Abstract
In forced displacement contexts, the uptake of educational technology (EdTech) is generally driven by resource availability, the haste to satisfy a specific need or a donor-driven solution, and whether the technology offers ‘value for money’ in terms of its cost. As a result, discrepancies in technology usage and infrastructure have emerged, necessitating major measures to address them in the long run. In these contexts, educational institutions providing teacher education have used synchronous and asynchronous approaches, albeit with contextual and infrastructural limitations. The study presented in this paper focuses on one forced displacement context in Kenya and a teacher education diploma course offered by the Faculty of Education at the University of Nairobi. The focus of this study was to evaluate the diploma course through the voices and views of teacher trainees. A mixed methods approach was used, which included an online questionnaire (n = 9) and interviews (n = 4) with teacher trainees. The study concluded that teacher trainees perceive learning online as a major enabler that allows them to be flexible and attend to other personal roles and responsibilities. However, they expressed challenges such as economic status, electricity or solar power availability, internet access, and low storage capacity of the devices, which limited access to course resources and subsequently influenced technology choice and usage. Teacher trainees further highlighted the need for connectedness and belonging to the university and peers and for increased access to course resources to enhance their participation. In addition, the trainees posit that when designing and implementing new teaching approaches, contextual barriers are to be considered for the efficacy of teaching and learning, scalability, and sustainability.