Journals Proceedings

International Journal of Advances in Computer Science and Its Applications

The use of e-Learning Systems for pedagogy: What Zimbabwean Educators say

Author(s) : ELSJE SCOTT, SIBUSISIWE DUBE

Abstract

This paper examines the Zimbabwean educators’ perceptions about e-learning systems in pedagogy. We use the term “educators” to refer to the teaching staff at a university context. The paper sought to present the views of the educators about e-learning. It is our assumption that these views could assist in explaining the existent second order digital divide currently persisting in higher education institutions in African developing nations such as Zimbabwe. The digital divide has resulted in a mismatch between the wide spread investment and the actual use of Information and communication technologies (ICT) like the e-learning systems. The anticipated contributions of such systems to education are yet to materialize since their pedagogical use in teaching and learning is still at its infancy. Higher education institutions are being robbed of the returns from the costly technological investments while digital natives are deprived of the ICT affordances, which their first world counterparts are enjoying. Using Giddens; Structuration Theory, the paper attempted to establish the meanings the educators attach to e-learning system platforms as tools for elevating university pedagogy. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from educators at one of the sixteen universities in Zimbabwe, a developing nation in Southern Africa. The findings as discussed in the paper reveal that despite being aware of the existence and the value of e-learning system tools, educators’ integration of these tools in teaching is insignificant. This could be attributed to their concerns directed to the learning institution that require immediate redress if the widespread usage of elearning tools is to be realized.

No fo Author(s) : 2
Page(s) : 67 - 71
Electronic ISSN : 2250 - 3765
Volume 7 : Issue 1
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