Mulyampiti, Tabitha | Uganda | IFZ | Interdisziplinäres Forschungszentrum für Technik, Arbeit und Kultur

She is a graduate of Political Science (PhD, University of Vienna 1999) and Gender Studies (M.A, Makerere University 1995). She has been a gender consultant and a lecturer in the department of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University since 2001. She has taught several courses including Gender and Technology in Africa; Gender and International Relations; Feminism and the Women’s Movement; and Gender and Development Politics in Africa. Mulyampiti Tabitha is at the centre of the development of e-learning (ICTE) programmes at the university.

She is a member of the CO-Curriculum Development Task Force that is responsible for the ICTE curriculum that is running between the Universities of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Tufts (USA) and Makerere (Uganda). In addition, she has conducted research in the broad field of ICT, Gender and Development in Africa.

Project at IAS-STS: Making education technologies work: A gender analysis of the E-learning programs in Makerere University, Kampala

Makerere University is Uganda’s premier institution of higher learning. It is one of the oldest and largest universities in East and Central Africa with a population of over 20,000 students.

In Makerere it is believed that education technology, a new organisational infrastructure that enables effectiveness of teaching and therefore the quality of student learning, has gained root. There are several major hardware and software initiatives: from initial computer and printer purchase, to various laptop, CD-ROM, and independent learning schemes, and other electronic networks for teaching and learning. Educational technology also enables the teachers to be as professional as in their research work. With this kind of infrastructure, the learning process is constituted as a dialogue between student and teacher having discursive, adaptive, interactive and reflective characteristics. It enables teaching and learning through simulations and modelling, tutorial programs and tutoring systems as well as teleconferencing and collaboration.

Yet in Makerere no study has been done to establish if female and male students look at education technologies and their uses differently. Or whether there are other forms of marginalization other than on a gender basis to access and interest of the technology programs. It is essential that gender concerns be incorporated from the beginning and not as a corrective afterwards. This study therefore makes a gender analysis of access and use of the instructional technologies currently running at Makerere University, Kampala.
The purpose of this study is to identify the gender gaps that ICT can generate and enhance, and bring to light the importance of female participation in ICT related education and instruction media (ICTE).

The overall objective is to make a gender analysis of the new educational/instructional technologies - ICTE (commonly known as e-learning at Makerere university).

This study is founded on the fact that as much as there is need for everyone to join the global information society in order to develop sustainably, women and other marginalised groups have not had equal access to this information and the benefits it has brought with it (Hafkin and Taggart, 2001; Nagudi 2002). For the educational technology program at Makerere University, educational technology/instruction media, most of which are relatively new, expensive, complex to use, and not wide spread, should proceed with caution. The characteristics of learners are a very important factor in choosing the instructional medium to enable effective teaching and learning (Laurillard, 1993). These characteristics include preferences, background, experiences, interest and level of motivation, to mention a few.

The study involves information collected from a cross-section of respondents, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Analysis is also guided by the variables identified in the conceptual framework, objectives and literature. However, no pre-determined ideas influenced the output of ideas. Interpretation is left open and has allowed a number of unexpected discoveries.

ICT services and systems have become inherent in the university’s educational, research, administrative and managerial processes.

Lessons to be learned

The need for the gender analysis of the policy. Gender evaluation should be part of the requirements for ICTE implementation in the University. Seemingly gender-neutral policies frequently have important gender aspects that gender analysis elucidates. In this case, the process of gender review of the different ICTE programmes suggested in the policy would bring out these aspects.
Promotion and development of IT-based instruction technologies in the University should implicitly deal with gender. Thus, gender analysis should be incorporated from the beginning.
The need for specific strategies to ensure female staff and students‘ participation, since the pool of women eligible for technical training is small.
Need to involve gender aware individuals in the design, management and planning of training and the development of ICTE programmes to ensure that gender needs are addressed.
The need for sex-desegregated data on ICTE projects, especially those involving training.
The need to correctly assess skill levels before training, as more women than men may have low levels of skill in information and instructional technology and adjust training accordingly.
The need to take into account gender-specific cultural constraints, such as women’s family responsibilities and their difficulty in attending early morning and evening training sessions.
Equal participation in numbers of men and women in ICTE projects are not a guarantee that the project will bring equal benefits to women and men. ICTE projects should bring benefits to women as well and empower them.