Small Technologies with Big Potential:

Lessons Learned from Colleagues and Friends in Challenging Contexts

Susan CrichtonUniversity of Calgary / University of British Columbia – Okanagan Campus

The average North American home has 25 or more products … consuming electricity 24 hours a day

… and there’s 1,441,000,000 people in the world without electricity … at all …for anything …

Did you know?

• The average lifespan of computers in developed countries has dropped from 6 years in 1997 to just 2 years in 2005.

• Mobile phones have a lifecycle of less than 2 years in developed countries.

• … and then there is eWaste which we won’t even get into this morning …

… but this talk isn’t about us …

… it’s about how we all might do more with less

… and considering how less might be more?

… it’s about appropriate technologies*

*tools or practices that are the simplest and most benign solutions to a problem

These technologies provide options for minimally invasive

education

… and serve as prompts for self organizing systems

While there’s always a range within any solution …

$15

$310,000

Picking the best option remains our work …

For example, mLearning in East

Africa

Safe Motherhood Project - PakistanText messages sent to pregnant women to create awareness about timely vaccination, etc.

CHALLENGE• Husbands became upset when wives got text messages.

SOLUTION• Lady health worker saved the number with her name so in the future when the

women received text messages everyone in the family knew that the messages were sent by the lady health worker

CHALLENGE• Families of the lady health workers created problems when the project cell

phones arrived.

SOLUTIONThe families had to be informed why the cell phones were necessary

… BUT we have to wade through the hype and find the

advantage

Working through the hype

• Functionality• Social value – image / symbol• Epistemic – curiosity / urge to

experiment• Emotional – aesthetics, beauty,

artistry• Conditional value – context (e.g. a

lovely winter coat in February; sandals in July)

Deciding factors …

EmotionalEpistemicSocial

Functional

… which takes us back to the issue of appropriate technologies

Yes, Smartphones are fine but what about the actual screen readability … the content real estate?

A Story: The jiFUNzeni approach in actual practice in rural Kenya

Handheld devices, solar power, affordable clean water … an appropriate “package” for change

Is it magic or science?

• Changed practice through “seeing” active teaching and learning

• Changed relationships• Authentic inquiry / activities –

solar & biosand filter (www.cawst.org)

… or is it just a combination of small technologies – each with BIG potential?