New Technologies and Knowledge Acquisition and Use in Developing Countries[1].
Keith M Lewin
First published inCompare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
Volume 30, Issue 3: 313-321, 2000
Introduction
This short paper is focussed on the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), their implications for education and learning, and the resource constraints that will shape their impact on developing countries. The analysis in the paper sets a challenge for the future. It argues that educational developments related to ICTs will be highly concentrated in richer countries where connectivity is common and markets for services are extensive and profitable. Some middle income developing countries will derive benefits and become increasingly inter connected both as service consumers and specialised providers. The poorest countries are most likely to experience marginalisation and dependence from many of the benefits that ICTs can provide. For them, and for those concerned about their development, the challenge is to imagine, demonstrate and finance ways in which ICTs can permeate learning opportunity and infrastructure to lessen dependence, democratise access and promote the kinds of knowledge acquisition that are at the core of development.
Implications of the Development of Information and Communication Technologies
The development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has been rapid and is transforming work and knowledge production. The implications of these changes are extensive and affect both developed and developing countries. Four points are illustrative. First, the development of ICT infrastructure creates a panorama of opportunities to exploit the power embedded in sharing information. Consumers now have the ability to compare almost instantly the prices of commodities, including educational services, in order to make choices. Libraries and many bespoke information services that are tailored to specific needs can be accessed from anywhere in the world. User groups allow those with common interests to share news, political activity, social comment, cultural activities, scientific knowledge, and opportunities to learn in increasingly interactive ways.
Second, the impact of ICTs on educational services is growing. Initial attempts to introduce computer based technologies into schools and higher education were hampered by cost, constraints on information processing, and lack of connectivity. These obstacles to be largely removed in richer countries. Individual ownership of information processing devices has exploded and connections to the internet are commonplace. Educational service providers are increasingly using ICTs to organise and deliver educational experiences. ICT developments have diffused across the curriculum, rather than being concentrated in science and technology. Many educational institutions are becoming mixed mode, utilising both face to face and ICT based support. A second generation of internationalisation is taking place in further and higher education. Students no longer have to travel and stay for extended periods in developed country institutions to obtain interational qualifications.
Third, labour markets have been changing. The well established structural drift historically associated with development from employment in agriculture, through manufacturing, to services has taken on a different character. Services increasingly embody knowledge based work dependent on ICTs. This has created demands in developing countries for highly skilled professionals who can provide ICT based services competitively and who can sell these internationally (Reich 1991). It has also facilitated the migration of lower level jobs based on information processing to developing countries (e.g. airline ticketing, pay roll management). This is generating new educational demands for skills in language and information management (Lewin 1997).
Fourth, the ways in which knowledge is generated and validated are changing. Gibbons (1998) identifies two modes of knowledge production. Mode 1 is characterised by hierarchical management of knowledge generation within physically located organisations, validation of new knowledge within restricted communities of professionals, specialisation, and problem definition grounded in fields of study and academic disciplines. Mode 2 is different. In this knowledge production is located close to application and driven by problems arising in the economic and social world rather than embedded in disciplines. Organisations have flat, task focused structures that allow flexible patterns of collaboration between research and development staff who are often not located in the same physical institution. Accountability, quality control and the validation of new knowledge is accomplished with reference to broadly based groups of stakeholders. Transdisciplinarity is common. ICTs make Mode 2 knowledge production much easier. It challenges traditional patterns of the organisation of research and development, the associated learning and teaching, and the processes of knowledge validation and dissemination.
Opportunities and Benefits Associated with the Development of ICTs
The opportunities and benefits associated with the development of ICTs and their impact on education and learning are many. Those thought to have implications for developing countries are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1 Opportunities and Benefits Associated with the Development of ICTs
Opportunity / Possible Benefits1. Access to high quality learning material and to remote sites / Learning material developed anywhere can be made accessible to learners anywhere
2. Open connectivity between learners independent of location / Free flow of information within and across learner groups
3. Interactive learning transcends limitations of simple access to information / Networked ICTs allow interaction between learners, with teachers, and the development of quasi intelligent learning programmes
4. Flexible learning activity at times convenient of the learner / Removal of time constraints on learning activity to allow different rates of progression and access to non-traditional learners
5. Removal of spacial constraints on the learning environment / Reduced physical constraints on access to learning, travel and subsistence costs minimised, distance no longer a determinant of marginalisation
6. Development of intermediary services to support learning / Use of networks of teachers and advisors to collate, process and distribute ideas and materials to wider aufdiences
7. Management of learning can use rich data on learners progress and performance / Interactive systems can generate formative data on learning progress and link to adaptive learning matched to learners needs and actions
8. Assessment and certification can be administered using ICTs / Assessment and certification can be organised on-line with possibilities to reduce costs, improve security and standardise assessment tasks
9. Educational service providers can use ICTs to increase efficiency, improve service, and reduce costs / Financial, administrative and resource management systems can use ICT generated data at different levels of analysis to improve service delivery
The first of these is perhaps the most obvious. ICT can bring access to all kinds of learning material to anyone connected to the global information system. Print materials can be widely disseminated electronically, learning programmes can be structured to include a wide range of multi-media presentation techniques, learning material can be tailored to meet specific needs, and it is possible to update rapidly.
The second and third opportunities are the ones most likely to transform modes of learning and educational service provision. Connectivity and interactivity on the scale that the internet can provide create qualitatively different learning environments. Users can choose which networks to be part of and take the initiative in setting up their own. Interaction between learners and teachers can take new forms and can be engineered to match learning experiences with learning needs. These opportunities, coupled with freedom from spacial and temporal constraints on learning (the fourth and fifth opportunities), seem to offer the prospect of a comprehensively redrawn topography of learning opportunity. New markets for educational services are developing which are in principle open to individuals and institutions in developing countries.
The sixth opportunity relates to situations where access is very limited, as in the poorest countries. It is possible to envisage strategic networks of key educational actors (advisors, curriculum developers, senior teachers etc), who act as intermediaries between mass learning systems and ICT derived flows of information and learning resources. Seventh, systems that utilise ICT can generate a wealth of information on learning capability, progress and preferences. From analysis of how learners access information, what use they make of it, and how they interact with instructional systems, feedback loops can be developed that respond to different learners needs and capabilities. The principles behind this are easy to understand. The practical difficulties of creating useful formative data, and linking this to adaptive learning systems that are responsive and result in valued learning outcomes, may be quite formidable.
The eighth opportunity relates to certification and assessment. ICTs now allow assessment tasks to be set on-line. They permit judgemental marking that cannot be automated to be undertaken by markers anywhere a connection is available. Scripts can be scanned and distributed electronically. These systems already exist for some UK and US based qualifications and mean that it is possible to take tests for recognised qualifications in any secure environment leased for the purpose. Costs for test development, administration, and marking can all be reduced. New forms of assessment tasks can also be formulated. Lastly, ICTs can be used to improve administration and resource allocation through the monitoring and analysis of system performance.
Antecedent Conditions
The realisation of these opportunities depends on access at sustainable cost. It is easy to under estimate what the resource costs are, how they are configured, and how realistic it is that they can be met in developing countries. Adequate hardware, software and connectivity are all essential if ICT infrastructure is to be sufficient to allow the opportunities identified to be turned into actualities. The three are inter dependent. If all elements are not present then many developments cannot take place. Table 2 summarises antecedent conditions in each arena.
Table 2 Some Antecedent Conditions for ICT Development
Arena / Antecedent ConditionHardware / Interface devices available at costs and on a scale sufficient to provide frequent access to many users
Sufficient technically qualified staff to maintain stand alone and networked systems
Adequate recurrent funding to support the cost of upgrading equipment
Software / Affordable software appropriate to users needs defined in terms of language, application, cultural relevance, and learning needs
Software support staff to maintain connectivity, develop applications, train users, and troubleshoot users problems
Connectivity / Availability of reliable connections
Adequate recurrent finance to maintain connectivity
The cost of ICT hardware has fallen since personal computers were first introduced. A few hundred dollars will buy entry level device that will run a wide range of software. It may be that these prices continue to fall. However, past reductions in the cost of basic devices which provide access may not be a good guide to the future. First, the electronics consumer industry is proving adept at maintaining prices for hardware in the marketplace though a constant stream of innovations that offer more and more powerful features to counterbalance cost reductions arising from innovation and increased productivity in manufacturing. Entry prices are ceasing to fall as fast as those of the underlying electronic components. Second, depreciation on hardware can be as high as 50% annually as new devices displace old ones and software becomes more and more hungry for processing power. This can imply that after two years replacements have to be financed either because equipment is no longer adequate to run new applications or because it has reached the end of its design life. Third, many ICT devices require an environment that is not hostile to their architecture. High humidity, extremes of temperature, dust, strong sunlight and many other things can degrade performance and durability. The cost of providing a suitable environment, and the security necessary to preserve the integrity of any facility, can be substantial and is recurrent. Fourth, it may be the case that maintaining hardware in working order has costs comparable to or greater than its purchase price.
ICT software is developing in ways that are difficult to anticipate. Quality software has high initial investment costs that have to be recouped from a large number of users. The resources needed to develop software that has high functionality and can be marketed to a wide client base are increasingly concentrated within large corporations. The extension of intellectual property rights globally has encouraged concentration and product standardisation which can lead to monopolistic practices in the pricing and availability of operating systems and applications. It is indicative that when word processors first became available there was a wide range of competing products. This has now collapsed to a small number of viable alternatives which divide up a global market[2]. This is not to say that a free market place in software will not continue to exist and competition will create alternatives[3]. It is to note that most developing countries are too small to support investment in bespoke software, it is too expensive to undertake development unilaterally, and consequentially dependence on major software producers and their tastes and preferences would seem almost inevitable. So also by implication will be the necessity to pay prices that are internationally determined.
Infrastructure is critical since connectivity is essential. Data on telephone access is illuminating. East Asian tiger economies provide telephone access of 50 lines per 100 population or better. In much of Africa line access is below 1 per 100. International telephone calls average over 250 minutes per person in Hong Kong and Singapore, but less than a minute per year in most of the poorest countries (UNDP 1997, World Bank 1999). Moreover quality in telephone systems which use land lines and exchanges which have not been upgraded is often inadequate for data transmission. Estimates of the number of graduates in science and engineering give some indication of the availability of those who can technically manage and develop ICT systems. This varies from less than 2 per 10,000 inhabitants in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to over 100 in some European countries (Caillods, Gottelman Duret and Lewin 1997). Connectivity in the mid 1990s varied enormously. The US had over 6 million internet hosts in 1996, compared to 23,000 inSingapore, 2,400 inIndonesia, 90 inZimbabwe and 60 inUganda (Mansell and Wehn 1998). The connection costs for internet access in the poorest countries can be greater than in the richest. Call charges are likely to be high where national telephone monopolies control prices. Subscriptions to internet service providers are often set at international levels since many of the service providers are directly or indirectly located in rich countries. It is evident that in the poorest countries convergence towards levels of connectivity necessary for widespread access to ICTs are a distant prospect. This is especially so in those countries where economic growth is less likely than stagnation or contraction.
These are only some of the issues that will shape the availability and impact of the development of ICTs on developing countries. Others include political commitment, or at least tolerance, of free flows of information within and from outside the country; macro-economic growth and stability which can permit the accumulation of infrastructure; and effective demand for the services, educational or otherwise, that can be provided through ICTs. How ICTs develop will depend on which of the antecedent conditions identified are likely to be met, in which developing countries.
Disparities in Resources for the Development of ICTs and Education
Wealth and probable levels of public investment will be definitive in determining the spread and impact of ICTs. The range of GNP[4]s between rich and poor countries is wide. In the mid 1990s the GNP of Japan was over $5,000 billion. This can be compared with Korea ($450 billion), Malaysia ($80 billion), Sri Lanka ($12 billion), Zimbabwe ($6 billion) and Malawi ($2 billion). The size of an economy is significant as an indicator of the base for taxation (and hence public investment in education and infrastructure)[5].GNP per capita in developing countries varies widely independent of the size of total GNP and covers a range from well over $25,000 per capita to less than $100 per capita. This has implications for access to and use of ICT. The extension of connectivity and access throughout a population depends on both private and public expenditure. Higher incomes create opportunities for consumption of services that are paid for privately since more disposable income is available to pay the costs. In the poorest countries the magnitudes of disposable income are unlikely to be sufficient to support the kind of rapid growth in access that has occurred in the UK and US and parts of developing Asia. Telephone connections remain an expensive luxury, as do computers.
The amounts invested in formal education by governments give some indication of the magnitude of recurrent public expenditure available to support ICT related developments in education. If the available data[6] on 54 countries on expenditure per child at primary is analysed in three groups - GNP of more than $8,000, between $2,000 and $8,000, and below $2,000 - the results are shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Average GNP, GNP per Capita, Public Expenditure per Primary School Child and per Tertiary Student by Country Group
GNP per capita / Average total GNP / Average GNP per capita / Public educational expenditure per primary child / Public educational expenditure per tertiary studentMore than $8000 / 990 / 22800 / 4300 / 8580
$1500-$8000 / 94 / 3620 / 390 / 2260
Less than $1500 / 5 / 450 / 50 / 1210
These amounts per child can be translated into estimates of the public recurrent expenditure that might be available to support ICT based innovations in learning. If 90% of recurrent expenditure is in salary costs then 10% of the expenditure per child is available to cover all non-salary spending. In the poorest countries this amounts to about $5 per child per year. In middle income countries an equivalent estimation would yield about $40 per child per year and in the richest group about $430. Not all non-salary expenditure is available to support ICT based innovations. Most will be committed to maintenance, non-ICT learning materials and equipment etc. If perhaps 20% of non-salary allocations could be linked to new developments related to ICTs this would mean that whatever was provided at school level would have to be delivered for less than $1 per child per year in the poorest countries. In rich countries this figure is more like $90. This illustrates how wide the gap is in financial resources. At tertiary level the poorest countries allocate on average about $1,200 per student and the richest $8600. If 20% of this is non-salary spending, and 20% of this is available to support ICT based systems then this translates into $48 per student in the poorest countries and $350 in the richest. Whatever the threshold is to meet the antecedent conditions necessary for viable and sustainable ICT based learning systems, it is likely to be much more than $1 per child per year[7].