Blekinge Institute of Technology Licentiate Dissertation Series No. 2006:10 School of Technoculture, Humanities and Planning HYBRID E-LEARNING FOR RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UGANDA Peter Okidi Lating This licentiate thesis is concerned with the deve- lopment of appropriate tools and implementation of hybrid e-learning to support science and mathe - matics education of female students in typical rural advanced-level secondary schools. In Uganda few rural female students participate in technology and engineering education in tertiary institutions because they perform poorly in science and mat - hematics subjects at advanced secondary school level of education. Rural secondary schools in Uganda are usually very poor and financially constrained schools. Ge - nerally, such schools have non-functional science laboratories and libraries. They also have difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified science and mathematics teachers, especially at advanced level of secondary education. The financial situations of the schools make capital investments in science infrastructures like laboratories and libraries im - possible. Fortunately, such schools can afford to acquire computers preferably with multimedia capabilities. Hybrid e-learning can be introduced in such disadvantaged schools to support science and mathematics education. The main delivery tools under hybrid e-learning are the CD-ROMs due to their superior advantages over other por - table storage devices: big memory capacity, high data transfer rate, multimedia capability and wi - despread standardization. Used computers with inferior capabilities that are being sold to rural schools cheaply are not useful for educational pur - poses. The cost of acquisition is low but the total cost of ownership is extremely high. The costs of Internet installation, bandwidth, commercial plat - forms and web-hosting make introduction of pure e-learning in Ugandan schools not viable, even in educationally elite secondary schools. Hybrid e- learning is the only realistic option in the complex financial situation of Ugandan secondary schools. Experience has shown that where there is Internet presence for use in education, open source web- hosting providers and open source platforms must be used. They are cheap and affordable even by poor rural secondary schools. Hybrid e-learning tools were developed to support such Ugandan schools using participatory methodology. The thesis is organized in three parts. Part I con - sists of six chapters including background infor - mation, concept discussions, problem statement, research questions, objectives of the study and research location. A justification of the use of participatory methodology in the research is also made in part I. Part II includes the four papers upon which the thesis is based. Part III contains a brief summary of the papers, conclusions and future research. ABSTRACT ISSN 1650-2140 ISBN 91-7295-095-1 2006:10 HYBRID E-LEARNING FOR RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UGANDA Peter Okidi Lating 2006:10 Hybrid E-learning for Rural Secondary Schools in Uganda Peter Okidi Lating Hybrid E-learning for Rural Secondary Schools in Uganda Peter Okidi Lating Blekinge Institute of Technology Licentiate Dissertation Series No 2006:10 ISSN 1650-2140 ISBN 91-7295-095-1 Department of Technoscience Studies School of Technoculture, Humanities and Planning Blekinge Institute of Technology SWEDEN © 2006 Peter Okidi Lating Department of Technoscience Studies School of Technoculture, Humanities and Planning Publisher: Blekinge Institute of Technology Printed by Kaserntryckeriet, Karlskrona, Sweden 2006 ISBN 91-7295-095-1 6 7 Abstract Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction Part I Chapter one: Background 1.1. Status of Advanced Level Secondary Science Education in Uganda 1.2. ICT Projects in some Secondary Schools in Uganda Chapter two: Concept Discussion 2.1. E-Learning 2.2. Blended E-Learning 2.3. Hybrid E-Learning 2.4. Hybrid Digital Library 2.5. Rural School Concept Chapter three: Problem Statements and Research Questions 3.1. Problem Statements 3.2 Research Questions Chapter four: Objectives of the Research 4.1. Overall Research Objective 4.2. Specic Research Objectives Chapter ve: Research Location 5.1. Arua District 5.2. The Two Cases Chapter six: Research Methodology 6.1. Research Modes 6.2. Action Research 6.3. Participatory Methodologies 6.4. Theory of Multilevel Analysis/Hierarchical Linear Modeling Part II Introduction to the papers Papers I – IV Part III Brief Summary of the Papers Statement of Scientic Contribution and Originality Future Work 11 13 14 15 19 19 19 24 29 29 30 31 32 32 33 33 33 35 35 35 37 37 39 41 41 41 44 47 55 55 57 107 107 109 114 116 Table of Contents Concluding Discussions 8 9 8 9 is work is dedicated to my wife, children, mother, brothers and sisters 10 11 [...]... students in rural Advanced-Level secondary schools and the factors that affect intra- and inter-individual change aer introducing hybrid e-learning in the teaching and learning of the subjects e specific research objective of the first part is to introduce limited virtual course or hybrid e-learning in the rural girls’ government-aided secondary schools erefore, the licentiate study will aim at achieving... face-to-face interaction with limited space given to websites and Internet Hybrid elearning is the type of learning that can be applicable in poor, rural schools in developing countries, and in Uganda in particular 2.3 Hybrid E-learning E-learning environment essentially consists of: a e courseware b e course platform used for delivering the courseware c e tools and applications necessary for managing the e-learning. .. implementation of hybrid e-learning to support science and mathematics education of female students in typical rural advanced-level secondary schools In Uganda few rural female students participate in technology and engineering education in tertiary institutions because they perform poorly in science and mathematics subjects at advanced secondary school level of education Rural secondary schools in Uganda are... lower in tertiary institutions, which includes universities e situation is particularly bad in technology and engineering courses 19 1.1.3 Enrollment by Gender for Engineering Training in Uganda e most dominant tertiary institution with a relatively sound research base in Uganda is Makerere University Makerere University accounts for over 50% of enrollment in tertiary institutions Engineering students... A-level secondary Physics and Mathematics education in Uganda: 33 e main research question is: • Can hybrid e-learning be introduced in rural, advanced-level secondary schools to support the learning of Physics and Mathematics? e research questions closely linked are: • What kind of impacts can a hybrid e-learning project have in a complex context involving a number of vital stakeholders? • Internet... qualified teachers for rural advanced level schools will take a long time And emphasis is being put on ordinary secondary level of education, not advanced level In the circumstances, another innovative way of delivering the curriculum using ICT should be sought 1.2 ICT Projects in Some Secondary Schools in Uganda ere have been some attempts at introducing ICT in secondary schools in Uganda e SchoolNet,... SchoolNet connected to Internet via VSAT Yet internet in those schools is being used for administration purposes, not for learning ese schools have solid infrastructures for science education SchoolNet selected the best performing schools in the country like Nabisunsa Girls’ School, Trinity College, Nabbingo, Mt St Mary’s, Namagunga, King’s College, Budo, St Mary’s College Kisubi and Uganda Martyrs’ College,... result of introducing e-learning differ Pollitt (2005) reveals that Cable & Wireless Company, an international telecommunications company “estimates that using e-learning in critical business and information technology skills for its employees worldwide has cost about 80% less than the equivalent instructorled training” Another business, which uses proprietary soware for running its e-learning programme,... with inferior capabilities that are being sold to rural schools cheaply are not useful for educational purposes e cost of acquisition is low but the total cost of ownership is extremely high e costs of Internet installation, bandwidth, commercial platforms and web-hosting make introduction of pure e-learning in Ugandan schools not viable, even in educationally elite secondary schools Hybrid elearning... rural areas Since the admissions for Government scholarships are based on academic merit, it means that students in rural schools perform poorly, especially in Physics and Mathematics at Advanced-level (or A-level) examinations Physics and Mathematics are the essential subjects required for admission for engineering training 1.1.5 Enrollment by Gender for Science and Engineering training in other countries . 91-7295-095-1 2006:10 HYBRID E-LEARNING FOR RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UGANDA Peter Okidi Lating 2006:10 Hybrid E-learning for Rural Secondary Schools in Uganda Peter. Schools in Uganda Peter Okidi Lating Hybrid E-learning for Rural Secondary Schools in Uganda Peter Okidi Lating Blekinge Institute of Technology Licentiate