The objective of this quantitative study was to investigate the impact of ICT equipment availability and accessibility and teachers' training in ICT use on the integration of ICT into the curriculum related activities by teachers. The data used in this research was collected by means of structured questionnaires, from 146 participants in twelve secondary schools located in the Groot Letaba Circuit, Mopani District Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The findings reveal that, with the exception of a TVs, photocopiers and laptop/desktop computers, there is a scarcity of ICT resources available at schools for ICT integration, and that the teaching and curriculum administration functions of most teachers have been negatively impacted by a lack ICT equipment and/or insufficient use of these ICT resources for those schools who have them. In addition, while some teachers had received some form of ICT training, it was evident that such training has had minimal or no impact at all on the abilities and confidence of teachers to use ICT in their teaching. These factors that negatively influence teachers' readiness for, and confidence in, using ICT; need to be dealt with by the various stakeholders including, and especially, the Department of Education and the school management and private partners.
Background:The current era of transformative scientific and technological advances is reshaping traditional government business as it is blurring geographical boundaries and posing a challenge to existing regulatory frameworks.Aim: This article explores the implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on current public sector monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in Africa. Setting:The 4IR (also called Industry 4.0) is thought to bring about enormous benefits associated with increased efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. However, even with the highly anticipated opportunities related to automated and digital transformations in the 4IR, governments in African countries need to understand the challenges ahead and will need to measure and mitigate the impact of the unpredictable and rapidly changing products and services created for the public.Methods: Using the documentary review method to collect data, this research answers the following guiding questions: (1) How has the 4IR been harnessed in Africa to improve public sector service delivery? (2) How can the 4IR be harnessed to improve M&E in the public sector in Africa? and (3) What are the implications of the 4IR technologies on public sector M&E in Africa?Results: Findings reveal that various 4IR disruptive technologies have already been fully adopted in public service delivery in Africa. The 4IR disruptive technologies have the capacity to capture or collect and analyse multi-dimensional information or data from multiple contextual variables, with minimal costs and time in both qualitative and quantitative formats. However, findings disclose that the use of big data in evaluation requires extra new skills training and critical discussions among M&E specialists, technologists, economists, engineers and tech companies as a whole so as to significantly enhance the quality, validity and reliability of the data captured by the technologies. Conclusion:Deep integration, collaboration and embracing change are needed to efficiently manage and control the multi-stakeholder nature of the 4IR innovative technologies. This article asserts that policies on the 4IR technologies need to be adaptive, inclusive, sustainable and human centred in order to efficiently regulate or guide these innovative technologies without curtailing the future opportunities.
This article aims to assess the effectiveness of e-Government and e-Governance service during the national lockdown in South Africa. The focus of this article is on e-Health, e-Education and e-Municipal Services delivery, as these are the most sought-after e-Services during the national lockdown caused by COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in 2020. Education, health, and municipal services are some of the core functions that could not be paused during the lockdown due to their importance. The methodology used in this research is mainly qualitative. Unobtrusive research techniques based on documentary and theoretical analysis will be applied to assess the state and use of e-Government and e-Governance within the public sector during the national lockdown in South Africa. The findings of this article suggest that government failed to achieve its objective of building an inclusive Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) infrastructure in South Africa. Even though steps have been taken by the government to provide free access to basic e-Services, network coverage, and ICT infrastructures, poverty and inequality remain the major challenges in rural areas. The findings of this research suggest that the South African government needs to build ICT infrastructures in rural areas and to provide citizens with training on how to utilise ICT infrastructures in order to reduce the gap between rural and urban areas.
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