Browsing by Author "Pakarinen, Saila"

The aim of this study was to examine what relevance a research and development project about the educational use of information and communication technology (ICT) had in Ukombozi school, a public primary school in rural Tanzania. Introducing ICT in a school organization can result in many changes through various change mechanisms. The changes can be observed at the classroom level, school level or the school's surrounding community level. Especially in developing countries, ICT projects are often targeted to facilitate changes on various levels of a school's development. This research was conducted by interviewing teachers and collecting field notes during a project conducted at Ukombozi school. The research data were collected between November 2010 and March 2012. Thematic interviews were conducted among teachers of Ukombozi school and with one of the parents of a pupil at Ukombozi school. Three individual interviews and one group interview with three teachers were conducted by utilizing a thematic interviewing technique. The interviews were conducted in March 2011, January 2012, and February 2012. The collected data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that the relevance of the educational use of ICT in this research and development project included improvements in the school's work culture and changes in the classroom dynamics. Improvements in the school's work culture included establishing co-operation with new partners and networks, clarification of the school's ICT vision, and increased support to help the work of the school's management. Changes at the classroom level involved teachers' capacity-building, pupils' new active role in classroom interaction, and changes in the dynamics of communication in the classroom. The results of this study show that supporting the educational use of ICT can have many effects in school organizations in developing countries. The results also show that more research and development activities are needed in order to gain a better understanding of the aspects of the educational use of ICT in schools in developing countries.