However, it was
not until after the ouster of the “President for Life,” Hastings Banda, in 1994, and subsequent
end of the 30-year rule of the Malawian Congress Party (MCP), that the then president-elect of
the United Democratic Front (UDP), Bakili Muluzi, implemented a national mandated Free
Primary Education (FPE) agenda (Kendall, 2005). FPE aimed to increase access to education,
eliminate systemic inequalities, enhance civic education, and improve the socioeconomic
benefits of education (Malawi Ministry of Education & UNICEF, 1998).
Implementing FPE led to a rapid rise in student enrollments, consequently, an urgent
construction of more schools, despite causing a significant strain in education deliverables
because of qualified teacher scarcity (MacJessie-Mbewe, 2004). Consequently, the Malawi
government passed the National Education Strategic Plan (NESP; MoEST, 2008). The NESP
reform policy aimed to address the recruitment, training, and deployment of qualified teachers,
particularly considering rural areas overwhelmed by shortages of qualified teachers, inadequate
rural teacher incentives, and inadequate rural and institutional-based support systems (MoEST,
2008).
Rural Area Education Reform Initiatives
The Malawi government has aimed to reform the education sector to provide all children
with free access to education (MoEST, 2017). Consequently, the government enacted plans for
recruiting and increased training of rural teachers to meet surmounting rural sector education
demands. However, education reform execution has met challenges because of several factors,
such as the failure of teachers to improve requisite skills, limited access to learning resources,
and restricted access to professional development centers (Opoku et al., 2021).
15
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of all educational institutions
in Malawi. These cautionary measures disproportionately affected rural area teachers by limited
access to training and ongoing professional development. In response, in April 2020, the
government approved expanding the national Online and Distance Learning (ODL) program to
extend rural teacher education access through distance and e-learning platforms. Experimenting
with ODL rural teacher training was not a new enterprise in the Malawi education sector;
however, COVID-19 led to unprecedented policy interventions focused on expanding rural
teacher distance learning platforms (Gondwe, 2020). The ODL rollout offered “a learning curve
for clarifying the conceptualization of Information and Communication (ICT) integration into
resource-constrained education contexts” (Gondwe, 2020, p. 1). In considering the resource-
constrained rural areas, the following section will highlight the characteristics of rural
communities and the unique barriers to introducing SVL ICTs into rural settings.
Characteristics of Remote Rural Areas
Characterized as “isolated, disadvantaged, and poverty-stricken” (Mashinini, 2008, p.
126), Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural areas comprise scattered populations marked by low literacy
rates, insufficient health care standards, gender inequality, weak or nonexistent services,
education support frameworks, and sparse access to ample food and fresh water supply (Mandelli
et al., 2014). Rural communities lack access to socioeconomic services such as quality education,
adequate transportation, and access to network connectivity and electricity (Chakanika et al.,
2012). Qualified teachers hesitate to move to remote rural areas owing to limited access to food
and health services and detachment from national or regional markets (Chakanika et al., 2012).
The rural area teacher profession receives little regard because of high opportunity costs and
nominal returns derived from teacher professions (Mulkeen & Chen, 2008). Remote rural area
16
parents likewise have low education levels and attach a similar value to educating their children
(Mulkeen & Chen, 2008).
Best Practices for Remote Rural Area Teacher Training
McAleavy et al. (2018) wrote “even the best professional development cannot solve all
the problems that beset school education in many developing countries” (p. 14). Given the scale
of education challenges in developing countries, this section looks at some best practices related
to integrating technology-mediated teacher training agendas to increase qualified teacher supply
in rural settings disproportionately affected by limitations to accessing teacher training. The
World Bank (2018b) affirmed the importance of enhancing continued professional training to
improve teacher qualifications in developing nations:
Is there hope for in-service training or professional development? Decidedly yes.
Experience from high-income countries shows that practicality, specificity, and
continuity are key to effective teacher professional development. (p. 8)
Considering access limitations of rural area teachers to continued pre- and in-service
teacher training, other scholars (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; McAleavy et al., 2018) have
contended that technology can enhance access to teacher training within education deficient
regions. Darling-Hammond et al. (2017) affirmed that a well-developed technology-based
teacher training plan should be practical in developing teacher knowledge, skills, and abilities
(KSAs) within rural settings (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017). Training rural teachers’ KSAs
through technology requires analysis and validation before implementing evidence-based
solutions (Clark, 2009). Often, education researchers presume the solution to a problem and then
elicit supporting evidence to support the presumed resolution (Clark, 2009); however, this
approach neglects valuable contributions of the intervention beneficiaries to inform best practice
17
outcomes based on needs and assets assessment and contextualized integration feasibility
analysis (McAleavy et al., 2018).
Practical teacher training through technology-facilitated change initiatives requires the
active participation of the teachers in the program design phases and continued collaboration as
the beneficiaries of sustained online learning (World Bank, 2018a). Thus, Darling-Hammond et
al. (2017) surmised that a quality technology-facilitated teacher training scheme incorporates the
following elements: content-focus, integrates active learning, supports peer-to-peer
collaboration, uses models of effective practice, provides coaching and expert support, offers
feedback and reflection, and is sustainable. Similarly, Pedro et al. (2018) provided the following
four best practices adopted in this study to integrate SVL ICTs into rural teacher training
practice:
1. Teacher training should shift from data-driven use of ICTs based learning to
collaborative-driven practice.
2. The implementation of ICTs using SVL in rural teacher training schemes should
include a comprehensive teacher training program on technology usage.
3. ICTs based learning should also integrate adaptive practices to emerging challenges
associated with technology-based learning.
Considering the specific nuances of rural spaces, Tharakan (2017) deliberated on the
need for “holistic inclusion” (p. 126) of the target community throughout the development
process using appropriate technologies from implementation and execution to monitoring and
evaluation. Tharakan (2017) proposed that for rural systems to adopt technologies, various
questions and issues need addressing, such as, has the problem been engaged in before, and what
were the outcomes; are their technologies available to address the problem; do indigenous
18
knowledge systems have any relevance to the change initiative; what would the role of foreign-
mediation be; do the rural communities, and the governing institutions have the capacities to
handle the initiative; what equity and justice issues exist; and who will benefit from the
mediation and is it necessary. Aspects of the recommended best practices (Pedro et al., 2018) and
questions to facilitate holistic inclusion (Tharakan, 2017) helped frame the following sections
holistic overview of the topic to enumerate potential needs and assets and generate an analysis of
the feasibility of the proposed SVL ICTs solutions to this study’s problem of practice.
Employing ICTs Into Rural Teacher Training
Using technology in education is not a new concept (Lan et al., 2012). Adopting ICTs for
alternative non-traditional education delivery has gained traction in developing nations for
decades (McAleavy et al., 2018). Pedro et al. (2018) stated that since the 1980s, teaching and
digital learning technologies have dominated educational technology study. In the United States,
by the 1990s, most classrooms had access to computers to augment and support classroom
instruction, and by 2010, as computer learning developed, ICTs’ learning technology increased
portability, had integrated intuitive user interfaces, and extended Wi-Fi reach (McQuiggan et al.,
2015). The ICTs based mobile learning provided personalized, portable, and unique learning
environments to revolutionize education and deliver vast improvements to technology-assisted
learning outcomes (McQuiggan et al., 2015).
However, Butcher (2011) considered the long-term ramifications of employing ICTs for
teacher training in developing contexts. The scholar reasoned that the potential long-term
benefits of ICTs on learning derive from desired ideological outcomes rather than supportive
evidence (Butcher, 2011). Likewise, Souter et al. (2014) challenged conventional assumptions in
the technology education literature, stating that though ICTs could empower and promote
19
change, the data to support the asserted benefits was not widespread, and the long-term outcomes
remained inconclusive. Addressing technology-supported teacher training in Africa, researchers
(Chapman et al., 2007) argued that, apart from unreliable evidence collected from small-scale
projects, insufficient evidence remained to support the effectiveness of ICTs mediated teacher
training in many Sub-Saharan African countries. However, the generally non-conclusive data in
technology-driven education outcomes from academia need not deter education practitioners
from exploring the potential benefits of technologies in teacher preparation (Vavrus et al., 2011).
Instead, efforts should encourage inquiry and improved teacher pedagogy in underserved
regions. As gathered by the scholars, efforts to incorporate ICTs into rural contexts teacher
training present potential challenges if technologies do not equip the teachers with knowledge
and impetus to embrace the non-traditional preparation processes associated with ICTs (Butcher,
2011; Güzel, 2017; Pedro et al., 2018; Souter et al., 2014).
Scholars, nonetheless, have maintained the potential benefit of ICTs to extend the reach
of education in sustainable and scalable ways (Burns & Lawrie, 2015; McAleavy et al., 2018).
For instance, McAleavy et al. (2018) realized the potential of technology-supported teacher
training as a cost-effective way to support continuous and sustained quality learning in poorly
resourced education environments. Burns and Lawrie (2015) framed the case for technology-
enabled learning in contexts with inadequate education as such:
Information and Communication Technologies can enhance the teacher-learning
opportunity by offering multiple opportunities to practice new skills, apply new
knowledge and gain access to new digital resources for classroom teaching. ICT (such as
video) allows teachers to observe good practice especially relevant in areas where diverse
20
examples of teaching and learning are in short supply. ICT can make models of effective
teaching available to teachers through audio or video. (p. 132)
With technological capacities to bypass “temporal and spatial restrictions” (Lan et al.,
2012, p. 1021), McQuiggan et al. (2015) captured the potential transformational impact SVL
ICTs can have in rural teacher training schemes, stating ICTs offer a “new paradigm in
connectivity, communication, and collaboration” in the education space (p. 7). Hence, an
emerging question is whether rural teachers can sustain pedagogical learning through ICTs using
SVL platforms. The following section assesses some technology-based teacher training models
that have confirmed measured success in developing rural area teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa to
determine the feasibility of adapting the models to accommodate integrating SVL ICTs into rural
teacher training schemes.
SVL ICTs Project Feasibility and Option Analysis
McConnell (2010) conveyed that a feasibility study helps identify and explore all
project’s relevant factors by assessing alternative approaches or substitutes to determine the best
solutions to improve successful outcomes. A project substitute is not a replica of the original
design but a solution that can deliver “similar solutions but in a new combination and
interpretation” (McConnell, 2010, p. 1). In this sense, scholars (Clark, 2009; Souter et al., 2014)
agree to the benefit of feasibility studies in that no single educational development design
remains suited for all environments and every learning context. For example, UNESCO (2015)
asserted that field-based models supported by distance learning materials helped train qualified
rural teachers by closing training access gaps through ICTs based designs. Chapman et al. (2007)
proposed that recruiting and training teachers from rural communities could increase rural area
21
qualified teacher supply when accompanied by technology-accessible, contextualized pre- and
in-service teacher training plans.
A feasibility study helps evaluate if ICTs based interventions can mitigate access
challenges to train rural area teachers in developing countries. A feasibility study calls for
several actions to determine project alternatives, assess the resources required for the project, and
identify reasonable opportunities to achieve the desired performance outcomes (Clark & Estes,
2008; McConnell, 2010). Developing project alternatives requires a three-step process, an
options identification, feasibility analysis, and options selection (McConnell, 2010). Integrating
these processes into this inquiry research will help identify the needs, assets, and barriers related
to the proposed SVL ICTs teacher training design by comparing factors, such as cost, resources,
and risk factors, to alternatives to determine the best performance solutions (Clark & Estes,
2008; McConnell, 2010).
Option Identification
As the first step in a feasibility study, the option identification process helps determine a
strategic course of action related to the problem by selecting a no-action approach, a minimum
action option (requiring minimum efforts or costs), or exploring alternative solutions against the
first two options. As captured in this research study, evidence has shown that the first option,
maintaining the status quo, would not resolve the United Nations 2015 SDG 4c charge requiring
an increase in global efforts to reduce education equity gaps in developing nations by addressing
rural area qualified teacher shortages. The second option would consider improving current rural
teacher training processes by increasing funding to expand or modernize current training
processes. However, researchers (Burns & Lawrie, 2015) have shown that investing more to
expand existing rural teacher training schemes would not address access barriers that hinder
22
sustaining rural teacher training practices in resource-challenged settings. Given the urgent need
to increase qualified teacher supply in rural Sub-Saharan Africa communities, generating
alternative solutions that could help address current practice deficiencies related to improving
rural area qualified teacher supply requires consideration (McConnell, 2010).
Therefore, the following sections will evaluate alternate technology-facilitated teacher
training practices employed in Sub-Saharan Africa to determine the feasibility of introducing
community-based SVL ICTs platforms as proposed in this research inquiry to help improve rural
qualified teachers’ supply in Malawi.
Alternative ICTs-Based Program Options Analysis
The following ICTs based teacher training programs provide a basis for comparing
program features and selected resource requirements to the SVL ICTs model evaluated in this
research study. The identified ICTs based programs have demonstrated measured success in
teacher training practices in limited-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology Open Distance Learning Initiative
The Malawi government launched the open distance learning (ODL) program in 2010 to
provide a cost-efficient means to develop untrained student teachers in remote areas by
delivering distance learning to the rural environment using an MP3 multi-purpose device (Carrier
et al., 2012). The ODL approach eliminated costs associated with residency requirements of
initial primary school teacher’s education (IPTE) at teacher training centers (Carrier et al., 2012).
Between 2010 and 2016, over 23,000 teachers completed ODL training (World Bank, 2015).
However, in 2015, the government announced the program’s suspension due to program
management and infrastructural capacity limitations. Although the program increased teacher
23
staffing levels in urban locations, the scheme failed in “addressing inequities in the distribution
of teachers” in rural districts where 90% of the teachers worked (Asim et al., 2019, p. 32).
National Framework for Professional Education and Teacher Development
The South African National Framework for Professional Education and Teacher
Development (NFPTED) supported the South African Ministry of Education to expand access to
ICTs and enhance teacher training, motivation, communication, and learning environments, by
integrating ICTs into pre-service teacher training in several South African institutions. Unlike
similar initiatives piloted in Uganda and Senegal, NFPTED’s model developed teacher capacity
by addressing pedagogic facilitation through ICTs rather than solely focusing on computer
literacy development (Souter et al., 2014).
Tackling Education Needs Inclusively
Another powerful example of a workable rural area teacher training program was the
Tackling Education Needs Inclusively (TENI) project in Northern Ghana. TENI developed a
teacher training model to recruit resident volunteers to teach in rural area schools. Potential
candidates required a minimum of a high-school degree and elected to serve in the rural
community of residence (ILO, 2016).
Digital Education Enhancement Programme
The Digital Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) developed an array of
enterprises for teacher development in remote rural areas with limited ICTs support capacities.
The program developed rural teachers’ pedagogic skills in literacy, numeracy, and science by
providing resources through various e-learning and digital technologies (ILO, 2016). DEEP
relied on local teachers’ input to implement and assess short-term curriculum-focused teacher
training using a range of e-learning and digital technologies (ILO, 2016).
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Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
According to McAleavy et al. (2018), teacher education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA)
adopted a valuable “bottom-up approach” to rural teacher training:
Teachers are encouraged to use the tools [technology devices] in ways that meet local
needs, and its use of technology means teachers can access and implement the
professional development in their school environments. Technology is key to enabling
this adaptability: the digital nature of the resources enables easy modification. (p. 35)
The bottom-up approach evidenced in the Malawi Access into Teaching Scholarship
program, a TESSA subprogram, allowed rural women to start a teaching career via a one-year
distance learning upgrade course and gain additional experience through a teaching assistant
placement supervised by a mentor (ILO, 2016). TESSA’s success of “foregrounding the tools for
activity-based learning” by avoiding overreliance on educational theory challenged traditional
conceptions of education reform emanating from outside instead of within the rural environment
(McAleavy et al., p. 35).
Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support
The Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support (MTPDS) program, a three-year
project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), provided
another constructive teacher training model. MTPDS, a significant project of USAID-Malawi’s
broader education policy, was formed in response to the Malawian government’s education
enhancement reform plans (Randolph & Harvey, 2011). The MTPDS project, backed by the
Malawi Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MoEST), unified teachers continued
training through alternative Open and Distance Learning (OPD) programs (Randolph & Harvey,
25
2011). The OPD program deployed untrained prospective teachers to rural schools and carried
out training through OPD platforms rather than on-site facilitation (Carrier et al., 2012).
Interactive Radio Instruction
An example of an ICTs based learning delivery modality that showed measured success
was the Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI). Since the 1970s, IRI has been an instructional
approach that uses one-way radio to deliver oral content and apply various interactive
instructional techniques (Burns, 2011). Teacher training models such as IRI offered curriculum
developers the ability to scaffold instruction and model activities “as short experiments using
locally available materials” (Burns, 2011, p. 21). For example, in South Africa, IRI ran from
1993 to December 2009, during which 52,000 teachers and two million primary school students
improved speaking and writing through the platform (Burns, 2011). The value of ICTs designs
such as IRI was affordability, portability, and IRI required minimal training to use and aligned
with traditional oral means of knowledge dissemination.
Feasibility Analysis
The previous evaluation of several ICTs based models used in Sub-Saharan Africa helped
access the scope of technology-based interventions within remote or rural contexts to evaluate
capacity requirements to integrate community-based SVL ICTs into rural teaching training
designs. McConnell (2010) recommended five steps in feasibility analysis:
1. Conducting a demand analysis
2. Checking for available technology
3. Reviewing staff requirements
4. Determining broad scope
5. Reporting.
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Demand Analysis
The introductory chapter established the demand for innovative solutions to address low
qualified teacher supplies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Scholars found that government and
development partners in Malawi have not closed rural teacher training gaps and have expressed a
desire to explore the feasibility of technology-mediated learning platforms to mitigate the
challenges extending continued teacher training into rural settings (Gaible & Burns, 2005; ILO,
2016; Mehmood et al., 2016). Engida (2012) proposed the potential for innovative technologies
to address the contextual barriers affecting training qualified teachers in inaccessible contexts.
Scholars have also shown decreases in the effectiveness of traditional ‘brick and mortar,’ ‘face-
to-face’ approaches of training teachers in rural contexts because of education support systems
scarcities (Mehmood et al., 2016). In addition, studies have concluded that low qualified teacher
quantity across Sub-Saharan Africa highlights the systemic failures of the global education
community to develop recruitment, training, and deployment trends in rural settings (UNESCO,
2014, 2018). These concerns highlight the demand for further inquiry into the feasibility of ICTs
capacity to extend rural teacher access to pedagogical knowledge, facilitate practical training,
and meet professional service needs.
Technology Availability
This study’s problem of practice assesses the capacity of technology-facilitated systems
to help train teachers in rural communities in Malawi. Chapter One provided an SVL ICTs
systems description based on research that has determined ICTs based learning technologies and
systems delivery capacities have emerged as viable options to facilitate remote area education
ventures in developing countries (Burns, 2011; McAleavy et al., 2018). The technology
requirements for the SVL ICTs model under evaluation in this research require modular labs,
27
equipped synchronous virtual learning (SVL) ICTs’ capacities to facilitate community-based
rural area teacher training. The modular lab concepts proposed in this research study are
operational in developed nations; however, there is a need to determine the contextual
adaptability of these applications in a developing country’s rural settings. Chapter Five will offer
recommendations on potential solutions for the proposed community-based SVL ICTs teacher
training model.
Staff Requirements, Determining Scope, and Reporting
According to McConnell (2010), the third and fourth steps of a feasibility study should
determine the collective capacity of program stakeholders’ skills, experiences, and institutional
requirements to achieve successful program outcomes. The researcher offered that staff
assessments focus on role requirements, resource requirements, and training needs (McConnell,
2010). The program scope assessments consider constraints, assumptions, user requirements,
issues requiring resolution, and intended deliverables (McConnell, 2010). Reporting is the last
step of the feasibility analysis based on a proposed option selection. This step includes the
feasibility study results and provides recommendations for best solutions for program
implementation, provided in Chapter Five.
Options Selection
The third step in an integrated feasibility study requires determining the most viable
options to pursue and then making the final decision. Popular options in this step include
performing a cost-effectiveness analysis that either minimizes the value of costs or provides the
maximum output; a multi-criteria analysis that employs an algorithmic comparison of options;
and an economic impact assessment that identifies and evaluates the foreseeable impact of all
possibilities within the economic environment of the project (McConnell, 2010). Implementing
28
community-based SVL ICTs systems into rural teacher training projects would require
substantial and sustainable funding. The multi-criteria analysis is appropriate when considering
different objectives, whereas the economic impact analysis focuses on using high-level economic
indicators and forecasts challenging to assess in economically deprived environments
(McConnell, 2010). Given the resource scarcity of Sub-Saharan Africa rural communities, the
cost-effectiveness analysis provides a framework beneficial to this research.
Cha et al. (2020) recognized that integrating ICTs into developing country education
schemes requires supporting low-cost education with higher quality access and benefits. The
cost-effectiveness analysis approach can address the concern by assessing different outcomes
based on approximate costs (Levin, 2018). According to scholars, cost-effectiveness analysis
involves examining the cost of alternatives and determining program effectiveness outcomes
while factoring in alternatives costs and effectiveness (Carnoy, 1995; Levin, 2018). Based on
cost factors and outcomes considerations, these measures provide a suitable framework for the
feasibility of introducing community-based SVL ICTs into rural teacher training in Malawi.
The final decision is the last step of a project and options analysis. This step captures all
the actions taken to confirm whether the analysis has proven that the alternative proposed option
has received adequate examination and provides the best choice for the project design. The final
recommendations for this research project are in Chapter Five.
Best Practices
Some best practices emerged from the Alternative ICTs based Programs Options
Analysis review. The captured best practices help inform the Knowledge, Motivation,
Organization, and Sociocultural Factors sections following:
29
● Cultivate a “holistic multi-stakeholder, multi-modal delivery approach to professional
development” (Souter et al., 2014, p. 14).
● Establish robust formal, non-formal, and informal education development
opportunities for rural teachers (Souter et al., 2014).
● Maintain focus on recruiting local teachers with community affinity, local language
ability, and rural cultural aptitude (ILO, 2016).
● The value of building rural teacher pedagogic skills through various e-learning and
digital technologies (ILO, 2016).
● Design purposeful accelerated teacher career development schemes with minimum
barriers to training entrance (ILO, 2016)
● Ensure that pre- and in-service programs teacher education builds necessary skills
conducive to rural education needs (Randolph & Harvey, 2011).
Knowledge, Motivation, Organization, and Sociocultural Factors
KMO and Sociocultural Theoretical Frameworks
As discussed in the introductory chapter, the KMO model (Clark & Estes, 2008) and the
sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978) were the theoretical frameworks that guided this research.
Clark and Estes (2008) attributed people’s knowledge and skills, motivation to achieve goals,
and organizational barriers as causes for performance gaps. The sociocultural theory pointed to
learning and cognitive development as products of culture and social interactions. These models
helped frame the parameters for identifying root causes of gaps in training qualified teachers in
rural communities and to assess the feasibility of SVL ICTs to extend access to train teachers
within the rural environment.
30
Knowledge Factors
Clark and Estes (2008) explained that “during gap analysis, it is necessary to determine
whether people know how … to achieve their performance goals” (p. 44). In this sense, the goal
of integrating SVL using ICTs into teacher training schemes is not solely to add them to the
education process but to allow the educational process to shift to incorporate new technological
capabilities into rural teacher learning processes (Hennessy et al., 2015). Rural teacher training
schemes that do not account for knowledge gaps related to subject-specific pedagogy and the
ability to apply concepts to practice risk failing to achieve desired goals (Harris et al., 2009). In
assessing rural teachers’ and administrators’ capacities to integrate ICTs into teacher training,
Pirttimaa et al. (2017) suggested research on student knowledge related to adopting technology
not only account for conceptual and procedural related understanding “but also the manner in
which technological tools and objects effect and interact with student thinking and doing” (p.
217). For this study’s purposes, conceptual or declarative knowledge refers to what Pirttimaa et
al. noted as “facts, concepts and the relationships among concepts or to an integrated conceptual
understanding;” in contrast, procedural knowledge refers to “how we do or make something” (p.
217). While recognizing “it is impossible to precisely distinguish” both (Pirttimaa et al., 2017, p.
215), these definitions will help inform the study of rural teachers’ ICTs capacity and capacity-
building requirements to adopt ICTs into rural teacher training practice.
It is essential to recognize that technology-based learning is not a panacea for all the
difficulties that plague the teacher training process (McQuiggan et al., 2015). Still, technology
provides a means to extend access to pedagogical knowledge, otherwise elusive given the rural
context. However, Pedro et al. (2018) cautioned the need for research to address “the lack of
theoretical and pedagogical foundations regarding the implementation of mobile learning in
31
educational contexts” (p. 5). McAleavy et al. (2018) recommended developing training schemes
to allow rural teachers to build the required knowledge to benefit from technology-facilitated
training regimens.
Authors suggested that even though users may be adept in a conceptual sense to use
technology, this does not imply a procedural readiness to use the technologies for education and
learning purposes (Heeralal, 2014; McQuiggan et al., 2015). In these lines, Harris et al. (2009)
added that although basic computing skills make up the foundation to use ICTs, these skills do
not prepare rural teachers to integrate technology for sustained preparation through the
technologies. Therefore, this section addresses conceptual knowledge factors related to rural
teacher and administrator ICTs skills and required capacities, procedural digital curriculum
absorption requirements, and alternative theoretical approaches to using ICTs for rural area
teacher training practices.
Rural Teacher and Administrator ICTs Knowledge
This section discusses rural area teacher and teacher administrators’ ICTs skills to
identify common knowledge and skill problems addressed in the literature related to rural teacher
and administrator ICTs capacities and knowledge required to use virtual synchronous platforms
for rural teacher training. Clark and Estes (2008) suggested that knowledge enables someone to
get things done as a repository of a person’s experience. Engida (2012) argued that rural teachers
required knowledge and skills to deepen and affirm attitudes toward embracing digital content
and technology as a prerequisite for integrating technology into digital learning. UNESCO
(2018) advised that teacher ICTs capacity building “should be recognized as a process rather
than an isolated training event” (p. 49). As such, Harris et al. (2009) proposed that the successful
integration of ICTs into teacher training required assessing the teacher ICTs capacity to
32
determine a starting point. For instance, Engida (2012) concluded that most teacher training
programs in Sub-Saharan Africa addressed basic ICTs skills to develop specific computer skills
but not improve professional teacher standards. Mafuraga and Moremi (2017) therefore
concluded, “generally, the teachers’ knowledge of ICT is not at par with their qualifications and
experience in the field” (p. 149).
Gaps in rural teachers’ absorption capacities of ICTs have highlighted limited ICTs skills,
difficulties learning a computer language, and limited training on ICTs usage using English
instruction at teacher development centers (Mafuraga & Moremi, 2017). Therefore, integrating
pedagogy with ICTs into rural teacher training schemes requires understanding the contextual
complexities of learning. UNESCO (2018) pointed out that rural teachers will maintain various
levels of ICTs related competencies, and therefore, ICTs based training agendas should include
diagnostic tools to map out individual teachers’ proficiencies accounting for teacher strengths
and weaknesses. For example, UNESCO (2018) proposed that pre-service technology-based
training focus on initial preparation and pedagogy and develop digital tools and resources skills.
In-service training should facilitate face-to-face distance training on pre-service programs
relevant to rural teacher training needs (UNESCO, 2018).
Engida (2012) suggested that education reform initiatives could adopt several approaches
to ensure successful outcomes of technology-based instruction: emerging, applying, infusing,
and transforming. In these lines, the emerging stage explores the possibilities and consequences
of integrating ICTs and digital curriculum designs. The second stage, applying, requires teachers
and administrators to gain specific skills and knowledge to support training and professional
development. Infusing requires using embedded technology and curriculum to enhance teachers’
training. The transformational stage adopts technology-assisted learning as a natural learning
33
process, and thus, technology-based learning can replace traditional learning within the learning
environment. Engida’s (2012) outline provides some guidelines for integrating specific
pedagogic-based ICTs contextualized to meet the needs of the change agenda’s environment.
However, building teacher technological assimilation and integration requires digital curriculum
designs to develop and transmit ICTs skills and factual knowledge.
Curriculum Absorption Requirements
Darling-Hammond et al. (2017) affirmed the need for rural area teachers to access and
adapt to emerging pedagogies to bolster competencies commensurate with global education
standards. Rural teachers require technology literacy and knowledge deepening to support
relevant curriculum demands and technology resource usage (UNESCO, 2018). In this regard,
rural education requirements should aim to ensure technology-assisted training supports
inclusive contextualized methodologies to support rural teacher training needs (UNESCO, 2018).
McAleavy et al. (2018) cautioned against using teacher training content from other education
systems without contextualization to specific environmental requirements. For example, in a
study by Taylor and Mulhall (2001) on rural area curriculum adoption of teachers in Tanzania
and Ethiopia, the researchers found that teachers maintained a significant indifference to digital
curriculum outlines. The scholars observed that the rural teachers were doubtful of technology-
mediated interventions and apprehensive of parting with traditional training methods (Taylor &
Mulhall, 2001).
Darling-Hammond et al. (2017) discovered that part of rural teachers’ apprehensions
toward emerging pedagogies related to technical absorption capacity and unfamiliarity with
digital curriculum designs. Pedro et al. (2018) addressed some critical factors in failed digital-
based curriculum designs:
34
Many technological implementations in the past were not very successful... One of the
causes that is traditionally suggested for this problem is the lack of preparation of
teachers. Solutions, therefore, point to the inclusion of mobile-enhanced instruction
modules in teacher education programs. (p. 10)
Therefore, for rural teachers to embrace new learning environments, theoretical,
pedagogical, and methodological concerns about integrating ICTs into teacher training practice
are essential. McAleavy et al. (2018) proposed ensuring that digital curriculum aligns with local
curriculum requirements to increase chances of success. Wamba and Mgomezulu (2014)
affirmed that with adequate capacity-building mechanisms embedded into curriculum designs to
support the course and pedagogical administration, supervision and training, and quality
assurance, the teachers’ capacities to absorb emerging curriculum designs could develop.
The researchers observed that the essence of a technology-based teacher training
curriculum should include contextual theory and subject pedagogy, practical training, and
application guidelines (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Pedro et al., 2018; Taylor & Mulhall,
2001). Naylor and Sayed (2014) urged ICTs based rural teacher training curriculums to balance
local teaching conditions, the cultural environment and align with national education policies.
Chakanika et al. (2012) conceded that rural teacher curricula need not be too academic,
theoretical, and exam-oriented but maintain cognitive levels to meet rural learners’ needs.
A well-designed ICTs digital curriculum should also account for rural teacher cognitive
capacities to absorb technological-based pedagogical frameworks. Sweller (2011) described
cognitive load theory as an instructional theory based on scientific knowledge of human
cognition. Cognitive load theory postulates that “cognitive capacity in working memory is
limited so that if a learning task requires too much capacity, learning will be hampered” (de
35
Jong, 2010, p. 105). Therefore, a pressing challenge emerges in examining ICTs based learning
systems for teacher training in digitally sparse regions, questioning if rural teachers’ technical
capacities can support ICTs based instruction. Lan et al. (2012) suggested that designing learning
plans, collecting feedback, providing timely support, and ongoing technical and instructional
support could build rural teacher cognitive capacities related to technological competencies and
content knowledge absorption (Lan et al., 2012).
Zulu et al. (2017), consistent with the Vygotsky (1978) sociocultural theory, emphasized
the need to account for teacher pedagogical cognitive load, with learners with little prior
knowledge of a new task such as ICTs based instruction. Lan et al. (2012) suggested that training
designs provide fundamental pedagogical theories and technical skills to navigate SVL and
distinguish theoretical gaps related to technology-facilitated synchronous learning contexts. Zulu
et al. surmised the improbability of success concerning pedagogies that ignore cognitive
demands associated with acquiring advanced technical competencies in digitally sparse contexts.
Non-Localized Theoretical Approaches
Lewin and Stuart (2003) expressed concern with two prominent but divergent approaches
to rural area teacher training practice. A common approach leans to informing rural area training
schemes based on non-localized models, whereas an alternative approach considers embedded
sociocultural dimensions of resident knowledge. Lewin and Stuart (2003) maintained that one
reason for the “particularly strong disjunction between theory and practice” may stem from:
Two parallel educational discourses are going on: a theoretical one largely drawn from
Western conceptual frameworks, and a more practical one about the kinds of teaching,
learning, and socialization that go on in the real communities, and which students’ know
at a different level. (p. 73)
36
Mutekwe (2018) advocated for academic practitioners to integrate indigenous knowledge
systems (IKS) into rural teacher training schemes to ease theoretical disjunctions. IKS comprises
knowledge gained within the rural communities, independent of and before the modern scientific
knowledge system (Tharakan, 2017). IKS are indigenous-based, tied to a particular culture,
traditions, language, and geography. For this reason, non-indigenous technology-based learning
interventions would require rigorous trial and error processes to meet a rural community’s needs
(Tharakan, 2017).
Mutekwe (2018) suggested that consideration of IKS in the design and implementation of
change initiatives fosters inclusivity and reduces gaps in rural teachers’ socialization and
learning processes to non-traditional methods. In these lines, Tharakan (2017) contended that
indigenous knowledge systems should be “validated, exploited, and integrated into IT innovation
and development” (p. 123). UNESCO likewise affirmed the need for rural area contextual
considerations, calling for ICTs based training schemes to allow teachers to engage in and
benefit from knowledge creation, innovation, and lifelong learning. Therefore, if rural teacher
training aims to improve qualified rural teacher supply, then the need to fashion a heuristic to
determine if indigenous knowledge can lead to the development of appropriate technology for a
rural setting is essential.
Motivational Factors
It is crucial to note Clark and Estes (2008) observations that motivation influences three
critical aspects of someone’s professional and private lives. The authors talked about the
influence of motivation on individual goal attainment, persistence until goal completion, and
effort invested in accomplishing a goal (Clark & Estes, 2008). This section considered these
37
factors to determine rural teachers’ motivational needs and assets characteristic in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
McAleavy et al. (2018) attested to the ineffectiveness of in-service training in developing
countries and the need to improve teacher-related ICTs motivation levels as a critical
precondition to achieving better teacher training. Kadzamira (2006) conducted case studies
across 12 countries as part of an international research project on the influence of incentives and
motivation on teachers within developing countries. The researcher identified several
determinant factors that positively affect teacher motivation: adequate compensation, reasonable
conditions of services, and improved professional status through ongoing teacher training
(Kadzamira, 2006). However, when examining Malawi’s situation, participants in the study
viewed teacher motivation as requiring critical attention, given the “serious breakdown in teacher
morale” (Kadzamira, 2006, p. 2). Moleni and Ndalama (2004) found that 60% of teachers in
Malawi resigned because of low pay, poor service conditions compounded by poor working
conditions and career mobility avenues. Researchers concluded that overall teacher morale and
job satisfaction in Malawi remained low (Kadzamira, 2006; Moleni & Ndalama, 2004).
The following section considers the factors affecting rural teacher motivation cited above
and whether community-based SVL ICTs training models could mitigate some critical
demotivating factors by addressing teacher continued training needs.
Rural Teacher Empowerment
The UNESCO 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report stressed the need to
enhance rural teachers’ “status, morale, and professionalism” (p. 196) of rural teachers. As it
relates to introducing SVL ICTs, these platforms can assist rural teachers in bridging digital
divides and empowering rural teachers through improved ICTs skills, a broadened knowledge on
38
the use of ICTs tools, and the confidence to transfer ICTs based knowledge into practice
(UNESCO, 2018). Chapman et al. (2007) advised that education-related scarcity within rural
areas should not equate to assumed limitations in the pedagogical capacity of rural teachers.
Instead, the challenge faced by rural teachers links to the need to reduce rural teacher education
inequities owing to limited access to professional training. Mridha et al. (2013) understood that
ICTs could address educational equity and social exclusion issues by delivering more effective
and accessible remote training opportunities. The scholars suggested ICTs provide global access
to learning by extending access into communities “deprived of creative education due to lack of
qualified teaching force and thereby provide enormous potential to empower rural educators”
(Mridha et al., 2013, p. 323). Ensuring teacher empowerment through SVL ICTs requires reform
champions to facilitate rural-level participatory approaches in designing technology-based
learning systems to encourage knowledge, skills, and capacity development.
Related to teacher empowerment needs, Mulkeen (2010) discovered that teacher self-
efficacy in rural areas was less than urban teacher-counterparts. The limited opportunities for
rural teachers to increase professional qualifications and improve communal perceptions of the
education profession negatively affected teacher confidence. Rural communities viewed rural
teachers as second-class educators and rural education as a last resort profession (Kadzamira,
2006). Mulkeen (2005) validated rural teachers’ low qualifications in submitting data to show
that rural Sub-Saharan Africa teachers failed to meet national educational outcomes compared to
regional urban counterparts. McAleavy et al. (2018) proposed that technology could help
improve rural teacher qualifications in poor and isolated areas. However, the scholars cautioned
that teachers were likely to reject new ideas conflicting with traditional learning methods unless
the training scheme addressed the conflicts of adjusting to technology-supported learning suited
39
for the learning environment (McAleavy et al., 2018). The authors proposed that technology-
facilitated training schemes should allow teachers to engage new ideas in supportive and trusting
environments (McAleavy et al., 2018; Mulkeen, 2010). Providing opportunities for teachers to
develop through technological-based systems could improve teacher confidence and facilitate
educational transformation (McAleavy et al., 2018).
Support Systems and Resources
Teachers need to learn and develop throughout their careers, taking advantage of
emerging trends in learning, pedagogy, and practice (OECD, 2014), in how to best use ICTs to
support the pedagogical ability for teaching and learning processes while recognizing the
potential and limitations of incorporating ICTs into rural area teacher training processes
(UNESCO, 2018) in rural contexts. Pre-service education and training begin the teachers’
learning continuum if the pre-service training quality can influence the teachers’ future in-service
learning needs (OECD, 2014). This approach requires teachers to access high-quality formal
training that exchanges information, shares resources, encourages learning, and champions
inclusivity to support advancing ICTs based learning competencies (ILO, 2016). Technology-
facilitated teacher training programs should support different learning methodologies in inclusive
ways, aimed at helping acquire skills to “exploit technology, with the aim of enhancing teaching
and learning” (UNESCO, 2018, p. 47). Therefore, according to ILO (2016), technology-assisted
program designs should incorporate workshops and study modules into program designs to
enhance knowledge and pedagogic content assimilation of online resources and ICTs usage
suited for the learning environment.
Research has found that rural area teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa lack teaching and
educational resources to support positive training outcomes (Chakanika et al., 2012). Chakanika
40
et al. highlighted the lack of rural area teacher resources as demotivating the teachers under such
conditions. For instance, if technology-based program designs provided full Internet access to
rural teachers, the teachers could interact with a wide range of resources and counterparts in
ways not possible with any other form of traditional or distance teaching (Burns, 2011). Means
(2009) argued that ICTs-based resource learning as an enhancement activity could produce
superior motivational outcomes from face-to-face instruction alone owing to digital tools and
resources suitability to different learning styles, abilities, and environments. UNESCO (2018)
attributed the transformational power of resource-based learning to the “ease with which such
resources, when digitized, can be shared via the Internet” (p. 18). In these lines, researchers
found that ICTs based mobile learning provided a way to motivate teachers by affording high
levels of technological engagement and innovation, personalization, and exploratory autonomy
in digital learning environments to support SVL ICTs higher order of thinking and problem-
solving skill requirements to achieve training goals (McQuiggan et al. 2015).
Sociocultural Factors
A significant theme in Vygotsky’s (1978) theoretical framework is sociocultural
interactions’ role in cognitive learning. Vygotsky (1978) also postulated the need to support
learners’ development of complex skills considering a student’s cognitive preparedness and
required help to develop. In these lines, Balfour et al. (2008) discussed the failure of research to
factor in the dynamic nature of data emanating from rural communities and the inability of
existing conventional methods to account for the environment’s cultural influence in forming
rural communities’ identities (Balfour et al., 2008). In another study conducted by Moletsane
(2012), the scholar attributed the lack of social change in rural communities to research
paradigms ignoring the intended beneficiaries’ perspectives. These authors recommended a shift
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in research to focus on strength and assets-based epistemologies that factor the unique
sociocultural realities while remaining sensitive to demands required to socialize the
communities into emerging global realities (Balfour et al., 2008; Moletsane, 2012). Moletsane
(2012) suggested that a well-designed teacher training program should reflect indigenous
communities’ values, attitudes, and aspirations of all community members. In a sense, rural
communities’ strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations require leveraging to secure community
support to execute reform agendas that conflict with traditional norms (Mashinini, 2008).
Therefore, implementing community-based technology designs to train teachers within
the environment should preserve local considerations, encourage input from all key stakeholders,
and incorporate a culture of equity and inclusion throughout the change process (UNESCO,
2015). Conversely, ILO (2016) concluded that rural communities experience an alternate reality,
in which sociocultural divides emphasize distinctions in gender, language, tribe, and other
defined characteristics. Often, change initiatives neglect the centrality of rural community
realities in determining the feasibility of the intervention to receive acceptance and realize
intended outcomes (UNESCO, 2015). Given these observations, the following sections consider
the unique needs and assets required to train qualified teachers using community-based SVL
ICTs considering the rural area sociocultural realities related to critical stakeholder groups and
foreign interventions; language, ethnic, and indigenous knowledge factors; and gender inequity
considerations.
Stakeholders and Foreign Interventions
Burns (2011) wrote that distance education program stakeholders should consider certain
factors before embarking on any summative evaluation of technology-based teacher training
interventions. For instance, ILO (2016) proposed that the critical actors required collective
42
engagement and empowerment to maximize the aggregate capacity of rural area ecosystems.
According to Burns (2011), engaging critical stakeholders provided the change intervention
designers with the ability to identify and address challenges related to the environment’s unique
implementation demands. Therefore, it is crucial to establish shared consensus, participation, and
informed dialogue in the stakeholder engagement process (Burns, 2011).
In considering the critical role of stakeholders, Bett (2016) also underscored the need for
careful analysis of the particular sociocultural dynamics of the environment in which the
stakeholders engage with innovative educational development schemes. According to Bett
(2016), foreign mediated-technological interventions executed without a sufficient assessment of
local norms fail. Clark (2009) discussed the need to account for individual and diverse cultural
factors as “translating active ingredients” into solutions (p. 1). Translating active ingredients into
solutions assures the reform initiatives’ malleability with target communities by accounting for
critical gaps in organizational and cultural dynamics; an example would consider the feasibility
of integrating technology-facilitated learning into established face-to-face learning arrangements
before the project execution (Clark, 2009; Clark & Estes, 2008).
McQuiggan et al. (2015) argued that integrating technology into traditional frameworks
requires shifting from conventional learning methods. However, many stakeholders tied to rural
teacher training schemes are resistant to these cultural shifts because of prevailing attitudes and
prejudices toward using technology for instruction in rural environments, considering that rural
education systems remain structured to reinforce traditional in-person educational methods.
Souter et al. (2014) proposed that education reform actions account for contextual variability in
introducing technology-based forms of instruction by assessing barriers of reform-agenda
adoptions because of ingrained cultural factors.
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Language, Ethnic, and Indigenous Knowledge System Factors
Cultural and linguistic barriers present a significant factor in the broad acceptance of
introducing foreign-mediated ICTs based learning into rural sector education development
schemes. For instance, Malawi is a diverse, multilingual country with about 16 common
languages. Although English is the official language, 26% of the population above age 14 can
speak English (Chepkemoi, 2017). Chichewa is the national language spoken by about 57% of
the people, followed by Chinyanja at 12.8%, Chiyao, 10.1%, and Chitumbuka (Kasuka, 2013). In
this sense, the African Union (2006) determined that non-native cultural and language usage
erected barriers between non-local educators and learners in African rural settings.
Chakanika et al. (2012) examined the cultural complexities of non-native teachers’
deployment to rural communities characterized by ethnic and linguistic groups foreign to the
teachers. Having assessed non-native teacher deployments in remote rural areas in Zambia and
Malawi, the scholars documented teachers’ reluctance to accept assignments in regions with
different traditions and first language (Chakanika et al., 2012). Following a sociocultural
interpretation, Chakanika et al. (2012) observed that learning outcomes increased when
instruction occurred in the learners’ first language or an acquainted language with close
indigenous understanding. The author proposed incorporating indigenous knowledge systems
into technology-driven training designs by preserving local language and ethnic character aspects
to maximize intervention outcomes (Mutekwe, 2018). According to Mutekwe (2018), integrating
IKS into ICTs based learning platforms would help rural learners assimilate foreign concepts and
language translations to suit rural knowledge requirements.
Pedro et al. (2018) suggested that innovative teacher training schemes consider space for
discovery, inquiry, debate, explanation, and lecturing into program designs. Combining
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technology-based theory and indigenous knowledge would show respect for the rural
community’s continuance as a cultural ecosystem, as the rural community’s integration into the
innovative global learning environment occurs (Mutekwe, 2018). Along these lines, ILO (2016)
advocated the need for on-site training to legitimize a teacher’s culture and build on their
strengths, values, and language competencies while recognizing local practices and beliefs.
Gender Inequity
According to ILO (2016), there continued to be drastic differences in teacher gender
parity in Sub-Saharan Africa rural areas and attributed female shortages to lifestyle, health, and
safety factors that presented barriers to the international educator community’s engagement in
rural areas education schemes. Mulkeen and Chen (2008) pointed to cultural difficulties and
safety concerns for unmarried women assigned to rural communities, such as family separation
and family reluctance to move for cultural or financial reasons (Chakanika et al., 2012). Rural
area administrators’ insensitivities to gender issues also affected female teacher recruitment and
support within the rural teacher profession (Chakanika et al., 2012). ILO (2016) observed that
attempts to increase the number of women teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa had not made
significant inroads. Failures to redress these concerns stemmed from failures to understand the
role of women in rural community education, women’s need to interact with technology, and
policy weaknesses to support female teachers’ recruitment, deployment, and continued training
and support (ILO, 2016).
Organizational Factors
This section considers literature related to policies and guidelines assessing the feasibility
of introducing ICTs into rural teacher training schemes by considering rural area needs and
assets required to integrate community-based teacher training ICTs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Clark
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and Estes (2008) affirmed that organizational culture invariably permeates an organization’s
structure and influences all attempts to improve performance. Therefore, for successful
innovative rural teacher training initiatives to succeed, the cultural structure influencing rural
teacher training enterprises requires careful consideration. For instance, Clark and Estes (2008)
advised that any missing or faulty processes at any stage in the organizational structure would
affect organization performance needs. Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) contended that
improving learning and achievement in complex settings requires feasibility analysis to penetrate
organizational systems, processes, and dynamics of culture as they affect the environment and
reform agenda adoption. McAleavy et al. (2018) reasoned that sustaining technology-facilitated
education change initiatives, overall, depended on what transpired before, during, and after the
removal of a program’s external support.
Cha et al. (2020) acknowledged that creating ICTs integrated learning environments in
developing countries faced barriers because of limited infrastructure, educational resources, and
skilled teachers. The authors cautioned that development partners should avoid integrating
technology-assisted learning into developing countries assuming the same context and usage of
models in advanced nations, but rather consider the project feasibility factoring the needs and
assets to support technological interventions within developing nations’ rural settings (Cha et al.,
2020). Researchers encouraged education developers to devise comprehensive solutions to
support broader organization elements (macro-level factors) such as multi-level partnership setup
ups and budgetary factors, national policy environments, and systems requirements (such as
infrastructure, network connectivity, and electrification) to support rural teacher training (Balfour
et al., 2012; Souter et al., 2014). The scholars also called for a directed focus on macro-level
processes’ influence on micro-level outcomes of an organization, such as rural area teacher
46
recruitment, deployment, and retention strategies to determine program success (Balfour et al.,
2012; Souter et al., 2014).
Macro-Level Factors
The following section discusses macro-level factors affecting the feasibility of integrating
SVL ICTs into rural teacher training schemes: multi-level partnerships, policy environments,
infrastructural, network connectivity, and electrification considerations.
Multi-Level Partnerships. Because of national scandals such as “Cashgate” in 2013,
which attributed weaknesses in the Malawian government’s financial systems, donor funding to
Malawi from private and non-governmental organization (NGO) agencies had waned (Zulu et
al., 2017). Therefore, the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Education was reduced to 13%
in 2016/2017 from 18% in 2014/2015 (Zulu et al., 2017). For this reason, MoEST endeavored to
explore distance and parallel modes of teacher training to ease cost burdens resulting from
limited teacher development funding avenues. Further, MoEST developed a more welcoming
climate to encourage global multi-level support from education and technology development
partners. With education collaborators, the ministry of education aimed to enhance distance
learning infrastructure, design digital curriculum and related educational materials and resource
repositories, craft suited pedagogical administration practices, and plan quality assurance and
evaluation measures (MoEST, 2020).
Policy Environment. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) penned a comparative
analysis paper on ICTs and basic e-Readiness in schools in developing countries. The research
found that the usage of ICTs in Sub-Saharan African education was at a “particularly embryonic
stage” (p. 20). Souter et al. (2014) realized the difficulties developing countries faced with
creating, carrying out, and revising policies and procedures to keep pace with growing market
47
structures and advances in technology. Balfour et al. (2012) attributed shortfalls in education
delivery to inefficient education policies and practical actions intended to inform rural teacher
training practices.
UNESCO (2018) found the need for policy-makers, teacher support personnel, and
professional development providers to encourage contextualization and adaptation of ICTs based
teacher training policies to align with national education reform policies and rural social
priorities. Along these lines, the Malawi government has enacted varied ICT and education
policy measures to address rural area teacher shortages. For example, Asim et al. (2019) cited
some national education policy measures to increase qualified teacher numbers by improving the
system’s capacity to recruit and train new teachers. However, according to the researchers, the
gradual increase of teachers into the education sector had a net-negative result due to “poorly or
vaguely defined policies and inconsistent implementation” (Asim et al., 2019, p. 32). Therefore,
the ILO (2016) suggested that implementing ICTs based learning designs into rural training
practice requires institutional support, centralized coordination, partnership, and cooperation
beyond program piloting stages.
Despite the complex meanings and outcomes, decentralized policies also merit
consideration in developing rural sector change initiatives (Dickovick, 2013). Olowu and
Wunsch (2004) critiqued systematic decentralization policies that informed decentralized
practices without comprehensive community needs appraisals. Wamba and Mgomezulu (2014)
explained that foreign institutions often demanded African states’ commitment to predetermined
educational reform agendas as a condition for aid allocation. The commitments tied African
states to foreign-mediated solutions with minimum intended reform-beneficiary consultation.
Therefore, Souter et al. (2014) concluded over-reliance on mixed international agendas, serving
48
donors’ interests, created many standalone and unsustainable projects (Souter et al., 2014).
Therefore, Crook (2003) recommended decentralization efforts occur within the broader
economic and sociopolitical milieu of the change beneficiaries’ ecosystems to avoid foreign
interventions without sufficient grassroots guidance.
Infrastructure, Network Connectivity, and Electrification Considerations. EdTech
(2020) observed that ICTs-based eLearning requires facilities such as electricity, access data
connectivity, and the devices through which the eLearning occurs. UNESCO (2015) highlighted
the challenges of integrating technology-based teacher training schemes into Sub-Saharan Africa
rural contexts emerging from inadequate frameworks to support robust ICTs programs. For
instance, weak infrastructure systems challenged Malawi rural communities, affecting rural
sector access to distance learning education schemes (World Bank, 2021). In this context, Souter
et al. (2014) submitted the potential of innovative technology-assisted learning schemes that are
less reliant on conventional electrification, network, and device requirements to lessen barriers to
entry into technology-restricted rural settings.
Souter et al. (2014) detected that weak networking systems would not support robust,
reliable online access to support ICTs based teacher training ventures in many developing
nations’ rural communities. The 2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for All initiative
and the 2015 United Nations (U.N.) Millennium Development Goals highlighted electricity and
network access as critical elements in rural community development programs (UNESCO,
2015). Considering electricity as a vital form of energy required to increase rural communities’
access through technology (Mandelli et al., 2014), many other Sub-Saharan African countries, to
varying degrees, have engaged with rural area electrification programs stressing its utility.
However, high cost-burdens to sustain electric power and network grid demanded alternative and
49
more affordable energy sources (Ordonez, 2011). For instance, the impact of low energy supply
in Malawi was prominent, with only 11.4% of the population having access to electricity due to
cost burdens and shortages in electrification infrastructure (World Bank, 2021).
Mandelli et al. (2014) evaluated 350 research papers on various rural area electrification
systems in Sub-Saharan Africa to determine alternative and affordable alternate energy sources
to support rural education needs. Several findings from the research recommended using off-grid
small-scale electrification systems as an initial step in addressing rural environment educational
electrification demands (Cook, 2011; Mandelli et al., 2014; Thiam, 2011; UNESCO, 2015). In
addition, with power concerns addressed through solar technologies, satellite Internet
technologies powered through solar-power technologies could provide a viable alternative to
handle network connectivity challenges in resource-limited rural areas (Ground Control, 2021).
Micro-Level Factors
The study approached pre- and in-service primary and secondary teacher training
schemes, teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention as outcomes of broader (macro-level)
institutional policies and systems requirements to support an SVL ICTs modular lab system. The
following sessions consider pre- and in-service teacher training dynamics; and rural teacher
recruitment, deployment, and retention schemes related to rural teacher training practices in rural
Sub-Saharan Africa communities.
Pre- and In-Service Primary and Secondary Teacher Training. The Malawi
education system adopted various teacher training strategies for pre- and in-service primary and
secondary school teachers supported through teacher development centers (TDCs) and unassisted
private agencies (MoEST, 2015). According to Banda (2012), TDCs were integral to the Malawi
national education reform agenda. However, the Malawi government found that supporting
50
sustained professional training for rural area teachers through the TDC framework presented
several challenges. Banda (2012) found most rural teachers had limited engagement with TDC
activities due to long travel distances to training centers, a desire for monetary gains for
attendance, infective management of development center operations, a lack of adequately trained
teacher trainers, limited teacher resources at the facilities, and unclear teacher training policies.
Domasi College of Education was the largest government-supported specialized
secondary teacher training institution in Malawi, offering dual-mode education, onsite, and
online distance learning (ODL). The college’s mission was to increase access to teacher
development and reduce education disparities by training teachers and deploying both diploma
and degree-level qualified teachers. The ODL program received initial funding from the
Canadian International Agency (CIDA) through the Secondary School Teacher Education
Project (Chawera & Saiti, 2002). Six private institutions, such as Development from People to
People (DAPP), a local NGO in Malawi, and other international organizations, carried additional
secondary training, producing 500 teachers annually. Chancellor College and Mzuzu University
had annual intakes of 40 unqualified secondary school teachers to upgrade to a university-level
certificate in Education (MoEST, 2015). However, the sum of qualified teachers does not address
national and rural area teacher demands (Asim et al., 2019). The following section further
assesses teachers’ recruitment, deployment, and rural teacher retention practices to evaluate the
feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs teacher training schemes to meet rural area teacher training
needs.
Rural Teacher Recruitment, Deployment and Retention. Training rural teachers, the
most significant public investment in high poverty area education, incurs multifaceted
complexities (Garcia & Weiss, 2019). To address teacher training challenges, in 2005, the
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Malawi government established the Initial Primary Teacher Education (IPTE) teacher training
program; since the launch of IPTE, most prospective teachers have entered the profession
through the initiative. The program comprises residential training for a year and an additional
year of in-school specialization at a teacher’s closest teacher training college (TTCs). Malawi has
eight TTCs managed by the Department of Teacher Education and Development (DTED), a
component of MoEST; there are an additional eight TTCs that maintain self-autonomy (Hau &
Nampota, 2016). The challenge faced by the collective training force in Malawi is capacity
limitations to train and develop enough pre- and in-service teachers to meet education demands.
For instance, Asim et al. (2019) found that TTCs received 20,000 teacher applications in 2015
for only 3186 available training spots. Of the limited teachers recruited, few will deploy into
rural areas. Asim et al. (2019) observed “there is no process through which teachers selected are
particularly likely to be willing to endure some hardship to work in rural or remote areas” (p.
30).
UNESCO (2015) also associated deployment gaps with preferences and stigmatizations
attributed to rural community posts as burdensome. Hedges (2002) provided the following
example:
There is a profound fear among newly trained teachers with a modern individualistic
outlook that if you spend too much time in an isolated village without access to further
education, you become a ‘village man,’ a term which strongly conveys the perceived
ignorance of rural dwellers in the eyes of some urban educated. (p. 364)
Asim et al. (2019) pointed out that inequitable teacher distribution in Malawi was severe.
In recent years, the government has enacted various reforms and policy agendas to address
teacher distribution to increase qualified teacher supply in rural communities. However, these
52
measures have had little impact on the overall level of variation in rural area pupil-to-teacher
ratios (PTR), with rural regions assuming the bulk of underserved schools with PTR ratios of
1:137 or more (Asim et al., 2019). The other challenge the government has faced affecting
teacher distribution is persistent deployment delays. For instance, graduates wait two or more
years before assignment (Asim et al., 2019). Delays in teacher deployment mean that many
qualified teachers never enter the profession. Asim et al. (2019) found that around 20% of 2014
IPTE graduates left before the eligible deployment two years later, in 2016.
Considering the likelihood of training teachers within the rural environment, studies
(Akyeampong et al., 2016; ILO, 2016) showed a higher propensity for native rural teachers to
remain in their communities, factoring group connections, established social structures,
familiarity with the language, customs, and social acceptance. UNESCO (2015) detailed the
benefit of introducing technology-based systems to facilitate in-community rural area teacher
induction and professional development to mitigate attrition and improve retention. UNESCO
also stated the closer social distance in customs, religious practice, and gender relationships of
rural teachers to students and the broader community positively impacted the teacher’s personal
affairs and professional practice. Therefore, studies have found that enlisting unprepared teachers
and training teachers from within the community offered promise (ILO, 2016; Mulkeen, 2010).
However, despite the potential of ICTs to broach rural teacher development gaps and facilitate
community-based learning, Harris et al. (2009) cautioned that each teacher education situation is
unique and requires an interweaving of several factors of which no single technological solution
can solve without providing the flexibility to navigate the complex interaction in specific
contexts.
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Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework guiding this research took from a broad selection of literature
surrounding rural area teacher training schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa to analyze the needs and
assets required to implement SVL ICTs platforms for pre- and in-service rural area teacher
training in Malawi. The conceptual framework aimed to provide a visual representation of the
exploration problem of practice, the research direction, and the relationship between the study
variables (Grant & Osanloo, 2014).
Sources that inform a conceptual framework include a researcher’s knowledge and
experience; emerging theories; exploratory research or study; and experimentation (Maxwell,
2013). The guiding prism of this research derived from the researcher’s personal experiences as
an educator and a humanitarian, through prior and new knowledge gained through the literature
review process, from the Clark and Estes (2008) KMO model, and the Vygotsky’s (1978)
sociocultural theory. Adapted to this research, the KMO model assessed critical knowledge,
motivation, and organizational factors in training qualified rural area teachers and the feasibility
of using community-based SVL ICTs to train teachers within the rural environment (Clark &
Estes, 2008). The Vygotsky integrated sociocultural framework considered critical cultural
variables affecting adopting foreign mediated teacher training ICTs based platforms into rural
settings in Malawi (Gredler, 2008). These models served as strength-based theoretical
frameworks to help connect themes and concepts rooted in the guiding outline derived from the
conceptual framework.
Conceptual Framework Diagram
The conceptual framework that guided this research is shown in Figure 1. Grounded in
the Clark and Estes (2008) KMO model and the Vygotsky (1978) sociocultural theory, this field
54
study applied the KMO model and sociocultural theory to the problem of identifying knowledge,
motivation, organization, and sociocultural needs and assets related to implementing SVL ICTs
and to determine the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-
based teacher training in Malawi. This figure shows in Quadrant 1 (QI) the Knowledge (K) and
Motivation (M) Factors affecting rural area teachers ICTs related capacities by addressing rural
teachers’ and administrators ICTs related skills, curriculum absorption requirements, and non-
local teacher training intervention approaches. M factors assessed rural area teacher
empowerment and support system needs.
The Sociocultural Factors (S) in Quadrant 2 (QII) identify the teachers’ cultural and
social realities to determine teachers’ capacities to undergo training through SVL ICTs
platforms. Factors considered include the role of critical stakeholders and the impact of foreign
interventions, rural cultural dynamics, traditional governance, gender equity concerns, language,
and IKS factors.
Macro-Level Organizational (O) Factors (Q IIIA) assessed multi-level partnerships and
budgetary factors, the policy environment, infrastructure, network connectivity, and
electrification concerns. The diagram bottom right quadrant Micro-Level O Factors (QIIIB)
considered the pre- and in-service rural teacher recruitment, deployment, retention schemes, and
community-based training considerations.
Macro-Level Organizational Factors (QIIIA) influence Micro-Level Organizational
Factors (QIIIB) outcomes. QIIIA also has a one-way directional influence on knowledge and
motivational (QI) and sociocultural facets (QII) of remote area teachers’ training. The collective
appraisal of these critical factors (QI, QII, QIIIA, QIIIB) considers the needs and assets and
55
informs the research on the feasibility of integrating community-based SVL ICTs initiatives to
train qualified teacher supply in remote areas of Malawi.
Figure 1
Conceptual Framework: ICTs Based Rural Area Teacher Training
Note: Figure created by author to demonstrate linkages.
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Summary
ICTs based teacher training systems can help address teacher training needs in rural Sub-
Saharan Africa environments, but only if the interventional designs account for the unique
contextual factors prohibitive to technology-based interventions in rural settings. Implementing
education reform systems such as SVL ICTs will require development partners to consider
knowledge, motivation, organization, and sociocultural needs and assets. Rural teachers and
administrators must possess the knowledge and skills to integrate SVL ICTs into rural teacher
training practice. Therefore, it is essential to assess the rural teachers’ and administrators’ ICTs
related capabilities and the needs required to develop the capacities to adopt ICTs based learning
platforms. The rural education sector “staffed with a cohort of untrained teachers” (Chakanika et
al., 2012, p. 9) continues to face motivational challenges, such as weak empowerment and
support systems that need accounting to determine if community-based SVL ICTs can mitigate
these motivational barriers. In addition, development partners must know the unique
sociocultural influences, such as the stakeholders involved in rural education schemes, the
impact of foreign intervention to train rural teachers considering language, indigenous
knowledge systems, and gender equity factors.
The ministry of education of Malawi (MoEST) has acknowledged that access to “an
efficient education system” provides the basis for social development (German Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation and Development [BMZ], 2021, p. 1) and recognizes the need to
encourage innovative solutions to improve rural teacher performance outcomes. However,
change reform partners must know the scale of resource limitations in rural areas required to
support technological-facilitated training programs. Organizational challenges range from
macro-level factor considerations such as multi-level partnership and budgetary arrangements, a
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supportive but ill-defined rural policy environment, limited to non-existent technology required
infrastructure, to micro rural teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention process, to the
feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs into rural teacher training practice. Thus, designing
technology-based interventions to address rural teacher demands must identify the current
organizational assets to support the successful implementation of community-based SVL ICTs
suited to rural teacher training demands, the cultural context, and the barriers and gaps that
would require elimination or further development.
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Chapter Three: Methodology
This chapter presents the methodology and research approach used to study the
knowledge, motivation, organization, and sociocultural factors that influence integrating
community-based SVL ICTs to train qualified teachers in rural areas in Malawi. The following
section lists the research questions that guided this study. After that, the researcher provides an
overview of methodological design, a description of the research setting, a profile on the
researcher’s positionality, and a delineation of data sources and analysis. The chapter concludes
with detailing the validity and reliability strategies, ethical considerations with enlisting human
participants, and a chapter conclusion.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided this study:
1. What knowledge, motivational, and sociocultural needs and assets are required to
implement SVL ICTs for pre-service and in-service teacher training in rural areas in
Malawi?
2. How feasible are foreign mediated SVL ICTs for community-based pre-service and
in-service teacher training in rural areas in Malawi?
Overview of Design
The study followed a qualitative design with a phenomenological approach to answer the
key research questions and address the study’s purpose (Creswell, 2014). In phenomenology, the
analysis “attends to ferreting out the essence of the basic structure of a phenomenon” to capture
the essence of a lived experience (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 227). Using the
phenomenological design, the researcher aims to avoid a personal judgment to reflect on the
participants’ human experiences to get to the essence of a particular phenomenon (Merriam &
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Tisdell, 2016). The benefit of the phenomenological approach is it facilitates an inquiry and
exploratory process by integrating a comprehensive view of participants lived experiences within
their natural environment and aids in providing a lens to analyze the influence of disruptive
reform agendas within on participants within the natural settings (Creswell, 2014; Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016).
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) contended qualitative designs with a phenomenological
approach provide several data analysis techniques to provide a more in-depth approach for
evaluating participant lived experiences. The benefits of combining a qualitative method design
and a phenomenological approach are that the data collection process and analysis phases must
be simultaneous, and entail methodical classification of persons, events, things, and respective
properties (Creswell, 2014). Interviews will facilitate the data collection process for the
qualitative component of this research design. Interview data aims to gain participant
perspectives by the researcher and gather non-observable insight, such as participants’ thoughts
and feelings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). For this reason, interviews will provide rich data on the
participants’ knowledge of ICTs based training systems and attitudes towards integrating
community-based SVL ICTs into rural area teacher training schemes. The interviews will also
help gain direct participant perspectives on knowledge, motivation, organization, and
sociocultural factors related to the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs as teacher training
modalities in rural communities.
Research Setting
The research setting in which this qualitative methods study occurred is in Malawi, with
participants in Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Blantyre, and rural communities situated around Blantyre. All
participants included rural area community teachers, rural teacher administrators, and officials
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from the government education sector, university educators, and information technology
technicians. The rural teacher participants held current or former teaching positions as rural area
secondary school and primary school teachers. These selected participants were appropriate for
this study as educators and administrators with direct rural teacher experience in rural teacher
training arrangements.
The Researcher
In any qualitative research study, the researcher’s engagement with the field raises
potential ethical questions and personal bias in the research process. Qualitative research
suggests that researchers should be aware of personal biases and attend to the participant’s values
and demographic factors such as gender, social and cultural factors that influence the
researcher’s perceptions (Creswell, 2014). The researcher subscribes to a philosophical position
referred to as the “transformative worldview” (Creswell, 2014, p. 47). This position focuses on
the plight of marginalized and disenfranchised individuals or communities, emphasizing the
centrality of oppression and injustice on the disenfranchised predicament, and considers means
to transform the negative legacies. Therefore, the researcher is aware of potential bias because
underserved communities’ challenges stem from social injustice and political and economic
inequity.
The researcher’s interest in this topic stemmed from familial ties to Malawi and a desire
to improve the quality of Sub-Saharan Africa’s underserved sectors through improving access to
education. The researcher has been involved in philanthropic affairs in underdeveloped countries
in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East for almost 21 years. The researcher has held formal teaching
and leadership positions in the corporate, charitable, and education sectors for over 23 years. The
researcher’s theoretic and practical multi-sector expertise enhanced the researcher’s
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understanding, cognizance, and sensitivity to the impact of education inequity in underserved
areas during the study.
Data Sources
Data collection transpired through a single-phase, qualitative methods approach to gather
information on the knowledge, motivation, organization, and sociocultural factors related to
integrating community-based SVL ICTs teacher training schemes to train rural area teachers in
Malawi. The researchers selected interview participants and study locations for suitability to
answer the study’s research questions. The study’s qualitative data was gathered from the
prevalent person-to-person interview format, coded, categorized into themes, and examined for
results (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The purposeful sampling of the selected participants helped
develop a deeper understanding of how KMO and sociocultural factors influence the feasibility
of integrating community-based SVL ICTs to train qualified pre- and in-service teachers within
the rural environment in Malawi.
Participants
This study used purposeful sampling to select participants and achieve sufficient variety
in data collection (Maxwell, 2013). Patton (2015) noted “The logic and power qualitative
purposeful sampling derives from the emphasis on an in-depth understanding of specific cases:
information-rich cases” (p. 53). For this study, purposeful sampling helped select information-
rich participants that could provide KMO and sociocultural information about the purpose of the
inquiry to determine the needs and assets required to train rural area teachers in Malawi using
community-based SVL ICTs, and the feasibility of integrating technology-driven teacher training
schemes into rural communities.
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The ministry of education in Malawi (MoEST) has disclosed the desire to engage
international development partners and educators to assist with national rural area teacher
training plans using distance and e-learning platforms. All participant selections considered the
participant’s specialized experience with rural area teacher education systems, the education
arrangement, and ability to assess the feasibility of introducing technology-facilitated teacher
training schemes into rural areas in Malawi.
The selected seven participants comprised a high-ranking official from the ministry of
education (MoEST) responsible for overseeing national teacher development (the official also
had extensive experience as a rural area teacher trainer and supervisor); a senior lecturer from the
University of Mzuzu (with expertise in the history of education in Malawi); a university lecturer
from the University of Malawi (and also a rural area teacher developer); one senior director from
MoEST, responsible for national education information technology integration; a non-
government organization rural area teacher developer (formerly a rural area teacher); and two
current rural area teachers employed by the Malawi government. Though this was a small sample
size, the researcher divided sample groups into small subgroups (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) to
derive specific information. The subgroups (with some groups, including overlapping
participants) were three current and former rural teachers, four teacher administrators/developers,
two teacher educators, two government officials, and one government IT administrator. Each of
the subgroups interviewed provided a comprehensive perspective on the feasibility of integrating
SVL ICTs to facilitate rural community teacher professional teacher training. None of the
participants worked in the exact location to further diversify the participants’ perspectives.
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Instrumentation
This study used a semi-structured interview protocol to gather qualitative data (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). The interview protocol for this qualitative design used an investigational
perspective to draw rich data suited for this still to balance highly structured methods with an
unstructured, flexible approach to provide flexibility in questioning responses from participants
(Creswell, 2014). The informal and structured open-ended interview format helped solicit
participants’ viewpoints and experiences related to the problem of practice while mitigating the
researcher’s perspectives on the topic (Turner, 2010). This method worked well for this research
because of the predetermined questions, and it also allowed spontaneous responses, questions,
and probing to occur.
The researcher selected each participant to contribute a unique perspective to the
interview, considering all participants were Malawian residents and had engaged with rural area
education dynamics over several years. Hence, using the purposeful sampling interview
approach allowed each participant to express their views on the topic and proposed models in the
research.
The interview questions (See Appendix A) related to this study’s research questions and
conceptual framework. The crafted research questions were to understand the problem of
practice, whereas the interview questions provided the means to understand the topic (Maxwell,
2013). Therefore, the semi-structured interview protocol design intended to identify knowledge,
motivation, organization, and sociocultural needs and assets related to implementing SVL ICTs
and to determine the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-
based teacher training in Malawi. The knowledge questions focused on eliciting participants’
knowledge of ICTs and rural teachers’ technological capacities to learn through ICTs based
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mediation. The motivation questions assessed rural teachers’ professional motivation and
whether community-based technology-assisted training could mitigate rural teachers’
motivational barriers. Sociocultural questions aimed to determine the influence of rural area
sociocultural realities and the influence on accepting foreign-mediated technology-driven change
initiatives into the rural settings. The purpose of the second question analyzed organizational
barriers and assets related to the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural
community-based teacher training.
Therefore, the design of the interview questions aimed to respond to one or both research
questions touching on specific knowledge, motivation, sociocultural, or organizational concepts
aligned with this study’s conceptual framework. An example of this is a sociocultural question
that asked, “what would you say are the challenges teachers face in rural communities regarding
community views of education and the teaching profession?” This question purposed to
determine the rural community’s view toward the rural teacher profession. Organizational factor
questions derived from questions like “if an ICTs program were to be implemented, what
capacities in terms of support would be required? To what extent would you say those resources
or processes are in place?” All questions related to KMO or sociocultural factors and concepts
associated with this study’s inquiry.
Data Collection Procedures
The first step in collecting data was to seek permission and approval. Approval to
conduct this research study received approval from the USC Institutional Review Board (IRB) in
the winter of 2021, and consent and engagement procedures with rural teachers came from a
Senior Official from the ministry of education (MoEST) in Malawi.
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Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all data collection transpired remotely per
guidelines issued by the University of Southern California’s (USC) IRB. All the interviews took
place on Zoom, an online video conferencing platform. This video conferencing setup allowed
the researcher to conduct virtual interviews without being in the same physical location as the
participants (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Zoom’s recordings and audio transcripts captured the
live interviews and content. The researcher, for complete accuracy, then cleaned up the entire
transcript content.
All the participants consented to the optional Zoom recordings and received alternative
options for phone interviews. The live interviews transpired at the date and time of the
participants’ choosing and ranged from 45 to 90 minutes. Three interviews extended beyond the
60-minute timeframe to 90 minutes due to technical challenges connecting on the Zoom
platform. All affected by technological challenges consented to extend the interview time (as
captured in the recordings and the transcripts). The researcher required no additional information
from the participants after the interviews.
Data Analysis
This study used comprehensive qualitative data analysis to identify and describe patterns
and themes to understand data collected during and through the interview process. Interviews
conducted on Zoom were first evaluated individually, transcribed, and then collectively used to
determine the KMO and sociocultural factors related to assessing the feasibility of integrating
community-based SVL ICTs platforms into rural area teacher training schemes in Malawi.
After the initial interviews, transcripts were downloaded from Zoom and converted into a
document format, and reviewed based on the recording audio transcript to correct any errors
because of technical glitches and meet standard language conventions. After transcribing the
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interviews, the researcher uploaded documents into Atlas.ti, a qualitative data analysis software
program. Atlas.ti is a de-linearized design that “fosters a deeper understanding of the researched
phenomenon, supporting the building up of a context of discovery” (Silver & Lewins, 2014, p.
2). Creswell (2014) recognized that computer-aided software allows the researcher to store and
efficiently locate qualitative data. This researcher’s next step was to code the data using the
theoretical and conceptual frameworks and the literature review concepts. Additional emergent
codes developed during the coding process based on additional data findings (Gibbs, 2018).
Validity and Reliability
Qualitative validity aims to determine the accuracy of research from the vantage point of
the researcher, the participant(s), and or the readers through the means of designed procedures
(Creswell, 2014). Qualitative reliability verifies that the research approach remains consistent
across established research, is credible, and trustworthy (Creswell, 2014; Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Both validity and reliability were important to consider in this study to allow for accurate
data interpretation, avoid researcher influence on the data, and data limitations in only providing
a snapshot and not a comprehensive view of reality. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) stressed the
need to conduct adequate engagement in the data collection process. This study conducted
multiple interviews to support validity and credibility. As mentioned in the “Participant” section,
participants were divided into subgroups to ensure that each facet of the study (KMO and
sociocultural aspects) held a representative voice to avoid overlap in function. No interviews
transpired with participants within the same working domain.
Reliability also played a crucial role in safeguarding the accuracy of this qualitative data
collection and analysis. Creswell (2014) recommended scrupulous documentation of the
processes and procedural steps to secure qualitative research reliability. For this research,
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ensuring reliability entailed transcript editorial reviews, generating consistency in the definition
and meaning of codes, precise coordination communicating with participants, and code cross-
checking to generate a high coding consistency outcome (Miles & Huberman, 1994). The section
on the “Researcher” clarified the researcher’s biases, allowing for a candid narrative. This
process, referred to as reflexivity, allowed for an ongoing reflection and examination of the
researcher’s assumptions and preconceptions because of the potential impact of qualitative
research on the researcher and participants (Creswell, 2014).
Ethical Considerations
According to Creswell (2014) a researcher must protect the participants’ rights, values,
and desires. Considering that revealing sensitive information and positional concerns factored
into the interactions between the researcher and participants, the researcher used different
methods to minimize the risk to participants from potential harm:
1. from the onset, the research took diligent efforts to conduct an ethical study and
contextualize research methods to account for the local environment in which the
study took place;
2. participation was voluntary, and the researcher took the utmost care to keep
conversations confidential;
3. articulation of the objectives of the research was provided to participants in writing,
providing the participants with a written research exemption form and sufficient time
to decline or consent to take part in the research;
4. a notification was provided to participants that no incentive or compensations were to
be provided to avoid any potential coercion; instead, due to the geographic distance
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and COVID-19 restrictions, participants received an appreciation email at the end of
the study;
5. to adhere to the IRB’s guidelines and requirements to protect human subjects’
welfare, rights, and privacy, participant confidentiality was protected by providing a
separate permission form to record the conversation and secure data via a passcode.
Conclusion
This chapter introduced and discussed the methods and design of this research. This study
used a comprehensive approach to discussing the relevance of a qualitative design in research.
The chapter addressed the contextualization of research within its geographical setting, the
importance of multi-sourced data derived through deductive and inductive means, and the
research methods and instruments used in the study. Reflection on the researcher’s experiences,
cultural dynamics, and biases helped foster objectivity in interpreting data and address potential
ethical concerns.
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Chapter Four: Results and Findings
The purpose of this research was to identify knowledge, motivation, organization, and
sociocultural needs and assets related to implementing SVL ICTs to train rural teachers and to
determine the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-based
teacher training. Using Clark and Estes (2008) KMO model and Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural
framework provided a theoretical framework to analyze the knowledge, motivation,
organization, and sociocultural factors related to implementing SVL ICTs to train rural teachers
and to determine the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-
based teacher training. The remainder of the chapter presents the findings and influences related
to this research study. The following research questions guided this study:
1. What knowledge, motivational, and sociocultural needs and assets are required to
implement SVL ICTs for pre-service and in-service teacher training in rural areas in
Malawi?
2. How feasible are foreign mediated SVL ICTs for community-based pre-service and
in-service teacher training in rural areas in Malawi?
Research Participants
As shown in Table 1, the participants of this study were all residents in Malawi and tied
to rural area education and teacher training. Study participants received an email invitation to
participate in the research, followed by text messaging or a phone call to describe the study. The
participants comprised a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Education Science and
Technology (MoEST) responsible for overseeing national teacher development; a senior lecturer
from the University of Mzuzu; a university lecturer from the University of Malawi; a senior
director from MoEST, responsible for national education information technology integration; a
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non-government organization (NGO) rural area teacher developer; and two current rural area
teachers employed by the Malawi government. All seven participants (N=7) agreed to participate
in the study and completed a 45–90 minute interview session. Two participants identified as
female, while five identified as male. Because of the small participant size, not included are
participant job titles and potential identifiers to preserve the anonymity of the participants. For
the study, participants’ designations are: Participant 1–7, abbreviated P1–P7 for identification.
Table 1
Participant Demographics
Job title
P1 Teacher trainer and lecturer, University of Malawi
P2 Senior lecturer, student developer, Mzuzu University
P3 Senior officer, teacher education and development, (MoEST)
P4 Rural teacher developer, former rural area teacher
P5 Director, ICT education, (MoEST)
P6 Rural area teacher, Malawi government
P7 Rural area teacher, Malawi government
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Results and Findings
The first research question asked what knowledge, motivational, and sociocultural needs
and assets are required for adopting SVL ICTs platforms for pre- and in-service rural area
teacher training in Malawi. This section assesses the Knowledge, Motivation, and Sociocultural
factors related to RQ1 and integrates the conceptual framework (Chapter Two) informed by the
Research Methodology (Chapter Three). Critical factors in the conceptual framework are divided
into four grouped elements to align the research analysis with the research questions. Q1: K and
M Factors; QII: S Factors; QIIIA: Macro Level O Factors; QIIIB: Micro-Level O. The chapter
also extends the feasibility study discussed in Chapter One by providing knowledge, motivation,
organization, and sociocultural feasibility analysis conclusions. Also presented in this chapter are
additional insights on knowledge, motivation, organization, and sociocultural provided by the
study participants.
Results Research Question 1
What knowledge, motivational, and sociocultural needs and assets are required to
implement SVL ICTs for pre-service and in-service teacher training in rural areas in Malawi?
Knowledge Results
This section explored particular areas of rural area teachers’ knowledge and rural
communities’ general knowledge related to ICTs to determine readiness to integrate community-
based SVL ICTs into the teacher training schemes. The literature review and conceptual
framework for this study focused on three areas of knowledge relating to technology, pedagogy,
and digital content required to determine the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs into rural area
teacher training schemes. The knowledge influences included: rural area teacher and
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administrator ICTs related skills; rural area teacher curriculum absorption; and non-localized
theoretical approaches to rural area teacher training.
Overall, despite limited engagement with ICTs and online learning platforms post-
professional training, rural area teachers showed general knowledge surrounding ICTs to engage
with technology-facilitated learning platforms. However, adopting rural community-based SVL
ICTs as a primary teacher training modality exposed significant gaps in technological knowledge
for rural teachers, administrators, and the general community. The findings showed collective
interest in adopting ICTs into rural teacher learning systems and the need to build rural teachers’
technical capacities to sustain continued technology-aided learning. The study participants also
contributed additional insights concerning increasing community awareness of ICTs benefits
through civic engagement. This section describes the findings and provides a feasibility analysis
summary related to these knowledge factors.
Conceptual Knowledge of ICTs
Rural area teachers and teacher training administrators exhibited a range of general
knowledge regarding ICTs, how they operate, and the potential for using the platforms for online
teacher training. All the participants understood ICTs as a unified communication platform and
explained the essential features required for systems integration. For example, P1, a rural teacher
developer, had extensive experience with ICTs technologies and learning platforms as a doctoral
candidate, university lecturer, and rural teacher developer for the ministry of education. P1
worked on a pilot program to integrate digital tablet technologies to train rural teachers in
mathematics and literacy in a teacher developer capacity. P1 also recalled an experience of
introducing radio, interactive video instruction to support teacher learning and provide classroom
instruction in rural schools.
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Rural teacher P6, the school librarian, exhibited far less direct engagement with ICTs in
formal capacities. P6, in explaining what ICTs are and for, focused on ICTs related devices,
referred to as “ICT gadgets,” the functions and usage of the technologies, and navigating through
online digital resources, but explained limited engagement with ICTs beyond exposure gained in
formal training and for personal usage. On the other side of the spectrum, P4, the ICTs education
program manager, demonstrated substantial ICTs related knowledge and helped inform rural
teachers’ technological challenges as an ICTs education project implementer. P4 captured the
essence of ICTs from a technical vantage point. P4’s definition of ICTs is used as a cultural
framework to analyze the topic in the rest of this study:
So, when looking at information, we are looking at computerized information ... the
process of making that information electronic, and then, how to communicate that
information from one point to the other. So that is all the technologies involved in the
production of the information and the communication or the transferring of information
from one point to the other, so the general word for it forms the umbrella of the ICTs.
In all, the participants demonstrated sufficient knowledge of ICTs’ basic framework and
usages. Of particular concern was the ability of the rural teacher to define ICTs frameworks as a
baseline for ICTs adoption in rural settings, of which all the teachers articulated sufficient
knowledge to facilitate analytical discussions related to this study inquiry. Related to the needs
and feasibility assessments was the necessity to determine the capacity levels of the teachers to
adopt SVL ICTs training without preliminary inductive training. The findings discovered that
actual engagement on ICTs in formal education capacities was limited. Three of the participants
had participated in asynchronous education in some context, primarily while in teacher training.
P4 was the only participant with extensive asynchronous learning derived from advanced online
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degree completion; however, no participants had experience with live synchronous learning in
formal education settings.
Procedural ICTs Knowledge
All participants acknowledged that rural area teachers and administrators had some
exposure to ICTs within the context of pre-service or during in-service training. Interview
participants communicated sufficient familiarity with ICTs for fundamental engagement, as
shown in the preceding section. However, all the study subjects expressed a need to increase
ICTs’ technical and online learning skills to integrate ICTs’ modalities for sustained rural teacher
training. For example, P6 said that rural teachers have difficulties accessing relevant online
content because of limited familiarity with technological device features to navigate learning
platforms. P6 also mentioned that teachers required basic computer functions training, such as
keyboarding, printing, and photocopying.
The government of Malawi has structured the teacher training sector to provide all
teachers with at least some primary exposure to ICTs before training completion. This setup
helped provide a baseline for this study to determine the minimal ICTs technical capacities pre-
and in-service primary and secondary school rural teachers possess. P3, an official responsible
for national teacher training programs, stated that every trained teacher in Malawi is “exposed to
some ICT gadget; this could be a computer, a tablet, or an LCD.” As discussed in this study’s
literature review, the Malawi primary school teacher training curriculum contains ICT-based
modules used to support “existing learning activities” and provide an introduction “to basic
computer skills like Microsoft Word, Excel” (P1). Secondary school teachers receive more
exposure to ICTs learning than primary school teachers’ because the curriculum needs to prepare
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the teachers to facilitate ICTs based classroom instruction. P3 assessed national teacher training
as such:
By the time we target someone to train as a teacher at a Teacher Training College, they
would have more than minimum basic knowledge of an ICT gadget; and therefore, I
think, regardless of where they are, even in the rural parts of Malawi, they should be able
to have the minimum entry point, the basic knowledge on which you can build.
However, post-training at the primary or secondary school level, teachers assigned to
rural schools were not likely to engage further with ICTs beyond personal usage. Factors
contributing to brief engagement with ICTs included lack of access to technology devices,
limited infrastructure to support technology usage, and online access. P7 stated it this way “we
do not have gadgets like computers … there is no Internet, and there is no electricity, and so it is
hard for people to use ICT in the villages.” P6, a rural area teacher, also confirmed that limited
access to “gadgets” and reliance on scarce “hard copies” for training and instruction in rural
settings limited technical and pedagogical knowledge expansion. In this sense, all participants
attributed rural teachers and administrators’ limited experience with ICTs and digital learning
platforms to the lack of access to the devices and online access rather than rural teacher and
administrator capacities to gain the required skills with further exposure and training. For these
reasons, P5 suggested that rural area teachers still required technological capacity building
regarding access to and training on engaging with technology-assisted platforms for continued
learning.
SVL ICTs Preparedness and Digital Curriculum Requirements
The analysis determined that rural teachers’ preparedness to use ICTs for teacher training
in rural settings varied based on whether the teachers were pre- or in-service and teaching at the
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primary or secondary school level. The interviews also disclosed that distance to teacher training
centers also affected preparedness, with teachers closer to urban centers having more ICTs
experience and skills because of logistical accessibility to training sites or cyber-stations (fee-
based computer labs).
Concerning the rural teacher administrator preparedness, the job function and work
location affected knowledge related to ICTs based systems. For instance, administrators with
high-ranking positions likely had a college degree or advanced credentialing, and therefore,
acquired technical training and sufficient resources to own personal ICTs related devices. Lower-
ranking administrators without a college degree or advanced credentials had limited exposure to
ICTs and digital curriculum within a professional and personal capacity. Based on these
considerations, five of the interviewees felt rural teachers had limited ICTs knowledge capacities
because of the prevalence of primary schools over secondary schools and, therefore, less teacher
exposure during training, the access limitations to training centers, and financial constraints to
afford personal devices, and rural-scarcity to infrastructure to power and connect ICTs based
systems.
Rural Teacher and Administrator Training Requirements
The interviews showed that rural teachers required induction on how SVL ICTs platforms
can facilitate live remote learning in line with conventional face-to-face learning methods. For
instance, P6 explained that rural teachers do not realize the capacity of synchronous virtual
platforms to facilitate live remote learning. In these lines, P1 proposed that it would be difficult
for rural teachers to achieve the needed perspective to integrate technology-based modalities into
professional training designs. P1 said that short of training that addressed the benefits of SVL
ICTs over current teacher training setups, ICTs based program absorption was likely to face
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challenges. P1, therefore, suggested the need for induction on systems benefits before program
integration and immersion. Along similar lines, this study’s literature review addressed the need
for instructor-led participatory coaching to facilitate the shift from traditional training to digital
modalities. Rural teacher, P6, captured the observation and framed the concept for the need for
participatory coaching:
We need to have some people who know these things to go to the villages and train the
teachers on using the gadgets. So, we need to train, get the knowledge from the experts,
bring the knowledge to us, train us, and tell us the benefits of using this technology.
Therefore, the interview data has found that initial training designs should include
immersive training, not only on ICTs designs and systems but perspective and thinking technique
shifts. For example, P6 observed that “we may take this technology to them, but, if not properly
planned, if not properly trained, it may not materialize because they do not have the knowledge
how to use the gadgets.” In these lines, Participant P3 mentioned the need for “some preparatory
build up knowledge” to establish “a baseline of some kind,” from which teachers can build
acceptance and capacities to conduct technology-facilitated training.
In a system in which administrators’ knowledge and experience tie to job function, four
participants highlighted the need for administrators’ knowledge of ICTs to supersede teachers’
knowledge based on bureaucracy. For instance, P6, a rural teacher, was quick to point out that
ensuring that administrators had sufficient ICTs related knowledge to guide the teachers would
limit “confusion later.” A consensus amongst all participants was that the administrators had
good to excellent knowledge of ICTs competencies; however, administrators required additional
training to meet formal ICTs training management standards and continued refresher training due
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to the dynamic nature of education technology. P3 said administrator oversight required either
capacity building or capacity refreshing based on formal ICTs engagement post-training.
Training Modalities Perspective Shift
As observed in the previous section, some participants mentioned the need for a
perspective shift for rural teachers to adopt technology-based modality training over traditional
methods. The reason for this emerging concern stems from the education system’s reliance on
traditional structures and cultural proclivities to face-to-face interactions to build trust. For
example, P1 said apprehension to online learning systems stemmed from the unease of learning
from “someone that is somewhere else.” Therefore, P1 said that rural teachers attributed “very
low value or low quality” to online learning, perceiving “poor quality” associated with proximal
distance and non-personal interaction. However, rural teacher P6 alluded to the potential benefit
of SVL ICTs if rural users understood that synchronous systems could provide direct, real-time
engagement, though in different spaces. P6 framed the perspective shift in these lines “It is
similar to someone learning on the campus; it is almost the same. The only difference is the
delivery; the mode of delivery is face-to-face, and the other uses technology.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a forced institutional shift has transpired on how best to
integrate technology-assisted learning into rural teacher training schemes. P3, a ministry of
education deciding figure in national teacher development schemes, provided the following
reaction:
COVID-19 has been a wake-up call, in the sense that we cannot always rely on the face-
to-face model of teacher training, so, we are situating ourselves to see how we can also
bring the factor of science and technology or ICT to enhance teacher training in Malawi
and for Malawi.
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Rural teacher developer, P1, hoped that rural teachers would be interested in adopting
technology-based training, stating “In the end, we want to improve teachers’ performance.” All
participants emphasized the need to raise rural teachers and rural community awareness that
synchronous learning entails engagement with a live person, like traditional face-to-face modes,
deliver, but just from a different vicinity.
Digital Curriculum Requirements
The literature review affirmed that rural teachers required access to technology-mediated
emerging pedagogies to bolster teacher competencies commensurate with global standards
(Darling-Hammond et al., 2017). Interview data supported the need for contextualized
curriculum designs in implementing rural community reform agendas. For instance, P1 stated
“Currently, I am not comfortable with over-relying on just an ICT model to prepare teachers;”
the discomfort related to apprehensions of technology-driven curriculum design capacities to
provide similar outcomes of those derived from traditional training modes. Interview participants
(P1, P2, & P4) disclosed that foreign-produced intervention curriculum designs often originated
without consultation from the intended education facilitators and beneficiaries.
In these lines, the interviews revealed the need for rural teacher administrators’ support
and training to participate in online curriculum and instructional delivery in the rural teacher
training process. P2 said that the administrators were central in facilitating rural teacher training
processes, as a function and being most familiar with national training requirements, and as
mediators, understanding rural teacher-learner needs. P2 advised that curricula designed with
administrator participation would lend to more successful outcomes in that administrators
understand the “context and challenges” related to rural teacher curriculum demands. P1 and P3
offered that the rural administrators could better penetrate the cultural intricacies and mediated
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between the program developers and the rural teachers to develop curriculum designs aligned
with national education standards.
Additional Insights on Knowledge
The respondents shared additional insights about knowledge factors related to
implementing synchronous learning platforms for teacher training in rural communities. The
insights touched on the necessity for comprehensive civic engagement to create awareness,
secure participation, and encourage community partnership in the local training schemes.
Four of the participants emphasized the need for rural community civic education for
successful program implementation. P3 suggested rural communities had suspicions concerning
the influence of ICTs on the communities stemming from unawareness to the benefits of ICTs
mediated learning. P3 said that a “majority” of people within rural environments would not have
a “basic know-how of an ICT” and that without providing awareness to ICTs benefits in teacher
education, there would be “pushback” given, “they do not understand what it does.” P4
recommended community “sensitization, to sell your idea.” P2 recommended pre-launch “civic
education” forums to facilitate what P6 called a “mindset change” from the idea that professional
training only occurred with “physically leaving the village.” Therefore, P3 proposed introducing
a civic engagement agenda calling for “community participation, and community ownership” to
provide a “community understanding that what we are doing is very high.” P7 affirmed the
viewpoint of rural teachers in asserting project implementation required communal consensus,
otherwise without a collective appreciation of the potential of technology to train teachers within
the rural environment “it will be difficult to start the project.”
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Summary of Research Question 1: Knowledge Findings
The findings suggested that rural area teachers and teacher administrators showed at least
fundamental awareness of ICTs and technology-enabled learning to support SVL ICTs based
interventions. However, for communal acceptance of community-based SVL ICTs mediated
training acceptance, rural communities required civic engagement focused on communicating
alleviated suspicions and communicating the benefits of ICTs and a mediation to improve rural
teacher qualifications and supply within the rural settings.
The knowledge section examined rural area teachers’ and administrators’ fundamental
readiness to introduce community-based SVL ICTs into rural teacher training practice. The
section evaluated rural teachers’ and administrators’ conceptual and procedural knowledge by
examining pre- and in-service exposure to ICTs and technology-based learning and the degree of
continued technological engagement after professional training. While all participants could
define essential facets of ICTs, only three had extensive ICTs experience as learning or training
platforms. The findings showed technology-related gaps in the collective rural area teacher
enterprise, with limited experience, skills, and awareness required to integrate ICTs based
learning to facilitate rural teacher training.
The following knowledge factor considered the preparedness of rural teachers and
administrators to adopt SVL ICTs and digital curriculum in rural area teacher training schemes.
Data pointed to the need for augmented training to support online learning functions and
curriculum absorption. The interview data showed that only one rural area teacher had above
average engagement with ICTs post-training, derived from experience as the rural school
librarian. However, the teacher still expressed the need for added training to acquire ICTs related
proficiency to replace traditional learning methods. In addition, concerns emerged concerning
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the digital curriculum design and compatibility with national standards and expected outcomes.
In addition, concerns were expressed about the potential of neglecting community requirements
for awareness and capacity building as guardians of resident reform agendas. All participants
provided added insight to the need for comprehensive civic engagement to garner community
acceptance of the benefits of community-based technology-aided teacher training programs.
Motivation Results
This section analyzed the influence of rural teacher motivation in implementing
community-based SVL ICTs to facilitate professional training. Overall, the study linked rural
teacher low-motivation rates to varied local and institutional influences related to rural teacher
practice. Interview data revealed that all participants agreed that low motivation rates of rural
area teachers contributed to teacher dissatisfaction with rural teaching posts. Clark and Estes
(2008) KMO model and the conceptual framework guided further investigation of the factors
influencing low teacher motivation. The conceptual framework portrayed motivational
influences affecting rural teacher motivation linked to improved empowerment measures and
support systems. Overall, the interview data disclosed that community-based SVL ICTs could
improve teacher motivation provided the platforms could facilitate essential empowerment
delivery and support systems provision. The following sections discussed motivational factors
related to rural teacher empowerment and support systems requirements.
Empowerment Requirements
The literature review in this study discussed the potential of ICTs to extend access to
empower rural teachers and improve teacher motivation within the rural environment. The
interviews confirmed that rural area scarcity should not assume limitations in the pedagogical
capacity of rural teachers (Chapman et al., 2007) but lend to highlighting the need for teacher
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access to empowerment programs. Relevant to this study was the potential of community-based
SVL ICTs to empower and improve rural teacher motivation within the rural environment.
Findings showed all participants were aware of low motivation levels to rural teacher
assignments and limited empowerment schemes to encourage teachers within the rural posts. The
purpose of this analysis was to determine if community-based SVL ICTs training platforms
could mitigate essential factors affecting rural teacher morale as enumerated in the literature
review and presented conceptual framework.
All the rural teachers interviewed expressed frustration with professional stagnation
associated with rural posts, the bleak prospects of upward mobility, and resulting negative views
of the rural teachers within rural communities. Rural teacher P6 affirmed a general sense that the
educator profession is a “second class occupation” in rural settings, considering rural teachers’
limited access to teacher training facilities. In discussing the potential of community-based SVL
ICTs to change the unfavorable prognosis of the teaching profession, P7 said “ICTs will make
education real,” and increase the belief that “education is possible for all of us … making
education easier.” Along with this same thought, P6 remarked “If these things [SVL ICTs] are in
the communities, we can definitely develop”. The interviews also revealed that resident teacher
training programs could motivate teachers to maintain rural teaching assignments. Chapter Two
discussed the aversions of new teachers toward rural assignments. P6 confirmed that community-
situated training would help reduce teacher aversions and emigration, stating “nobody would
flop town to have access to good things because these things, the innovations,” would be
available in the rural districts. Interview data reiterated the potential for community-based
technology-mediated teacher training as transformational due to aided access to empowerment
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personnel and platforms, consequently with increased tangible knowledge, providing rural
confidence in the “status of the teachers” (P7) and student learning outcomes.
Resource Requirements
The literature review attributed the lack of resources as a critical factor contributing to the
low motivation of rural teachers. Without adequate resources to improve teacher qualifications,
rural teachers’ professional growth avenues remain limited. P4 noted that the biggest challenge
for rural teachers is that “they lack resources,” “you are lucky if you have one good textbook,” or
access to “laboratories, books and whatever else is missing in these rural areas.” P3 stressed that
the Malawi government is aware that rural education resource scarcity presents a significant
“push factor” affecting the desirability of rural assignments. Rural teacher P7 captured the reality
by adding that “schools in villages lack a lot of things,” with P1 affirming that “rural teachers
struggle partly because of their welfare.” P6 provided the following insightful personal example
related to resource scarcity derived challenges:
When preparing for exams, we need to print out answer sheets; we are supposed to travel
for a distance [to the nearest trading center] to have those papers photocopied from soft to
hard copies. After photocopying them, you are supposed to take them back to the nearest
schools, sometimes two hours away, to use them for administering exams.
The rural teacher also expressed a personal desire to leave the assigned rural post, in disclosing
“Life is difficult. I need to go to a comfortable place where life is comfortable, where I can have
the internet and use the gadgets, but it is difficult for me.”
However, P6 reasoned that the pressures to leave “home areas” to obtain continued
professional training could lessen with a localized government-certified SVL ICTs training
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program. All participants agreed that a community-based SVL ICTs model could mitigate
resource access concerns and improve rural teachers’ performance and persistence.
Additional Insights on Motivation
During the interviews, several prominent themes emerged regarding critical motivation
factors related to professional upgrading and rural community aversion push-factors.
Professional Upgrading. Five participants mentioned ‘professional upgrading’ as a
critical consideration for teachers willing to assume rural area assignments. Interview data
determined that career and financial promotion motivated teachers; however, access to training
to gain professional upgrading outcomes presented challenges for teachers in rural areas. The
findings showed that teacher motivation for ongoing training was not solely for knowledge
attainment but motivated by the outcomes of improved social perception and monetary benefits
associated with higher qualifications. For this reason, P1 stated that unless the community-based
SVL ICTs program provided a “clear career or professional path,” ensuring professional
certification, rural teachers would have low motivation to take part. P2 added that further appeal
for rural teachers to pursue further training is “a greater salary; if it leads them to certification
that gets them to a better place in their career.”
Short of a teacher training initiative rendering the desired professional upgrading
outcomes, teachers were unlikely to invest the time and effort even with a community-based
setup. P3 discussed the need to target rural teachers’ motivation by incentivizing training
attendance with scholarships, monetary outcomes, and accredited certification. P1 offered the
following advice:
So, for example, if we aim your model at helping teachers upgrade from a certificate to a
diploma, that can work because, after a diploma, the teacher’s salary will rise. But, if it is
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just some kind of ongoing activity that does not have an incentive attached, it will be
challenging to motivate teachers.
The research findings showed that more advanced credentialing through ‘professional
upgrading’ contributed to increased compensation and improved social status in Malawi’s
current teacher hierarchical structure. Providing a community-based SVL-ICTs teacher training
program addressed teachers’ professional upgrading desired outcomes, then rural teachers’
likelihood to engage in the training schemes was likely to increase.
Rural Community Aversion “Push Factors ”. Rural community aversion emerged as a
prominent theme, expressed by five participants. Of value to this research study was to determine
if community-based technology-facilitated training could mitigate rural teachers. Interview data
revealed that prospective teachers hesitate to pursue the teaching profession due to the likelihood
of the first assignment in a rural setting. All the participants confirmed that the undesirability of
rural community assignments presented a significant push. Former rural teacher P4 offered rural
teachers were not opposed to the profession, but assignments in rural communities. P4 said
“When I was teaching secondary school, I went to the ministry every week to say, move me, I do
not want to be in the rural area.” P5 added a personal reflection of the general sense rural
teachers feel “You know, having been in the village, we are all running away from the village.
Everyone’s dream is to run away from the village as much as we can.” P6 captured this reality
from an assessment of the teacher’s current position:
I have wasted my years studying. I thought my life would change, but I am also living in
a thatched house; it is better for me to leave this place and go to town to live a
comfortable life because we have these problems.
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P6 added that rural existence is like living in a “separate world” with poor “infrastructure
and working environments,” and therefore:
I usually write letters to ask my bosses; I want to leave this place because it is in a rural
area, life is difficult, I need to go to a place where life is comfortable, where I can use the
internet, I can use the gadgets, but here, it is difficult for me to use them, very difficult.
Deployed teachers to rural settings likewise faced challenges in accepting rural
assignments stemming from the lack of practical needs to cognitive-dissonance associated with
the assignments and rural environment. For instance, P3 provided the following example “when
an excellent teacher by Malawi training college standards” completes teacher certification; often,
the assignment is to a “nonexistent” school by proper definition. When the teachers see the
“degradable physical state of the schools, there is a shock; this becomes one of the biggest push
factors.”
The findings also found that rural teachers’ desire for flight is attributable to a lack of
amenities and facilities, such as banks, hospitals, and decent schools. P7, for instance, stated that
many teachers leave rural assignments “because such facilities are not there” and that “everyone
wants to have a good life that is why people are not motivated to stay in rural areas.” Therefore,
program implementation requires a strategy to help address rural-push factors and assist teachers
to remain within the rural environment.
Summary of Research Question 1: Motivation Findings
The findings concluded that rural area teachers exhibited a significant lack of motivation
related to the teacher practice within rural areas in Malawi. Interview data produced evidence of
limited empowerment schemes and access to professional resources contributing to low
motivation levels. The interviews provided additional insights from the participants on
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professional upgrading and rural community aversions. The findings also highlighted that the
limited access to essential amenities in rural settings was a significant push factor. Though the
evidence supported a community-based SVL ICTs training set up could help mitigate motivation
factors related to empowerment, resource access, and professional upgrading concerns, mixed
results emerged concerning the impact of localized technology-driven training related to amenity
needs, a key driver in rural community undesirability and aversions.
Sociocultural Results. The literature review discussed the failure of research to factor in
the dynamic nature of rural realities in implementing foreign reform agendas (Balfour et al.,
2008; Mashinini, 2008; Moletsane, 2012). The interview data revealed that conventional
methods that neglect rural community identity’s centrality and ignore beneficiary perspectives
are of little benefit. Observations also supported in the literature reviews affirmed the need for
strength-based epistemologies to integrate SVL ICTs into rural environments. Rural area social
dynamics in developing countries require sensitivity to socialization demands of introducing
technology-assisted innovations. Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural framework helped define the
findings by accounting for sociocultural variables in facilitating continued teacher training in
rural settings, as discussed in the literature review and portrayed in the conceptual framework.
The following sections address the critical stakeholders and foreign interventions; cultural
dynamics, traditional governance, gender equity; language, and sociocultural indigenous
knowledge systems (IKS).
Critical Stakeholders and Foreign Interventions. The literature review discussed
maximizing the rural area ecosystems’ aggregate capacity by engaging all critical actors while
accounting for the sociocultural dynamics. Five participants emphasized the need for agreement
from all stakeholders tied to rural area education schemes to support introducing change
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initiatives into rural settings. The list of critical stakeholders to consider tied to rural education
development processes is extensive, provided the need for official government approval, district-
level representation, and rural community sectors requires engagement. For instance, P6
suggested that the rural education board of governors, parent-teacher association (PTAs), rural
school counselors, members of parliament, the traditional chiefs, and elders required consultation
and consent before a reform initiative could receive rural community approval. P2 shared the
need to communicate the benefits of a proposed education intervention to garner informed
communal consent, saying, “Chiefs also need to be told we are carrying this activity, the benefit
of this activity is this and that.” P4 called the rural area stakeholder engagement process
“sensitization,” stressing the need to sensitize the “gatekeepers’” and inform “the local players
know what is going on.”
P4 provided some reasons for the need for widespread participation as highlighted in the
example:
In fact, in our schools, we have a PTA, we call it the Parents Teachers Association, and
so, if you are implementing such a project, even the parents are part of the community, so
they have to be aware … because at some point they might need to provide some help to
our students.
P4 also added that the district education officers (DEOs), the district education managers
(DEMs), head teachers, the ministry of education, and school principals could be barriers to
entry without secured agreement and implementation consent. Beyond the local rural level, P5
proposed including the teacher education department (TED) in the project design phase because
TED is the ministry of education branch responsible for managing rural area teacher training
programs. P5 also mentioned that development partners should involve the ICT department in
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determining technological integration needs for the program and rural teacher learning needs. P3
agreed that the ministry of education departments was the “biggest piece to engage,” such as
personnel from the offices of the director of science and technology, the director of open distance
learning, the principal secretary of education, and the deputy minister and minister of education.
The ministry of education’s related departments would require consultation to determine project
feasibility and approve the launch of a rural community ICTs training program. Several
participants discussed the role of development partners in rural teacher training programs;
however, P7 brought up the need for dialogue with all development agencies carrying out
projects within the target community’s environment.
Another critical consideration beyond stakeholder engagement with introducing foreign
intervention systems into rural environments is the need to account for social-interchange
outcomes between the foreign development partners and the change beneficiaries. For instance,
P3 stated that due to “minimal, and sometimes absent,” exposure of rural partisans’ with
foreigners, there may be “a little of a cultural interest.” Here, cultural interest refers to a
personal-level curiosity between rural and foreign communities. Nonetheless, P3 continued, rural
communities would adjust to a foreign presence considering the country’s long history of foreign
interventions. However, P3 recommended pre-entry acculturation of the foreigner partners before
exposure and interaction with rural community partisans:
It is the individuals in the program that are coming to rural Africa for the first time,
stepping into a rural school for the first time, or rural community, that can indeed
experience a cultural shock of many things; and for that, the program design itself must
indeed endeavor to do some preparatory training.
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In considering that foreign partners “may experience something they have never seen,”
P2 and P3 relayed development partners approach rural communities with respect, courtesy, and
a sense of shared responsibility to achieve common good, specifically P3 stated:
Open mind, you know, research and academic mind. It is a rich environment to absorb
because it teaches you a lot as a human being. It challenges your beliefs, so there are
many benefits in terms of what this can bring to a scholar, researcher, and educator.
Change initiatives, therefore, need to go beyond ideas and theory but “involve the
exchange of people,” that is, pragmatic dealings with rural partisans as the process “… a part of
the story” (P3).
Cultural Dynamics, Traditional Governance, and Gender Equity. Rural cultural
dynamics are multi-faceted. For this reason, it is essential to assess technological-intervention
cultural adoption feasibility into traditional rural communities. Foreign development partners
often overlook significant distinctions between one tribal or ethnic group within Sub-Saharan
Africa and the potential conflicts from selecting a particular intervention group. For example, P3
mentioned “even within its own 34 districts, there are various ethnic and cultural issues”
because, as P2 noted “traditions may vary from place to place.” Determining a target community
to implement the reform agenda should account for the cultural dynamics of the particular
community and consider surrounding cultures’ interactions with the targeted intervention
community. P3 stated “You have no choice but to absorb the culture of the people, their
language, their way or housing, their way of food, their music, their dance, their everything, their
fears, their beliefs, their identity.”
The cultural dynamics addressed represent unique cultural assets contributing to a rich
sense of continuity within rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. This feasibility research study is
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essential to assess the requirements for integrating disruptive technology-based education
schemes while preserving rural homogeneity. For instance, rural teacher P6 addressed potential
concerns of the effect of a community-based ICTs platform on the culture of a rural community,
stating that “there will be battles within implementing the project,” considering “the culture will
definitely change.” Therefore, addressing the negative attitudes associated with the technologies
requires attention. For example, P3 shared some general rural area sentiments to ICTs based
education interventions “they may say technology is evil;” and that “our students will change,
they may watch those pornographic movies.”
Conversely, P6 discussed the desire for rural communities to adapt to new cultural
realities, providing the intervention designs ease communal concerns, and the change-
innovations can positively benefit community learning outcomes. P6 alluded to the dynamic
nature of rural culture and openness to welcome interventions that could improve rural
community standing. For instance, P6 shared that “people say we no longer want to live in the
third world; this is a new world. Let us adopt change.” The change that P6 referred to related to
rural environments’ willingness to adopt change agendas to benefit education outcomes so far as
minimal disruptions occurred to local cultural norms.
However, despite P6’s expressed view of rural communities’ openness to technological
change innovations, interview data revealed two considerable cultural barriers to integrating
technology-aided rural teacher training for the intervention partners: the role of traditional
governance structures; and the prevalence of gender inequities in rural environments. P6
revealed that within the rural context that “the chiefs are the custodians of the culture” and
therefore:
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If not well maneuvered, this will be greatly affected; if these chiefs, who are the
custodians of the culture, the owners of the local communities are going to be reluctant,
these things cannot be implemented in their communities; so first, we are supposed to
convince them of the benefits of this, they are supposed to be oriented, well consulted,
the traditional chiefs.
Tied to the influence that chiefs have on rural community arrangements is the role of
women within the rural area systems. The challenges of female teachers in rural areas appeared
in the literature review and conceptual framework as barriers to equity and diversity for foreign
development partners. Cultural difficulties, familial responsibilities, and systemic insensitivities
toward women and defined gender roles were common factors that emerged from interview data.
Related to this study’s focus on introducing SVL ICTs into rural teacher training schemes, the
findings highlighted technology-based gender bias associated with technology usage. For
example, P4 pointed to rural communities’ prevalent views that technology usage “was a man’s
domain.” Another gender equity issue that emerged from the findings was difficulties recruiting
female teachers because few female role models maintained rural teaching positions. P4 and P5
mentioned female teachers’ frustrations of attending on-site teacher training for protracted
periods due to home and community-related schedules. In this sense, P5 suggested that the
community-based SVL ICTs program schemes deliberately recruit female teachers and ensure
continued female participation in the training plans. Such a setup would allow cultural views
toward women’s roles as teachers and professional interactions with technology to change. P4
and P5 seemed to suggest that with the female teachers not leaving the rural environment for
training, there would be less community resistance to participation and favorability toward the
educator role.
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As observed, cultural dynamics, traditional governance, and gender inequities in rural
communities play a significant role in introducing technology-based teacher development
interventions into rural communities. Related to these cultural factors are the languages and
indigenous knowledge systems through which culture finds expression. The following section
addresses these research findings.
Language and Indigenous Knowledge Systems. As observed in the literature review,
language barriers presented a significant challenge to curriculum designs and the preferred
language of instruction in distance learning programs. P1 related an example from personal
experience where digital instructional language presented contextual barriers in a teaching
training initiative in Malawi. “The language of instruction was one of the national languages in
Malawi, the main national language, but some parts of the Northern region had problems
assessing the materials because they could not understand the language” (P1).
Whether rural teachers can absorb remote instruction and content designs in English as
the preferred instructional language mediated through the SVL ICTs model under investigation
in this study is critical in determining the feasibility of achieving project goals. Therefore, the
amount of principal language usage required for a rural community SVL ICTs design requires
determining because the language of instruction plays a crucial role in successful program
assimilation to indigenous knowledge systems. For instance, P2 suggested the need for
technology-based teacher training reform interventions to integrate a rural community’s
indigenous knowledge systems to preserve cultural continuance. P2 offered that the success of a
teacher training scheme could hinge on whether the teacher training facilitators had “cross-
cultural training” to import technology-mediated pedagogy into rural cultural beliefs and
practices. P2’s rationale was “So that when they teach, they are connected with the people they
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teach” and can maneuver “the local concerns within the rural communities from their vantage
point.” P3 elaborated the concern to marry the cultural nuances of rural teachers with SVL ICTs’
teacher education to realize successful program outcomes. The sensitive accommodation of
indigenous knowledge systems into rural community teacher training plans would provide the
teachers with a functional balance in adopting technology-based education into traditional
knowledge systems.
Summary of Research Question 1: Sociocultural Findings
The findings highlighted the centrality of critical stakeholders in need to engage national
and rural sociocultural structures in Malawi. Therefore, a critical need in implementing an SVL
ICTs scheme is to factor in the influence rural area cultural setups have in determining
intervention acceptance.
In addition, increasing cultural intelligence and embracing academic interest emerged as
essential precursors to engage with cultural dynamics, traditional governance, and gender
disparities in rural areas. Gaining rural areas governing authorities’ project acceptance would
help mitigate fears of foreign cultural influence mediated through technology interventions. In
addition, gender bias in rural communities toward women’s roles in education and technology
consumption exposed barriers to an inclusive foreign-assistance education intervention. The
research found the need to affirm female participation in education and support women’s
appointment in the teacher training programs.
The findings also highlighted the need to account for regional language differences in
rural environments in Malawi. Though English is the national language, English proficiency
varies within rural communities, and therefore it is crucial to design a program curriculum to
factor in rural area language preferences. However, the feasibility of catering to rural
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communities’ language diversities beyond English presents a barrier in the initial project scope,
therefore, requiring engaging national educational institutions for guidance. The interviews also
revealed that foreign program designs required sensitive accommodation of indigenous
knowledge systems into training methods to maximize practical benefits for rural community
learners.
Results Research Question 2
How feasible are foreign mediated SVL ICTs for community-based pre-service and in-
service teacher training in rural areas in Malawi?
Organizational Results
The second research question assessed Malawi rural area organizational factors to
determine the feasibility of introducing community-based SVL ICTs for pre-service and in-
service rural teacher training. The literature review found that missing or faulty processes, weak
infrastructure, inadequate systems support contributed to organizational performance failures.
Therefore, the barriers affecting the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs for professional teacher
training in Malawi required critical investigation. The KMO model, sociocultural framework,
and conceptual framework helped inform the emerging factors captured from interview data. The
conceptual framework divided organizational determinants into macro-level and micro-level
factors to assess the influence of the macro-level: multi-level partnership and budgetary factors;
the policy environment to include decentralized policies; infrastructure, network, and
electrification concerns. Micro-level factors assessed: pre- and in-service primary and secondary
teacher training schemes; rural teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention strategies.
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Macro-Level Factors
As discussed in the literature review, the interaction between rural communities,
government and affiliated sectors, and public and private partners, is an aspect of the macro-level
organizational environment that influences micro-level rural teacher training outcomes. The
following section discussed macro-level topics, including multi-level partnerships and budgetary
factors, policy environments, infrastructural, network connectivity, and electrification
considerations.
Multi-Level Partnerships and Budgetary Factors. Discussions in Chapter Two pointed
to a series of national scandals that have affected private and non-governmental education
funding in Malawi (Zulu et al., 2017). P3 confirmed that reductions in international donor
support had affected government budgetary allocations to expand efforts to train qualified
teachers in rural communities. P3 also affirmed that the government had encouraged global
multi-level partnerships to develop distance and parallel modes suited for rural teacher training
needs as a stopgap measure. P2 provided the following synopsis of the national stance to
encourage foreign direct investment into rural teacher training:
The Malawian government is looking for somebody or people who will help with the
gigantic task they have. So, I do not think we will say no to anyone who comes along and
says there is a different way of doing this. The big issue becomes understanding what is
going on in a particular place and working things from there.
The ministry of education official, P3, reiterated the call for civil service education
organizations and development partners to assist the fledgling rural education sector by helping
improve education outcomes through training qualified teachers, stating “the government can
only do so much.” Four interview participants confirmed the government’s recent focus on
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exploring technology-driven systems to broaden instruction delivery into rural communities.
Nevertheless, P3 provided some guidance surrounding sustainability and scalability concerns due
to the limited resources the government could allocate to support experimental teacher training
technology-based interventions “The replacement costs, the durability of the gadgets,
sustainability of the entire program, the economic factors, and the absorption factors are to be
manageable.”
As discussed, all interview participants associated with the ministry of education affirmed
that the Malawi government welcomed private partnerships to support rural teacher education
reform. However, given a long history of failed education interventions in rural communities, the
government has adopted a more critical acquiesce stance to foreign partnerships. P3 offered
some insight into concerns the government would express:
What does it [the partnering agency] have to bring in, and what is it they have to provide
for the Malawi government, and what are the legal issues or policy issues that need to be
known … before the piloting or any other issues other progress can be made.
Therefore, considering the open and yet conditional environment to approve international
education-related interventions, it is necessary to assess the national policy frameworks to
support integrating ICTs based teacher training interventions into rural societies.
Policy Environment. The literature review discussed the Malawi government’s need to
recruit and train teachers in underserved districts by supporting efforts to expand education
access avenues in rural communities. P4 mentioned that the government considered several
strategies to boost in-service teacher qualifications. One such strategy “made efforts to say that
everyone teaching in secondary schools should go to university, upgrade, or get a degree … if
they wanted to continue teaching in rural secondary schools” (P4). Though the measure
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described would increase rural area qualified teacher supplies, the difficulties of accessing urban
training centers limited rural teacher participation. P2 also cited policy changes requiring pre-
service teachers to complete certificates or diplomas to enter the teaching profession. Likewise,
these measures did not favor potential teachers in rural settings because of challenges in
completing urban center training.
To address rural teachers’ challenges of accessing teacher training centers, the
government instituted district-level training schemes to mitigate rural teachers’ attendance
issues. One such district-located program was the continuing professional development (CPD)
framework, a teacher development policy intended to provide access to increase the
qualifications of rural teachers. In the CPD arrangement, according to P1, teachers had to
“participate in some professional development activities” to merit professional qualifications and
financial promotions. Four participants knew of the government’s attempts to encourage rural
teacher attendance at CPD by incentivizing stipends and allowances. However, the same
participants claimed these measures proved ineffective because teachers’ attendance waned
without the incentives.
The interview data also confirmed observations from this study’s literature review of
decentralization education structures surrounding rural training programs. The dispersed system
arrangements explain the need to develop district-level policies to support ICTs based teacher
training initiatives within the rural jurisdictions. P3 provided the following insights on the
decentralized nature of teacher training program administration:
As a government, we are trying to make deliberate efforts to deploy teachers where they
are needed, and therefore, we are empowering district councils. The government divides
the education system into 34 Education Districts, a cluster of 13-14 schools makes up a
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‘Zone,’ and the Zone becomes a structure around which we deliver in service or CPD.
Each zone should have a Teacher Development Center (TDC), where teachers receive
training. In this structure, communities take part in teacher support and school
improvements.
The decentralized setup captured in P3’s quote places a significant burden on sustaining
rural communities’ district education initiatives on district administrations and within the rural
communities. In this regard, the ability of rural communities to support teacher training
initiatives is limited due to the financial burdens of sustaining rural schools and teacher training
facilities. P3 envisioned the CPD structure as an asset to support a rural community-based SVL
ICTs teacher training program as the synchronously connected training hub.
Infrastructure, Network Connectivity, and Electrification. For the successful
integration of SVL ICTs in rural settings, the integrity of support infrastructure, like reliable
meeting facilities, transportation, power grids, satellite antennas, computer equipment, and
related technologies, is essential. All interview participants considered infrastructural concerns a
critical barrier to integrating technology-based training schemes into rural settings. However, as
discussed in previous sections, the Malawi government aims to improve rural area infrastructural
standards to support extended distance learning; however, budgetary constraints require public
and private partners’ aid to support infrastructural requirements. In the words of P3 “there is this
little pot around which the government of Malawi can fix things … so, it becomes a continual
problem; these are the realities we know in Malawi.”
Further, the lack of network access infrastructure in rural environments emerged as a
prominent concern highlighted in the interviews by all participants. For instance, P3 provided the
following synopsis:
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The most absorbed ICT gadget is the mobile phone. You will find that sometimes they
will go through many difficulties to access the network in most rural areas. They will
climb trees; they will do whatever to make sure they have a signal reaching them to use
the phone.
Rural teacher P7 also confirmed network-related challenges affected rural teachers’
ability to access online information. To access the internet, P6 and P7 both mentioned the need to
travel to the closest urban locations to purchase “bundles.” According to P2, the bundles are data
packages that provide pre-paid internet access or mobile airtime and messaging data. So,
according to P4, conducting a robust teacher training scheme relying on network connectivity
raises a significant barrier for program implementation. In these lines, P7 shared:
In Malawi, it is somewhat hard, especially for in-service teachers, to use ICT because we
lack a network … the Internet signal reaching rural areas has to be improved; so, it is
somewhat hard for people to use ICT in villages.
Another infrastructural element requiring independent assessment is the limited
electrification in rural environments. Without access to electricity, technological-driven ventures
requiring electrical power cannot operate. All participants addressed limited electrification into
rural communities as a significant barrier to introducing ICTs training programs. For example,
P2 advised “you have to think of electricity … there may be some power issues.” P4 added “In
these places, sometimes there is no electricity, accessibility is difficult.” P4 provided a helpful
depiction of rural districts’ electrification realities “Our electricity absorption in the rural sector
is slightly below 13%, so only 13% of our rural population has access to electricity; roughly 85%
of our schools in Malawi are likely to be in rural settings, therefore without electricity.”
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Considering rural challenges with accessing electricity and the desire of the government
to extend distance learning, P1 mentioned that, based on a few local case studies, experimental
solar-power-generated ventures had shown some promise in powering rural schools. P3 offered
that if solar panel absorption factored in, the alternative energy source could provide a vital entry
point to cultivate an ICTs based teacher training model in a rural environment.
Additional Macro-Level Insights on Organization
The interview data discovered additional critical organizational factors in assessing the
viability of integrating SVL ICTs training technologies into rural communities. Security emerged
as a prominent concern expressed by four participants. P1 mentioned “one threat is security
issues; rural communities pose a big threat to vandalism.” P3 stated “basic assessment of
equipment is also very critical,” in that “such rare equipment, are in danger of being vandalized
or in certain cases stolen.” There is a need to secure the investments, and P3 asked “who will be
in the custody of such equipment?” P6 and P7 suggested securing community support for a
collective stake in the project’s success and contracting with rural area security to provide
additional security while the lab is in residence.
Micro Level Factors
This section details the findings related to determining the readiness of the rural teacher
development enterprise to incorporate SVL ICTs into rural area teacher training schemes. The
section touched on micro-level organizational factors: rural teacher recruitment, deployment and
retention, and community-based training schemes.
Rural Teacher Recruitment, Deployment and Retention. As stated in Chapter Two
and the conceptual framework, this research study addressed pre- and in-service primary and
secondary teacher training schemes, teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention as outcomes
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of broader (macro-level) institutional policies and systems. Chapter Four findings showed that
even though the Malawi government conducted most of the teacher training activities, various
players, like local universities and teacher training institutions, participated in facilitating rural
teacher training and were thereby also affected by the macro-level determinants.
All participants had some thoughts on the pre-and in-service teachers’ training setups for
primary and secondary teachers. All participants confirmed the literature review’s observations
that teacher training colleges (TTCs) supported primary school training, whereas secondary
school teachers received advanced-level degrees from universities or specialized colleges.
Despite the formal setup of teacher training institutions, all participants felt that sector-wide
teacher training output was not meeting rural area education demands. P4 mentioned that though
the government began to invest more in teacher recruiting efforts, filling vacancies was low due
to training institution capacity limitations. P4’s observations were supported by four other
participants noting that capacity limitations added strain and delayed post-training deployment of
potential teachers. Former rural teacher P4 expressed frustrations with bottlenecks in the teacher
training system:
Why are we still talking about teacher shortages? For me, it is a manufactured crisis; we
do have teachers, qualified teachers actually, but the system pushes them out, to begin
with. I know that capacity is just 60%. The colleges operate at 60%, even if they build
another 10, they will not employ all of them.
P4 also remarked on pre-service teachers resigning from candidacy because of
deployment delays, saying that after completing training, teachers could “wait three or four
years” before deployment and often would “do other things in the process” of waiting. The
observations that institution training capacity limitations played a critical role contributing to low
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rural area teacher supply were significant to this study. For instance, even prospective rural area
teachers from rural communities had to wait some years for deployment to rural schools post-
training. To mitigate these concerns, P3 stated the government pushed for distinct-level teacher
training centers; however, though there had been some measured success resulting from
commissioning district-level training centers, the measures still fell far short of meeting demand:
The numbers that we are releasing from the pre-service section are fewer than the
demand. Our annual teacher needs are 10,000 teachers, but currently, our colleges can
only graduate about 6,500 teachers annually. So, every year going forward, we have a
gap of about 4,000, which means every four years or five years, a 20,000 gap because our
physical structures can only release about 60% of our teacher needs in primary schools.
P1 believed things were “slowly changing” as the government tried to improve benefits
tied to rural teacher training schemes; however, collective private institutions and government
training efforts have not satisfied rural education demands. Participants affirmed the workability
of a rural community-based training initiative to bypass system-related gridlocks by facilitating
teacher training and deployment processes within the rural environment. Four participants agreed
that a community-based teacher training model could also help retain in-service teachers because
of coherence to rural settings. Six participants felt rural community-based training programs
could improve teacher retention by providing local access to practice-related advancement. P6
stated the consideration this way “technology can make life easier; people will not travel from
their home; they will not leave their families; they will not leave their communities.” The
findings have shown that a community-based SVL ICTs rural teacher training lab can conduct
teacher training and deployment within the stationed rural community. In addition, a program
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design focused on recruiting teachers within the rural community could improve teacher
retention outcomes by employing teachers within the home environment.
Community Based Teacher Training. Chapter Two discussed the Malawi
government’s efforts to improve rural teacher access to training by increasing district teacher
training centers. Despite the efforts, the government realized lingering limitations of rural
teachers’ access to training facilities and experimented with recruiting and training teachers
within the rural environment. For instance, the government official P3 stated “Even as a
government, we have been thinking about alternative models of training teachers. We have tried
that before with one or two groups, where you recruit from their community and train them using
the blended model.”
Blended models, as P1 mentioned, comprised open distance and e-learning. In
considering how to integrate an SVL ICTs model to support community based rural teacher
training and encourage teacher participation, P3 shared the following thoughts:
We may require the teachers to be in their community during the entire training course,
using this model [SVL ICTs based teacher training]. And, as they are being supported in
their training, they are also supporting a rural school.
P3 saw value in considering the feasibility of a community-based SVL ICTs design to
increase qualified teacher supply in rural communities without relying on the rural community to
support the venture’s sustainability beyond a community sense of ownership. All participants
found merit in exploring technology-assisted community-based teacher training programs to
recruit, deploy, and retain the teachers within the rural settings.
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Summary of Organizational Results
The research found various macro and micro-organizational factors affecting training
qualified rural area teachers in Malawi. Concerning macro-level factors, interview data revealed
that system capacity limitations at government-supported and private teacher training centers
contributed to micro-level teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention challenges. As a result,
the Malawi government crafted rural area policies to explore alternative teacher training models
and encourage multi-level partnerships. For example, enacting decentralized operations to
provide district zones with autonomy to manage local teacher training showed promise; however,
rural community requirements to support regional education added cost burdens to the
challenged rural towns. As mentioned, the government also expanded efforts to encourage public
and private partners to plan innovative approaches to include distance and e-learning and
community-based teacher training schemes to help train rural area teachers. However, the
findings confirmed that weak infrastructure, network connectivity, and electrification scarcity in
rural sectors presented significant barriers to introducing community-based technology-assisted
innovation into rural environments. However, the practicability of a localized SVL ICTs self-
sustainable modular training lab emerged as a plausible means to circumvent rural organizational
barriers to facilitate teacher training within the rural environment. Additional insights from the
interview participants touched on security concerns about protecting the SVL ICTs training lab
and developing a sense of community ownership to help secure the facility.
Summary of Research Question 2: Organizational Findings
The research question helped identify the micro and macro-organizational barriers or
opportunities to implement community-based rural area teacher training schemes using SVL
ICTs platforms in Malawi.
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Macro-level policies and decentralized education schemes in Malawi aimed to increase
qualified teachers in rural areas. However, attending traditional face-to-face training at teacher
development centers presented logistical, financial, and social challenges for rural teachers. In
addition, teachers’ motivation to attend training programs focused on economic benefits rather
than learning outcomes. The Malawi government enacted decentralized policies to support
teacher training at the district, zonal level. This setup, however, placed a burden on the rural
communities to engage and sustain local education initiatives. Inadequate infrastructure, network
connectivity, and electrification also burdened rural sector education programs and presented
barriers to developing rural setting technology-based teacher training systems. To mitigate
resource limitations required to increase qualified teacher supply in rural communities, the
government expanded, soliciting non-government public and private partnerships.
Micro-level factor assessment evaluated teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention
standards; and the viability of community-based training operations. The findings concluded that
Malawi had a considerable pool of potential teacher candidates; however, capacity limitations at
teacher training institutions limited candidate admissions. After training, teacher deployment to
rural communities faced difficulties because of assignment capacity limitations and rural
community aversion. Introducing a community-based rural area teacher training scheme emerged
as a prospect to bypass rural teachers’ challenges accessing frequently mandated training.
Additional insights emerged from the interviews related to macro-level factors associated with
the need to account for security to safeguard the development investments.
Overall, the Malawi government’s support for multi-level partners to implement
technology-driven education reform agendas in rural communities presents an opportunity to
examine SVL ICTs capacities to extend teacher education access into rural communities. The
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self-sustained setup of a community-based SVL ICTs mobile lab would not have to rely on weak
infrastructural requirements and government budgetary support if set up as a foreign-assisted and
funded initiative.
Feasibility Analysis Findings
RQ2 centered on organizational (KMO) factors related to the feasibility of integrating
SVL ICTs into rural teacher training schemes, after determining the results of RQ1 that
examined the needs and assets tied to knowledge and motivation (KMO factors) and the
sociocultural barriers affecting the feasibility of integrating community-based SVL ICTs into
rural teacher training practices in Malawi. The following sections present the feasibility analysis
conclusions based on the KMO and sociocultural findings.
Knowledge Factor Findings
A feasibility analysis requires assessing several factors to determine the feasibility of the
desired project (McConnell, 2010). The knowledge section considers staff requirements, such as
role requirements and training needs, to determine whether the staff have the right skills,
experience, training, and resources to achieve the desired outcomes.
Conceptual Knowledge
Evidence for increasing capacity for rural area teachers and administrators to engage
ICTs based teacher training systems emerged from the findings. While all interview participants
had a functional understanding of ICTs, only three had engaged with asynchronous platforms in
a formal learning capacity and none with synchronous platforms. None of the rural teachers had
engaged with any form of ICTs based online training scheme. Pre-service secondary school
teachers got more ICTs experience than the pre-service primary school teachers because of
requirements to facilitate basic ICTs instruction in classroom settings. However, primary and
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secondary in-service rural teachers had a minimal engagement with ICTs once away from
training sites. The rural teacher administrators had some exposure to ICTs usage during
professional certification; however, administrators likewise had limited interaction with ICTs
platforms while in practice. Therefore, the feasibility analysis related to rural teacher and
administrator readiness to introduce SVL ICTs into rural teacher training practices found the
staff showed a sufficient knowledge of ICTs conceptual and procedural specifications as a
baseline to introduce technology-facilitated learning. The analysis determined the need for
continued training to develop the rural teachers’ and administrators’ technical skills and
cognitive capacities to adopt digital learning.
Procedural Knowledge
Concerning the preparedness of rural teachers and administrators to adopt SVL ICTs for
teacher preparation, this study found the need for in-depth rural teacher induction and training on
how to use ICTs devices and engage in online mediated learning. The interview data also
determined a need to refresh or build capacity for rural teacher administrators to integrate ICTs
based learning into rural teacher training programs. Providing space for perspective shifts to
adopt synchronous learning modalities emerged as a crucial concern considering no prior
exposure of any rural area teachers and administrators to synchronous learning platforms.
Further, the analysis determined that over-reliance on a technology-based virtual
curriculum without adequate induction and acceptance could present curriculum absorption
challenges. The interviews also pointed to the need to have local administrators participate in
curriculum development designs to secure successful outcomes. Therefore, the analysis related to
SVL ICTs preparedness and digital curriculum requirements suggests that ICTs device usage
training would not require much preparation time; however, curriculum designs require
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pedagogical contextualization to guide the acceptance and integration of technology to achieve
the desired results in program outcomes.
Motivation Factor Findings
The study’s motivation findings assessed broad scope (McConnell, 2010) factors related
to rural teacher motivation assumptions, constraints, and issues to be resolved to improve
motivation outcomes through a community-based SVL ICTs teacher training scheme. Interview
data showed motivational factors contributing to low rural teacher motivation correlated to
limited empowerment opportunities for teachers and limited access to training resources. The
research findings showed that more advanced credentialing through ‘professional upgrading’
contributed to increased compensation and improved professional status. Without addressing
national certifiable upgrading goals, technology-assisted teacher training reform ventures are
likely to fail.
Negative communal attributions of the teachers and rural school education outcomes also
affected teacher motivation. Resource scarcity added to teachers’ aversions for rural postings,
with resource scarcity emerging as a critical push factor for attracting and retaining rural area
teachers. Therefore, the feasibility determination is that though a community-based SVL ICTs
program could provide empowerment, resource access, and professional upgrading resolutions,
the rural area aversions and push factors tied to the lack of essential amenities within the rural
settings will remain a concern.
Sociocultural Factor Findings
Interview data on sociocultural factors confirmed the influence of sociocultural dynamics
on community-based education interventions. A process in the feasibility analysis requires
determining the broad scope of boundaries of a project to figure out critical factors such as
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constraints, user requirements, and issues to be resolved for successful implementation
(McConnell, 2010). Related to this study, broad scope factors related to sociocultural factors
considered the role of critical stakeholders and foreign interventions; cultural dynamics,
traditional governance, and gender equity concerns; and the influence of language and
indigenous knowledge systems to determine if technology-based instruction could complement
sociocultural realities in rural settings.
Critical Stakeholder and Foreign Interventions
The first factors considered in the assessment were the critical stakeholders and foreign
intervention requirements for introducing rural community-based technology-assisted teacher
training projects in Malawi. Research findings determined that the rural and institutional
frameworks maintained extensive bureaucratic hierarchies requiring engagement to introduce
non-traditional education initiatives into rural environments. Because of the unique dynamics of
rural settings in Malawi, foreign interventions were prone to fail without stakeholders’ careful
analysis of the social dynamics of target communities and the practical communal adoption of
technology-based teacher training reform agendas. The research showed that foreign partner
sensitivity and a cultured inquiry posture are essential for integrating program design acclimation
requirements to rural settings.
Cultural Dynamics, Traditional Governance, and Gender Equity
The second grouping of sociocultural factors assessed touched on cultural dynamics,
traditional governance, and gender equity concerns. Cultural and ethnic dynamics emerged as a
decisive component in determining the feasibility of integrating technology-aided teaching
training into rural settings. The interviews revealed that rural communities attribute negative
perceptions to technology, fearing the adverse impact foreign world-views would have on
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traditional norms. In this framework, securing the support of the rural chiefs and tribal elders
presented a significant barrier to program acceptance. In addition, the role of women in rural
societies emerged as a critical factor that could affect international intervention support. The
research discovered that multiple negative factors influenced gender disparities in rural teachers:
a lack of female role models, the logistical challenges of balancing life and work responsibilities,
and persistent insensitivities to gender demands and female technical ability.
Language and Indigenous Knowledge Systems
The final sociocultural factors affecting technology-mediated teacher training plans
touched on rural communities’ language, ethnic, and indigenous knowledge systems. Language
diversity in Malawi appeared as a challenge for rural project implementations, requiring
including languages other than the national language into the education curriculum. The rural
area indigenous knowledge systems showed potential challenges to foreign pedagogies if
mediated teacher training did not balance professional development and local knowledge
interests.
Organization Factor Findings
The organizational feasibility analysis for this study required assessing several macro-
level and micro-level organizational factors to determine the feasibility of integrating
community-based SVL ICTs into rural area teacher training practice. Feasibility determination
required analyzing critical factors such as national support systems (personnel, roles, processes),
technological infrastructure availability, broad-scale items such as constraints, issues to support,
and deliverables of an intended project (McConnell, 2010). For this study’s purpose, the
feasibility analysis of organizational factors assessed macro-level factors and micro-level
outcomes.
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Macro-Level Factors
Macro-level factors considered the policy environment to include decentralized policies,
multi-level partnerships, budgetary factors, infrastructure, network connectivity, and
electrification considerations. The examined macro-level factors revealed significant gaps related
to all macro-level factors requiring remediation to integrate community-based SVL ICTs teacher
training into rural areas. The findings confirmed that the Malawi government had embarked on
active measures to encourage public and private partnerships to ease budgetary constraints in
training rural area teachers. A popular policy reform initiative was the continuing professional
development (CPD) framework. To maximize rural teacher participation, CPD included a series
of incentives to encourage teachers to earn professional ‘upgrades.’ An incentive in this scheme
entailed providing financial stipends to accommodate travel, food, and lodging costs associated
with attending CPD training. The interviews also emphasized the education sectors’
decentralized policy structures and rural communities’ involvement to support regional education
endeavors. However, budgetary constraints limited funding allocations to district and rural
community-level teacher education setups. Rural teachers also faced training attendance
challenges due to logistics and economic limitations.
The weakness of foundational support systems required to run technology-based
operations—infrastructure, network connectivity, and electrification—emerged as a significant
barrier to integrating SVL ICTs into rural teacher training schemes. For instance, one interview
participant explained that just about 13% of rural communities in Malawi had access to
electricity and that most rural districts’ infrastructure and network arrangements could not
support ICTs based teacher training. Additional macro-level insights from the interviews showed
the need to consider security dynamics while introducing technological systems into rural
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environments. In all, findings showed that self-contained, efficient technological innovations that
could bypass rural communities’ weak infrastructure, network connectivity, and electrification
systems could provide a workaround to address technology-facilitated teaching training within
the rural environment.
Micro-Level Factors
The micro-level factors identified considered rural teacher recruitment, deployment,
retention, and community-based training schemes. Findings highlighting Malawi’s institutional
capacity limitations to train rural area teachers helped strengthen the need to determine the
feasibility of a community-based SVL ICTs regime to train rural teachers within the
environment. The interviews revealed that the government is the principal teacher development
agency in Malawi, with a few local universities and teacher training colleges providing
additional training. Data gathered from the interviews found that all institutions’ collective
qualified teacher output did not meet rural area needs because of multiple factors. Though
Malawi has a fair pool of potential teachers to address rural area teacher demands, institutional
budgetary constraints and capacity limitations in training space at training centers contribute to
low deployment numbers. In addition, due to administrative constraints, trained teachers wait on
average 2–3 years for deployment, causing attrition of new teacher candidates. Six participants
believed that an integrated SVL ICTs for rural teacher training would address pre-service teacher
training needs by capitalizing on recruiting teachers within the rural environment. All
respondents also affirmed that in-service primary and secondary school teachers would benefit
from ongoing access to real-time training provided integration of SVL ICTs platforms.
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Feasibility Analysis Conclusion
The feasibility analysis is step two of the feasibility study (McConnell, 2010). The third
step, justification for the project (option selection), and the feasibility conclusion and
recommendations are discussed in the next chapter. Limitations and delimitations related to
performing the cost-effectiveness analysis component of the options selections are presented.
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Chapter Five: Discussion
This chapter includes recommendations gathered from this examination’s findings. The
purpose of this research was to identify knowledge, motivation, organization, and sociocultural
needs and assets related to implementing SVL ICTs and to determine the feasibility of
integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-based teacher training in Malawi.
The qualitative analysis data determined the feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs to deliver pre-
and in-service rural community-based teacher training in Malawi. This chapter will focus on the
findings derived from the collected data and feasibility analysis in Chapter Four. Based on the
findings, the chapter delineates specific recommendations for addressing the KMO and
sociocultural factors based on the study outcomes related to implementing SVL ICTs and the
feasibility of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-based teacher
training. The chapter also summarizes findings, recommendations (implications for practice),
future research, and conclusions.
Discussion of Findings
The findings were developed from the two research questions, which include assessments
of the knowledge, motivational, and sociocultural needs and assets required to implement SVL
ICTs and determine the feasibility for foreign mediated facilitation of community-based pre- and
in-service teacher training in rural areas Malawi. For discussion, the study assigned the research
findings to their respective knowledge, motivation, sociocultural, and organizational sections,
limitations, and feasibility study conclusion section.
Knowledge Findings
Clark and Estes (2008) explained that if people do not know how to or cannot figure
something out independently, then “the knowledge component of the gap is a problem that must
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be solved” (p. 44). This study showed how different knowledge factors affected rural teachers’
capacity to adopt ICTs based teaching training platforms in rural settings. Specifically, the
knowledge findings indicated the conceptual and procedural knowledge factors related to the
needs and assets required to implement SVL ICTs for pre-service and in-service teacher training
in rural areas in Malawi.
The knowledge factor interview questions examined if rural teachers and administrators
possessed sufficient ICTs conceptual and procedural knowledge required to implement
community-based SVL ICTs for teacher training. All participants were assessed on ICTs
awareness and functions to establish an analysis baseline. The participants managed to define
several elements of ICTs as presented in the literature: to include all communication
technologies such as the internet, wireless networks, cell phones, computers, software,
middleware, video-conferencing, social networking, and other media applications and services
(Sylvester, 2013). While the participants understood ICTs functions, only one participant
explained the difference between asynchronous and synchronous tools for online collaboration.
Findings suggested the participants had a general understanding of ICTs and technology-based
learning functions but needed more knowledge to integrate ICTs into an online collaborative
teacher training scheme.
The literature and conceptual framework pointed to three crucial areas requiring
conceptual and procedural knowledge assessment to determine rural teacher preparedness to
adopt SVL ICTs: Rural Teacher and Administrator ICTs Skills, Curriculum Absorption, and
Non-Local Theoretical Approaches. Overall, results suggested that to introduce SVL ICTs into
the rural settings, the teachers, teacher administrators, and communities required increased
technology skills and experience to varying degrees. The findings determined that in-service
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rural primary teachers needed more ICTs related capacity building than secondary school
counterparts. In addition, pre-service primary school teachers had less interaction with ICTs than
their secondary school teaching counterparts because of limited exposure to ICTs required for
primary school teaching certification. The findings also determined that rural teachers’
apprehensions toward technology-based pedagogies linked to inadequate confidence to engage
with unfamiliar curriculum designs. All the rural teachers interviewed agreed that technology-
based learning applications would benefit the teachers with adequate training and induction time.
In considering the rural communal readiness to adopt technology-based training
initiatives, the findings affirmed the need to build collective awareness of the benefits of
technology-assisted learning to ensure acceptance. However, the need for civic engagement
emerged as a point of consideration, with all participants broaching the need to create awareness
of the benefits of community-based ICTs systems to gain community acceptance.
Motivation Findings
This section describes the motivation findings related to rural teacher empowerment and
professional resource needs. Findings from this study confirmed that rural teacher motivation
was low owing to personal and professional rural environment motivation influences. All rural
teachers expressed positive viewpoints on teacher assignment conditions. The findings showed
that extending teacher training resources through community-based SVL ICTs would empower
teachers and help improve community perceptions of the rural area education enterprise and
therefore require consideration. Some participants expressed the need for a blended model (face-
to-face and SVL ICTs) over an exclusively technology-driven training scheme in the initial
stages of piloting to determine the SVL ICTs model feasibility.
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The findings also revealed that weak support systems and access to resources affected
rural teacher morale. All the participants relayed that rural teachers did not have sufficient
resources to conduct the basic demands of the teaching profession. The gaps in teacher
empowerment, support systems, and resources emerged as critical factors contributing to low
rural teacher motivation. Overall, the findings determined that a community-based SVL ICTs
teacher training scheme providing rural teachers access to information and teacher development
resources could improve teacher motivation outcomes.
Sociocultural Findings
The critical sociocultural factors that emerged from the literature review considered the
crucial stakeholders and foreign interventions; cultural dynamics, traditional governance, gender
equity; language factors, and indigenous knowledge systems. Overall, most of the participants
affirmed the role of critical stakeholders in supporting rural community education change
initiatives. Interview findings revealed an extensive list of critical stakeholders affecting rural
sector education schemes, from ranking government officials, district-level education
administrators, to tribal leaders and parents within the rural settings. Research findings addressed
the adverse social influence foreign mediations have on rural populations; therefore, integrating
relevant sociocultural interests and cultural sensitization processes into program designs is
critical for project success. For example, local chiefs and tribal heads’ obligation to admit
reform-based interventions into rural community settings or the need for program designs to
implement flexible training schedules to account for women’s demands proved vital.
Other critical sociocultural factors arose in the findings on accounting for language
plurality in rural communities and indigenous knowledge systems. The interviews revealed that
English was the primary language of instruction in Malawi; however, English usage was
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dominant in urban settings, with rural areas relying on local dialects as primary forms of
communication. Related language to language of instruction considerations was the need to
factor into program designs rural societies indigenous knowledge systems intended to preserve
traditional practices and lifestyles.
Organizational Findings
Clark and Estes (2008) conveyed that organizational problems can trace to faulty
processes creating barriers that require adaptive strategies to rectify. This section addressed
research question two related to assessing organizational dimensions to determine the feasibility
of foreign mediated SVL ICTs to facilitate community-based pre-service and in-service teacher
training in rural areas in Malawi. This study evaluated the organizational factors through macro-
level and micro-level determinants. Macro-level factors addressed multilevel partnership and
budgetary aspects, the policy environment (to include decentralized policies), and infrastructure,
network connectivity, and electrification—additional macro-level findings from the interviews
touched on security concerns. Micro-level factors evaluated rural teacher recruitment,
deployment and retention, and community-based training practices.
The examined macro-level factors revealed significant gaps related to all macro-level
factors demonstrating considerable needs to integrate SVL ICTs into rural teacher training
schemes. According to the findings from this research study, though the Malawi government had
policies to support rural teacher training agendas, limitations in capital and infrastructural
systems to support technology-assisted training emerged as prohibitive factors. However, this
study confirmed that the government had embarked on active measures to encourage public and
private partnerships to ease budgetary constraints in training rural area teachers. The findings
also emphasized the education sectors’ decentralized policy structures and rural communities’
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involvement to support regional education endeavors. Placing teaching training centers closer to
rural communities is intended to address access concerns; however, budgetary constraints and
limitations of infrastructural systems have strained the system. Rural teachers also faced training
attendance challenges because of logistics and personal challenges.
A significant organizational factor that appears to be affecting the feasibility of
integrating ICTs based training into rural communities is the weakness of foundational support
systems required to run technology-based operations—infrastructure, network connectivity, and
electrification. For instance, considering that only 13% of rural communities in Malawi have
access to electricity, there is a significant need for alternative energy sources to enable rural
community-based technology interventions. The need to consider security dynamics while
introducing technological systems into rural environments also emerged as a significant concern.
Micro-level factor findings highlighted gaps in Malawi’s institutional capacity to train
rural area teachers with the government as the principal teacher development agency and a few
local universities and teacher training colleges providing additional training. The data gathered
from the findings found that all institutions’ collective qualified teacher output does not meet
rural area education demands. These capacity limitations contribute to the bottleneck process
where trained teachers wait on average 2–3 years for the first deployment, most times to rural
settings. Therefore, these factors show the need to address whether community-based SVL ICTs
can help mitigate organizational barriers to training rural area teachers.
Limitations and Delimitations
Theofanidis and Fountouki (2019) defined a limitation as “an imposed restriction which
is therefore essentially out of the researcher’s control” (p. 156). In considering the cited
definition, this study has several significant limitations. One limitation was that the study’s
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methodology involved a small population of 14 residents of Malawi potential participants. The
study’s limited responses of the seven participants related to truthfulness, ongoing engagement
within the education sector, and direct knowledge of, or engagement with, rural area teacher
training practices in Malawi. Further limitations involved failing to bring in participants and
trouble securing particular roles. The COVID-19 pandemic also limited physical access and
participant availability. All interviews transpired using the Zoom virtual platform. While this
study used triangulation, qualitative interview data were subject to other interpretations of the
data. Further, regarding COVID-19 travel restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic caused restricted
access to cost-related data to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis at the study location.
Delimitations, according to Theofanidis and Fountouki (2019) “are in essence the
limitations consciously set by the authors themselves” (p. 157). Delimiting factors that could
have affected the validity of the findings included the number of the interviews conducted; the
platform on which the discussions took place; the character of the interview questions; the
theoretical frameworks used, the KMO model, and the sociocultural theoretical framework. In
addition, a more comprehensive study would have included a broader list of critical stakeholders
and a complete cost-effectiveness analysis. This study focused on crucial participatory roles in
the rural area teacher training process. In this respect, results may not benefit other identified
stakeholder groups, such as communal elders.
Recommendations for Practice
Findings have shown knowledge, motivation, organization, and sociocultural factors that
are assets or needs to train rural area teachers using SVL ICTs teacher training schemes within
the rural environment. Specific findings on knowledge centered on rural teacher and
administrator ICTs knowledge, SVL ICTs preparedness, and digital curriculum requirements.
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The results about motivational factors included rural teacher empowerment and resources
requirements. The sociocultural findings address critical stakeholders and foreign interventions,
cultural dynamics, traditional governance and gender equity’ language, and indigenous
knowledge systems. Lastly, the organizational findings addressed macro-level and micro-level
factors related to Malawi’s rural teacher training enterprises. Based on these findings, the
following sections describe specific feasibility analysis recommendations for addressing these
various KMO and sociocultural determinants.
Recommendation 1: Increase SVL ICTs Knowledge of Rural Teachers, Administrators
To adopt training mediation through technology-based platforms, rural teachers and
administrators require increasing technology, pedagogy, and digital content knowledge (Mishra
& Koehler, 2006). The identified gaps informed by this study’s feasibility analysis findings
related to rural area teacher, administrator, and community ICTs training requirements and the
need for contextualized SVL ICTs support program designs. The findings are discussed in the
following sections.
Rural Teachers ICTs Training Requirements
The findings revealed that rural teachers have a basic conceptual understanding of ICTs
and related technologies; however, the teachers needed to increase conceptual and procedural
knowledge capacities to adopt SVL ICTs to facilitate rural area teacher training. Rural teachers’
limited exposure and engagement with web-enabled digital tools and software applications post-
training within rural environments to support ICTs based teaching training is the primary reason
for this gap. Therefore, rural teachers require contextualized ICTs capacity-building training to
develop the skills and competencies to facilitate technology-assisted learning. An initial training
measure must include hands-on instruction and practice to acclimate the teachers to the digital
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learning modality. Rural teachers also require continued inductive training with live interactions
to increase self-efficacy and achieve pedagogical application results. As teachers develop ICTs
competencies, frequent guided practice and feedback (Clark & Estes, 2008) will help assess
teachers’ knowledge development and pedagogical applicability to inform expected program
adjustments (Dlamini & Mbatha, 2018). Course schedules should include frequent refresher
courses, regular interval re-licensing, and virtual district-level mandated training modules that
are consistent with onsite national teacher training requirements.
Rural Administrators and Community ICTs Training Requirements
Rural teacher administrators connect the central government, the intervening agencies,
and the teachers in the rural teacher reform agendas. The administrators also facilitate on-site
training for the rural teachers as prescribed by the ministry of education. To introduce SVL ICTs
into rural teacher development schemes, administrators require increased technological
competencies to engage with SVL ICTs functions at an instructional level. The findings
disclosed that administrators’ ICTs competence varied depending on pre-existent levels of
engagement and training on the relevant technologies. The findings determined that, though the
ICTs technologies were familiar to administrators, there remained gaps between knowledge of
combining technology and pedagogy into deliverable instruction (Zennaro, 2018). Therefore,
administrators would also require induction to SVL ICTs setups to facilitate technical assistance
and learning requirements. Preparation can start with SVL ICTs workshops on systems training
and pedagogical application of program content and resources to aid in the change process. Live-
virtual team-based activities can help administrators develop practical skills related to critical
thinking, teamwork, and communication skills to support the rural teachers’ learning (Zennaro,
2018).
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In addition, to secure acceptance of a rural community-based ICTs education system
requires changing negative perceptions of non-traditional training methods and acclimating
community leaders to the technologies and the benefits to the communities (Carrier et al., 2012).
Sensitization to the technologies for select community members could facilitate the “mindset
change” required to embrace online teacher training. During the initial phases of an
implementation project, implementers should invite the community leaders, the PTA, and
representative educators to live synchronous demonstrations to explain and discuss community-
based SVL ICTs systems, objectives, and the benefits.
Introduce Rural Education to Synchronous Virtual Learning
The challenge of integrating an SVL ICTs teacher training scheme into rural communities
is how to build educators’ capacities to blend the technologies and to facilitate virtual learning.
Differences between traditional modes and virtual learning interventions require strategic
transition processes, considering non-traditional technology-based learning methods present
challenges for rural teachers and administrators (McQuiggan et al., 2015). Therefore, the initial
introduction of SVL ICTs platforms should include live demonstrations of how SVL ICTs
address participatory learning requirements. After that, teachers can practice setting up video
conferencing, ensuring webcams, mics, and relevant software work correctly.
Virtual conferencing training modules should include induction into technology-based
learning, including an introduction to broader applications of SVL ICTs, online classroom
delivery skills, pedagogic instruction, and virtual learning material design, followed by
assessments (Lan et al., 2012). Virtual conferencing exercises should also prepare students for
oral examinations and hands-on lessons requiring face-to-face interactions with course
administrators. Features requiring additional instruction on usage would include chat
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functionality for text messaging during synchronous and offline sessions; the shared whiteboard
is another critical component requiring practice for exchanging information on a shared platform.
Training requirements will vary based on students’ ability to engage with all the required system
features for seamless synchronous learning.
Recommendation 2: Introduce SVL ICTs to Increase Rural Teacher Motivation
A key contributor to low qualified teachers in rural settings is the lack of motivation to
work towards professional development goals, persist toward those goals, and personal
investment due to limited institutional support (Clark & Estes, 2008). Overall, rural area teachers
affirmed that rural teacher motivation could improve by introducing cross-functional technology-
based empowerment schemes. This section provides recommendations supported by this study’s
feasibility analysis findings for improving teacher motivation through SVL ICTs teacher training
platforms derived from the following identified motivation influences: rural teacher
empowerment needs and resource support requirements.
Empower Rural Teachers Through SVL ICTs
A demand for empowerment schemes designed to increase rural teachers’ qualifications
and the collective perceptions of the teachers’ instruction abilities emerged as a notable concern
related to rural teacher motivation. The findings showed that rural teachers receive fewer in-
service empowerment opportunities than urban peers because of limited access to ongoing
training in rural centers. Therefore, a community-based SVL ICTs program would benefit rural
teachers with localized empowerment access. With increased teacher confidence and
demonstrable performance outcomes, communal perceptions of rural teachers’ qualifications and
the benefits of SVL ICTs training modalities would improve.
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Further, rural communities’ limited career-related support compounded rural assignment
aversion. Therefore, as proposed, a rural community-based SVL ICTs teacher training scheme
can empower resident teachers and alleviate access-related concerns for prospective rural
teachers. Unlike alternative ICTs models that do not provide live person-to-person contact, the
proposed SVL ICTs modular lab embedded in the rural environment would help empower rural
teachers by providing synchronous access to guided assistance.
Provide SVL ICTs Based Support and Resources
Implementing SVL ICTs teacher training mechanisms into rural environments would
enable inclusive access to broad education communities for professional support. Therefore, the
recommendation is to extend teacher support by including virtual program designs, real-time
idea and resource exchange workshops, mentoring programs, and peer and expert support
networks to assist teachers in adapting to technology-based learning. An SVL ICTs platform
should provide sustained support for teachers’ development of ICTs competencies and
streamline pre- and in-service teacher education processes.
The study’s findings also confirmed the limited professional resources available in rural
communities. The findings also supported the potential of rural community-based SVL ICTs to
remove barriers to professional resources access. As proposed in this study research, the SVL
ICTs modular laboratory design should support a range of functions to teachers’ training needs
by providing seamless access to web-based global resources and access to peers within the rural
settings.
Certify the SVL ICTs Program to Meet National Standards
The need for rural teacher training designs to support national professional upgrading
requirements emerged as a prominent theme in the findings. Professional upgrading also
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improved social status, contributing to higher teacher motivation. Without SVL ICTs program
training outcomes increasing teacher qualification and compensation, the SLV ICTs scheme
alone would not motivate rural teacher participation. Therefore, a community-based SVL ICTs
program should secure government recognition and certification before execution. In addition,
program developers should embed the program into existing government education structures to
meet and participate in the national teacher training processes.
Recommendation 3: Factor Sociocultural Dimensions Into Program Designs
Vygotsky (2008) found that human learning as a social process emanates from human
intelligence and societal cultural factors. Research has failed to factor in data emanating from
rural community studies on the environmental, cultural influences that inform rural community
identities in introducing reform agendas (Balfour et al., 2008). This section addressed critical
factors identified in the literature review and conceptual framework through the lens of the
Vygotsky (1978) sociocultural theory to provide sociocultural factor recommendations supported
by this study’s feasibility analysis findings.
Engage With Diverse Critical Stakeholders
Before implementing technology-based program designs into culturally established rural
settings (Burns, 2011), the findings presented a wide range of stakeholders requiring collective
engagement and empowerment to reach the rural area ecosystems’ collective adjustability to
engage with technology-based teacher training platforms. The interviews provided a list of
varied stakeholders requiring extensive collaborative participation, learning exchange, and
support to satisfy rural areas’ ecosystems’ acceptance of proposed initiatives to ensure project
success. Program developers must integrate stakeholders’ perspectives, particularly the policy-
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makers, teachers, and rural officials, about rural social contexts, cultural needs, and challenges
that could hinder the ICTs training program’s sustainability and success.
Consideration of Rural Cultural Dynamics
Rural communities’ multi-faceted ethnic and cultural dynamics define the communities
and demand integration into rural reform agendas. Regarding introducing SVL ICTs in rural
settings, rural communities have shown apprehensions of technological interventions introducing
unacceptable cultural norms and beliefs. The traditional chiefs and elders, referred to as “the
custodians of the culture,” would have to determine the cultural appropriateness of SVL ICTs’
teacher training schemes for community approval. Further, the recommendation is for foreign-
program implementers to undergo cultural sensitization training before interactions with rural
area partisans to mitigate disjunction and promote healthy cultural exchange. The training regime
should allow for openness and academic curiosity by the development partners. Engagement
with community leaders should transpire early in the development phases to emphasize the
benefits of SVL ICTs in training rural teachers in alignment with the national curriculum and
contextualized guidelines to avoid implementation disapproval.
Cultural, Equity and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Considerations
The medium of language communication can influence the success or failure of a rural
setting technology-based teacher education program. The findings suggested that language
barriers presented a significant test in designing a suited ICTs based digital curriculum and
instructional methods. Due to the multi-lingual rural learning context, this study recommends
pairing English with the predominant local area language to fill language gaps. Well-designed
programs should work with local education administrators to design program outlines to preserve
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and promote culture by balancing primary instructional language requirements with local
language needs.
The need to affirm local knowledge, traditions, and practice in education reform agendas,
while also providing awareness of the value of equity and inclusion in the education profession is
critical (Mutekwe, 2018). Gender issues affecting the number of qualified female teachers in
rural schools and the difficulties recruiting female teachers presented a significant equity-related
gap. Therefore, the recommendation for community-based SVL ICTs recruitment efforts should
encourage and support rural area female teachers’ participation in the education profession. Such
a setup would allow cultural perspectives to change over time and provide localized female role
models.
SVL ICTs program designs should also integrate cross-cultural native educators into the
program instructor pool to preserve rural area indigenous knowledge systems continuity.
Balancing program theory into local indigenous practice would help tailor program designs to
account for cultural, linguistic, curricular, and social nuances to achieve equitable and quality
learning outcomes.
Recommendation 4: Develop SVL ICTs Training Aligned With National Standards
Organization Recommendations
Clark and Estes (2008) cautioned “the more novel and complex a goal, the more
extensive the performance support required for people to achieve it” (p. 42). However, the type
of support required for a novel intervention requires analysis to determine the availability of
needed organizational elements and gaps that necessitate closing (Clark & Estes, 2008). Chapter
Four generated three organizational macro-level recommendations regarding national and
decentralized policies and addressing infrastructure, network, and electrification concerns. The
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micro-level factor recommendations included rural teacher recruitment, deployment and
retention, a technology-assisted community-based teacher training model, government
partnership dynamics, security, and rural isolation assessments. This section provides
recommendations on micro-level and macro-level, informed by the feasibility analysis findings.
Develop Rural Area ICTs Contextualized Policies
Rural teachers face logistical challenges accessing training, and government budgetary
constraints also limit active incentivization. In addition, to secure government approval for rural
education reform initiatives, plans and policy goals need completion at the project onset.
Therefore, program designers should craft well-defined project proposals around program
delivery designs inviting rural area stakeholder participation. Delivery designs should factor rural
area sociocultural dynamics in crafting digital teacher training curriculum, integrating teacher
outcomes with national standards, defining certification parameters to include teacher upgrading
and promotion, and financial incentivization and budgetary factors.
Pre-program implementations should also focus on processes to streamline government
approvals and secure guidance related to enabling technology-based rural area teacher training
through private agencies, and preparing conditions for monitoring, tracking, and evaluating
project deliverables. In addition, program development facilitators should align program designs
parallel with the national CPD frameworks and contextualize rural area SVL ICTs teacher
training requirements. SVL ICTs rural learning centers will face fewer barriers to entry if
oversight comes from district zone jurisdiction.
Infrastructure, Network Connectivity, and Electrification
A well-developed SVL ICTs mobile lab should span access challenges by sustaining
integrated capacities to operate in resource-limited areas. This research study recommends that
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standard features of an SVL ICTs mobile lab include: high-quality, low-cost devices (computers,
servers, projectors, and inclusive printers), satellite modems, satellite dish, wireless routers,
network adapters, solar panels, and associated hardware, and internal cooling systems. The solar
panel-generated energy and transmission equipment will generate electrification power. Using
direct PV modules to convert solar irradiation into electricity has shown more suitable for small-
scale power generation in more subtropical regions receiving high solar irradiation (Ahmadi et
al., 2018). Solar internet dish technologies can provide portable satellite internet to transmit and
receive data from a small satellite dish similar to land-based data providers (Ground Control,
2021). Thus, the satellite internet dish will provide internet signals from a local internet service
provider (ISP) to address connectivity concerns. The recommended SVL ICTs modular-based
learning delivery lab model would require no external infrastructure support to conduct robust,
integrated SVL functions. In addition, the portable mobile lab has an added benefit of
transportability to urban centers for technical service and maintenance requirements, thus making
such a technology-based SVL ICTs delivery model workable for rural setting needs.
Rural Teacher Recruitment, Deployment, and Retention
Prompted by the inequitable distribution of teachers in rural communities in Sub-Saharan
Africa, this research investigated teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention in rural
environments to determine if implementing SVL ICTs could address recruitment, deployment,
and retention concerns by training native pre- and in-service teachers within the rural
environment. The Malawian government developed an initial primary teacher education (IPTE)
scheme to introduce new primary school teachers into the education system as a recruitment
measure. Rural areas receive very few qualified teachers in this scheme, considering teachers are
unwilling to endure rural community hardships (Asim et al., 2019). Teachers within the rural
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environment maintain low qualifications for varied reasons, but the challenges in accessing
teacher training centers in urban localities are prominent. Program developers could mitigate
these challenges related to teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention by integrating
community-based systems to address these needs within the rural environment. This approach
would bypass rural aversion by introducing rural community teachers accustomed to the rural
environment into the practice. The community-based SVL ICTs training center would facilitate
accessible, continuous training and encourage trained teachers to remain within the familial
environment.
Feasibility Study Report Conclusion
The purpose of this research was to identify knowledge, motivation, organization, and
sociocultural needs and assets related to implementing SVL ICTs and to determine the feasibility
of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-based teacher training in
Malawi. The study focuses on the feasibility of training rural teachers through SVL ICTs
because of limitations to teacher training access and the education inequalities particularly
affecting the underserved rural communities.
Policies and research have long existed centered around distance education and blended
training models to address qualified teacher supply in Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural settings.
However, persistent systemic gaps in rural area teacher training processes point to the need for
alternative models. The alternative ICTs models used in rural area teacher training schemes,
discussed in Chapter One, have extended access to rural teachers with mixed results. The models
presented in the chapter exhibited the following limitations based on the premise of providing
seamless access into rural environments to replace traditional teacher training methods: the
ability to deliver quality live pedagogy for pre- and in-service teachers in the rural environment;
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the ability to bypass rural area weak infrastructural challenges with no cost to the rural teachers;
and portability to other rural communities once training is complete to scale rural teacher training
demands:
Alternative models run on asynchronous platforms, so no live face-to-face
interactions are best suited to replace traditional learning methods, making knowledge
acquisition more difficult.
There is over-reliance on print instructions or video tutorials to assist, no means of
live communication, and no support to keep teachers motivated.
The asynchronous and pre-recorded video formats fail to meet sociocultural needs to
develop relations through people as synchronous platforms can facilitate.
The systems rely on energy sources requiring constant replacement or limited rural
communities’ infrastructure to run the ICTs devices and program systems.
These alternative models have delivered mixed results related to training teachers through
ICTS within rural settings. As espoused in this study, the potential of a community-based SVL
ICTs rural teacher program offers a feasible solution to train rural teachers through technology-
assisted solutions. However, in light of the KMO and sociocultural findings, evidence suggests
technology alone cannot solve the multifaceted and complex challenges of training teachers in
rural settings. Therefore, considering all relevant variables, this research study’s proposed
community-based SVL ICTs teacher training solution merits further exploration for successful
rural community integration. The following list provides feasibility analysis recommendations.
1. The research has established many supporting and constraining knowledge factors
related to the inadequate training of teachers in rural settings—the primary reason for
rural teacher training gaps is limited access to continued professional growth. In
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addition, poor digital literacy due to limited ICTs training and pedagogy points to the
need to improve ICTs knowledge capacities. If provided with continuous access to
culturally appropriate training through technology-assisted platforms, rural teachers
and administrators have shown the ability to increase novel technology capacities
provided process time to integrate pedagogy and technology usage. Therefore, SVL
ICTs program developers should build contextualized rural teacher pedagogical
capacity by developing digital curriculums that support long-term pedagogic
development to allow change, provide high-quality digital resources, and raise
qualified rural teachers.
2. For the SVL ICTs model to succeed, rural teachers need motivation and support to
realize the desired program outcomes. The study found that access to community-
based SVL ICTs programs can be a powerful source to encourage rural teacher
participation. However, to motivate teachers to sustain participation requires
developing purposefully structured outcomes leading to recognition of achievement
as professional upgrading (both professional certification and monetary increase).
Carefully selected teacher trainers can maximize teacher confidence to use new
technologies and teaching techniques through informal peer-to-peer support groups,
workshop facilitation, constant feedback, and culturally contextualized resources
developed with the input of rural teachers.
3. This study considered the sociocultural realities of rural communities in Malawi to
account for the cultural barriers to adopting SVL ICTs programs. This study has
found, if program implementers approach the education reform initiative through a
culturally sensitive lens accounting for the complexity and the need to welcome rural
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community perspectives to inform program goals, ICTs based interventions can
succeed. Therefore, pre-launch cultural sensitization and engagement with rural
communities are necessary to determine community acceptance and the community’s
contextual fit.
4. Organizational factors such as teacher rural teacher pay, housing, and rural area
amenity concerns are beyond this study’s scope. However, the community-based
modular lab SVL model can scale rural underserved infrastructural barriers,
inadequate development, and availability of ICTs infrastructures such as electrical
and broadband connectivity, computing equipment, and other technical considerations
and maintenance requirements. Malawi’s national policies have not always offered
consistency for foreign partners because of several factors. However, the friendly
posture of the central government’s support of foreign interventions provides
development partners with opportunities to advance innovative rural teacher training
practices. Therefore, education development partners working with required
stakeholders must craft program curricular guidelines and teaching standards
consistent with national curriculum and government policy standards.
5. The study recommends a project cost assessment using a cost-effective model to
determine the capital requirements for launching the SVL ICTs modular model.
Providing the options for exporting completed SVL ICTs modular labs from
developed nations to Malawi, the study recommends exploring whether developing
the systems in Malawi would provide a more cost-effective means than having
completed systems exported to the country.
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Future Research
The following recommendations are two potential areas for future study: development of
an SVL ICTs lab and the associated costs; the digital curriculum requirements.
SVL ICTs Development and Cost-Effectiveness
This research study recommends that standard features of an SVL ICTs mobile lab
contained within 10- to 12-foot modules suited for conventional truck transportation include:
high-quality, low-cost devices (computers, servers, projectors, and inclusive printers), satellite
modems, satellite dishes, wireless routers, network adapters, solar panels, and associated
hardware, and internal cooling systems. Such a facility requires development guidelines and
permits, architectural design, and construction. This study’s research was limited to offer cost-
effective assessments for constructing fully integrated SVL ICTs mobile labs, the maintenance
costs of the innovation, required support staff costs, and other expenses related to sustainability
and scalability. Therefore, research to determine whether the SVL ICTs labs production can
occur in Malawi or importing completed SVL ICTs modular labs from overseas is most
workable requires analysis.
Digital Curriculum Requirements
A challenge that emerged from the literature review for development partners was
aligning curriculum designs to suit Malawi’s national curricula guidelines and rural demands.
The Digital Education Enhancement Program (DEEP) referenced in the literature review relied
on local teachers’ input to design short-term teacher training curricula using e-learning and
digital technologies (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017). The DEEP approach of including teachers
in developing digital curriculum to contextualize theory, subject pedagogy, practical training,
138
and application guidelines could provide a good starting point to determine what method and
content will accommodate the broadest reach of rural communities for scalability demands.
Conclusions
The purpose of this research was to identify knowledge, motivation, organization, and
sociocultural needs and assets related to implementing SVL ICTs and to determine the feasibility
of integrating SVL ICTs for pre- and in-service rural community-based teacher training in
Malawi. This study’s findings revealed several KMO and sociocultural factors that benefit or
hinder integrating SVL ICTs into rural area teacher training programs. Rural communities’ assets
include the potential pool of teachers available to train within the rural areas, a government
welcoming to foreign development partners, and institutional support for innovative rural area
teacher training efforts. Some barriers to implementing SVL ICTs teacher training schemes in
rural communities are the need to increase teacher technology usage capacities, constrained
educational budgets to fund rural teacher training, weak infrastructure, and policies to address
and support technology-based technology teacher training schemes.
This study has shown the feasibility of community-based SVL ICTs modular mobile
learning labs as an alternate approach to train rural teachers. However, the SVL ICTs teacher
training design would require other institutional and procedural changes in rural area teacher
training systems to support the SVL ICTs initiative. Considering support from critical facets of
rural area teacher development requirements, the SVL ICTs training labs can address rural
teacher training limitations, infrastructural support requirements and facilitate live training
within the rural environment. By exploring integrating SVL ICTs teacher training labs into rural
communities, educators can more effectively help increase qualified teachers’ supply in low-
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income and developing nations’ rural areas and improve overall rural community education
standards and outcomes.
140
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Appendix A: Interview Protocol
1. To get us started, let us discuss your experience with Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs). I will use the acronym ICTs through the
interview to make the process easier. What do you know about them and how they
work? (RQ1; knowledge)
a. (If used) in what context have you used ICTs pre-service? In-service?
b. Tell me a little about how pre-service and in-service teacher training is
currently addressed in rural areas.
c. In your opinion, how well is it going? How effective is it?
d. What do you feel needs to be improved?
2. How do you think other educational practitioners feel about the issue? Would they
agree or disagree with you?
3. Let me describe a potential ICTs program for you, and then we can gather some
thoughts you have around the program’s feasibility. (RQ1; motivation) [describe
program]
a. How much interest might there be in a model like this?
b. To what extent do you think rural teachers would find it valuable?
c. To what extent would you think pre-service teachers would be interested?
d. To what extent do you think in-service teachers would be interested?
4. How prepared would you say rural communities are for this type of ICTs model as
described (RQ1; knowledge)?
a. Can you discuss your thoughts on teacher preparation a little more?
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b. How would such a program affect the preparation of the local schoolteachers
and administrators?
5. If you were to implement ICTs in rural areas in Malawi for pre-service and in-service
teacher training, what knowledge or information is needed to get started? (RQ1;
knowledge)
a. What knowledge would the general community need?
b. How about pre-service teachers?
c. What of in-service teachers?
d. And, how about administrators?
6. Could you let me know of any other parties that should be considered in this
assessment? If an ICTs program were to be implemented, what capacities in terms of
support would be required? To what extent are those resources or processes in place?
(RQ2; organizational)
a. What policies or procedures will such an initiative need?
b. What policies or procedures are you aware of at present?
c. What needs to be done to incorporate ICTs for rural area teacher professional
training?
d. Do you think ICTs would be of benefit to rural area teacher professional
training?
7. What are the challenges teachers face in rural communities regarding community
views of education and the teaching profession? (RQ1; sociocultural)
a. Why would you say you have these thoughts on this subject?
b. Would these attitudes change with more support? If so, how?
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i. With more knowledge about how to use ICTs?
ii. Considering community adoption?
iii. More intervention from external agencies?
8. What concerns would you have about ICTs usage in rural areas? (RQ2; organization)
a. What might some local concerns be?
b. What are some particular teacher concerns?
c. What about the local government?
d. Tell me of any concerns tied to local and government policies?
e. What top considerations would you provide to ensure rural area teachers’
success training through ICTs training programs?
9. Let us look at some additional factors that affect rural area teacher motivation? (RQ1;
motivation)
a. What are some of your thoughts on why rural communities struggle to retain
teachers?
i. What are the factors that most influence teacher retention?
ii. Why do teachers in rural areas choose to leave rural communities or
the teaching profession?
b. Tell me your thoughts on how a localized ICTs teacher support program
would affect teacher retention?
i. Would such a setup contribute to attracting potential teachers?
ii. What if its influence on local perceptions of the teaching profession?
10. Would a rural community be open to ICTs in teacher professional training as a
permanent community feature? (RQ1; sociocultural)
161
a. What cultural factors would you say promote or inhibit the usage of ICTs that
you can think of?
b. What considerations related to local traditions need to be factored in
addressing ICTs and teacher training?
Abstract (if available)
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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Moonzwe, Isaac Mwiinga
(author)
Core Title
Training qualified rural area teachers in Malawi using synchronous virtual learning (SVL) information and communication technologies (ICTs) platforms
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)
Degree Conferral Date
2021-12
Publication Date
12/15/2021
Defense Date
12/13/2021
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
Africa,feasibility analysis,ICTs,indigenous knowledge systems,information and communication technologies,KMO,Malawi,OAI-PMH Harvest,rural sociocultural,rural teacher Africa,rural teacher knowledge,rural teacher motivation,rural teacher organization,rural teacher training,sociocultural theory,teacher development,virtual learning
Format
application/pdf
(imt)
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Malloy, Courtney (
committee chair
), Chatham, Daniel (
committee member
), Stowe, Kathy (
committee member
)
Creator Email
isaac.moonzwe@gmail.com,moonzwe@usc.edu
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC18367061
Unique identifier
UC18367061
Legacy Identifier
etd-MoonzweIsa-10301
Document Type
Dissertation
Format
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Moonzwe, Isaac Mwiinga
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(batch),
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
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Tags
feasibility analysis
ICTs
indigenous knowledge systems
information and communication technologies
KMO
rural sociocultural
rural teacher Africa
rural teacher knowledge
rural teacher motivation
rural teacher organization
rural teacher training
sociocultural theory
teacher development
virtual learning