Role of Digital Literacy and Tools in Teacher Persistence in an Online Hands-On Science Training in Ghana

Abstract

Persistence in online education is a challenge globally. One may presume the depth of this challenge to be even higher in the context of African teacher training, due to low access to laptops, poor connectivity, and minimal digital literacy training. This paper presents results from the maiden attempt by Practical Education Network, a Ghanaian NGO, at offering its hands-on STEM teacher training in an online format. 35% of the 237 teachers targeted for the training persisted through the program- a similar or slightly higher percent than those often cited for online courses in the West. The highest drop-off rate occurred after Enrollment, at the Onboarding stage. This appeared to be less a result of poor connectivity and more a result of insufficient sensitization towards the concept of online training, in general. Most teachers who completed Onboarding persisted through to the end. They exhibited resilience and resourcefulness in overcoming digital infrastructure challenges to complete the 10 assignments and 4–5 live sessions. Strategies included uploading files to the LMS at dawn and moving to locations with stronger connectivity solely for the live session times. Lessons from this intervention can be extended to other African training organizations seeking to offer online modalities of their program.