There is a substantive literature on the importance of using digital technologies in schools (Churchill, 2006; Lu, Lai & Law, 2010; Foster et al., 2022). McLoughlin & Lee (2010) note that when digital technologies are used with adequate strategies, can promote active learning by shifting control to the learner, promote learner’s agency, autonomy and engagement in real and virtual social networks.  In Mozambique, the integration of digital technologies (DT) has gained significant recognition, aiming to enhance students’ learning experience and bridge the disparity learning gap. The effort to integrating digital tools in education gained further momentum in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the OECD (2021) the future of low-income countries depends on the provision of quality education, while UNESCO (2021) emphasises that inclusive digital technologies can play a vital role achieving this goal. Digital technologies have the potential to expand access to education, enhance pedagogical practices, promote inclusion, and contribute to the development of an equitable and sustainable education system (UNESCO, 2021). Despite extensive research  highlighting  potential benefits of digital technologies in improving educational outcomes, technology- driven instructional designs remain underdeveloped in the Mozambican context.

Research Questions:

RQ₁. How do teachers position themselves towards the adoption of digital learning artefacts for teaching and learning? 

RQ₂. What are the implications of teachers’ positionality for teaching and learning? 

RQ₃. How can teachers be better supported to harness and integrate digital learning design frameworks across multifaceted ICT supported learning settings?

I examine teachers’ attitudes, experiences and dispositions towards the uptake and use of digital learning tools in their practices. Second, I analyse the practical implications of teachers’ experiences with digital learning tools for teaching and learning. Lastly, I explore strategies, frameworks, and instructional designs that can support teachers in effectively integrating digital learning tools in their practices.

The study draws on Engström’s (1987) second-generation of Cultural- Historical Activity Theory as heuristic framework. Jonassen & Rohrer-Murphy (1999) argue that conscious learning emerges from activity; therefore, I used CHAT for its capacity to examine complex and systematic interconnectedness of teachers’ practices and emergent consciousness that arises from instructional experiences within educational institutions. Furthermore, CHAT provided a framework for examining how tools, rules, community, division of labour, and subjects interact to shape instructional practices and influence outcomes within a activity system. In the context of Mozambique, where socio-cultural, institutional, and policy-related factors play a crucial role in the integration of digital tools, CHAT served an analytical tool to uncover the interconnections, tensions, and contradictions that emerge within a system. By focusing on the activity system as the unit of analysis, I examined how teachers engaged with DLT, how policies mediated their practices, and how systemic tensions and contradictions shaped the trajectory of the activity as teachers integrated these tools into their instructional practices. 

According to Matthews & Ross (2010) the type of research questions and the nature of the data we seek influences the choice of research design. The questions of this study call for descriptive answers making a qualitative research methodology the most suitable approach. Maxwell (2005, as cited in Cohen et al., 2018, p. 304) suggest that qualitative research ‘is interested in the casual process at work in understanding how one or more interventions or factors lead to an outcome, the mechanism and their causal linkage’. With respect to the methods, data were generated through a qualitative questionnaire, followed by interviews. The initial data collection involved a questionnaire, designated to gain breadth of teachers experiences with digital tools. As Matthews & Ross (2010, p. 201) put it, a questionnaire can be used to capture people’s opinions, attitudes, ideas, knowledge and experiences. The questionnaires consisted of open-ended questions, featuring text boxes to elicit written responses without including numerical (Likert scale) responses. The second stage of data collection involved interviews. Robson & McCartan (2016) suggest that interviews involve verbal communication, whereby the researcher asks questions to the participants and receives answers from them. For this study, a subset of participants from the cohort who completed the questionnaire were selected for a one-on-one, in-depth interviews. The third stage focussed on data analysis. Data gathered from both questionnaires and interviews were analysed using a six-phased thematic analysis process suggested by Braun & Clark (2019) that includes (1) familiarising with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes, and (6) producing the final report. The data analysis was done using a combined approach, incorporating both deductive and inductive thematic analysis.

The integration of digital tools for instructional purposes had a significant impact on teachers’ instructional practices. While some teachers acknowledge the potential of digital tools to enhance students’ productivity and collaboration, a substantial proportion reported facing challenges in working with these tools. Some of the challenges include inadequate resources in schools, difficulties in using and managing digital tools, insufficient training, and increased workload due to the additional time and effort required to master the tools. Furthermore, teachers’ reflections revealed concerns about the negative impact of digital tools on students’ critical thinking ability and problem-solving skills. Teachers perceived that digital tools often distracted students, fostered dependency, and contributed to the deterioration of student’s writing skills. These findings underscore the systemic nature of both the challenges and opportunities associated with the adoption of digital learning technologies (DLT) in Mozambique.

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