Wiley Handbook of Learning Technology

12Learning with Technologies in Resource-constrained Environments

Dick Ng’ambi and Vivienne Bozalek

12.1 Introduction

This chapter focuses on learning with technologies in contexts where resources are constrained. These contexts, although most common in developing nations, are not limited to these nations. For example, the current world economic crisis and the austerity measures being placed on various northern hemisphere countries makes it difficult to confine resource-constrained to a geographical location. It would also be erroneous to assume that resource constraints exist homogeneously inside national boundaries. Southern contexts such as South Africa, India, and Brazil are cases in point, where there are extreme inequalities in access to and success in education within these countries themselves (Bozalek et al. 2007; Krauss 2013; Rohleder et al. 2008; Traxler and Ng’ambi 2012). This is also true of northern countries such as the United States and the UK, where, for example, the school one attends largely determines one’s path in education and the suburb in which one lives determines which school one has access to, thus although these countries may be considered well resourced, the resources are not evenly distributed.

In this chapter we address the following questions:

• How is learning with technology in resource-constrained environments theorized?
• What are the challenges experienced in resource-constrained environments?
• How are educators in resource-constrained environments using ...