Search

Pharmacy practice change is facilitated by delegation, teamwork, leadership and reorganization of personnel structure and roles. The international pharmaceutical federation (FIP) recommends that society should have access to appropriately trained pharmaceutical personnel. Three cadres form the pharmacy workforce: pharmacists, technicians and pharmacy assistants or dispensers. Globally, the training, regulation, scope, and status of technicians and dispensers vary. Role tensions exist between pharmacists and technicians which impact both workplace behaviour and performance. Literature on role expansion for pharmacy technicians excludes (reference to) the contribution of the pharmacy assistant or dispenser. Unlike the technician, the dispenser largely lacks professional recognition. But overlaps between the roles of the technician and dispenser can occur leading to further tensions in the pharmacy workplace. 'Unhealthy'' intra-professional conflicts obstruct the pharmacist practice envisioned by the WHO 7-star pharmacist. A solution that brings together the 3 cadres in joint or shared action is desirable. Social theory suggests that intercadre conflicts could be both necessary and inevitable. Being political nature, the tensions can be moderated by a ''political settlement''. The present paper is a reconstruction of and reflection of the author's journey in building a harmonious pharmacy workforce. Professionalizing the dispenser cadre restructures the hierarchy of the pharmacy workforce leading to harmony which in turn improves organizational performance. Lessons learned from this case can be applied to resolve workplace tensions in other settings.

Background: The literature has expounded on the impacts of international service-learning (ISL) in teacher education as positively affecting everything from improving academic achievement to developing a greater moral and ethical sense. Other studies have examined the role of cultural competence and dimensions of power between those providing and receiving service. Purpose: This paper examines a decade-long ISL immersion program to understand the outcomes on students in three key areas that have received attention in the literature: motivation, employment, and academics. Methodology: A longitudinal case study comprising a cross-section of students who were asked to reflect on their immersion experiences, which took place from 2011 to 2020. Reflective journals completed during and directly after each immersion supplemented the survey data. Findings: While much of the data supports previous studies regarding the impacts of ISL, there are some anomalous findings, especially in the longer-term effects of ISL within teacher education. While participants' perceptions of the impacts were significant, evidence of that impact was lacking. Implications: Although short-term impacts of the immersion were more significantly noted, students perceived the impact for more extended periods than previously thought. However, the evidence to suggest that these perceptions are realizable is lacking.

The onset of COVID-19 made governments and other education actors prioritize distance learning, particularly through education technologies (EdTechs). Most sub-Saharan African countries adopted and adapted this approach. This paper examines the extent of EdTechs' deployment in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic among marginalized and vulnerable populations. A cross-sectional study design was adopted for the study from which this paper drew its data, with both secondary and primary data utilized. The findings show that marginalized/vulnerable learner populations are still left out on EdTech supported learning. This article proposes salient recommendations that could help advance inclusive education discussion and related EdTechs' discourse.

Examines the present position of libraries (academic, public, special, and school) and librarianship in Kenya, highlighting problems concerned with manpower, accommodations and equipment, books, finances, and cooperation. Proposals for action involving manpower, books, school library service, user education, standardization, and bibliographic control are presented. Twenty-four references are cited. (EJS)

Universities play a crucial role in the development of any nation. The success of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is the bedrock of the growth in human capacity required to support the growth of an economy. However, HEIs have been criticized for not playing their rightful role in national development. This has been partly attributed to not being able to manage their performance in view of the dynamic and turbulent environment they are operating in. Most HEIs have been caught up in the "business as usual" situation preferring doing things in the traditional ways as opposed to changing with the times. As a result their survival has been at risk especially from those HEIs who have adopted the "business un-usual" mentality. It is as a result of the challenges facing Kenyan HEIs that this paper proposes an adoption of the Balanced Scorecard as a management tool in HEIs. This paper provides a review of literature on the HEI environment globally and in Kenya, highlighting the challenges faced by Kenyan HEIs and proposes the use of the BSC to address the same. The BSC is a tool that helps mainstream the vision and mission of HEIs in their activities thus making the HEIs become strategy focused organizations. The BSC is a strategic planning and management system used to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization and to monitor organization performance against strategic goals. Finally, a sample BSC for HEIs in Kenya is proposed. It is felt that if HEIs focused on the issues proposed and measured their performance on the issues identified, their performance will be improved tremendously.

The study aims to understand the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopts the PRISMA approach to screening the selection of journal articles and review papers according to the research aims and the inclusion criteria. The journal articles and review papers were extracted and stored in Microsoft Excel and Google Scholar, Academic. Microsoft, Semantic Scholar, Elsevier, and Emerald Insight databases searched relevant documents using formulated keywords. A statistical technique was applied using the M.S. Excel analysis tool (PivotTable and an independent t-Test) to analyze data and determine the differences between teachers and students. The review revealed the evidence that the majority of the studies were primarily focused on the individual developing countries and results from other developing countries were not considered. In addition, the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic were inadequate skills and training, inadequate Internet/Infrastructure, lack of supporting resources and lack of online student engagement and feedback. Finally, the independent t-test reveals there is no statistically significant difference in challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both teachers and students encounter similar challenges. The systematic review raised concerns that higher learning needs to effectively implement long term strategies and support teachers and students in getting into online teaching and learning.

This paper presents some initial findings from a multi-year partnership project on the integration of technology into the Kenyan education system. Specifically, qualitative evidence is presented on how results and lessons learned from the partnership project can be generalized and used by other research teams and projects using other technology platforms. Grounded in the critical theory of educational technology and using methodological strategies on the intersections of critical discourse analysis and critical ethnography, this paper examines technology integration in Kenyan public schools using the Learning Toolkit+ developed at the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

An effective teaching contributes to the students' performance and this depends on qualified-trained teachers, school administration, parents and conducive environment for teaching and learning. It is proven that students are more successful in their academic achievements, in the societies where teachers perceive their profession as their job. This paper explores the impact of the society's perception on teachers' professionalism. The method employed in this paper is qualitative by using interview technique and used audio-recorded to ensure a complete transcript. The result indicated that in some developing countries including Cameroon, Kenya and Fiji has various reasons for their job. Teaching profession was affected by how the society considers teachers whereby they are perceived as disadvantaged population who cannot fully take part in the social and economic activities due to the fact that their salary is very low compared other public servants. This low salary and loss of respect of teachers by the society lead to the job dissatisfaction and made the teaching profession as a transitional job before waiting to move to another different professional field.

The PanAfrican Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of information and communication technology (ICT; PanAf) research project was initiated in 2006 to support initiatives in African countries to integrate ICT into teaching and learning through the frequent collection and analysis of data on ICT usage. The article examines the congruence between the intended and implemented ICT curricula in six African countries (Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa) that participated in the study. Data obtained from the PanAf observatory (at www.observatoiretic.org) on these countries' use of ICT in education revealed that the national curricula documents (intended curricula) and teachers' classroom practices (implemented curricula) both emphasize ICT as the subject of learning rather than as a means of learning.

Over the years attempts have been made to standardize sign languages. This form of language planning has been tackled by a variety of agents, most notably teachers of Deaf students, social workers, government agencies, and occasionally groups of Deaf people themselves. Their efforts have most often involved the development of sign language books with lists of signs in alphabetical order (as distinct from sign language principles) and more recently as CDROMs, DVDs, or websites. With regard to the all-important question about language standardization, Karin Hoyer asks, "Who is behind the effort?" and goes on to say that "standardization actions (often with the aim of reducing lexical variation) have frequently been undertaken with the strong support of the hearing-run education system--from outside, often without any support from the language users themselves" (2012, 32). Today, sign language planning is still carried out largely by hearing professionals; thus, that standardization still needs to be examined in relation to "language ownership" (Eichmann 2009).

The 2017 general comment (GC21) to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on children in street situations, provides a framework of legal guidance for governments developing policies aimed at protecting street-connected children and sets up the rationale for more awareness raising and public education to counter negative and deficit attitudes towards street-connectedness. Within this framework, the media has a role to play in either challenging conceptualisations of street-connected children as out-of-place within the public and predominantly adult domain described by urban streets, or in reinforcing ideological constructions of citizenship and normalised notions of childhood that result in negative stereotypes of these children. GC21 recommends that interventions targeted at street-connected children should be ethically responsible -- adopting child rights approaches aimed at using accurate data/evidence that upholds the dignity of children, their personal integrity, and their right to life. As such, these approaches should also extend to how organisations engage with and utilise the media to represent street-connected children. Focusing on media representations of street-connected children during the six pandemic-affected months of February to July 2020, this paper provides a review of the content of the sources to provide an insight into the structural barriers that face street-connected children because of how they are positioned in society, during the pandemic and in general, and the extent to which the media reinforces or counters the rescue or removal narratives that can lead to inappropriate intervention responses.

Background: Youth citizenship is now on the international agenda with African countries increasingly interrogating their national perspectives on citizenship and citizenship education. In this emergent field of research, African scholars are beginning to challenge the prevailing (Western) theories of citizenship and democracy. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to contribute an African perspective to the study of citizenship education by exploring the political influences and meanings that shaped citizenship education in Kenya, and how these have evolved from independence to the present day. Data and Methods: This article is based on a documentary analysis of key policy-related documents, complemented by an analysis of some critical historical moments in the life of Kenya as a postcolonial nation. The policy-related documents include government policy documents, as well as political statements, speeches, development reports, technical commission reports, media articles, research publications and reports, education syllabi and curriculum documents. Main Findings: Post-independence, the Kenyan government focused on rethinking the colonial concept of citizenship in line with its political-cultural traditions, encouraging new notions of belonging, of civic virtues and of duties in relation to nation-building and economic development. Social Ethics and Education (SEE) programmes in schools were established and then later removed from the secondary school curriculum. Conclusions: This paper yields important insights into the international and national political agendas that shape Kenya's notions of active citizenship. It indicates the tensions which vulnerable and fragile states such as Kenya experience in negotiating their citizenship education agenda, whilst attempting to win foreign investment and aid for their economy, and whilst addressing regional and ethnic inequalities and high levels of poverty. (Contains 12 notes.)

Private supplementary tutoring, widely known as shadow education, has become a global phenomenon. It has a range of providers, including commercial companies, university students desiring extra pocket money, and regular school teachers who provide tutoring as a sideline activity. This paper focuses on the last category. Governments are commonly ambivalent about the existence of shadow education, and may especially disapprove of regular teachers providing private supplementary tutoring in part because they fear that the teachers will neglect their main duties. With such matters in mind, some governments have attempted to prohibit teachers from providing private tutoring. However, such prohibitions are difficult to implement. This paper analyses situations in Korea, Mauritius, Kenya and England in order to derive comparative lessons from experience. It demonstrates the importance of wider contextual factors including alignment of macro-level aspirations with the micro-level perspectives of families finding themselves in increasingly competitive environments.

In recent decades, school performance ranking (or 'league table') have become a common feature of many education systems in the world. The ranking is usually published by government and news agencies in an attempt to measure and compare the relative performance of individual schools against a number of criteria, including academic performance. This paper reports parts of larger case study that set out to investigate teachers' and students' perceptions of performance ranking in secondary schools in Kenya. The study participants were teachers and students of Mathematics drawn from secondary schools in Embu County in Kenya. Data were gathered through one-on-one semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and surveys. The transcriptions of the audio-recorded interviews and focus group discussions were analyzed by first reading the texts of the transcriptions holistically, followed by the development of codes, organizing the codes into larger categories and, finally, organizing the categories into overarching themes. This paper, in particular, examines the research findings through the lens of the existing literature on school performance rankings. The paper demonstrates how school performance rankings in Kenya have been abused over the years to the detriment of quality teaching and learning. Finally, the paper highlights the implications of school performance ranking for policy and practice.

Establishing how cognitive conflict is manifested by students is an important first step in understanding how teachers can utilize cognitive conflict to improve students' learning experiences. This paper presents findings from the analysis of qualitative data drawn from a larger study that explored the role of cognitive conflict in promoting students' conceptual development in mathematics. The study participants were secondary school mathematics students and their teachers drawn from twenty-five public secondary schools in Embu West Sub-County in Kenya. Data were gathered through surveys and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and coded, followed by organization of the codes into categories that were used to develop themes. The findings indicate that students experienced cognitive conflict in three significant ways: a moment to (co) construct one's mathematical meaning, confusion as a result of teacher's behaviorist stance, and a fleeting moment of magic. The paper recommends that teachers should take advantage of cognitive conflict as a strategy for scaffolding mathematics learning by giving students tasks that provoke critical thinking so that as students work on the tasks, their naïve understandings of the concepts are challenged.

This article reports some findings of study regarding practices and procedures of internal instructional supervision in public secondary schools in Kenya. The findings are part of a large-scale project undertaken in Kenya to determine the perceptions of headteachers, teachers and senior government education officers regarding the practices of internal instructional supervision and staff development in Kenyan public secondary schools. Findings indicated that instructional supervision was viewed as a process of checking other people's work to ensure that bureaucratic regulations and procedures are followed and that loyalty to the higher authorities is maintained. The benefits of supervision practices included facilitating students' academic performance, improving the quality of teachers and teaching, and enabling instructional supervisors to monitor teachers' instructional work. The major problems frustrating the practices of instructional supervision were those associated with a lack of consistency, questionable supervisor practices and lack of resources. Suggestions for change included developing clear policies on instructional supervision and providing needed resources, feedback and follow-up support. (Contains 3 tables and 5 notes.)

There has been a growing concern in Kenya that boys have gradually been left out of the gender equation with little research capturing their schooling experiences. When examined, boys' underachievement is treated with suspicion that has led to few studies demonstrating their marginalisation. This paper explored the manifestations of boys' underachievement in education in Busia and Kirinyaga counties in Kenya. The study was carried out in 12 primary schools targeted 12 headteachers, 24 teachers, 480 pupils, 8 education officials and 180 households. Enrolment, school attendance, and candidature for national examinations data showed boys were marginalised. In addition, they lacked adequate role models. However, on performance, boys still had better results than girls. The paper concludes that boys were beginning to under participate in education and recommends the need for gender interventions to target both boys and girls and tripartite efforts at communities, county governments and national government to re-enrol boys.

This paper examines the historical background of the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret (ASE), its Charism and apostolate and the secondary schools run by the ASE. It seeks to understand how the Sisters deal with discipline and performance in their schools. The paper also looks at the role of ASE in the management of the schools especially in financing, staff development and checking the facilities, how they handle the challenges facing the secondary schools that are run by the Sisters. The paper concludes and gives a way forward on how to improve the running of the schools run by the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret.

This paper examines the management of secondary schools run by the Franciscan Sisters of St. Anna in Kenya. It begins with a brief history of the Congregation from its foundation in Oudenbosch to the time its mission began in Kenya. The guiding principle for Franciscan Sisters of St Anna schools is the Charism and sound traditions of the Congregation. The fostering of quality education and good administration of these schools have helped to inculcate good morals in the learners through Catholic teachings. Many of the schools were founded for the girl child, the vulnerable and the less fortunate in the society, thus echoing the mission of the Sisters; voice to the voiceless. The Sisters work hand-in-hand with Dutch and Kenyan governments to see the schools grow. The schools have a long-standing history of discipline and good morals. The paper highlights the sources of funds for the schools which include Government of Kenya, the Congregation through donors, and the parents. In the management of these schools, the principals see to it that there is; proper management of funds, professional development and motivation of staff for improved performance in learners. Finally, the paper discusses some challenges faced by the school administrators and how to overcome them.

Teaching strategies have a significant influence on students' academic performance. This paper presents results from a qualitative study that examined the effects that performance ranking in Mathematics has on teaching strategies employed in Mathematics classrooms. In particular, the paper demonstrates how performance ranking disguises and legalizes inappropriate Mathematics teaching strategies. The participants for the study were Mathematics teachers and students in secondary schools in Embu County in Kenya. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were employed in data collection. Results showed that due to competition by teachers to achieve a higher mean score, they engaged in examination malpractices such as leaking examination questions to students. Secondly, teachers' desire for excellence in their subjects, and achieving top rank to receive prizes was found to be another reason behind teaching students to pass examinations rather than for conceptual understanding. Additionally, the study revealed that performance ranking promoted private tuition to offer assistance to the weak students in Mathematics to improve performance in the subject. This paper recommends that the practice of ranking should be tailored to include all the aspects.

This paper draws on the author's experience of developing a short-term, intensive international learning experience within the framework of a one-semester course. This paper is aimed at faculty members who are interested in implementing a short but effective and authentic international learning opportunity, but who may not have expertise in issues surrounding international development and learning abroad. It addresses some of the challenges, successes, and lessons learned, such as working with an appropriate international partner, overcoming barriers to student participation, ensuring discipline-specific learning, and providing the appropriate context of international development issues within the time-frame of a single semester.

Soka (value creating) education is a Japanese concept propounded by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and further developed by Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda. This educational philosophy aims to foster individuals who can find meaning in their lives and contribute to the well-being of others to better society. Ubuntu, an African philosophy, espouses togetherness and collectivism. Like value creating education, Ubuntu promotes working for the good of all not solely the individual. Examining these two philosophies, this paper explored their role in promoting humanism. Focusing on the education system in Kenya, this paper investigated how the institutionalization of both philosophies can foster global citizens and realize a more humane Kenya. Furthermore, this paper illustrated the importance of educators as agents of change, aiding students to become global citizens who work towards building a more humanistic society. This paper concluded that integrating both value creating education and Ubuntu in the education system can serve as a tool to nurture individuals who will not only improve their quality of life but also contribute positively to promote a more just and prosperous world.

In a language, certain phenomena are sensitive to specific prosodic domains. In a model of morphology-syntax-phonology interaction in which morphological and syntactic structure projects phonological domains belonging to a set hierarchy, each phonological process refers to a specific level of that hierarchy. Therefore, describing a phonological process generally requires specifying the domain within which it applies. In Kisa, a Bantu language spoken in Western Kenya, a sequence of two vowels with different qualities is unacceptable. The ill-formed sequence is repaired through at least one of the vowel processes: gliding, coalescence, raising, assimilation and deletion. These vowel processes involve vowels occurring at different morphological and syntactic boundaries and apply within different prosodic domains in Kisa. Using a descriptive design and basing on data generated by two native speakers of Kisa and verified by the author as a native speaker of Kisa, this paper identifies and describes the boundaries at which and the prosodic domains in which the vowel processes stated above apply. The findings show that unacceptable vowel sequences occur both at morphological and syntactic boundaries in Kisa. The strategies used to repair the unwanted vowel sequences at each boundary differ depending on the combining vowels. Further, the findings of the paper show that the vowel processes attested in the language apply in different domains.

Investment in sub-Sahara Africa's (SSA's) youth through effective capacity development, involving adoption of contemporary skills development approaches, is integral in alleviating the region's high youth unemployment rates as it will equip the youth with skills needed for employment. Skills that are needed are those that holistically develop the youth skills-set, including technical/hard and soft-skills, dubbed whole youth development (WYD) skills. This paper thus explores Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students' understanding of soft-skills and its development. The paper utilizes data collected from a TVET study in Kenya that was carried in 9 of the 47 counties, targeting learners aged 15-24 years. The selected counties were those that had national polytechnics for national representation, except one (Turkana county), which was selected to represent youth from marginalized counties. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. The findings indicate that there is a good understanding of soft-skills among the targeted respondents, with extra-curricular activities playing a key role in promoting TVET students' soft-skills. However, inadequate human resource and low level of awareness on soft-skills among instructors contribute to inadequate soft-skills learning. This calls for a concerted effort among key education stakeholders on the development of instructors' and institutions' capacities for a plausible soft-skills outcome.

This paper investigated the borrowing of lexical items into spoken Lukabaras due to the influence of Nandi language in a multilingual setting. The data was collected in Chepsaita Scheme in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The scheme is that of a multilingual setting and presents a phenomenon in which the languages that come into contact apparently influence each other. The predominant language is Nandi, but other minority languages such as Lukabaras, Lutachooni, Luwanga, Lulogooli and Lubukusu are also spoken there. As a result, one of the outcomes of the contact is the transfer of linguistic features which occur at the lexical level. This paper therefore set out to identify and describe the lexical items that the speakers of Lukabaras borrow from the dominant Nandi language in the home and business domains of interaction. In this paper, the lexical items were collected through audio recording and analyzed descriptively. The findings of the study showed that lexical borrowing into spoken Lukabaras in Chepsaita was a communication strategy used by minority Lukabaras speakers to coexist with the dominant Nandi community. However, the borrowing constrained communication between Lukabaras speakers using the borrowed versions and the native Lukabaras speakers not residing in Chepsaita Scheme.

The 1998 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in Paris recommended that global higher education institutions should internationalize and reduce inequalities between developed and emerging countries. Since then, universities strive to incorporate an international dimension in their service. The aim was initially guided by the 20th century understanding of internationalization being just, fair, and an equitable process that promotes peace and mutual understanding. However, under the influence of the General Agreement on Trade in Services and competition, internationalization changed focus and became less inclusive. This paper explores inclusive international education in East Africa using narrative review methodology. Findings suggest that rather than promoting access and equity in higher education, internationalization, for example, excludes economically disadvantaged, disabled, and adult learners. Thus, in addition to internationalization at home, inclusive internationalization abroad strategies should be devised. Internationalization of higher education is more valuable if it translates into fair, just, and peaceful social systems.

This paper explains sustained effects and what worked for students in the Advancing Learning Outcomes and Transformational (ALOT Change III) program. Data comes from qualitative narratives from the baseline survey of the program collected by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) between December 4, 2019, and January 31, 2020, using focus group discussions (FGDs) and dialogues. The analysis followed the Miles and Huberman (1994) framework to make comparisons and contrasts. Results showed that students transferred skills such as self-confidence from primary to secondary schools, enabling the adolescents to speak up and engage. This showed an effective implementation uptake. The implication of the study points to the efficacy of community-based programs in impacting behavior of adolescents beyond primary school.

Good teachers are a major predictor of students' success in school and beyond it. Finding ways to increase the quality of teaching has been a concern for educational systems across various income contexts and, particularly, in the Global South. This paper discusses the iterative design of an online teacher professional development program geared to improving teachers' English language instruction by means of implementing early literacy software. The program was implemented in various modes (face-to-face, blended and online) with early primary teachers scattered throughout Kenya during the pandemic school closures and after reopening. Relying on the blended learning approach, a potentially effective technology-driven TPD offers multifaceted content, has adaptive and flexible design, and is ongoing until mastery of core concepts is achieved. Further, such solution develops motivational dispositions of teachers about teaching with early literacy software so that its perceived value and the likelihood of success are high, and the benefits outweigh the costs of implementation. The next step of this research is to learn about the specific outcomes of the blended TPD, including changes in literacy instruction and subsequent improvements in student literacy skills.

This paper examines the use of vignettes as a research method in a comparative exploration of the provision for children with special educational needs across eleven countries. The investigation selected in-country researchers, who responded to questions with respect to children described in 14 vignettes. The questions related to school placement options; assessment processes; support arrangements; service provision; curriculum responses and those involved in placement decisions. The vignette findings were able to highlight differences in placement decisions between the countries; the general lack of pupil voice in decision making and the ubiquitous influence of medical categories within educational settings. The utility of using vignettes in this type of research is discussed in relation to reflecting the complex reality of educational practice in different countries.

Amid a rise of misinformation worldwide, this paper examines digital misinformation literacy as it relates to COVID-19 news in East Africa. The study is grounded in inoculation theory and contributes to the body of scholarship examining misinformation literacy beyond the Western world. Data came from a comparative, cross-national survey in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda (N = 3,203), making this the largest known empirical investigation into digital misinformation literacy in the region within the context of a pandemic. Paper surveys were distributed throughout all three countries in 2021. The data revealed differences in actual and perceived misinformation literacy levels. Kenyans and Rwandans were better at detecting false COVID-19 statements in the media, whereas Ugandans were better at detecting true messages. Similarly, Kenyans' and Rwandans' perceived levels of digital misinformation literacy were higher than Ugandans'. Regarding perceived exposure to COVID-19 information, Kenyans felt they were exposed to fake COVID-19 news online more often than Ugandans, who felt more exposed than Rwandans. This research contributes to the growing literature on digital misinformation literacy, an area which isn't significantly studied in many world regions, especially in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to obtain a fair "OER picture" for the Global South a large-scale study has been carried out for a series of countries, including Kenya. In this paper we report on the Kenya study, run at four universities that have been selected with randomly sampled students and lecturers. Empirical data have been generated by the use of a student and a lecturer questionnaire to which in total 798 students and 43 lecturers have responded. Selected from the very rich source two major outcomes are: (i) there is a significant digital differentiation among lecturers and students at urban versus rural universities in terms of their proficiency and internet accessibility; and (ii) the awareness and appreciation of the OER concept and open licensing is low but from the actual processing by respondents of educational resources (not necessarily open) a 'preparedness for openness' can be derived that promises well for the future. [This paper was presented at the 2017 Open Education Consortium Global Conference, held in Cape Town (South Africa) in March 8th-10th 2017.]

This paper reports the findings of a pilot project, Open Resources for English Language Teaching (ORELT), that aimed to introduce open resources for teaching English in Kenyan junior secondary schools alongside the traditional textbooks that until now have been the only teaching resources available to teachers and learners. The ORELT materials, which consisted of open content in the form of DVDs, books, and online content were developed by the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL), Canada, for use throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. Before the rollout of these materials, English teachers from selected schools were enlisted for an in-service workshop where they were trained on the materials and the concept of open resources, and were given a hands-on familiarisation with the resources. Two ORELT workshops were conducted for four days each between 18-21 March 2013, and 6-9 May 2013 at the Kenyatta University Conference Centre (KUCC). Participants of the first workshop were drawn from secondary schools within the urban and peri-urban areas of Nairobi. Participants for the second workshop were drawn from rural schools. This article views the introduction of these open resources in Kenyan schools as an educational innovation and investigates the effects of such an innovation on teachers' pedagogical practice. The study found that this innovation had a generally positive impact on the teachers' pedagogical practice in terms of their pedagogical content knowledge and skills, teaching methodology, and professional growth.

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the accessibility of digital information systems as a key usability attribute in information retrieval by users with visual impairment (VI), to inform development of accessible information systems. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a cross-sectional survey design based on the quantitative research paradigm. Data was collected from 117 students with visual impairments from selected public universities in Kenya, using a semi-structured questionnaire adapted from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Findings: This study revealed that gender did not influence screen reader compatibility, alternative format preferences, perceptions of accessible content or digital library navigability. Instead, type of visual impairment, prior assistive technology (AT) training and digital library use frequency significantly impacted these attributes. Blind students reported positive experiences, favouring alternative formats, and expressed positive views on accessible content while those with low vision faced more challenges. Prior training in assistive technology and frequent digital library use resulted in higher screen reader compatibility and better navigability. Increased digital library use was linked to access to alternative content for those with prior assistive technology training. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to the existing literature on accessibility of digital information systems for users with visual impairments. Further research is needed to explore other factors that may influence the accessibility of digital systems, such as the design of user interfaces as well as an evaluation of accessibility of digital systems for other categories of disabilities such as hearing impairment, physical impairment, autism and intellectual disability, among others. Practical implications: The findings of this study have practical implications for the design and development of digital systems such as digital libraries. Developers can leverage findings of this study to enhance compatibility of digital platforms with screen readers and provide alternative formats and accessible content. User-centred design principles can be used to create interfaces that are easy to navigate and friendly to users with visual impairments. Training programmes on assistive technology should be provided to users to enhance their skills and confidence in using digital systems. Originality/value: This study contributes towards design and creation of navigable systems that are compatible with screen readers. The study also points out the importance of creating more inclusive and usable digital environments for persons with visual impairments.

The assessment of experiential learning, such as service learning, and its outcomes, tends to take time and effort. This paper examines how service learning and traditional learning activities help university students acquire both course-specific and key competencies that would be of value in their professional careers. The results show that students consistently indicated they were better able to acquire these competencies, especially key competencies, through the service learning supported by the ePortfolio experience. Furthermore, the responses were statistically significant in 15 out of 20 competencies. The implication arising from this research is any service-learning course should provide evidence of the competencies acquired by the students; otherwise, it might be considered as volunteer service or community work by educational institutions, especially by those with little or no experience incorporating service-learning projects in their programs.

Stories of children moving in and out of refugee camps are not uncommon yet are often overshadowed by the dominant narratives of oppression, political failure, and war -- the stories "told of" rather than "told by" refugees. Dominant narratives on refugees largely shape perceptions about children and youth in displacement as vulnerable, voiceless, and passive. Instead, stories "told by" these populations highlight their identities as capable and determined. Employing a narrative approach to inquiry in relation to agency, this study seeks to understand how lived experiences of female refugee youth are shared through storytelling. Written narratives of 55 adolescent girls in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya revealed not only the complex and complicated circumstances of their educational journey but also their agency. This paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of storytelling, which enables us to better understand the needs of the displaced populations, but also their capabilities, aspirations and agency.

This study sought to understand how fathers perceived schooling of their children with intellectual disabilities and how this impacted upon their involvement. The paper reports specifically on the views of fathers, teachers and mothers of children with intellectual disabilities regarding how fathers understood schooling and how the understanding affected father involvement at a special school. The findings are a part of a larger case study conducted at one special school for children with intellectual disabilities in Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to recruit nine teachers, eight fathers, and six mothers of children with intellectual disabilities from the special school. Individual interviews, focus group discussions and a document review were the data collection methods. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically. Fathers' understanding of schooling was expressed in the two themes emerging: the ambivalence of the purpose of the school and a focus on functional skills. Fathers want their children with disabilities to be educated, which means gaining knowledge and skills that would lead to becoming self-reliant, but they do not always agree with schooling which is the way that society has chosen to educate children. While fathers may not be involved in schooling they often are involved and concerned about education.

African students studying abroad and returning home to conduct research face several challenges. The purpose of this article is to describe the dilemma of a Kenyan student conducting research in Kenya, for her Australian-based doctoral studies in inclusive education. The research explored instructional strategies and Indigenous knowleges used by teachers to support students with disabilities in classrooms. The student had to negotiate positionality as an insider and outsider. This paper contributes to the literature on the experiences of African doctoral students returning home from Western universities to conduct research. It also contributes to knowledge of the positionalities of a researcher and also to the growing literature on methods of conducting research in education. This article also adds to the literature on the use of Indigenous methodologies in research in education. I explain how I transitioned from insider to outsider and vice versa during conversations.