Use of Mobile Digital Technology for Digital Equity

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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su151813418

digital equity mobile digital technologies mobile digital education STEM teaching language barriers

1. Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, remote online mobile teaching and learning were introduced, globally, to ensure that education continued. The transition to online mobile teaching and learning did not alter society’s expectation of education institutions to provide their students equitable, quality education and life-long learning opportunities so that they can become critical responsible citizens capable of solving contextual problems in their local. Moreover, higher education institutions were still expected to contribute to the knowledge economy while transitioning to online mobile teaching and learning. The expectations mentioned above, embrace the targets of sustainable development goal 4 of Agenda 2023, which can be achieved via effective teaching and learning environments and innovative teachers/educators. The novelty of this research is that it highlights how digital technologies can be used to address issues of social justice and equity that continue to plague many countries in Africa. It illuminates the breakthrough in using the learners’ diverse linguistic backgrounds as a resource to access learning, and increase participation and engagement in STEM classrooms.

The transition to online mobile teaching and learning requires more than access to mobile digital technologies. It also requires knowing how to innovatively use them as resources during the teaching and learning process ^[1]. Naidoo and Singh-Pillay ^[2] posit that to embark on online mobile teaching and learning, training in the use of mobile digital technologies is quintessential for both students and lecturers. They argue that such training is key to learning to use mobile digital technologies to solve problems and develop complex cognitive skills, such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation of ideas and information, to create or develop new ideas and new ways of representing information. Put simply, they assert that training in the use of mobile digital technologies is vital to provide equitable, quality education and life-long learning opportunities. During online mobile teaching and learning portable mobile technologies such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, I-Pads and ICT (computers) were indispensable tools ^[3]. Thus, acquiring mobile digital competencies is no longer a nice-to-have skill but a necessity, and achieving mobile digital equity, especially in developing countries, is the ultimate goal. Mobile digital equity means that all students, irrespective of their socioeconomic and cultural background, locale or history, can participate and engage with mobile digital technologies to improve their opportunities in life. In this research, participation is envisaged as being able to make meaning and critically engage with epistemic content/activities to apply them to solve contextual problems. It extends beyond having mobile digital tools and connectivity access to the content and activities. In other words, mobile digital equity is a social justice issue that addresses the digital divide and participation gap. Therefore, mobile digital equity is seen as leverage for socioeconomic growth, sustainability and a pre-requisite for social justice. Effective and innovative use of mobile digital technology in higher education institutions can contribute to mobile digital equity when systemic barriers to learning materials are removed.

2. Mobile Digital Education

Casillas-Martín et al. ^[4] argue that mobile digital education involves the innovative use of mobile digital tools and devices to transform teaching and learning activities. The goal is to provide high-quality education and equip students with skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, communication and life-long learning so students can adapt to the ever change skill required in the world of work ^[5]^[6]. Thus, mobile digital education is not just a term but an innovative way of facilitating teaching and learning via mobile technologies to provide inclusive, equitable and quality life-long learning and education or meeting sustainable development goal 4 ^[7]^[8].

3. Educational Innovation

The term innovation is intrinsically interconnected to the idea of a change in educational practice in terms of novelty and transformation to improve educational processes ^[9]. In other words, the emphasis shifts from memorization, rote learning, teacher centeredness towards active learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, student-centeredness, self-regulation, deep learning, and collaboration. Mobile digital education, coupled with innovation, can address issues of equity, inclusiveness, and social justice and contributes to education for sustainability, fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, application of learning to solve contextual problems, responsible citizenship collaboration, teamwork, and life-long learning.

4. The Use of Mobile Digital Technology for Access, Equity and Social Justice

4.1. The Efficacy of Mobile Digital Devices in STEM Teaching and Assessment

Studies by DeCoito and Richardson ^[10] emphasise the advantages of mobile digital web-based tools for engaging learners in inquiry-based learning, enhancing their scientific literacy exposing learners to virtual laboratories, simulations, modelling software, data logging for data collection, manipulation of variables, collaborative online environments and virtual field trips. The study above illuminates how mobile digital tools can be used in STEM classrooms to allow students to visualise processes better, connect cross-cutting concepts, engage in problem-solving, apply learning to different contexts, collaborate, organise data for graphing and manipulate variables if teachers are trained to use their technologies in their teaching.

Mobile digital technologies can also be used for online assessments. Barril ^[11] emphasises that teachers must be trained to create online assessments catering to learner diversity by including interactive quizzes, higher-order activities, opportunities for collaboration, and innovative assessments that can reduce boredom and increase interaction with course material such as projects, portfolios, self-assessments and peer evaluations. Equally crucial during online assessments is prompt feedback from the teacher that is corrective and precise to help learners achieve greater conceptual understanding and application of concepts and improve their performance ^[12]. A further advantage of mobile online teaching and learning is that learners can access study materials anytime and anywhere.

4.2. The Use of Mobile Digital Tools to Overcome Language Barriers in STEM Teaching and Learning

In many post-colonial contexts in the South, for example, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mauritius, the language of the colonizer is still dominant and is entrenched as the language of teaching and learning via national language policies ^[13]^[14]. Thus, in these contexts, STEM teachers have a trio of responsibilities in their classroom, that is, to teach STEM nomenclature and discourse, teach STEM content in English, which is the language of teaching and learning (LOLT) and deal with the learners’ home language ^[15]. STEM teachers thus need to understand and be proficient in the STEM language used to execute this additional role of being language teachers.

Learners entering STEM classrooms are sociocultural beings who carry their sociocultural background, impacting their learning. Mokiwa ^[16] assert that language has influenced poor learner achievement in STEM subjects, especially for learners whose home language is not English. To exacerbate the languages dilemmas learners encounter in STEM subjects, it must be noted that textbooks and resource materials are written from a Western viewpoint, which can shape the use of vocabulary, examples, and phrases that may not be common or easily understood by a learner, or teacher, from an African language background. Furthermore, STEM teachers lack the tools and knowledge to support multilingual learners with the challenging language demands of the STEM classroom.

The mismatch between the LOLT (including the language used in textbooks and resource materials) and the learners’ home language poses challenges or barriers to learners’ engagement and uptake of STEM subjects. Furthermore, this mismatch raises serious questions about how the diversity of languages in the local society/community is reconciled during online mobile teaching and learning of STEM. Second, how can ICT teach learners to read and write STEM text, acquire STEM knowledge and skills and understand STEM content? Moreover, third, how can ICT be used to assist learners in using their home language to promote proficiency and conceptual development in STEM subjects?

Studies by ^[14]^[17] highlight the benefits of using translanguaging pedagogy to address the language barriers multilingual learners encounter in the STEM classroom. García, Johnson, and Seltzer ^[18] assert that for teachers to embrace translanguaging in their STEM classroom, they must use the learners’ home language as a resource to leverage learning. This means that the design of lesson plans and assessments should integrate the learners’ in-school and out-of-school language practice and that STEM teachers should be able to make shifts in their instructional plan based on learner feedback. With its Google voice-typing and dictionary features, Google Classroom (8.0.163.10.90.1) can support STEM teachers in modifying their current teaching to promote translanguaging and scientific disciplinary literacy, provided they are trained to use these digital and ICT resources. The dictionary and voice-typing feature effectively scaffold multilingual learners’ use of academic vocabulary. Voice typing can support multilingual learners’ engagement in the argumentation required for scientific learning by recording their spoken words without additional spelling and grammatical challenges.

4.3. The Use of Mobile Digital Tools to Conduct Practical Work and Develop Process Skills

Practical work and demonstration undergird the teaching and learning of STEM subjects. The transition to online mobile learning meant laboratories could not be used for practical work. However, Aliyu and Talib ^[19], posit that STEM teachers can engage learners in practical work on a virtual platform without a physical presence in a laboratory. Rani et al. ^[20] argue that on a virtual platform going on a field trip, the resource limitations of a real lab and the availability of reagents and functional lab equipment are overcome. These findings show how experiential learning on practical work can occur on a virtual platform and that virtual practical work is vital to support students in understanding abstract concepts and acquiring process skills and 21st-century skills. The above finding illustrates that if teachers are empowered to use different technological digital options, their teaching practice will change and they can use software applications for practical work, develop process skills and facilitate deep learning ^[21]. These studies have implications for STEM teachers’ practice of conducting practical work in South Africa (or any developing country), especially in resource-constrained schools that lack laboratories, functional equipment, and funds to purchase reagents or specimens. Bantwini ^[22] found that teaching STEM subjects in most rural classrooms lacked practical activities that promote deeper learning of science content and that the classroom environment was impoverished for STEM teaching and learning. Virtual practical work can occur as and when needed. It is safe (no danger of ill functional equipment), allows for the development of process skills and 21st-century skills, facilitates the teaching of difficult and abstract concepts and obviates the limitation of resource constraints.

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