Despite the odds: Integrating Technology in its Absence

DOI: 10.5176/2251-1814_EeL18.130

Authors: mutindi ndunda and Issa Malecela

Abstract: There is an abundance of support and justification of the role of technology in the classroom as a teaching and learning tool. This paper is about the experiences of a Fulbright and two time Carnegie Scholar in Tanzania who worked in collaboration with a lecturer at the Muslim University of Morogoro to make technology a viable teaching and learning option in this institution. The paper presents three phases or stages through which colleagues at MUM and myself went through in an attempt to integrate technology in teaching and learning. The initial attempt was through the co-teaching of Educational Media course with an enrollment of about 1200 students. The second phase was through the training for distance readiness, and the third stage phase involved the training of lecturers on how to G suite for education for teaching and learning with an emphasis on the use of readily available technologies including smartphones. The paper highlights the opportunities and challenges of integrating technology MUM. Discussed also are the lessons learned from this collaboration especially, the use of readily available technology including smartphones for teaching and learning.

Keywords: technology; co-teaching; developing countries; higher education; Tanzania; smartphones