This study explored instructors' conceptions of teaching in view of the existing calls for improving the quality of teaching at higher education in Ethiopia. Twenty university instructors were interviewed using a phenomenographic approach, a popular research procedure to explore variation in the ways instructors experience and understand teaching. The study revealed categorization and conceptualization of conceptions that substantiate recent investigations. From the analysis, categories of conceptions that are related hierarchically from the more teacher-centred to the more student-centred emerged. A higher category in a hierarchy hence included the awareness of the lower category but not vice versa. From this, it is concluded that instructors in the higher category are likely to adopt alternative conceptions in teaching whereas instructors in the lower category are unlikely to adopt conceptions of teaching beyond their category unless their conceptions are developed. Therefore, academic development programmes that expand instructors' conceptions of teaching are needed.

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The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the school curricula raised some hopes that it could minimize gender differences in learning. The interactive nature of ICT materials was believed to provide a favorable environment especially for girls to learn. This article reports the findings of the study that analyzed students' gender differences in learning using computers in Botswana junior secondary schools in the year 2006. Variables considered were usefulness and enjoyment of using computers in learning, anxiety in learning when using computers and interaction among students of both sexes. Data were collected using structured interviews with closed and open-ended questions, and analyzed using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The findings of the study indicated that while gender differences existed in anxiety and usefulness variables, some positive aspects in learning were visible when computers were used. At the end, suggestions on the way forward are outlined.

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