Meaningful higher education in Kakuma refugee camp: A case study of why context and contextualization matter

Abstract

In recent years, higher education in refugee contexts has begun to receive increasing attention within the humanitarian-development sector. Resource constraints, coupled with the technology and innovation zeitgeist in international development drives, have helped to create a higher education space where courses in refugee camps are typically delivered via online learning platforms directly from Western education providers. As the space develops, a shift in attention is beginning to occur, such that the legitimacy of online learning for refugees is now being questioned. At the heart of this question are the issue of contextualization and a call for greater emphasis to be placed on blended learning approaches that better reflect the realities of refugee learners. In this case study, the authors compare and evaluate a contextualized medical studies course that was delivered via blended learning in the Kakuma refugee camp in 2019 with a non-contextualized version of the same course that was delivered in the Dadaab refugee camp in 2018. The study explores the contextualization process and finds that the contextualized course achieved better learning outcomes than did the non-contextualized version of the course.

Keywords: Blended learning; Contextualization; Higher education; Refugee camps; Refugees; Technology.

Figure 1

The InZone collaborative learning ecosystem