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Chapter 20 - Culture, Gender and Technology

Mediating Teacher Training Using Text Messaging in Refugee Camps

from Part III - Confronting Marginalisation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2020

By
Dacia Douhaibi ,
Negin Dahya ,
Olivier Arvisais  and
Sarah Dryden-Peterson
Edited by
Jacqueline Bhabha ,
Wenona Giles  and
Faraaz Mahomed
Jacqueline Bhabha
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Wenona Giles
Affiliation:
York University, Toronto
Faraaz Mahomed
Affiliation:
FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
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Summary

In this chapter, we explore the use of text and instant messaging among refugee teachers to understand how the use of mobile phones and social networks supports more gender-sensitive and equitable teaching and learning environments both in and outside of the classroom. Our data include surveys and group interviews with refugee teachers, as well as semi-structured interviews with instructors of teacher training programmes with origins in Kenyan and Canadian iNGOs and universities. The use of technology, and in particular mobile platforms like SMS and WhatsApp chat groups, has become a common complement to these teacher training programmes. We have documented this practice as being part of both formal and informal training, as pedagogical tools used by instructors to support the delivery of courses and by student-teachers during and following their training. Group chats and SMS have translated gender-equity training beyond the temporal and physical space of the classroom, as teachers-in-training continued to discuss pedagogical tools and learning strategies during and after their training. We also share how mobile phones and social networks have extended these ideas to the surrounding communities, including parents and community leaders, to support education for girls and women.

Keywords

Genderequitytechnologyrefugeeseducationmobilitycommunicationsocial networksteachingpedagogy
Type
Chapter
Information
A Better Future
The Role of Higher Education for Displaced and Marginalised People
 , pp. 451 - 472
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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