1. The document summarizes key takeaways from a survey of 300 new teachers in Senegal about their digital lives and connectivity.
2. It finds that most teachers pay for mobile internet access themselves, with connectivity being an expensive necessity. Smartphone ownership is high among teachers who use their devices frequently throughout the day for communication and information searching.
3. Supporting more affordable connectivity options and education-focused applications could help teachers benefit further from increased online access and knowledge, aiding the development of students and communities.
1. TOP TEN TAKEAWAYS FOR TELECOMS
Based On 300 Teacher Survey
Jim Teicher, CEO and Director, CyberSmart Africa
jim@cybersmart.org
November 12, 2019
Capetown, South Africa
The Digital Life of Teachers
2. Insights from our 2019 survey of 300 new teachers
reveals a major opportunity
Delivering on the Telecom Industry vision to connect everyone
3. #1 Teachers are very important customers.
The Digital Life of Teachers
5. There is an dire ongoing need for new teachers.
The Digital Life of Teachers
6. Source: United Nations Depart of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017
The child population is growing rapidly.
The Digital Life of Teachers
7. The Digital Life of Teachers Survey
October 2019
300 New Senegalese Teachers
AGE
• 21-25 30%
• 26-30 65%
• 31-35 4%
SEX
Female 34%
Male 66%
8. #2 Teachers pay to connect.
Most Pay
Pay 66%
Seek out free WIFI 34%
Most don’t have a fixed Internet connection at home
No fixed Internet from home 80%
Fixed Internet from home 20%
The Digital Life of Teachers
9. Most Buy a Monthly Internet Pass
- Monthly pass 58%
- Weekly pass 19%
- Daily pass 15%
Most Send Less than $5/Month
But Nearly 1/3 Spend More
< $1 5%
$1-2 10%
$2-4 56%
$4-9 22%
$9-17 6%
>$17 1%
The Digital Life of Teachers
11. #4 Most teachers own a smartphone.
Smartphones 89%
Laptops 64%
Feature phones 27%
Tablets 8%
Desktop PCs 3%
32% would like to buy a TABLET as their next device
The Digital Life of Teachers
13. Most smartphones are purchased new
Purchased new 58%
Received as a gift 22%
Phones are used 2.5X MORE when they are smart
80% of Teacher smartphone users say they use their
phones often throughout the day as compared to 33% of
feature phone users.
The Digital Life of Teachers
14. Familiarity with Android is high
Very familiar 65%
Somewhat familiar 30%
Unfamiliar 5%
More Android users self-Identify as
Advanced
Android 37%
Windows 7 23%
Windows 10 12%
Linux 4.0%
IOS 2.3%
The Digital Life of Teachers
15. Minimal familiarity with iPhone
Very familiar 8%
Somewhat familiar 29%
Unfamiliar 62%
The Digital Life of Teachers
16. #5 Smartphones are the preferred connectivity device.
Teachers prefer connecting with a Smartphone
Smartphone 87%
Feature phone 6%
Computer 4%
Tablet 2%
The Digital Life of Teachers
17. #6 Teachers go online frequently.
Frequency of Use
More than once a day 75%
Once per day 11%
Several times per week 2%
Average Length Online Each Session
Up to 15 minutes 29%
16-30 minutes 36%
31-60 minutes 18%
1-2 hours 10%
2 hours 7%
The Digital Life of Teachers
18. #7 Most time is spent communicating on
social networks and searching.
Means of Communicating
WhatsApp 85%
Facebook several times per day 42%
YouTube several times per day 23%
Instagram several times per day 10%
The Digital Life of Teachers
19. Social Networking Time Spent
Searching 22%
Communicating with friends 15%
Communicating with family 13%
Communicating with colleagues 13%
Reading news/entertainment 12%
Exchanging documents 11%
The Digital Life of Teachers
20. #8 Support learning Apps competencies.
Little Moderate Advanced
Google
Docs
25% 43% 26%
Google
Maps
27% 35% 31%
Google
Earth
42% 18% 8%
The Digital Life of Teachers
21. #9 Online commerce is currently minimal.
Use of Online Commerce
Selling products 2%
Buying products 1%
Use of Mobile Money Online
Pay electricity bill 67%
Pay water bill 40%
Pay phone bill 21%
Store purchases 17%
Online purchases 7%
The Digital Life of Teachers
22. #10 Teachers are concerned about online security.
Most believe Internet use has risks
There are some risks 46%
There are a lot of risks 10%
There are no risks 21%
Have no idea 21%
New teachers are not comfortable sharing
information about their professional life online
Not at all at ease 60%
More or less at ease 20%
Totally at ease 9%
The Digital Life of Teachers
23. Most use anti-virus software
Use anti-virus software on a computer 52%
Believe viruses can damage computer files 52%
Most acknowledge a virus can damages their computer
Certain it can 14%
Strong probability 27%
There is the potential for damage 12%
There is a small potential 26%
There is a very rare potential 13%
It is impossible 8%
The Digital Life of Teachers
24. From Takeaways to Transformation
• Teachers represent the largest group of stable wage earners in developing
countries – and their numbers will grow tremendously.
• Teachers are connected. Listen to them and have them act as ambassadors of
connectivity to ministries of education, students, and families.
• Encourage new education solutions and content development – and get connected
teachers to help.
• Create new business models such as tiered service levels which can support
education and make financial sense.
• Make high quality connectivity more affordable with infrastructure improvements,
more efficient ways to delivery data and apps, and lower cost devices.
.
The Digital Life of Teachers
25. 50 Million African children are out-of-school
The Digital Life of Teachers
27. Mobile operators will have more customers who buy data.
Manufacturers will sell better devices to more people.
Governments will be able to effectively serve the growing
population.
Teachers will benefit more from the increased knowledge that is a
byproduct of affordable connectivity.
Society will benefit from the ability to participate more fully in
our globalized world.
Incentives can and must align so that…
The Digital Life of Teachers
28. The Telcom Industry can deliver on its vision
to connect everyone and improve education.
The Digital Life of Teachers
Editor's Notes
I’m Jim Teicher, and I founded the e-publishing social enterprise CyberSmart Africa to help advance learning on the African continent in sustainable and massively scalable ways.
I believe that that all telecom players have the vision to connect everyone; and I also believe that you all want to address the dire need to impact education. I’m going to share some insights that can make it happen. Just last month we surveyed 300 new Senegalese teachers. This is ground breaking research as I don’t think anyone has ever before talked specifically to teachers about their digital life. I’m going to share the top ten takeaways the research revealed.
Takeaway One: Teachers are very important customers. We learned that they are very connected; and they also represent – by far – the largest professional workforce on the African continent. There are more teachers on government payrolls than any other profession. Teachers are also the ones that will facilitate technology use in schools, and will help drive children and families to connect.
Embracing teachers also makes sustainable business sense. This chart shows something very interesting. The type is small, so just look at the colors. Teachers in low income countries (in red) actually take home a higher percentage of GDP per capita than their peers in developed nations. For example, teachers in Nigeria earn 500 percent of per capital GDP, and and nearly 700 percent in Ethiopia. From a business perspective alone, regularly salaried teachers are important customers. Although they surely don’t make a lot of money, teachers do earn substantially more than the average wage earner.
There is a dire ongoing need for teachers; and when you look at teachers as a market for telecom, this market will grow, and grow, and grow. This chart shows the estimated shortages of teachers in primary and secondary education in sub Saharan Africa.
Why does Africa need so many teachers? Because the child population in Africa is booming – on a trajectory to have the largest child population of any continent, topping 1 billion by 2055. The plain and simple fact is that we can not improve education in Africa until we harness information and communications technologies. Leadership on the part of the telecom industry is key to making this happen.
We surveyed 300 new Senegalese teachers. The majority are men in their late 20’s. As you’ll see, these new teachers are pervasive users of telecom.
Takeaway Two: Our research showed that it’s worth the price to pay for the convenience of connectivity when and when you want it. For example, it may not be worth the effort to seek out free WIFI at a friend’s house or other location when it’s available through a phone. Most don’t have fixed internet at home; and this might be because it’s too expensive, or simply unavailable.
No notes.
Takeaway Three: Teachers in Africa spend a greater percentage of their monthly income on connectivity than in Asia and the Americas, and we need to figure out how to make connectivity more even more affordable.
Takeaway Four: I would have never guessed that the percentage of new teachers owning smartphones is so high; but it is. Our research also discovered that many new teachers want a tablet as their next device, which is particularly interesting; and there are a number of marketing implications. What about affordable smartphone/tablet packages, for example?
When you compare the 89% of Senegalese teachers surveyed that own smartphones to the data in this chart, it becomes totally clear that teachers can and should be your ambassadors of connectivity. With the help of the telecom ecosystem (including epublishers), their digital life can propel their nation forward to impact education in positive ways. Collectively, teachers may have more capacity to do this than the ministries of education they work for. (FYI Senegal GDP ranks 18 of 54 countries in Africa.)
We also learned that teachers want new smartphones, and they use them much more than their old feature phones.
It should come as no surprise that most new teachers know Android, and there are more advanced Android “power users” than we found with Windows. Windows 7 is an old operating system, and it’s is usually installed on old laptops and desktops. – so it will go away in time. Personally, I think many of the old Windows 7 machines will be replaced by Chromebooks which work particularly well with Android. This will also be great because Chrome doesn’t catch viruses.
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We found that iPhones do not play a significant role in the digital life of new teachers.
Takeaway Five: It should also be no surprise that we learned smartphones are the preferred connectivity device.
Takeaway Six: …and that teachers go online a lot!
Takeaway Seven: They’re mostly communicating; and this isn’t just to save money instead of making a call. It’s the value added by communicating in groups, including voice messaging with others who have limited literacy skills.
Who are new teachers communicating with? Friends, family, and colleagues. Teachers need to communicate a lot with each other – if they’re going to be late or absent, or regarding schedules, activities, etc. They are also “searchers.” They seek out information for their work and their personal life – and they share.
Takeaway Eight: Our research asked the new teachers about their competency with certain apps. I think it’s reasonable to say that increased competency will yield more connected teachers. The advanced, power users will lead the way and mentor their colleagues. My advice to the telecom industry to seek them out! Give them telecom-sponsored training along with connectivity incentives. Their students will benefit from the knowledge and resources connected teachers can provide. How can African schools participate in a globalized world if teachers draw their maps with chalk, while the real maps are all online?
Takeaway Nine: It’s interesting to see that online commerce is minimal – but use of mobile money is significant – largely for utility transactions. We need to do a better job at merging the two because most Africans do not live in a credit economy, and won’t for a long time. Ecommerce won’t take off until we merge the reality of a creditless economy with the incredible convenience of shopping online.
Takeaway Ten: This brings us to takeaway #10, assuring the security of the internet. I’m pleased that just over half of the new teachers know there are risks associated with the Internet; but that’s not good enough, because 75% are online more than once a day. They are just not comfortable enough online, and that’s got to change.
They need to protect not only themselves and their money, but also the content that’s downloaded onto their computers. New teachers are not sufficiently convinced that viruses can damage their files, and that’s not good.
This is a groundbreaking survey; but it must be put to use! The results can be a win-win for everyone concerned. The fact is that telecom players are essential to make education work in Africa.
Look! More than 50 million African children are out of school. This isn’t good for anybody. It’s got to change.
Too many children in Africa are just not learning. Ninety percent of school age kids are not minimally competent in reading and math – and it’s the new crop of teachers who have the job of educating our children so they can get ahead.
The bottom line is that for change to happen, incentives of all parties must align.
