Abstract
This study investigated the perspectives of university students about the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning. Due to the benefits from digital technologies both the Governments and higher learning institutions the world over have made significant progress towards increasing their access. Nevertheless, existing literature show that despite the wide adoption of digital technologies, utilization of such technologies in higher education institutions particularly in developing nations such as Zimbabwe is still minimal leading to a second order digital divide a situation that is depriving institutions in poverty stricken contexts of the envisioned technological investment returns. It is imperative to obtain an insight into the students’ perceptions regarding technology enabled education and fill the existing gap of scanty literature on this phenomenon relating to the economically challenged Zimbabwean context. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from a single university case in Zimbabwe. The findings concur with existing literature proving that students currently enrolled at Zimbabwean universities similarly value highly the integration of digital technologies into the learning process as they are technologically savvy and ready to utilize technology for both problem solving and knowledge creation independent of space and time. However the students indicated disappointment and frustration from the disconnection between current teaching and learning methods that are out of synchronization with digital technologies and attributed this to the educators and the institutional environment.
Author Information
Sibusisiwe Dube, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Elsje C. Scott, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Paper Information
Conference: ECE2016
Stream: Digital technologies and communications
This paper is part of the ECE2016 Conference Proceedings (View)
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