Design‐based implementation research for digitally enabled education reform
Teacher professional development in Tanzania
Datos Bibliográficos
Design‐based implementation research (DBIR) offers a promising approach for refining and theorising the implementation and scale‐up of education interventions. However, integrating technology into national education reforms in resource‐constrained contexts adds complexity, involving multiple government bodies, implementers and researchers with differing institutional cultures. We examine how DBIR approaches can be enhanced to adapt to the complexity that technology and scaling bring into nationally led education interventions. To achieve this, we evaluate the DBIR principles and processes used with the Tanzanian government to design, implement and scale the national technology‐supported teacher professional development programme. The intervention uses a Learning Management System, which teachers are intended to access through smart devices. Realist evaluation of two DBIR cycles was undertaken through documentary analysis and reflective workshops with the DBIR team (comprising international, Tanzanian and government researchers). The findings, presented as 10 context–intervention–mechanism–outcome statements, informed the development of the DBIR for digitally enabled education reform (DBIR4DEER) methodological guidelines. The discussion unpacks how DBIR4DEER contributes to the broader implementation research and EdTech literature by demonstrating how its enhancements from DBIR are well suited to navigate shifting government priorities, rapid scaling, technological turbulence and system‐wide stakeholder dynamics. Recommendations include embedding different government bodies into DBIR for stronger evidence uptake, anticipating intervention changes from the volatile technology landscape, rigorously testing technology components before rollout and mapping spheres of control and influence as the intervention becomes unwieldy. DBIR4DEER offers practical guidance for researchers, implementers and policymakers seeking to strengthen EdTech implementation research in large‐scale complex systems in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic? Design‐based implementation research (DBIR) is closely related to implementation research and design‐based research but differentiates itself by its commitment to embedding practitioners as equal‐status co‐researchers and developing capacity for sustaining system change. DBIR has been used to align design, research and practice but mostly at the classroom or district level in high‐income contexts. What this paper adds? A critical examination of the DBIR principles and processes used with a large scale, digitally enabled education reform in a resource‐constrained LMIC context. Illustrates how DBIR approaches can be enhanced and nuanced to adapt to the complexity that technology and scaling bring into nationally led education interventions. Cautions that while DBIR has the flexibility to adapt to rapidly shifting technological conditions and generate learning even under imperfect conditions, findings can quickly lose their applicability or lack the rich insights that the DBIR aimed to generate. Implications for practice and/or policy Offers practical DBIR4DEER methodological guidelines for researchers, implementers and policymakers seeking to strengthen EdTech implementation research in similarly large‐scale complex systems. Asserts that the embedding of government officials—from various relevant government bodies—as co‐researchers is the crux of effective DBIR in large‐scale EdTech reforms as it strengthens research ownership, evidence uptake and capacity for sustaining system change.
Educational technology · Government (linguistics) · Implementation research · Intervention (counseling) · Professional development · Scale (ratio) · Stakeholder · Tanzania · Educational Assessment and Improvement · ICT in Developing Communities · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
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