There is a growing trend for advancing techno-optimist ‘solutions’ for refugees and presenting ‘digital proficiency’ as game changer for the most vulnerable (Rushworth and Hackl, 2021). Without entering the details of the debates on the shortcomings and potential of such an approach, it is important to note that many funders and education entrepreneurs will also likely put (or ask for) an emphasis on ‘the digital’. In both FFA and PADILEIA, the programme teams believed at the onset of this programme, and still believe, that the digital skills developed as a result of specific instruction on digital technologies, and more broadly whilst engaging with a blended learning curriculum, would be beneficial for these students in both their academic and professional lives. In retrospect, the digital skills developed did benefit students in their daily lives: while the cohorts had fairly divergent past experiences with digital technologies (including between the Kampala and Kiryandongo learning centres within Uganda), early indications are that those who completed the curriculum did benefit in terms of the development of digital skills. In Lebanon, we found examples of students starting businesses and services that heavily rely on digital skills.

It is, however, important to bear in mind that substantial work needs to accompany such ‘education to the digital’ and ‘digital education’. In other words, digital should not be conflated with cost-savings. Time and again, we found that supposedly ready-made solutions and approaches would not work smoothly in the context where we were operating and there was an acute need to localise the solutions and draw up on additional resources, both material and in terms of support. It also emerged, and this point is discussed in more detail in sections devoted to the psycho-social and pedagogical approaches of the programme, that not everything can be digital or done remotely. The costs and value-add of digital tools and approaches needs to be frequently re-evaluated: is this the best allocation of finite programme resources? Our experience shows that there are times when (non-digital) activities focussing on non-digital skills, such as psycho-social support, should take precedence.

The digital in FFAThe conceptualization of the digital in the Foundations for All curriculum at the onset both as a dedicated course (Digital Skills) and as a mode of instruction and delivery (blended learning) created a series of cascading decisions as the FFA team responded to a series of evolving contexts. First, after a preliminary engagement to determine the general availability of digital technology amongst the groups from which the student cohort would be drawn from, it was determined that there would be a need to have dedicated technologies available in the two locations (Kampala and Kiryandongo). Dedicated learning centres were created and equipped with laptops, connectivity was acquired, and additional equipment was procured (printer, projector). At the onset of the pandemic when the learning centres became unavailable, additional resources were used to purchase mobile phones for students to continue their studies through an approximation of remote learning developed by the FFA team in response.  Considerable amounts of time was spent attempting to use existing university technologies for work on FFA to ensure some degree of sustainability; an example of this is the aborted attempt to use the Learning Management System (LMS) at the University of Edinburgh before moving to Kolibri, a LMS more responsive to intermittent connectivity. Further, the digital skills developed as part of FFA weren’t part of the Mature Entry Examination, so as the students drew closer to the examination this digital work proved potentially distracting. Overall, significant programme resources were dedicated to the digital aspects of the overall programme, resources that might have been better spent on additional tutors or dedicated administrative support on the ground in the two learning centres.

Rushworth, P., & Hackl, A. (2021). Writing code, decoding culture: Digital skills and the promise of a fast lane to decent work among refugees and migrants in Berlin. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2021.1893159