Introduction
There is a dearth of research on the application of ICT to teaching and learning in developing country contexts, specifically in the key areas of literacy, numeracy and science at the primary level. In addition there are currently few, if any, examples of planned investigations into how mobile technologies can be used to support teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa.
The project’s aim is to inform policy makers, educational researchers and others interested in ways in which new forms of technology can enhance teachers’ capabilities and improve knowledge and professionalism in the global south.
The original DEEP study was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and co-ordinated by the Open University (UK), with the University of Fort Hare (UFH), South Africa and the Programme, Planning and Monitoring Unit (PPMU), Egypt.
The research was carried out in 12 primary schools in Egypt and 12 in South Africa with 48 teachers (two per school) and involved over 2,000 primary school students. Teachers worked in pairs to implement and evaluate a short, curriculum-focused, school-based professional development programme, using a range of new technologies including laptops, hand-held computers and digital cameras. Activities focused on the teaching of literacy, numeracy and science. ICT was used in some significant ways by schools as a whole, as well as many of the communities in which project teachers lived and worked.
