Use tablets to support communities in rural Kenya

As a quick update from the DCI project in Kenya, the team is excited to report that they have recently received ethical approval to conduct a one-year study to assess the impact on learning outcomes of primary school children, through the use of OneBillion mobile apps in Kenya.

For those who have not heard of OneBillion, they are a fantastic non-profit based in the UK who have spent years developing and trialling educational apps in the UK and Malawi. The apps themselves are excellent, and have recently been announced as one of 11 semi-finalists to the Global Learning XPrize.

Over the past year, teams in the UK and Kenya have been working closely together to provide opportunities for students in Wekhonye primary school to start using the apps, and we have been receiving lots of overwhelmingly positive feedback from all involved. It is our hopes that by conducting an in-depth research trial, we will be able to not only critically evaluate the impact on learning outcomes for the students, but also provide evidence to help shape policy across Kenya as a whole. The Kenyan government has recently invested in and delivered over 700,000 tablets to schools across the country, presenting a fantastic opportunity for increased impact if proven successful.

The extensive ethics review was conducted by Maseno University, Kenya, and the team are also working in collaboration with Nottingham University. We expect that this partnership will not only prove a strong model to conduct quality research, but also provide scope to include the study in a larger cross-country comparison across the UK and multiple countries in Africa.

We have already started the first phase of the study, creating tools for baseline and end assessment, and conducting training for the local team. We expect the trial to get fully underway by January, and look forward to sharing results and updates early next year.

Many thanks again for your ongoing support,

The DCI team