The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development came into force on 1 January 2016. Target 9c of the SDGs aims to: "significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the internet in least developing countries by 2020" (United Nations, 2015). Achievement of target 9c will herald a technology-enabled future, potentially opening the door to resolving major educational and training challenges in developing countries.
In this context, the research set out to explore how this technology could be leveraged to provide continuous professional development (CPD) in developing countries. The health sector in Tanzania was examined to assess how technology-enabled CPD solutions might be applied in a country which suffers from a severe shortage of health workers, most of whom have few opportunities to update their knowledge and skills throughout their professional lives.
An MSc dissertation was designed as a mixed methods research project inspired by complexity theory, described by Cohen et al. (p.33, 2010) as viewing phenomena holistically so as not to “miss the dynamic interactions of several parts.” Quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analysed using a variety of instruments and sample groups to facilitate triangulation of interpretations of data. Interviewees were selected from a developed and a developing country to allow for space triangulation - comparing perspectives from both settings to understand and learn from shared and contrasting experiences to identify opportunities for the future in the developing country.
On-the-ground research was carried out in Tanzania over a 4-year period, which included a review of available policies and strategies and over 50 consultations with health worker experts, including the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, training institutions, professional health councils and associations, and other organizations working in human resources for health.
The research concluded that global and national commitments, and trends in ICT adoption globally point to 2020 being the first big milestone on the road to every person on this planet being connected to the internet. It also found that technology exists to create acceptable and scalable digital versions of analogue CPD activities, using low-cost methodologies.
While technology infrastructure is a basic prerequisite for moving CPD online, the research also identified a number of non-tech factors that must be addressed for the shift to succeed. Professional learners need to ‘learn how to learn’ using this new medium – to increase digital literacy skills, understand the value of online learning, know how to function in a virtual learning community, and accept responsibility for demonstrating their learning through e-journals and e-portfolios. It also identified the need to integrate online CPD systems to the existing analogue health worker ecology, ensuring buy-in from all stakeholders including government, training and education institutions, health worker representatives, and health workers themselves.
Based on this research, an initiative is being planned to develop a mobile-optimized e-Learning Platform which will be customized as a dynamic, user-centred learning medium for health workers in Tanzania.
References
Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. (2010). Research methods in education 6th edition. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York
United Nations (2015). Sustainable Development Goals - 17 Goals to transform our world.
Topics: Global challenges in Higher & Further Education , Topics: Digital technologies in disciplinary contexts
