Mobile Technology for Learning During Covid-19: Opportunities, Lessons, and Challenges

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to traditional teaching and learning activities globally. As governments continue to develop strategies and policies to tackle the impact of the pandemic on various sectors, teachers are at the forefront of several efforts to ensure that some form of learning and teaching activities are maintained throughout the period, essentially by leveraging on technology. In Nigeria, most of the teachers have not been trained in technology-enhanced teaching and are only able to deliver lessons within the traditional classroom. This paper presents the initial results of a pilot case study of a state government’s response to training teachers in using EdTech to continue teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using a set of criteria based on ease of use, usefulness, and availability, 10 mobile apps were selected and applied to support teaching activities like lesson planning and organization, creation and dissemination of lesson notes, lesson delivery, student assessment, and information management. This paper highlights observations from the pilot training and provides valuable insights into how mobile devices and applications can be used in low-income and resource settings to support educational delivery during a crisis. The paper further provides valuable lessons from the training and challenges to delivery identified by the teachers. Finally, we provide some recommendations to governments and school administrators looking to support the professional development of their teachers with the use of mobile devices.