On Wednesday 20th April 2022, Co-creation Hub in partnership with ACT Foundation brought together stakeholders in the Education-Technology sector from Nigeria and Kenya to the ACT Foundation/CcHUB EdTech Fellowship Showcase. This event was designed to spotlight the 21 EdTech Fellows graduates and the six digital EdTech prototypes built during the Fellowship. Over 74 participants attended the event virtually.
The EdTech Fellowship commenced in August 2021 and ran for a period of 7 months with 41 students from Education Faculties in Institutions of higher learning in both Nigeria and Kenya. Through the EdTech Fellowship, 27 teachers were impacted directly and 270 students indirectly. The aim of the EdTech Fellowship was to build Fellows’ practical skills by designing and developing contextually relevant digital learning resources that align with the needs of the stakeholders (students, parents, and teachers). It was also designed to contribute to a thriving EdTech ecosystem on the continent that delivers world-class, 21st-century learning experiences across various educational institutions on the continent. The key result of the fellowship is the creation of 6 digital EdTech Prototypes from 21 fellows.
The showcase, which was a closeout of the event of the 7-month fellowship programme, had a number of exciting activities designed to give the audience a wonderful experience. One of the many highlights of the showcase was the panel discussion which had the contributions of experienced policy influencers, funders, industry CEOs and end-users to testers in education technology. Speaking on the topic, ‘Building EdTech Talents for Instructional Designing in Africa’ the panellists touched on the existing gaps and opportunities of unique focus areas in EdTech, they highlighted the need for more contextually relevant educational solutions in Africa thus emphasising the need for a robust pipeline of instructional designers.
Participants had the opportunity to listen to the testimonials of two EdTech Fellows who detailed their experience in the fellowship programme. Both Christine Okoth from Kenya and Vera-Cruz Gbolahan from Nigeria attested to the fact that the CcHUB EdTech Fellowship opened them up to new career paths in Education. They mentioned that the lessons on human-centred design (HCD), Inquiry-based learning (IBL), and the project on applying both principles in building digital EdTech Prototypes were a game-changer for them.
Beyond the presentation of the six EdTech Prototypes, the Fellows took participants on an experience of the working principles guiding their solutions in a flexible breakout session where guests could switch from one booth to another. Following the breakout session, the guests shared their feedback on the Labs experience, as well as general questions on the methodology and technology used. They were also taken through a session where learnings and insights from the entire fellowship programme were shared by the re:learn team.
The showcase ended with a vote of thanks from two Educators one from Kenya and the other from Nigeria. The post-fellowship plans include linking the graduating Fellows to relevant employment opportunities where they can deploy their skills as instructional designers in building contextually relevant EdTech solutions for the African Market.