Mobile phone use in two secondary schools in Tanzania

Joyce-Gibbons, A.; Galloway, D.; Mollel, A.; Mgoma, S.; Pima, M.; Deogratias, E.

doi:10.1007/s10639-017-9586-1

Mobile phone use in two secondary schools in Tanzania

Joyce-Gibbons, A.; Galloway, D.; Mollel, A.; Mgoma, S.; Pima, M.; Deogratias, E.

Authors

A. Joyce-Gibbons

D. Galloway

A. Mollel

S. Mgoma

M. Pima

E. Deogratias

Abstract

Mobile phone technology in Tanzania has grown rapidly but there is insufficient data on its application in schools. This paper aims to show how students in the first and third year (F1 and F3) teachers in two rural secondary schools perceived its use. F1 and F3 students completed a questionnaire. Teachers and students in F1 and F3 discussed the uses and misuses of mobile phones in separate focus groups. Although they served similar areas the two schools differed in students’ use – and awareness of misuse – of mobile phones. Most students had access to a mobile phone, but were not permitted to bring them to school. Few teachers could see a positive use for the technology in the curriculum. There is an urgent need for pedagogical resources to support the introduction of mobile technology into classrooms but equally it is crucial that any such introduction is through a process of engagement with the concerns of students, teachers and the wider community with frank discussion about both the dangers and the potential benefits of using mobile phones in learning.

Citation

Joyce-Gibbons, A., Galloway, D., Mollel, A., Mgoma, S., Pima, M., & Deogratias, E. (2018). Mobile phone use in two secondary schools in Tanzania. Education and Information Technologies, 23(1), 73-92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-017-9586-1

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 3, 2017
Online Publication Date	Feb 23, 2017
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2018
Deposit Date	Feb 13, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Feb 13, 2017
Journal	Education and Information Technologies
Print ISSN	1360-2357
Electronic ISSN	1573-7608
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	23
Issue	1
Pages	73-92
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-017-9586-1

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© The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.