The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa
Collaboration among researchers and across disciplinary, organisational and cultural boundaries i... more Collaboration among researchers and across disciplinary, organisational and cultural boundaries is essential for addressing the increasingly complex challenges and opportunities facing international development. Despite the known advantages and various incentives, research collaboration within Africa (specifically within South Africa) is lacking. To better understand the reasons for this lack of research collaboration, this study explored collaboration between students and supervisors in an information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) postgraduate student project in South Africa. South Africa, a country with major social inequalities and asymmetric power relations, provides an appropriate context. The students’ perspectives provided a space for investigating the collaboration factors by unpacking the capability inputs according to Robeyns’ representation of personal capabilities. Data were captured from a survey and focus groups (FG) with students and supervisors...
2018 Conference on Information Communications Technology and Society (ICTAS), 2018
Teachers play a vital role in imparting knowledge and skills to students in secondary schools. Se... more Teachers play a vital role in imparting knowledge and skills to students in secondary schools. Secondary schools in developing countries are characterised by a shortage of teaching materials which limits the provision of impactful knowledge on students. Researchers have suggested the use of a variety of technologies and approaches that teachers could employ to impart knowledge and enhance teaching practices. One such technology that is relevant in developing countries is mobile devices. Little is known about teacher's adoption and use of mobile devices outside the classroom in South Africa and Tanzania. For this research paper, the diffusion of innovation theory is used as a lens to explain teacher's adoption and use of mobile devices outside the classroom. This research discusses findings from questionnaires distributed to Form IV (Tanzania) and Grade 12 (South Africa) teachers. The findings propose that besides using mobile devices for socialization and recreational purposes, teachers also use mobile devices to search for information and other academic purposes. Teachers contact colleagues by calling, texting and sending instant messages to acquire knowledge or enquire on unclear academic issues. Teachers use cameras, videos, YouTube and maps on mobile devices to acquire or disseminate knowledge. Also, teachers observe colleagues use of mobile devices which assists during adoption. Teachers are divided on the complexity of using mobile devices for learning. The research contributes to the body of knowledge by explaining secondary school teacher's adoption and use of mobile devices outside the classroom in developing countries.
Secondary school students are labelled as bad mannered, and low achievers because of their extent... more Secondary school students are labelled as bad mannered, and low achievers because of their extent of using mobile devices. Elder siblings and parents have not supported these students use of mobile devices. In some cases, students have had their devices confiscated. Little do parents know; their children are using mobile devices for learning outside the classroom. Students view using their mobile devices for learning to be compatible with using textbooks and that as they use the devices outside the classroom, they are supplementing their learning. When confused, they contact teachers for clarification. To understand the extent of secondary school student’s use of mobile devices for learning outside the classroom in Tanzania, a single secondary school was purposively selected. A total of 202 students responded to questionnaire, and 20 students were interviewed by the researchers. The theory of diffusion of innovation was employed to provide an understanding of the phenomenon of inter...
South African teachers are under pressure due to rising expectations of their content knowledge a... more South African teachers are under pressure due to rising expectations of their content knowledge and digital skills without guaranteed infrastructural or institutional support in using ICTs. The purpose of this study is to find out to what extent ICTs are being used by teachers in rural South African schools and also what support systems, if any, these teachers have. The theoretical lens is that of social network theory to investigate the network teachers use to acquire ICT knowledge and assistance. The data capturing involved a baseline survey where data were collected from 197 rural school teachers in South Africa. The data analysis included descriptive statistics and social network analysis using Kumu as a tool. Our findings reveal that despite the infrastructural challenges and lack of institutional support, rural teachers use technology for teaching and learning. Furthermore, there is evidence that strong social ties with friends and family, faith groups, department of education...
In this era of pervasive computing and the Internet, learners everywhere connect and reconnect to... more In this era of pervasive computing and the Internet, learners everywhere connect and reconnect to knowledge away from classrooms, via mobile devices and their Mobile Instant Messaging platforms (MIMs). Still, many sub-Saharan African educators continue to confine these platforms to recreational activities. There is lack therefore of knowledge about how learners from sub-Saharan Africa perform such informal and experiential learning. This paper presents a case study of Tanzanian learners learning in informal settings using their mobile devices and MIMs. It deploys the rhizomatic learning theory with the aim of understanding how such learning occurs. Findings suggest that learners use mobile devices and MIMs to organize their personal learning spaces, to access specific content and to interact with peers on academic topics. Mobile devices and their MIMs are used as support in personal learning environments understood as multidimensional networks of heterogeneous multiplicities which r...
Social media is a term used to combine social networking, media sharing and microblogging systems... more Social media is a term used to combine social networking, media sharing and microblogging systems. Social media assists students to improve their academic studies, allows collaboration and sharing of information with each other, and affords students to know what is happening in the world, acquire pictures and videos in support of such information. Information Systems (IS) students are the next generation of technology experts and their exposure to using social media as an alternative source of information and for collaboration might affect features included in systems.
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2017
This paper aims to determine the effect on the engagement of ‘Net Generation’ students from using... more This paper aims to determine the effect on the engagement of ‘Net Generation’ students from using ‘YouTube’ in the classroom. The education and engagement of the Net Generation students are a growing challenge among institutions of higher learning. Net Generation arrival overlaps with the advent of digital technology. Thus, this explains why the students have dissimilar styles of learning due to their comfort with and use of digital technology. Literature on educating and engaging the Net Generation asserts incorporating the Web 2.0 elements; YouTube inside and/or outside classroom. The target sample includes Net Generation students in their 2nd-3rd year at the University of Cape Town in the Commerce faculty enrolled in an Information Systems course. The research instrument was a questionnaire. Two samples were included, the first consisted of students currently enrolled in the course and the other, students previously enrolled in the course. The result shows that the use of YouTube had a positive effect on the engagement of Net Generation students.
THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, 2021
Collaboration is fundamental to progress in the field of information and communication technologi... more Collaboration is fundamental to progress in the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) research where interdisciplinary teams are involved in the requirements elicitation, design, implementation and evaluation of context‐sensitive digital solutions. Research collaboration harbors the potential for knowledge exchange, improving research impact and human development; it is often a requirement in grant applications for funding. Despite the known benefits and incentives, there is evidence that research collaborations between African countries are lacking compared to those with and between other geographic regions. Furthermore, research collaboration has been studied as a variable but theorisation of the concept is lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to theorize research collaboration as an object with affordances based on the perspective of novice researchers (master's, doctoral and postdoctoral students) in South Africa. The data ca...
In South Africa, one of the major reasons for the lack of employment opportunities among youth is... more In South Africa, one of the major reasons for the lack of employment opportunities among youth is a skills deficiency and in some cases a mismatch with the skills required. The challenge of finding employment opportunities is exacerbated by a lack of access to relevant information. Open government data (OGD) could potentially be useful in meeting the information needs. However, that possibility has not been investigated and described in this context. Therefore, the focus of this study is to investigate how access to OGD can support the awareness of employment opportunities among youth in a township in the Gauteng province. The Choice Framework is used as the theoretical framework to analyse the individual’s choice with a focus on social structure, individual agency, the degree of empowerment, and the development outcomes. The research design involves a case study with semi-structured interviews being conducted in the Alexandra Township of Johannesburg. We collected data from 34 part...
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa
Collaboration among researchers and across disciplinary, organisational and cultural boundaries i... more Collaboration among researchers and across disciplinary, organisational and cultural boundaries is essential for addressing the increasingly complex challenges and opportunities facing international development. Despite the known advantages and various incentives, research collaboration within Africa (specifically within South Africa) is lacking. To better understand the reasons for this lack of research collaboration, this study explored collaboration between students and supervisors in an information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) postgraduate student project in South Africa. South Africa, a country with major social inequalities and asymmetric power relations, provides an appropriate context. The students’ perspectives provided a space for investigating the collaboration factors by unpacking the capability inputs according to Robeyns’ representation of personal capabilities. Data were captured from a survey and focus groups (FG) with students and supervisors...
2018 Conference on Information Communications Technology and Society (ICTAS), 2018
Teachers play a vital role in imparting knowledge and skills to students in secondary schools. Se... more Teachers play a vital role in imparting knowledge and skills to students in secondary schools. Secondary schools in developing countries are characterised by a shortage of teaching materials which limits the provision of impactful knowledge on students. Researchers have suggested the use of a variety of technologies and approaches that teachers could employ to impart knowledge and enhance teaching practices. One such technology that is relevant in developing countries is mobile devices. Little is known about teacher's adoption and use of mobile devices outside the classroom in South Africa and Tanzania. For this research paper, the diffusion of innovation theory is used as a lens to explain teacher's adoption and use of mobile devices outside the classroom. This research discusses findings from questionnaires distributed to Form IV (Tanzania) and Grade 12 (South Africa) teachers. The findings propose that besides using mobile devices for socialization and recreational purposes, teachers also use mobile devices to search for information and other academic purposes. Teachers contact colleagues by calling, texting and sending instant messages to acquire knowledge or enquire on unclear academic issues. Teachers use cameras, videos, YouTube and maps on mobile devices to acquire or disseminate knowledge. Also, teachers observe colleagues use of mobile devices which assists during adoption. Teachers are divided on the complexity of using mobile devices for learning. The research contributes to the body of knowledge by explaining secondary school teacher's adoption and use of mobile devices outside the classroom in developing countries.
Secondary school students are labelled as bad mannered, and low achievers because of their extent... more Secondary school students are labelled as bad mannered, and low achievers because of their extent of using mobile devices. Elder siblings and parents have not supported these students use of mobile devices. In some cases, students have had their devices confiscated. Little do parents know; their children are using mobile devices for learning outside the classroom. Students view using their mobile devices for learning to be compatible with using textbooks and that as they use the devices outside the classroom, they are supplementing their learning. When confused, they contact teachers for clarification. To understand the extent of secondary school student’s use of mobile devices for learning outside the classroom in Tanzania, a single secondary school was purposively selected. A total of 202 students responded to questionnaire, and 20 students were interviewed by the researchers. The theory of diffusion of innovation was employed to provide an understanding of the phenomenon of inter...
South African teachers are under pressure due to rising expectations of their content knowledge a... more South African teachers are under pressure due to rising expectations of their content knowledge and digital skills without guaranteed infrastructural or institutional support in using ICTs. The purpose of this study is to find out to what extent ICTs are being used by teachers in rural South African schools and also what support systems, if any, these teachers have. The theoretical lens is that of social network theory to investigate the network teachers use to acquire ICT knowledge and assistance. The data capturing involved a baseline survey where data were collected from 197 rural school teachers in South Africa. The data analysis included descriptive statistics and social network analysis using Kumu as a tool. Our findings reveal that despite the infrastructural challenges and lack of institutional support, rural teachers use technology for teaching and learning. Furthermore, there is evidence that strong social ties with friends and family, faith groups, department of education...
In this era of pervasive computing and the Internet, learners everywhere connect and reconnect to... more In this era of pervasive computing and the Internet, learners everywhere connect and reconnect to knowledge away from classrooms, via mobile devices and their Mobile Instant Messaging platforms (MIMs). Still, many sub-Saharan African educators continue to confine these platforms to recreational activities. There is lack therefore of knowledge about how learners from sub-Saharan Africa perform such informal and experiential learning. This paper presents a case study of Tanzanian learners learning in informal settings using their mobile devices and MIMs. It deploys the rhizomatic learning theory with the aim of understanding how such learning occurs. Findings suggest that learners use mobile devices and MIMs to organize their personal learning spaces, to access specific content and to interact with peers on academic topics. Mobile devices and their MIMs are used as support in personal learning environments understood as multidimensional networks of heterogeneous multiplicities which r...
Social media is a term used to combine social networking, media sharing and microblogging systems... more Social media is a term used to combine social networking, media sharing and microblogging systems. Social media assists students to improve their academic studies, allows collaboration and sharing of information with each other, and affords students to know what is happening in the world, acquire pictures and videos in support of such information. Information Systems (IS) students are the next generation of technology experts and their exposure to using social media as an alternative source of information and for collaboration might affect features included in systems.
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2017
This paper aims to determine the effect on the engagement of ‘Net Generation’ students from using... more This paper aims to determine the effect on the engagement of ‘Net Generation’ students from using ‘YouTube’ in the classroom. The education and engagement of the Net Generation students are a growing challenge among institutions of higher learning. Net Generation arrival overlaps with the advent of digital technology. Thus, this explains why the students have dissimilar styles of learning due to their comfort with and use of digital technology. Literature on educating and engaging the Net Generation asserts incorporating the Web 2.0 elements; YouTube inside and/or outside classroom. The target sample includes Net Generation students in their 2nd-3rd year at the University of Cape Town in the Commerce faculty enrolled in an Information Systems course. The research instrument was a questionnaire. Two samples were included, the first consisted of students currently enrolled in the course and the other, students previously enrolled in the course. The result shows that the use of YouTube had a positive effect on the engagement of Net Generation students.
THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, 2021
Collaboration is fundamental to progress in the field of information and communication technologi... more Collaboration is fundamental to progress in the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) research where interdisciplinary teams are involved in the requirements elicitation, design, implementation and evaluation of context‐sensitive digital solutions. Research collaboration harbors the potential for knowledge exchange, improving research impact and human development; it is often a requirement in grant applications for funding. Despite the known benefits and incentives, there is evidence that research collaborations between African countries are lacking compared to those with and between other geographic regions. Furthermore, research collaboration has been studied as a variable but theorisation of the concept is lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to theorize research collaboration as an object with affordances based on the perspective of novice researchers (master's, doctoral and postdoctoral students) in South Africa. The data ca...
In South Africa, one of the major reasons for the lack of employment opportunities among youth is... more In South Africa, one of the major reasons for the lack of employment opportunities among youth is a skills deficiency and in some cases a mismatch with the skills required. The challenge of finding employment opportunities is exacerbated by a lack of access to relevant information. Open government data (OGD) could potentially be useful in meeting the information needs. However, that possibility has not been investigated and described in this context. Therefore, the focus of this study is to investigate how access to OGD can support the awareness of employment opportunities among youth in a township in the Gauteng province. The Choice Framework is used as the theoretical framework to analyse the individual’s choice with a focus on social structure, individual agency, the degree of empowerment, and the development outcomes. The research design involves a case study with semi-structured interviews being conducted in the Alexandra Township of Johannesburg. We collected data from 34 part...
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Papers by Samwel Mwapwele