Blog post Part of special issue: The right to education for forcibly displaced people: Exploring ideas on participation, connectedness and technology
Offline-first learning and the right to participation in education: When ‘online’ education fails to include
In low-resource and displacement contexts, digital learning is widely promoted as a way to expand access to education, including by and . Yet many learners remain excluded because connectivity is unreliable, unaffordable or inconsistent. In this blog post, we examine how offline-first approaches respond to this challenge and support more reliable participation.
This gap between learners and access to learning is stark in regions hosting the largest displaced populations, where higher education initiatives are often organised collectively. GSM Association show that the ‘usage gap’ – people covered by mobile networks but not using them due to cost and poor quality of service – among other constraints, has remained above 50 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and has increased despite expanding coverage.
To access education, displaced learners often travel daily to learning centres, paying for transport and sacrificing time they would otherwise use to work or support their families. On arrival, connectivity may still be too weak or unstable. When this repeats, participation becomes economically unsustainable. Engagement erodes – not due to lack of motivation but because systems fail to function reliably.
At home, mobile data is often and delivered over weak networks. Courses built around video, large files or continuous connectivity exclude by design, making group-based learning impractical. The result is a participation gap shaped by attrition, unpredictability and the breakdown of collective learning environments.
Participation beyond constant connectivity
Discussions of digital inclusion in displacement settings often frame participation in terms of being online. Yet for learners navigating disruption, meaningful participation depends less on constant connectivity and more on continuity and social presence – the persistence of engagement despite changing conditions (Tinto, 2017).
Participation depends on systems that learners can trust to function consistently. When access is intermittent, learners fall behind, lose confidence or disengage. From this perspective, connectedness is defined not by bandwidth or login frequency, but by whether learning remains available and supportive even when connectivity is limited or absent.
‘Connectedness is defined not by bandwidth or login frequency, but by whether learning remains available and supportive even when connectivity is limited or absent.’
Offline-first as a design stance: Offline-First Design for Learning (OFDL)
This perspective has been articulated as , which emphasises parity between offline and online experiences and participation regardless of connectivity conditions (Sperber, 2026).
OFDL challenges two common approaches. The first treats offline access as a degraded fallback, relying on large downloads or stripped-down materials that remove interaction and feedback. The second relies on providing standalone files without mechanisms for feedback, active/collaborative learning software, or methods to update content and synchronise learner progress.
By contrast, offline-first systems ensure that the learning journey – including activities, assessment, feedback and credentials – remain available without continuous connectivity. Rather than rejecting online learning, they enable continuity across offline and online environments, allowing learners to move between modes without losing progress.
Offline-first learning has been implemented across diverse contexts through the of Arizona State University’s (ASU’s) and , as well as with Médecins Sans Frontières in contexts such as and the . Examples include: in Addis Ababa, skills-focused programmes delivered through learning centres; in Sudan, professional learning for health workers amid infrastructure disruption; and along the , teacher training in refugee camps.
Designing for continuity and rights
The previous examples illustrate how offline-first learning accommodates varied connectivity conditions. In contexts such as Ethiopia, learners may engage fully offline; in others, some learners may be online some of the time; and in still others, connectivity is widespread but unstable or subject to disruption, as observed in ASU’s work with the Norwegian Refugee Council in Nabatiyeh, Lebanon. Across these conditions, learners can move between modes without losing progress or recognition.
Learning may span community centres, home-based study through offline-capable mobile applications, and fully online engagement where reliable access exists. By supporting offline, online and blended participation within a single system, offline-first approaches remain relevant as connectivity improves while continuing to serve those for whom access remains uncertain.
If participation in education is understood as a right rather than a privilege, learning systems must be designed to function under conditions of disruption and inequality. Designing from these constraints leads to systems that are more resilient and capable of supporting diverse learners.
References
Sperber, M. A. (2026). Offline-First Design for Learning (OFDL): Core principles. Medium.
Tinto, V. (2017). Through the eyes of students. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 19(3), 254–269.