ABSTRACT

The use of technology to support learning is becoming ubiquitous in Africa. However, technology is more often used to distribute information rather than as a tool to mediate learning. The work presented here on a programme for Zambian community school teachers (non-traditional students) illustrates how learning design allied to appropriate theoretical concepts make use of technology to mediate learning. The objective of this course was to support Zambian community school teachers, with little formal teacher education, to use interactive methods to support their teaching practices. The research makes use of a constructivist-hermeneutic-interpretivist-qualitative paradigm to critically evaluate the learning design by experts. A social constructivist framework for learning design and technology mediation was used to create and evaluate learning resources. The work illustrates how a distance education paper-based course design is enhanced by the use of contemporary learning theory and digital technology to model good interactive classroom practice.