Experts seek collaboration on development of inclusive learning solutions

Experts in the education sector have advocated the need to collaborate and design holistic edtech solutions or products to promote inclusivity in learning.

This was discussed at the just concluded Edtech Mondays, an initiative organised by the Co-Creation Hub (CCHUB) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation’s Centre for Innovative Teaching & Learning in ICT. The engagement session themed “Edtech for Diverse Learning Styles and Needs” was moderated by the Practice Lead Education, CcHub, Chinyelu Akpa.

Speaking during a panel session, Executive Director, Bettelhill School, Mary Akanmu-Bamikefa explained that it has become imperative for edtech stakeholders to design solutions that would support a wide range of learning preferences.

Bamikefa noted that learning particularly for children with disabilities requires a lot of collaboration between, parents, teachers, and learners. She disclosed that it was important to engage children with disabilities with interactive tools. She advised educators dealing with children with disabilities to deploy all the platforms to ensure inclusive learning.

The Founder, One Word Africa Foundation, Oladoyin Idowu stated that education stakeholders should consider technology in addressing specific challenges associated with learning among kids.

According to Idowu, most children with challenges such as dyslexia typically struggle to learn in a traditional classroom environment

Emphasising the need for edtech solution providers to develop solutions that are not only culturally fitbut affordablefor learners, she stated that leveraging technology by edtech solution providers will unlock learning for different types of learners- kinesthetic learners, audio learners, and visual learners.

Chief Executive Officer, Vinsighte Limited, Toriola Oladeji, stated that society has a vital role to play in supporting the delivery of quality and inclusive education to persons living with visual impairment, hence the need for deploying OCR technology to create solutions for this category of learners.

While disclosing that the product was created based on the founder’s personal experiences, Oladeji explained that the solutions have been designed to ensure an immersive learning experience for visually-impaired students.
’’We have more people who are building from the user point, who understand the specific pain points and the challenges of the people we want to design and build for. We would always have solutions that are viable and are meeting the specific learning needs,’’he said.

Also speaking, the Founder, Your Safe Space NG, Toyin Oduniyi restated the need for educational stakeholders to collaborate in the areas of ideas and funding to come up with edtech solutions that are inclusive and holistic in learning.

She highlighted the importance of understanding and accommodating the diverse needs of autistic learners, and the role that education technology companies have to play in designing solutions that are contextually relevant to learners including those with special learning needs.