Innovative Approaches to Information Communication Technology and Development (ICTD) Course Design

As Kenya and other African countries experience a digital transformation, educators are working to amplify their voices in the technology design process. In this poster, we describe our efforts to redesign an ICTD course to center African perspectives. Thirty-eight students participated in the semester-long course, including five Kenyan students who joined via Zoom. We evaluated the course by administering an open-ended surveys to assess students' learning experiences. Our findings suggest that students gained a deeper understanding of how colonialism, agriculture, and language use in Kenya are related to technology design. We also learned that U.S. students' engagement with Kenyan students-via Zoom and WhatsApp-significantly enhanced their learning. We discuss these findings and how future ICTD curricula can integrate aspects of our course.