Blended eLearning Systems in Nigerian Universities:A Context Specific Pedagogical Approach

With the surge in information technology globally, recent efforts in sub-Saharan Africa have sought to decolonise and revitalise the process and practice of using technology for/in education, and specifically the development of context-specific pedagogies. This paper presents an analysis of the perspectives of students, lecturers and education managers regarding the blended approach to the use of technology for teaching, learning and management of educational processes. Using a range of interviews, focus group discussions, and rapid ethnography, we report on conflicting ideas and issues that point to the motive for blending, the sort of tools available and adopted, the teaching processes and learning activities the tools support, and where improvement is needed to drive acceptance and use. Findings indicate the relevance of understanding the complexities of the mundane practices of using technology in postcolonial education

Analysing the Integration of Models of Technology Diffusion and Acceptance in Nigerian Higher Education

The use of technology in learning environments has produced a series of different theories and models about how technology is adopted, accepted and used. This paper attempts to show the relevance of combining the diffusion of innovation model (DIM) and a context-specific model of technology acceptance (TAM) to understanding the acceptance or rejection of educational technologies in Nigerian universities. Using empirical evidence, the analysis attempts to determine the extent to which the adoption, acceptance, and use of educational tools support or contradicts the components of the two models, emphasising how a range of technological, pedagogical, institutional, socio-cultural, and design-related factors informed, facilitated, and discouraged the diffusion, adoption, acceptance and use of blended eLearning systems in three Nigerian universities. The analysis suggests the ‘relevance’ and ‘limit’ of the determining components and identifiers of both models, arguing instead for a critical examination of the relationship between different models as to understanding the factors that might lead to the acceptance or rejection of technological innovation

Problematising Identity, Positionality, and Adequacy in HCI4D Fieldwork:A Reflection

Ontological and epistemological differences between Western and non-Western traditions makes investigating and understanding other cultures using stereotypical (Western) approaches and methods rather difficult. At the intersection of a crisis of identity, epistemic positionality and cultural adequacy, this paper reflects on the ethical and methodological implications of the practices of HCI4D fieldwork that seek to decode and deconstruct the mundane practices of designing and deploying educational technologies in Nigeria. The reflection identifies a range of issues concerning the limiting relevance of conventional methods of undertaking field studies in Africa, while also showing the appropriateness of indigenous approaches. This has significant importance for the practices of those wishing to work in/with African communities in design projects

Designing Learning Technology:An African HCI Approach

The research involves investigating, from an African, specifically Nigerian perspective, what exactly might constitute education technology design best practices that will bring about developing a knowledgeable individual? Substantive progress has been made with regards to identifying gaps in the literature regarding the notion of education with technology in Africa, notably blended learning and some work on the relevance of indigenous knowledge and methodologies in providing some better understanding of the peculiarities of an African context. Initial fieldwork has been completed in Nigeria, thematically analyzed and interpreted the data; conducting a follow-up field work (a participatory observational study), and also evaluating and disseminating the early results from the initial analysis

Software project work in an African context:myths, maps and messes

Research in HCI and CSCW has consistently shown how software design approaches are an abstract idealisation of work practices, raising questions regarding the appropriateness and applicability of what might be considered as ‘best practice’ or ‘doable practice’ in project work. Such issues have magnified the fundamental need for examining exactly how conventional (and generally Western) constructs, approaches and methods, widely adopted in the process of producing and deploying technologies, actually work. The paper reports findings from a study that seeks to understand the implications for adopting ‘well-known’ practices for framing, undertaking, and analysis distributed and collaborative software project in the context of Nigeria. Findings show that documenting and analysing what is often considered as ‘best practice’, supposedly prescriptive maps and scripts for accomplishing work, necessitates considering how they get adopted, interpreted, and extended as ‘orderly’ and occasionally ‘messy’ alternatives, offering some sensitivities for understanding the translocal features and transitional meaning of agile project work

Not an Ethnographer, nor a Designer:The Nuance of Doing Software Project Work Out There

Fieldwork is a complex form of work, whereas a software project can be considered largely as a collaborative and sometimes distributed form of work. How then does the inevitably situated nature of work account for the subjective orderliness-messiness of socio-cultural attributes of the Nigerian context? This short reflection points to the implications of ‘consciousness switching’ – knowing and doing work as an understand-er and us-er – which emphasises the need for focusing attention on the conditioning of the field in understanding occasions that can better inform project work

Rethinking Technology Design and Deployment in Africa:Lessons from an African Standpoint

Research in HCI4D has emphasized the need for a critical analysis of how conventional design paradigms and analytical orientations work in non-western contexts. This necessitates an examination of how indigenous modes of knowing could inform the framing and making of technological innovation in Africa. This paper draws on four empirical cases to show how stereotypical (often colonial and neo-colonial) design paradigms might have hastily misrepresented the situated practices of designing and deploying educational technologies in Nigeria. The paper argues that a situated standpoint orientation provides a way of approaching and analysing the plurality of the African context – which in essence relies on indigenous practices and knowledge in designing operational interventions that can be adopted and used to support teaching and learning. Thus, the temporal analysis of the four cases points to the material implications of the interactivity between culture and locale in extending indigenous practices of design

Towards a Transatlantic Approach to Cultural Engagement in African Design

In recent times, HCI has widens its horizon to a broad range of theoretical perspective and cultural stances that direct design practices. However, there appears to be a continual subjugation of ‘Other’ modes of knowing and theorising in contemporary discourse, which unfortunately finds solace in postcolonial approaches to HCI, and computing more generally. In this position paper, I outline the preliminary ideas about a transatlantic approach to cultural engagement in African design practices. In particular, it focuses on identifying and analysing the integrative aspect of the trinities of African cultures as to bring about an approximate adaptation (to new design context) and translation (to new design conditions) of diverse perspectives in African cultures of design

No More ‘Solutionism’ or ‘Saviourism’ in Futuring African HCI:A Manyfesto

Research in HCI4D has continuously advanced a narrative of ‘lacks’ and ‘gaps’ of the African perspective in technoscience. In response to such misguided assumptions, this paper attempts to reformulate the common and perhaps unfortunate thinking about African practices of design in HCI4D – i.e., largely as a function of African societal predicaments and Western technocratic resolutions. Through critical reflection on a range of issues associated with post-colonialism and post-development, I examine the possibilities that various historical tropes might offer to the reinvention of the African perspective on innovation. This leads to the consideration of how engaging in critical discussions about the future dimensions of African HCI can allow for grappling with the effect of the coloniality of being, power and knowledge. Developing on the ideas of futuring as a way of dealing with the complexities of the present – in this case the coloniality of the imagination - the paper ends by discussing three tactical propositions for ‘remembering’ future identities of African innovation where the values of autonomy are known and acted upon

Designing and Evaluating Learning Technology:An African Dilemma and Approach

This position paper is concerned with understanding, evaluating and designing technologies to support learning in African higher education. Its central focus is on epistemological and methodological issues and commitments – specifically whether stereotypical and established Western methodological approaches are suited for investigating African contexts. Considering various ideas about ‘indigenous knowledge’ and sensitivities, an eclectic approach is adopted and deployed. The resulting ‘method’ presented can be adopted by those interested in finding indigeneity in conventional forms of investigation, and those that wish to engage in having a rather eclectic standpoint in research. This perspective has important implications for those investigating ‘technology acceptance and adoption’ in Africa; the use and development of learning technologies and the idea of ‘blended learning’ and those considering ‘post-colonial’ computing