Includes bibliographical references. / Transactional distance (TD) theory argues that psychological and communications barriers have the potential of creating misunderstandings in any formation of learning contexts. Distance education is seen as providing both opportunities and challenges. The distance programme being studied has experienced high deferment rates. However, the lack of communication infrastructural challenges and specifically lack of interaction is one major challenge hindering reduction of TD for remotely dispersed distance learners. It has become evident that WhatsApp popularity has risen; one unique feature is its affordance to enhance communication within a group. Hence, WhatsApp group was used to enhance interactions, as well as nurturing social engagement that creates dialogue and sharing amongst a virtual group. This study was aimed at enhancing dialogue as a potential of reducing TD amongst distance students for purposes of improving their study experiences. This study set out to explore how Salmon's (2000) 5-stage Model could be used as one way of implementing a mobile-mediated WhatsApp group activity as an opportunity to reduce TD. Six pre-service teachers participated in the WhatsApp mediated group activity virtually to try and find out how implementing a WhatsApp group activity could enhance dialogue consequently reduce TD.

This thesis investigated the development of proficiency in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies amongst educators at Makerere University. Limited educator CoPs focused on pedagogical integration of ETs inhibit educator potential to contribute to quality learning through pedagogical integration of ETs. The general question in this thesis is how social architecture in an educator CoP provides opportunities for enhancing proficiency development in pedagogical integration of ETs. Based on educational design research framework and situated learning theory, a community of practice as an intervention was designed and implemented between 2014 and 2016. Data was collected through observations, focused discussions and interviews from five educators who actively participated. An interpretive thematic analysis was done from which findings indicate that a social architecture in community of practice enables educators to initially accept that they are less experienced and potential members and then, join forces in a community to take charge of their transformation process. A social architecture enables drawing on individual talent and exploiting synergy between individuals with varying experiences; the process also comprises specific actions and engagements, which when shared in a social environment help motivate, inspire and evoke emulation of a practice. A community of practice provides an ideal context that enable educators to be more honest in evaluating their own technology skills and gaining confidence in seeking to develop skills. Pedagogical integration of emerging technologies is a practice highly influenced by individual attitudes in a social environment. In communities of practice faced with resource-constraints, the constantly evolving technologies, limited mentorship capacity, and mind-set are among the inhibitors in the social architecture that contributes to proficiency development in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. This thesis concludes that social architecture in a community of practice contributes to the process of developing proficiency in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. The design principles that emphasize configuration of a social architecture like interactions, networks and collaborations among educators are helpful in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. It is therefore recommended that a social architecture in a community of practice be exploited by educators to enhance pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. The original contribution of this thesis is coming up with new design principles and theoretical insights related to a social architecture in a community of practice focused on pedagogical integration of emerging technologies.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an integral part of the rural health system, and it is imperative that their voices are accommodated in digital health projects. In the mobile health education project discussed in this thesis (The Bophelo Haeso project), we sought to find ways to amplify CHWs' voices, enabling them to directly influence design and research processes as well as technological outcomes. The Bophelo Haeso (BH) project equips CHWs with health videos on their mobile phones to use for educating and counselling the rural public. We investigated how to best co-design, with CHWs, a feedback mechanism atop the basic BH health education model, thus enabling their voices in the design process and in the process of community education. This thesis chronicles this inclusive design and research process - a 30-month process that spanned three sub-studies: an 18-month process to co-design the feedback mechanism with CHWs, a 12-month deployment study of the feedback mechanism and, overlapping with the feedback deployment study, a 17-month study looking at the consumption patterns of the BH educational videos. This work contributes to the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in three distinct ways. First, it contributes to the growing knowledge of co-design practice with participants of limited digital experience by introducing a concept we termed co-design readiness. We designed and deployed explorative artefacts and found that by giving CHWs increased technical, contextual, and linguistic capacity to contribute to the design process, they were empowered to unleash their innate creativity, which in turn led to more appropriate and highly-adopted solutions. Secondly, we demonstrate the efficacy of incorporating an effective village-to-clinic feedback mechanism in digital health education programs. We employed two approaches to feedback - asynchronous voice and roleplaying techniques. Both approaches illustrate the combined benefits of implementing creative methods for effective human-to-technology and human-tohuman communication in ways that enable new forms of expression. Finally, based on our longitudinal study of video consumption, we provide empirical evidence of offline video consumption trends in health education settings. We present qualitative and quantitative analyses of video-use patterns as influenced by the CHWs' ways of being and working. Through these analyses, we describe CHWs and their work practices in depth. In addition to the three main contributions, this thesis concludes with critical reflections from the lessons and experiences of the 30-month study. We discuss the introduction of smartphones in rural villages, especially among elderly, low-literate, and non-English-speaking users, and present guidelines for designing relevant and usable smartphones for these populations. The author also reflects on her position as an African-born qualitative researcher in Africa, and how her positionality affected the outcomes of this research.

This research investigates how Secondary School science learners in Cameroon perceive the design of electronic content (eContent). Perception plays an important role in how learners use eContent; hence the perception of how eContent is designed could affect how learners learn using this digital content. Online learning and the use of digital learning materials has emerged as a hallmark of the information age to connect and engage users in the learning process. Learners are moving from the use of paper to the use of digital channels for learning, therefore perception of design becomes very important. Without good perception of how learning material is designed, the teaching process would be an uphill task and this could greatly hinder the academic performance of learners, leading to high failure rates. Apart from how learning material is designed, perception is also a product of the socio-cultural environments hence how learners perceive eContent, might be affected by the setting within which it is designed. In this study, a group of Cameroonian learners‟ use of eContent that was designed in a social- cultural context different from their own is studied. The primary research question is aimed at investigating how the learners‟ perception of eContent affects its use. The researcher uses Cultural Historical activity theory (CHAT) as a theoretical framework to understand how students perceive the activity mediated by eContent. By identifying the factors in an activity system that affect learners‟ perception using activity theory, specific recommendations will be made to educators on what to change in the system to foster positive perceptions hence achieve meaningful learning mediated by eContent.

A review of the literature confirms that Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives have created free, openly licenced and high quality educational resources for anyone to use. However, these free, openly licensed and high quality educational resources appear to remain largely unused by Africa University academics in the educationally resource-impoverished Zimbabwe. The objectives of this research study are to explore the challenges and enablers experienced by Africa University educators who may potentially adopt OER, and ascertain barriers preventing them from adopting OER in mainstream teaching. The sample consists of 45 full time educators from Africa University. Data was gathered by means of a survey questionnaire administered by the researcher. A modified version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model developed by Venkatesh et al. (2003) was used. The UTAUT model was created from a fusion of eight diffusion of innovation models, and this gave it conceptual superiority over other candidate models. Key findings indicate that the extent to which educators believe that using OER will help them to enhance their teaching performance (Performance Expectancy),the extent of perceived easiness associated with finding, customising, and using OER (Effort Expectancy) and the extent to which educators perceive how important the opinion of their peer educators if they adopt OER or not (Social Influence)have a statistically significant positive influence on the educators' Behavioural Intention to adopt and use OER. The extent to which an individual is satisfied with the institutional framework, policies and technical infrastructure to support the use of the innovation (Facilitating Conditions) did not yield a statistically significant influence on the Behavioural Intention and this was interpreted to mean Africa University educators are satisfied with the current resources and infrastructure in place. However educators felt Institutional Support in the form of institutional OER supportive policies, official OER project enactment, and OER related incentives needed attention. Also, significant differences were found in the barriers which potential users of OER identified as either limiting to potential use of OER, or negatively affecting their intention to use OER. These barriers include open licensing knowledge; institutional support; follow up training sessions; relevance, reliability and adaptability of OER. Addressing these factors could lead to a more widespread adoption of OER, at Africa University and help address the prevalent educational resource challenge.

It is difficult to learn professional courses such as Computer Science without hands-on activities with appropriate technical support. Computer Science programming courses are the core of a Computer Science qualification and some of the learning outcomes of a Computer Science programming course are writing program code, program testing and debugging. Inadequate computers in the computer laboratory and policies that restrict the concept of 'Bring Your Own Technology' (BYOT) inside the computer laboratory posed a challenge to hands-on programming activities. However, students in the Computer Science department at the University of Jos learn computer-coding theory, but unable to have hands-on experience due to several reasons. This research investigates how use of virtual lab on Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) could enhance students' acquisition of Java programming skills. The virtual lab provides a lab environment for students to practice programming and experiment concepts learned. Activity Theory was used as a theoretical framework to analyse the activity of Java programming on the virtual lab. Seven participants including the lecturer were enrolled on the Java Programming Language virtual lab practical sessions for this research work. The research activity system focuses on Java hands-on programming tasks for a period of three weeks and after that data was collected using interview and content generated from the virtual lab activities' chats and forum. Interview questions were developed and administered to students, while a semistructured interview with the lecturer was conducted. The data collected from the interviews and the contents collated from chats and forum activities were coded using ICT data analysis tool Nvivo, based on thematic analysis. The data was thoroughly reviewed, explained, interpreted, and analysed using the theoretical framework, activity theory. The results show that the virtual lab helped students perform practical programming activities, where students accessed and used the virtual lab concurrently at any time and place. The participants used their private computers, mobile devices in the hostels, at home, or at hotspots to access the virtual lab. However, accessing the virtual lab required adequate Internet connection. The virtual lab programming activity system promoted student-centred learning, self-paced practice, and enabled students to repeat or revisit incorrect assignments multiple times. The activity system's subject (lecturer, students) interacts with the mediating tools (mobile devices, virtual lab) to perform the object (Java programming), which enhanced the achievement of the outcome (programming skills). Therefore, it can be said that the virtual lab mediated hands-on programming activities.

Includes bibliographical references. / South African higher education is plagued by student articulation gap, which is often attributed to insufficient knowledge production processes and surface approaches to learning. Unfortunately, supervisor-student model of supervision, one of the direct, personal interventions to address this challenge, is plagued by multiple flaws. The traditional supervisor-student model of knowledge generation may not be adequate in externalizing research processes to students. Yet, a social learning model potentially extends the traditional model by providing a social environment where students collectively generate knowledge through peer-based interactions. Mindful of supervision dilemmas namely, this study explores technology-enhanced social learning environments as complements to traditional supervision models.

Includes bibliographical references. / E-learning is the use of electronic devices and networks to engage in synchronous and asynchronous learning activities. E-learning is being increasingly adopted in higher educational institutions. Research in this area has tended to focus on innovations and implementations and little has been done on adoption of this highly pervasive technology at an institutional level, particularly within Africa. The motivation for this study was to examine how an African University, in this case Makerere University, can enhance the adoption of e-learning in teaching and learning. The research used Rogers’ diffusion of innovations (DoI) theory to explore the initial adoption of e-learning. It was felt that the enormous amount of experiences that early adopters and innovators could share regarding e-learning could assist as e-learning becomes more of a mainstream activity within the university.

Includes bibliographical references. / In recent years, South African universities have been faced with increased massification as a result of more students entering higher education institutions. Some of the students are from poor communities such as rural areas and former black townships which are still educationally disadvantaged. These students, who have been described as ‘digital strangers’ in other studies, have had very little access to or had never used computers prior to university. With increased computerisation in higher education institutions, digital strangers face problems integrating into computer based learning. In contrast to computer access, mobile phone ownership is pervasive and ownership is not socially differentiated in the South African context. This study therefore sought to explore the use of mobile phones to support learning by first year female science students in an extended academic program at the University of Cape Town. Using critical theory, Gee’s notions of Big (D) and little (d) discourses and a qualitative case study methodology, the study examined student’s technological identities. Whilst the results of the study show the powerlessness that digital strangers feel when exposed to computers during their first year of study, the results also show that students identify with their mobile phones because the technology is part of their Discourse. The mobile phone provides emancipation and empowerment that the students need to survive in a challenging science fields through informal and affective learning necessitated by the various internet enabled applications of the technology. The study also showed that students found transferable skills from their mobile phones to computers, thereby enhancing their transition into computer based learning. The study recommends that higher education institutions should consider mobile phones as viable learning tools and the technology should not be regarded as separate from the computer, but rather the two should be viewed as complimentary educational tools.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2010. / Social Informatics is the field of study concentrating on the social aspects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) utilisation with researchers in the field concentrating on aspects such as human interaction with ICTs, the effect of certain hardware and software on utilisation and the impact that the use of ICTs have on the daily lives of people in society. One of the areas where the use of ICTs can have a huge influence is on governmental service delivery, where these tools can be used to speed up processes, beef up security, provide access to, and disseminate information, and be used in virtually all government departments to provide a more effective and efficient service to all its people. The aim of the study was to examine the use, impact and interaction of ICTs for service delivery among Civil Servants in the uMhlatuze area. The study was carried out using both qualitative and quantitative methods through survey research. The objectives of the study were: to determine the nature of the services rendered in the three targeted Departments (Education, Health and Social Development), to establish the types of ICTs currently in use by Civil Servants in uMhlatuze area, to explore how the Civil Servants interact with ICTs in the municipality, to explore the impact of the Civil Servants` interaction with ICTs, to determine the training needs of the Civil Servants, in so far as effective ICT utilisation is concerned, to determine users level of satisfaction with the standard of service delivery, to outline the challenges faced in the service provision. Data was collected via questionnaires that were submitted to the three departments by the researcher. Interviews were also conducted with both civil servants and their clients. The aim of the interviews was to get their personal opinions on problems facing service provision. The number of responses from the distributed questionnaires varied: Education (21), Health (9) and Social Development (5). Managers from the three departments were interviewed with an aim of understanding types of services they offer to clients, clients satisfaction with service offered to them, the use of computers in providing services, the level of computer literacy among staff (Civil Servants), difficulties experienced when providing services to clients, and the effect of the availability of computers in providing service delivery. The study revealed that not all ICT tools are generally available and/or used by civil servants in the uMhlatuze Municipality It was also found that most new technologies were neither used, nor available, or could not be accessed by civil servants in the departments, e.g. the Internet, laptop computers, databases, video cameras, video recorders, sound/tape recorders, overhead projectors, and information systems. The government also does not appear to make much use of radio and television, which are mediums that are often used in this country for communication. The researcher recommended that the government should ensure that each civil servant has a computer linked to the Internet on his or her table. All available ICT tools should also be provided to the different departments because they deal with different social needs everyday that may require different solutions. A lack of skills to operate a number of ICTs, especially the computers was identified as a serious impediment to effective service delivery. Therefore it was recommended that the Departments of Education, Health and Social Development send their staff for training on the efficient utilization of ICT tools, specifically computer related training. It was further recommended that computer literacy courses and refresher courses be offered on a continual basis in order to elevate the level of computer literacy among the civil servants, especially for programmes such as Word processing, Excel and PowerPoint which are used almost daily in the public service.