There is a substantial increase in the use of learning management systems (LMSs) to support e-learning in higher education institutions, particularly in developing countries. This has been done with some measures of success and failure as well. There is evidence from literature that the provision of e-learning faces several quality issues relating to course design, content support, social support, administrative support, course assessment, learner characteristics, instructor characteristics, and institutional factors. It is clear that developing countries still remain behind in the great revolution of e-learning in Higher Education. Accordingly, further investigation into e-learning use in Kenya is required in order to fill in this gap of research, and extend the body of existing literature by highlighting major quality determinants in the application of e-learning for teaching and learning in developing countries. By using a case study of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), the study establishes the status of elearning system quality in Kenya based on these determinants and then concludes with a discussion and recommendation of the constructs and indicators that are required to support qualify teaching and learning practices.According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), many countries are currently overseeing a massive expansion of higher education through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, improving quality is one the most significant challenges for Higher Institutions of Education (HEIs), particularly in developing countries. This is as a result of enrollment expansion characterized by a range of weak inputs such as weak academic preparation for incoming students, lack of financial resources, inadequate teaching staff, poor remuneration of staff, and inadequate staff qualifications (Johanson, Richard, & Shafiq, 2011; United States Agency for International Development [USAID], 2014; Aung & Khaing, 2016).Recent studies show that ICT integration in education through e-learning are facing numerous challenges associated with quality. For example, studies in Kenya confirmed that there are quality issues linked to inadequate ICT and e-learning infrastructure, financial constraints, expensive and inadequate Internet bandwidth, lack of operational e-learning policies, lack of technical skills on e-learning and e-content development by teaching staff, inadequate course support, lack of interest and commitment among the teaching staff, and longer amounts of time required to develop e-learning courses (Tarus, Gichoya,& Muumbo, 2015;Makokha & Mutisya , 2016).A related study (Chawinga, 2016) in Malawi on increasing access to university education through elearning observed that the greatest obstacles to e-learning use were: Lack of academic support (77.6%);Delayed end of semester examination results (75.5%); Class too large (74.3%); Delayed feedback from instructors (72.6%); Failure to find relevant information for studies (67%)...
In Africa, where we have enormous and varied challenges in accessing higher education, there is need for relevant and customized content that is specific to our needs and challenges. Most of the models that exist to address these challenges have their limitations in terms of flexibility, time and space constraints and hence the need to address the mitigating factors. A blend of different types of information and communication technologies can be used in innovative ways in order to resolve some of these limitations. However, the same technologies brings about other challenges such as the costs that are associated and change of attitude and training on the part of the e-content developers. These challenges must be addressed for successful introduction of the same in an educational setup. In this paper, electronic learning is proposed as one of the main ways of overcoming some of the key challenges in accessing education. We argue that electronic learning models should be sensitive to the level of availability of infrastructure, technical support, and clear policy on implementation, evaluation and curriculum reorientation. We propose an e-learning implementation model that can be used by educational institutions in introducing e-learning technologies to their staff and students. The model is a modification of Rogers'model of diffusion of innovation in organizations and has been developed from experiences and experiments conducted over a period of three years at the University of Nairobi. The steps involved in the proposed model are described and for each step factors that meliorate the situation are identified and put into perspective. System flowcharts have been developed and used to visualize the processes and the interrelatedness of the steps. We have contextualized the model to suit various parametric values that are dependent on cost, level of infrastructural support and staff motivation and commitment.
Abstract-Intelligent agents have been used in collaborative learning. However, they are rarely used to facilitate group interactions in collaborative m-learning environments. In view of this, the paper discusses the use of intelligent agents in facilitating collaborative learning in mobile learning environments. The paper demonstrates how to design intelligent agents and integrate them in collaborative mobile learning environments to allow group learners to improve their levels of group knowledge construction. The design was implemented in a collaborative mobile learning system running on Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle) platform. The application was used in some experiments to investigate the effects of those facilitated interactions on the level of group knowledge construction. The results showed improved levels of group knowledge construction in instances where the facilitations were enabled compared to where they were disabled. The paper concludes that the use of intelligent agents in facilitating learner group interactions in collaborative mobile learning environments improves the levels of group knowledge construction. For future work, the use of intelligent agents can be tested in other areas of group interactions to enhance group learning.
eGovernment has emerged as one of the innovative ways of providing information and delivering services to citizens. It is providing governments with new opportunities of bringing services closer to the citizen in cost-effective, efficient and transparent ways. In spite of the implementation of e-government, there is little research that has been conducted in the context of developing countries to benchmark and appraise the impact of e-government on the target groups. Assessment of impact is important to justify public fund expenditure and inform future projects. Most studies on assessment of e-government have been done in developed countries where the context is different from that of developing countries. Therefore, there is need to develop frameworks that are suitable in the context of developing countries.Studies on assessing impact have been done at macro, meso and micro levels. These studies are largely based on supply-side and a few on demand-side with little focus on outcomes and impact. In this paper, we perform an analysis of various proposed e-government assessment frameworks with the aim of identifying and recommending the adoption of a framework that is suitable in the context of a developing country. We propose the adoption of a hybrid framework that amalgamates the frameworks developed by Bhatnagar and Singh and Verdegem et al due to their contextual suitability and citizen-centric approach. This is an exploratory study that lays foundation for further research in the development of an appropriate framework using the proposed approach.
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