The importance of education in reducing the digitial divide

When reflecting on issues of digital inclusion and female entrepreneurship, I believe it is important to start by considering South Africa’s skills landscape. According to the global gender gap index, South Africa is ranked number 18 out of the 156 countries surveyed. The index measures a number of factors, including economic participation, education, health and mortality rates, as well as political empowerment. In fact, South Africa is ranked highly on political empowerment, but when it comes to economic participation and education, the sectors which have the greatest impact on digital inclusion, the numbers tell a different story

Towards design of citizen centric e-government projects in developing country context: the design-reality gap in Uganda

E-government projects should be at the heart of service delivery in developing countries if the lives of citizens, especially the socially and economically marginalized, are to be improved. However, quite often in developing country contexts, citizens have been treated as recipients of technology projects through a top-down approach from central governments. Such a paradigm of implementation usually results in the non-use of the deployed technologies and their associated e-services. A consequence of non-use of e-services results in a wastage of the public fiscus. The extant literature points to a number of underlying causes of the problem. One such problem which has been highlighted is called the “Design-Reality gap”. This paper investigates the nature of the gap. It presents findings from policy analysis and in-depth face-to-face interviews with e-government policy makers and implementers. In addition, it reports on findings from focus group discussions with potential e-government users in a health sector setting. The results which are based on a participatory action research methodology reveal that there exists a glaring design-reality gap between egovernment policy planners and citizens’ aspirations. We argue that co-creation could be a feasible approach for the design of e-government application services towards efforts to bridge the design-reality gap

Open distance learning and immersive technologies : A literature analysis .

Open and distance learning (ODL) education provides an opportunity for prospective students who require flexibility in education enabling learning without traditional face to face lecture sessions. Previous literature indicated that there has been a growing curiosity amongst educators, researchers, and pedagogues on employing modern visualization technologies to enrich current educational experiences for students who do not attend face to face lessons. This study aims to explore how new immersive technology can be used to enhance the experience of distance learning. Using a systematic literature review, findings were presented in the form of a thematic discussion looking at journal articles between the year 2000 to October 2018

Transferring knowledge to digital natives in a South African organization

Knowledge transfer of both tacit and explicit knowledge within an organization forms a crucial component of organizational continuity. In the age of technology, the manner in which knowledge is transferred from one employee to the other has also been affected by the introduction of technology and social media platforms. This study aims to understand the knowledge transfer process between younger generation and older generation employees classified in this study as baby boomers and millennials in an Information Technology (IT) department of a financial institution in Cape Town, considering the young population of South Africa

Lessons learnt from teachers’ perspectives on mobile learning in South Africa with cultural and linguistic constraints

South Africa’s classrooms are characterised by a wide variety of cultural and linguistic differences, providing teachers with educational challenges, particularly in mathematics and science subjects. In response, various mobile learning systems have been developed and piloted in the North West and Gauteng Provinces of South Africa. A framework has been proposed to support the development of similar technologies to be used in multilingual contexts. This paper evaluates teachers’ perspectives on this framework using interviews with eight teachers from a mixture of urban and rural schools in various locations across the two provinces. The results of the study reflect the important roles that language and culture play in the technology needed to support learning in linguistically diverse schools. They highlight the challenges that teachers in schools face in diversely linguistic classrooms and how technology can be used to enhance such classrooms.DHE

Towards design of citizen centric e-government projects in developing country context: The design-reality gap in Uganda

E-government projects should be at the heart of service delivery in developing countries if the lives of citizens, especially the socially and economically marginalized, are to be improved. However, quite often in developing country contexts, citizens have been treated as recipients of technology projects through a top-down approach from central governments. Such a paradigm of implementation usually results in the non-use of the deployed technologies and their associated e-services. A consequence of non-use of e-services results in a wastage of the public fiscus. The extant literature points to a number of underlying causes of the problem. One such problem which has been highlighted is called the “Design-Reality gap”. This paper investigates the nature of the gap. It presents findings from policy analysis and in-depth face-to-face interviews with e-government policy makers and implementers. In addition, it reports on findings from focus group discussions with potential e-government users in a health sector setting. The results which are based on a participatory action research methodology reveal that there exists a glaring design-reality gap between egovernment policy planners and citizens’ aspirations. We argue that co-creation could be a feasible approach for the design of e-government application services towards efforts to bridge the design-reality gap

Experiential learning through virtual and augmented reality in higher education

Educational technology can enhance learning by supporting the learning environment through various digital resources. There have been numerous emerging technologies which are able to bridge the resource gap in learning environments enabling students to get access to an abundance of resources on digital platforms. This paper presents a literature review, exploring the potential of using Mobile Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to support experiential learning in South African institutions. While there have been studies which aim to assess the use of AR and VR for educational purposes such as in mining safety education in South Africa, there is a need for studies that look at the potential of AR and VR in augmenting higher educational institutions such as universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges which require students to complete an experiential learning component in their studies in order to complete their qualifications. The study aims to establish the potential role that AR and VR can provide in enhancing experiential learning by providing students with practical experience in various educational fields, leveraging augmented and virtual reality technologies to simulate such learning environments

Electronic health record (ehr) adoption in South African healthcare centres: a case of NW province

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) enable the healthcare sector to enjoy increased efficiency and throughput, whilst cutting overhead costs in healthcare centres. The aim of this study was to investigate the adoption of EHRs in South Africa by identifying the factors that influence their rate of adoption within healthcare institutions. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model 2, (TAM2) are used as the theoretical lenses through which this problem was viewed. Results showed support for some of the factors of TPB, TAM2 and DoI, namely Relative Advantage, Output Quality, Result Demonstrability, Computer Self-Efficacy, System Complexity and Enjoyment/Job Satisfaction. A new variable – Patient Safety Endangerment – was also found to have a significant influence on the healthcare worker’s decision to use a particular EHR. It is with this information that a better understanding of how EHRs are used in the North West Province can be established and this information can be used by decision makers when implementing similar systems to maximise their adoption

Exploring the multi-dimensional attainment of self-regulatory learning skills in educational contexts : a comparative study

Self-regulated learning nowadays has been seen as the way forward for the 21st century learning. The ability of the students to develop their own learning modes is of great essence in the process of education in modern times. The choice of learning has been seen to be a way to motivate effective participation in the different modes of learning whether in conventional (traditional) face-to-face manner or online. This paper investigates self-regulatory learning skills from two different dimensional student perspectives, between students from developed countries and less developed countries. Firstly, we revealed related studies on conventional self-mode study supporting self-regulatory learning skills, bringing together findings from several components that were applied in aiding individual learning patterns from the perspective of these two different learning dimensions. Secondly, using themes from the literature review, we provide findings from a qualitative perspective from three groups of universities students: (a) The University of Warwick, an institution in the United Kingdom (UK) and (b) North West University an institution in South Africa (SA). We will be conducting a comparative study from these three conventional students demographic data (i) the first from the UK (developed country) and (ii) from SA (developing country). This provides direct comparison between the students’ choice and preferences in studying so as to investigate whether there is any similar relationship in the pattern of study. In addition, the study also explores a preliminary investigation on self-regulated learning skills acquired from the support of modern educational methods and the impact it has in both developed and less developed nations. Finally, we discuss how the students from these nations engage with their studies. Looking into how technology and modern devices influences and support in building students ability to develop selfregulatory learning skills. Our results indicate how modern devices and technology help to foster learning in developed nations and the impact or effect it has to less developed nations. The data collection structure in this study comprises a focus group interview conducted with first year undergraduate students (home students) in the department of Computer Science (CS) at the University of Warwick, who participated in an online blended learning module in computer security while the others consist of qualitative data analysis from fourth year undergraduate students from the North West University in South Africa and qualitative data from third year undergraduate student (overseas student) from Centre for Education Studies (CES) at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. In conclusion, this research applied a mixed method of both quantitative and qualitative content analysis to evaluate the data using themes emerging from the data collection process and using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) descriptive analysis to evaluate the results

Mobile enhanced learning in a South African context

Multilingual classrooms in developing countries are often challenged by a lack of digital resources and technology which supports their multilingual learning process. Code-switching is a phenomenon common to multilingual schools where learners are taught in a language which is not their first language. In these environments, code-switchers frequently alternate between their first and second languages, seeking alternative words to clarify their understanding of the topic being studied. This paper presents a study based in South Africa, where mathematics learners interacted with a mobile learning system named M-Thuto, supporting learners who code-switch while learning and providing them with digital resources. The system consisted of summarised notes, class exercises and a class quiz. Through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, data were gathered and analysed from 90 learners to gain perspectives on their interaction processes. The study aimed to establish how mobile learning can be used to support multilingual learners in under-resourced schools. The results of the study reflect the need for mobile learning resources that support their learning considering their linguistic challenges. The results also reflect the important role that mobile phones can play as alternative digital learning resources