Evaluating the integration of ICTs into teaching and learning activities at a South African higher education institution

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is a structured evaluation of the integration of ICTs (Information and CommunicationTechnologies) in teaching and learning activities at the University of Stellenbosch. Althoughanecdotal evidence exists of the success of the e-Learning initiatives at the University ofStellenbosch, this study addresses these questions in a more structured approach within theglobal and local higher education context in order to:- Improve the e-Learning project (as part of the e-Campus initiative) and other e-Learninginitiatives,- Generate knowledge to improve our understanding of how the e-Learning initiatives workand how people change their attitudes and behaviours because of successfulinterventions,- Evaluate the institutional characteristics of successful integration,- Evaluate the technological environment and, more specifically, the use of WebCT aslearning management system, and- Assess the overall progress of the e-Learning initiatives at the University of Stellenbosch.This evaluation is done taking the broader global and changing local higher education landscapeand, more specifically, the interplay of three of the main global drivers into account. The threedrivers discussed are: knowledge as a driver of growth in a networked society, the informationand communication technology revolution and new competitors in the higher educationmarketplace The first part of the study is therefore a literature review of the changing globalhigher education landscape, with a specific focus on how these changes are contextualised withinthe unique South African post-1994 higher education landscape.After considering the global and South African higher education landscape, the study thenprovides a critical overview of the status of the integration of ICTs into teaching and learningactivities world wide, the possible benefits of the integration of ICTs into teaching and learningactivities and the implications of these changes for the lecturers, students and the highereducation institutional and technological environment.These overviews of both the global changing higher education landscape and the integration ofICTs into teaching and learning activities serve as the backdrop for the case study andretrospective assessment of e-Learning initiatives at the University of Stellenbosch. The studycontains a description of the e-Campus initiative, the e-Learning project and other e-Learninginitiatives. In the retrospective assessment, the main focus of the study, I make use of quantativeand qualitative methods to analyse the results of two Web surveys administered to students andlecturers who use WebCT. These results are integrated with other data sources to assess theprogress made at the University of Stellenbosch.This retrospective assessment of the e-Learning activities at the University of Stellenbosch, setagainst the backdrop of the global changing higher education landscape, enables me to makegeneral recommendations for:- Dealing with changes in the higher education context on an institutional level as a resultof the three forces discussed,- Integrating ICTs at the institutional level in all business process at a higher educationinstitution,- Integrating ICTs in teaching and learning activities, paying attention to the enablinginstitutional and technological environment, as well as to good teaching and learningpractice, and- Improving the implementation of the e-Campus initiative and, more specifically, the e-Learning project and other e-Learning initiatives at the University of Stellenbosch.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University