Towards a systemic EdTech Testbed approach in Ghana – The Adinkra Maths Pilot
This project develops a systemic EdTech Testbed approach in Ghana.
The project runs from October 2024 to July 2027 and the first phase is funded by the UCL Global Engagement Fund 2024–25.
Background
The K12 EdTech ecosystem in Ghana is emerging as a result of purposeful collaborations between:
- EdTech incubation and acceleration programmes
- teacher professional associations
- research organisations, and
- both private and public funding bodies.
The work of Professor Alison Clark-Wilson on system-wide approaches for the piloting, implementation and evaluation of research-informed EdTech is influencing these collaborations.
Supported by UCL Global Engagement Funds 2024–25, this project is developing a systemic EdTech Testbed approach in Ghana. This is through a partnership with MEST Africa, which has funding from Mastercard Foundation to lead the Ghanaian EdTech Fellowship Programme.
Colleagues at the Ghana Society for Education Technology (GSET) are working with Professor Clark-Wilson and Teresa Smart (UCL). Our team will adapt, pilot and evaluate digital resources from the UCL-developed Cornerstone Maths project (renamed Adinkra Maths) for Ghanaian basic schools that have stand-alone computers, but no stable internet access.
The project will use:
- a portable local area network (LAN) device
- the ASANKA box to host the Adinkra Maths resources that has been developed by an Accra-based technology company, TECHAiDE, which is being supported by a Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship.
Together, the partners are developing the sustainable processes to enable emerging EdTech innovations to be developed, piloted, evaluated and scaled. This is in full collaboration with local teachers and researchers in ways that align with the current policies, capacities and resources.
Methodology
The project has two concurrent strands:
- Developing the processes and resources for the specific Adinkra Maths pilot evaluation.
- Creating an outline design for a more systemic EdTech Testbed approach in Ghana, led by MEST Africa.
The project activities include the following:
- Convenings of the main EdTech ecosystem stakeholders in the country. This will align the emerging systemic EdTech Testbed design and approach with the proposed national EdTech strategy. These stakeholders include:
- key government officials from the education department
- Mastercard Foundation, who are funding the EdTech Fellowship programme at MEST
- educational researchers from Accra University and University of Cape Coast, and
- representatives from the EdTech start-up sector.
- A pilot of Adinkra Maths in the form of a STEM enrichment day for students in Basic 8 (12–13-year-olds) at two schools in May 2025.
Team
Project leader
Collaborating partners
Related links
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Department of Culture, Communication and Media
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