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TopBackground To The Study
Technology penetration in LDCs has been observed to be driven by the promises inherent in technologies however, evaluating its impact have been evasive (Adedokun-Shittu & Shittu, 2011; Unwin & Day, 2005). This illusive perception of technology has beclouded the specific and local impacts technology has on education in LDCs. This has consequently led educators in LDCs to entirely refer to technology impacts derived by evaluation tools designed in developed countries (DC) rather than create local tools that derive specific and local impacts. Ashraf, Swatman and Hanisch (2008) argue that applying indicators for measuring ICT impact which are designed in one context and then applied in another has led to many failures of ICT4D projects. Researches by InfoDev (2006) emphasized that the aims of any impact evaluations are to see how far the intervention has reached its desired audience, to identify effects and to measure impacts considering different quantifiable local indicators. Heeks (2005) maintains that improved ICT4D interventions must be associated with local data content and ICT skills for sustainable impacts to be feasible.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Impact Assessment: Evaluation of the positive effects, incentives, level of integration/assimilation of a particular intervention and challenges associated with it within the system it is designed for.
Learning: The process of acquiring new or existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values by gathering information through a facilitator, accessible resources, ICTs or other available means.
Teaching: The activities involved in facilitating or educating to impart knowledge or skills to learners.
Integration: How ICT is used by both lecturers and students for the purpose of teaching and learning. This construct was measured by ten items in the instrument such as: ICT integration in teaching and learning, curriculum and assessment.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT): All forms of evolving technologies that help in facilitating information collection, processing, usage, transfer, storage, retrieval, sharing, interpretation, and adoption. It includes: mobile devices, computers, tablets, podcast, Internet, scanners, printers, LCDs, ubiquitous computing, WWW, and a host of yet to be developed technologies.
Less-Developed Countries (LDC): Nations that depend on developed countries (DC) for technological advancement, research development, intellectual enrichment, economic upliftment, financial empowerment, medical enhancement and a host of other resources for their own development.
ICT in Education: any kind of technology that facilitates teaching and learning, improves learning environment and enhances learning outcomes.
Perceived Impact: Teachers’ and learners’ views on the positive effects of ICT on their teaching and learning. It constitutes one of the elements of the ICT impact assessment model which assesses whether ICT leads to: improved quality education, improved students’ assessment, reduced learners’ and teachers’ task, improved collaboration, transformation of learning environment, increased positive effects on learning, improved access to resourceful information, resource sharing, improved critical and higher order thinking, problem-based learning, and other measures of learning outcomes.
Value of ICT: Lecturers and students perception of the use of ICT in their teaching and learning as contributing to their teaching and learning output. One item was used to measure this construct in the questionnaire and it acts as the dependent variable against which the independent variables (perceived impacts, integration, motivation and challenges) were measured.
Challenges: Barriers that hinder lecturers’ and students’ use or integration of ICT in their teaching and learning. Eight items were developed to measure this variable and they include barriers, problems and constraints of ICT.
Motivation: The incentives that are likely to increase learners’ and teachers’ use or integration of ICT in their teaching and learning. Motivation as a predictor of ICT impact in this model measures learners’ and teachers’ ICT skills and proficiency, their ease of use of ICT, relative advantage and compatibility of ICT with their teaching and learning needs, adequate ICT training and mentoring, and ample access to resources.
ICT Impact: The influence, effect, contributions and changes that occur in a system as a result of ICT intervention to study and improve routine activities within the system.