EdTech in humanitarian contexts: whose evidence base?

Abstract

This study reports on the design and development of a methodological toolbox prototype for evaluating EdTech deployed in the contexts of fragility and crisis. The project adopted a bottom-up approach: training EdTech users in participatory action research approaches was followed by a comprehensive mapping of problems in the Azraq refugee camp that might be addressed through the chosen EdTech installed in a local Makerspace. Students as researchers used a developmental evaluation approach to deepen their understanding of evaluation as a concept and as a process and proceeded to match the results of their Azraq camp problem-tree analysis with evaluation questions related to the EdTech tools available in the Makerspace. The study concludes with a proposed methodological toolbox prototype, a set of approaches and processes that include research capacity building in fragile contexts, and user-led evaluation that emphasizes the notion of evaluation as a learning process driven by those designed to benefit from EdTech in fragile contexts.