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Hvordan mobil teknologi kan styrke livsgrunnlaget for småbrukere

Dianah Nampijja fra Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap ved UiA disputerer for ph.d.-graden med avhandlingen «Learning with Mobiles. A Developing Country Perspective on Mobile Technologies use in Learning for Livelihood Support» fredag 10. desember 2021. (Foto: Privat)

The number of development projects using mobiles for information dissemination has grown. Consequently, it is of high academic and practical relevance to understand to which extent mobiles can actually enhance non-formal learning for livelihood support.

Dianah Nampijja

Ph.d.-kandidat

Disputasen foregår digitalt. Se nederst på siden for hvordan publikum kan overvære disputasen.

 

Dianah Nampijja fra Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap ved UiA disputerer for ph.d.-graden med avhandlingen «Learning with Mobiles. A Developing Country Perspective on Mobile Technologies use in Learning for Livelihood Support» fredag 10. desember 2021.

Hun har fulgt doktorgradsprogrammet ved Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap ved UiA, med spesialisering i global utvikling og samfunnsplanlegging.

Doktorgradsarbeidet er finansiert  av Norad gjennom Distance Education Leapfrogging Project (DELP) i et samarbeid mellom Universittetet i Agder og Makerere University i Uganda.

Slik oppsummerer Dianah Nampijja selv avhandlingen:

Mobile Learning for Livelihood Support

In this dissertation, Dianah Nampijja has explored how mobile technologies enhance learning for livelihood support among smallholder farmers in rural Uganda.

Mobiles, Learning and Livelihoods

Access to knowledge and learning opportunities can enhance smallholder farmers livelihoods that are constrained by climate change, poverty, high disease burden, food insecurity, illiteracy, lack of advisory services, and inadequate infrastructure.

By prioritizing the use of mobile technologies, like mobile phones, farmers in less privileged communities can access knowledge and learning opportunities, thereby reducing the technological divide. Mobile technologies can be applied as pedagogical instruments to extend and support non-formal learning.

The number of development projects using mobiles for information dissemination has grown. Consequently, it is of high academic and practical relevance to understand to which extent mobiles can actually enhance non-formal learning for livelihood support.

Three Mobiles for Development (M4D) projects

This dissertation analyzed three M4D projects - Grameen Foundation Community Knowledge Worker project, Lifelong Learning for Farmers, and USAID Community Connector (CC) project - all of which employed mobile technologies to enhance smallholder farmers adaptive capabilities in rural communities.

This doctoral thesis employed a qualitative interpretive case study design in a multiple case approach. Empirical data was obtained from 90 participants including, Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs), smallholder farmers, local leaders, government officials, religious leaders, youths, organization staff and non-project farmers.

Empirical findings

Throughout the five research papers, this dissertation has revealed how smallholder farmers have prioritized mobile phone usage, and how the accessibility, portability, and multifunctionality attributes make mobile phones suitable for farmers’ diverse activities. Mobile learning has contributed immensely to formal learning systems. In a livelihood context, however, the mobile learning challenge cannot just be overcome by merely providing the technology. The active involvement of farmers and farming communities in problem solving and authentic learning situations is crucial. This includes, for example, availability of experienced peers; local organizational support; social capital; traditional knowledge sharing systems, and farmer groups.

The notable constraints at the actual research sites like; technology breakdowns, limited literacy skills, intermittent network connectivity, limited access to financial capital, but also some community resistances affected the adoption of mobile learning.

The analysis revealed certain relationships between gender and empowerment in supporting food security systems. Women engaged in activities beyond their traditional roles. Mobiles were instrumental in unpacking social injustices by facilitating discursive gender formulations that extended mobiles use within everyday social-cultural spaces.

Contributions

Taken together, the findings from this research have important policy implications for development practitioners, policymakers, educationists and technology providers interested in using mobile technologies as means to extend non-formal learning opportunities to less privileged communities.

The thesis suggests the following factors as critical considerations for how mobile technologies may enhance learning for livelihood: organizational support; technological resources; diverse and dynamic learner needs; techniques for problem solving and situated learning; community as agency; and sustainability.

Disputasfakta:

Prøveforelesning og disputas finner sted digitalt i konferanseprogrammet Zoom (lenke under).

Disputasen blir ledet av dekan Anne Halvorsen, Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap, Universitetet i Agder.

Prøveforelesning fredag 10. desember kl 10:15

Disputas fredag 10. desember kl 12:15

 

Oppgitt emne for prøveforelesning«How would you elaborate on the theoretical contributions and, on that basis, practical implications of mobile learning for sustainable livelihoods?»

Tittel på avhandling«Learning with Mobiles. A Developing Country Perspective on Mobile Technologies use in Learning for Livelihood Support»

Søk etter avhandlingen i AURA - Agder University Research Archive, som er et digitalt arkiv for vitenskapelige artikler, avhandlinger og masteroppgaver fra ansatte og studenter ved Universitetet i Agder. AURA blir jevnlig oppdatert.

Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her:

https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2833009

Artikkel 6 er utelatt i avhandlingen inntil den er publisert. Komplett avhandling kan fås før disputas ved å kontakte Cicilie Rygh Mawdsley ved fakultetet - kontaktdata i venstre spalte.

KandidatenDianah Nampijja (1983, Uganda) Bachelorgrad i “Adult and Community Education” fra Makerere University, Mastergrad (2010) () fra Universitetet i Agder. Mastergradsoppgave: The role of ICT in community rural development : the case of Buwama multi-media community centre Mpigi district, Uganda og mastergrad i Education for Sustainability” fra London South Bank University, UK. I dag arbeider hun som lærer ved feltarbeid og i e-læringskurset i Utviklingsstudier ved Institutt for global utvikling og samfunnsplanlegging, UiA.

Opponenter:

Førsteopponent: Senior Lecturer, Dr Yingqin Zheng, Royal Holloway University of London, UK

Annenopponent: Førsteamanuensis Silvia Masiero, Institutt for informatikk, Universitetet i Oslo

Bedømmelseskomitéen er ledet av professor Oddgeir Tveiten, Institutt for global utvikling og samfunnsplanlegging, Universitetet i Agder

Veiledere i doktorgradsarbeidet var professor emeritus Arne Olav Øyhus, UiA (hovedveileder), professor Christian Webersik, UiA  og professor Paul Birevu Muyinda, Makerere University, Uganda (medveiledere)

Slik gjør du som publikum:

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Vi ber publikum om å ankomme digitalt tidligst ti minutter før oppgitt tid - det vil si til prøveforelesningen 10:05 og disputasen tidligst 12:05. Etter disse klokkeslettene kan du når som helst forlate og komme inn igjen i disputasen. Videre ber vi om at publikum slår av mikrofon og kamera, og har dette avslått under hele arrangementet. Det gjør du nederst til venstre i bildet når du er i Zoom. Vi anbefaler å velge «Speaker view». Dette velger du oppe til høyre i bildet når du er i Zoom.

Opponent ex auditorio:

Disputasleder inviterer til spørsmål ex auditorio i innledningen i disputasen, med tidsfrister. Det er en forutsetning at opponenten har lest avhandlingen. Disputasleders e-post er tilgjengelig i chat-funksjonen under disputasen. Spørsmål om ex auditorio kan sendes til disputasleder Anne Halvorsen på e-post anne.halvorsen@uia.no