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Instructors’ educational ICT use in higher education in developing countries: evidence from three Ethiopian Universities

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A Correction to this article was published on 05 May 2023

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Abstract

Developing countries exert much effort to improve the quality of their higher education. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) may address some of the quality problems in higher education in these countries. Previous studies on this topic stressed the impact of ICT use on learning, the status of ICT integration in education, and the factors associated with ICT integration with minimal attention to how instructors in higher education in developing countries use ICT. This study employed a qualitative approach, collecting data from twenty-one by then active instructors in three public universities in Ethiopia through focus group discussion to explore the educational use of ICT. The data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically using ATLAS.ti software. The results show that instructors in the selected Ethiopian universities use ICT for course facilitation, course materials preparation, professional development, assessment, and information and resource exchange purposes. However, these findings do not reveal a transformative use of ICT in education, which may imply that ICT is not used in a manner that alters existing teacher-centered approaches. This study suggests that future studies may focus on why instructors rarely use ICT in a transformative way and developing a tailor-made and efficient model that informs practice.

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Notes

  1. In this study, ICT relates to those technologies that are used for accessing, gathering, manipulating and presenting or communicating information. The technologies could include hardware (e.g. computers); software applications; and connectivity (e.g. access to the internet, local networking infrastructure, videoconferencing) (Christensson, 2010, p. 3). And ICT use refers to the adoption by instructors of these technologies to support teaching and learning practices.

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Funding

This study was supported by Jimma University (Ethiopia) and KU Leuven (Belgium).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Instructional Psychology and Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Bekalu Ferede & Jan Elen

  2. Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Wim van Petegem

  3. College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Adula Bekele Hunde

  4. Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Brussels, Belgium

    Katie Goeman

Authors
  1. Bekalu Ferede
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  2. Jan Elen
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  3. Wim van Petegem
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  4. Adula Bekele Hunde
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  5. Katie Goeman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bekalu Ferede.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Profile of the participants.

  

Frequency

Percentage

Level of education

Bachelor Degree

1

4.8%

Master’s Degree

18

85.7

PhD

2

9.5%

Academic rank

Lecturer

15

71.4%

Assistant Professor

6

28.6%

Associate Professor

0

–

Professor

0

–

Service year

0–5

10

47.6%

6–10

8

38%

11–15

2

9.5%

20 and above

1

4.8%

Appendix 2

Summary of instructors’ educational ICT use in the three universities.

Organizing themes

University A

University B

University C

Course facilitation

Demonstration in a classroom, display information and deliver class through presentation slides

Classroom presentation using PowerPoint, display and demonstrate various lessons, visualize illustrations, and display pictures

(Video or visual aids) for classroom instruction, classroom presentation and facilitation, display different pictures and animations, demonstrate lab activities, and analysis and designs in engineering

Material preparation and storage

Preparation of lecture note, storage of data, download educational software, prepare lesson materials (in excel, word etc.), search additional information pertinent to courses they teach and download books

Preparation of handouts and lecture notes, different information pertinent to course they teach, store learning assessment data, preparation of presentation slides, access and assemble teaching resources, download software applications and books

preparation of teaching materials, handout, lesson plan, presentation slides, software and searching different electronic books online

Assessment

Preparation of grade and submit final results of students via SRS (registration software)

Collection and processing of learning assessment data-continuous assessment record and keep students’ assessment data on SRS

feeding and submitting students grades online using SRS,

Professional development

Research undertaking, update own self with recent developments, disseminate research findings-publications, self-learning through YouTube

gaining new insights through internet, searching new information regarding courses they teach and updating themselves academically

Updating themselves with emerging innovation, developing own capacity through online self-learning, collecting resources for research undertaking,

Information and resource sharing

Dissemination of teaching and learning resources to students, putting resources on learning platform for students, share teaching resources through Google account

Communicating with students and teachers in and outside the university

communicating with students and teachers, assignment of students on course activities, sharing digital teaching resources, sharing resources with colleagues in other universities

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Ferede, B., Elen, J., van Petegem, W. et al. Instructors’ educational ICT use in higher education in developing countries: evidence from three Ethiopian Universities. J Comput High Educ 34, 658–678 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-022-09316-3

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