The same course, different access: the digital divide between urban and rural distance education students in South Africa

Lembani, Reuben; Gunter, Ashley; Breines, Markus Roos; Dalu, Mwazvita T.B.

doi:10.1080/03098265.2019.1694876

Cited by 166 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…E-learning is beneficial (Arthur-Nyarko and Kariuki, 2019 , b ), but its effectiveness is contextualized (Lembani, Gunter, Breines, Tapiwa, & Dalu, 2019 ). Students from developing countries score lower in online learning and are likely to withdraw from the online courses compared to their colleagues in developed countries (Kizilcec & Halawa, 2015 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dessalegn & Dagmawi ( 2018 ) opined that developed countries benefited from the integration of ICT in education, unlike developing countries. The fact that higher education plays a vital role in the success of students and countries but there is limited access in Africa, online learning can help bridge this gap (Lembani, Gunter, Breines, & Dalu, 2019 ). It is therefore vital for stakeholders in education to integrate ICT in education in Ghana, and implement realistic and rigorous ICT policies to ensure effective online learning where the needs of both urban, urban poor, and rural students are taken into consideration.…”

Section: Conclusion/reccomendations For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the challenge associated with online learning is the access to ICT resources because online learning thrives on the availability of ICT facilities (Arthur-Nyarko and Kariuki, 2019 , b ). There is an uneven spread of access to ICT among different populations, households, and spaces because network is not the same everywhere (Lembani, Gunter, Breines, Tapiwa, & Dalu, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I’m not against online teaching, but what about us?”: ICT in Ghana post Covid-19

2020

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Globally, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is regarded as a dependable vehicle for facilitating educational reform and development, a platform for communication, and as a means to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4). Since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and declaration of the SDG 4, many countries have opted to embrace the lifelong education for all by integrating ICT in teaching and learning at all school levels. The Ghanaian Government's initiative to ensure "education anytime anywhere for everyone" by revolutionizing teaching and learning through ICT has faced a lot of challenges and criticisms. The main mission of the Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) in 2003 was to transform Ghana into an information and technology-driven high-income economy through education, but this goal is yet to be realized. In the wake of the COVID-19 which has forced many countries and educational sectors to adopt online learning, there is a need to discuss the effectiveness of online learning and barriers to online learning in the developing contexts, and how to successfully integrate ICT in schools for online learning, especially rural schools where students' educational careers are in jeopardy because they benefit less from online learning. The paper identifies critical factors that affect online learning, recommends post COVID-19 strategies to promote e-learning for policymakers in education and the government, and concludes with a conceptual model for emergency transition to elearning.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conclusion/reccomendations For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I’m not against online teaching, but what about us?”: ICT in Ghana post Covid-19

2020

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“…In order to inform future potential crises and disease outbreaks, student access to technology should be incorporated into university recommendations for distance learning, as access to technology needed for online learning may differ between undergraduate students in urban versus more rural areas (Lembani et al, 2020). Informing undergraduate students on the importance of emergency preparedness has been conducted using a variety of formats including an example by the CDC using a graphic novel on zombie apocalypse (Kruvand & Bryant, 2015).…”

Section: Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Attitudes Towards Online Education during the COVID-19 Viral Outbreak of 2020: Distance Learning in a Time of Social Distance

Unger

Meiran

2020

IJTES

213

136

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In this paper, undergraduate student attitudes towards rapidly shifting to an entirely online learning environment were assessed due to COVID-19. In addition, surveys on perceptions about misinformation in media, overall anxiety towards distance learning, knowledge of disease outbreak, and level of preparedness during the onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) 2020 outbreak were analyzed. Students surveyed (N = 82) consisted of Wingate undergraduate students from across majors and academic years as part of an animal behavior course covering psychology and human behavior during the COVID-19 2020 crisis during the first two weeks when students returned to school entirely online from off-campus. The majority of students responded that online learning would not be the same as in-class learning (91.5%), indicating a significant difference in responses. Many students indicated they had witnessed some misinformation on COVID-19 in media (98.8%), and there was a significant difference for student perception on being well informed from standard news media (e.g., TV, newspapers) versus social media (t-test = 3.78, p <0.001). Many students (75.6%) responded they held some level of anxiety towards rapidly shifting to finishing a semester online, with 84.2% having discussed disease transmission actively and yet only 64.6% felt well prepared for emergency situations. The majority of students felt preventative measures (university requiring students to move off campus and remainder of semester moving to online distance learning) were based on good science and medical knowledge. Of the students that freely commented in the survey, overall students displayed a wide range of responses, with most expressing anxiety toward online learning, disappointment regarding graduation ceremony, and online learning being different than standard in-class learning. A follow up survey consisting of one question, revealed improvement in students that stated they felt less anxiety towards online learning after 3 weeks (51.4% Yes: 48.6% No), but still many students exhibiting anxiety towards distance education.

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“…In relation to ICT, though access to them is increasing, other gaps have become more obvious and are beginning to emerge in different approaches to digital competence [42][43][44][45].…”

Section: Why a Program Like Digicraft?mentioning

confidence: 99%

DigiCraft: A Pedagogical Innovative Proposal for the Development of the Digital Competence in Vulnerable Children

2020

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The integration of citizens in the society of information and knowledge is a pillar in social cohesiveness. The digital gap, a direct consequence of socioeconomic inequality among citizens enables e-exclusion, which is a new way of social exclusion that excludes people from different economic, social and economic backgrounds out of the society of information and knowledge. The aim of this paper is to present an educational programme lead by the Foundation Vodafone Spain with the assessment of educators and experts at university. The objective is focused on the development of the digital competence centred on vulnerable childhood. This program uses a method based on learning-by-doing and the “maker” movement. The majority of educators who have participated have underlined that children have improved their digital competence and also some transversal competencies and have defined it as an innovative and creative programme. DigiCraft contributes to the acquisition and development of digital competence from a social perspective. The proposal avoids discrimination of children depending on their sociable heterogeneous factors in their education.

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The same course, different access: the digital divide between urban and rural distance education students in South Africa

Cited by 166 publications

References 37 publications

“I’m not against online teaching, but what about us?”: ICT in Ghana post Covid-19

“I’m not against online teaching, but what about us?”: ICT in Ghana post Covid-19

Student Attitudes Towards Online Education during the COVID-19 Viral Outbreak of 2020: Distance Learning in a Time of Social Distance

DigiCraft: A Pedagogical Innovative Proposal for the Development of the Digital Competence in Vulnerable Children

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