George Matto

There has been an increased dependency on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in undertaking various activities in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) ecosystems. Because of that, huge volumes of data have increasingly been generated. There have been, for instance, considerable amounts of data generated through electronic platforms involved in students’ admission and registration process, students’ academic records management, teaching and learning data, curriculum related data, and several other administrative data. Analysis of data generated from these platforms stands to give students, lecturers, HEIs Management, policy makers and implementers, and other stakeholders useful insights that would help in improving HEIs’ effectiveness. Unfortunately, literature have identified several challenges associated with existing big data analytics frameworks in HEIs. It was on this line that the present study, which was based on desk research, was carried out to propose an effe...

The preset study was carried out to survey various literatures on the factors influencing the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) among university students in Africa, and accordingly to investigate the applicability of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology (UTAUT) as presented by Venkatesh et al . (2003) on the observed factors. The study was highly qualitative and involved a survey of literatures on researches conducted in various universities found in African countries. The countries which research studies were involved were selected at random. In order to arrive at reasonable conclusion, literature from at least one country from each of the five regions of Africa was involved. Findings revealed that the main reasons for ICTs use among university students in Africa are pedagogical and social; however the later are subdivided into various reasons. It was further deduced that university students are finding ways for ICTs to smoothen the progress...

The Tanzania Police Force, as many other law enforcement agencies in developing countries, relies mostly on manual, personal judgments, and other inadequate tools for analysis of data in its crime databases. This approach is inadequate and prone to errors. Moreover, research shows that more than half of all crimes committed in Tanzania are not reported to police and thus it is likely that they are not analysed by the police. In this study, we use text mining to extract crime patterns from sources of crime data outside police databases. In fact, we use four daily published Swahili newspapers. With the help of our developed patterns mining model we extracted several crimes reported in the newspapers, we mapped the distribution of the mined crimes country-wide, and with the use of FP-growth, we generated association rules between the mined crimes. Results from this study will contribute to crime detection and prevention strategies.

The study set out to explore prospects of using digital libraries to enhance access to academic materials to library users in the Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. Interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions were methodological underpinnings adopted to explore the case using cross-sectional type of designs. Study findings revealed that despite the fact that each HLI had a library, but sitting pattern did not keep pace with the increasing number of students enrolled each year. Opening and closing hours were also observed to be an obstacle for many library users to access learning materials, lack of variety and updated books in various study disciplines, and involvement of a lot of mechanical books searching was also observed to be challenges facing readers in the existing libraries. The turning point for the above mentioned challenges is to establish digital library. However, digital library implementation fall into doldrums because of th...

There has been a continuous change in computer Operating Systems (OSs) from time to time. The same changes entail a shift from old to new OS among computer users so as to enjoy not only the enhanced user experience but also improved security features. University students are among primary users of computers. But little is known on the literature point of view on what factors affecting them in adopting and using new OSs. This study was therefore carried out to assess the factors affecting adoption and use of new OSs by university students. The Moshi Cooperative University (MoCU) was used as a case study. A total of 120 randomly selected students were involved in the study. Findings showed that most of these students use Windows OS, with Windows 7 used by more than 70% of them. The study also observed hesitation among respondents to shift from old to new OS. Some of the reasons for that was fear to take risk, presence of new complicated features in new OS, unawareness of the new OS, a...

Social media are gaining popularity and are increasingly used in regular operations of many organizations, including Micro Enterprises (MEs). Several studies have thus developed interests on investigating the impact of social media in MEs. Unfortunately most of the existing studies either did not consider performance factor of MEs or were not done in the context of developing counties like Tanzania. It is on this ground that this study explored how social media influence the MEs' performance in the context of customer's base, sales growth, profit maximization, and brand enhancement. Specifically the study focused on identifying the most used social media by MEs; influence of social media to the performance of MEs; and how MEs use social media in their business process. Data were collected in Moshi, Tanzania from a representative sample of 90 MEs. The study adopted case study research design where structured questionnaires and interview were used to collect data. Findings depict that all else being equal, the use of social media enhance business performance. WhatsApp was found to be the most, preferred social media by MEs, followed by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On the other hand, awareness, risks and insecurity of information, and costs was some of the observed challenges that hinder MEs from using social media. It was concluded that effective use of social media is an efficient tool for enhancing MEs performance. Among others, the study calls for further research on financial and marketing aspect of social media and relative involvement associated with the possible solution toward the challenges of social media

The Tanzania Police Force, as many other law enforcement agencies in developing countries, relies mostly on manual, personal judgments, and other inadequate tools for analysis of data in its crime databases. This approach is inadequate and prone to errors. Moreover, research shows that more than half of all crimes committed in Tanzania are not reported to police and thus it is likely that they are not analysed by the police. In this study, we use text mining to extract crime patterns from sources of crime data outside police databases. In fact, we use four daily published Swahili newspapers. With the help of our developed patterns mining model we extracted several crimes reported in the newspapers, we mapped the distribution of the mined crimes country-wide, and with the use of FP-growth, we generated association rules between the mined crimes. Results from this study will contribute to crime detection and prevention strategies.

Studies on mobile phone usage indicate a rising trend of the same in many countries. Studies furthermore show an increasing use of Messaging or Chat Apps, which makes SMS passé for many smartphone users. While the use of mobile phones and Chat Apps are observed to increase in different parts of the world, little is known from the empirical point of view concerning social and pedagogical use of the same amongst university students in Malawi. It is in this line that the present study was conducted. The study used a cross-sectional research design, where Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) was used as a case study. A total of 125 respondents (undergraduate and Master's students), selected at random, were involved in this research. Questionnaires and interviews were used as instruments and methods for data collection. Findings showed that 99.2% of surveyed respondents own and use mobile phones, with more than half of them owning smartphones. Despite the fairly high extent of smartphone ownerships and usage, almost half of smartphone users have never used Chat Apps. Most of those who are using Chat Apps, use WhatsApp mainly for text messaging. Some of the identified social and academic uses of phones were searching for academic materials on the internet; communicating with lecturers, fellow students and families/friends; recording lectures and listening to them later; and storage device for academic materials. The study, among others things, recommends that higher learning institutions should consider the high rate of mobile phones ownership and usage among students as an opportunity that can be used to enhance delivery of academic matters.

The present study was carried out to investigate on the contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) towards agricultural information access among smallholder farmers. The study employed a cross-sectional research design to survey a total of 120 randomly selected household heads from 10 villages in Bembeke Extension Planning Area (EPA) in Dedza District, Malawi. The main data collecting instruments were semi-structured questionnaire and key informant interviews. Findings showed that the surveyed smallholder farmers had limited access to relevant and accurate information that would help them to boost their agricultural production and marketing of farm produce. This was shown by a significant percentage of the respondents who relied on their own previous experience or fellow farmers and extension officers as means of providing access to most of agriculture related information. A small percentage of respondents accessed agricultural information through radio, TV and mobile phones, which were the only ICT tools used. Some of the factors that affect the choice and use of ICT tools amongst respondents were high costs of acquiring the tools and poor enabling infrastructures. The study thus recommends that the Government through the relevant ministry should create awareness to smallholder farmers on the importance of accessing current agricultural information from credible sources and the opportunities that ICTs offer for timely access to information. Moreover, the Government should create an enabling environment for the growth of ICT industry and scale out the establishment of rural tele-centres, among other recommendations.

FP-Growth is one of the most effective and widely used association rules mining algorithm for discovering interesting relations between items in large datasets. Unfortunately, classical FP-Growth mines frequent patterns by using single user-defined minimum support threshold. This is not adequate for real life applications such as crime patterns mining. On one side, if minimum support is set too low, huge amount of crime patterns (including uninteresting patterns) may be generated, and on the other side, if it is set too high lots of interesting patterns (including seasonal patterns) may be lost. This paper proposes the use of Multiple Item Support (MIS) thresholds instead of single minimum support to tackle the challenge. We employ Shannon entropy method to develop an algorithm that obtains MIS values from crime datasets. The proposed approach is tested on different sizes of input data via a developed working prototype. Experimental results show that our suggested approach outperforms classical FP-Growth in terms of running time and memory use.

The preset study was carried out to survey various literatures on the factors influencing the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) among university students in Africa, and accordingly to investigate the applicability of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology (UTAUT) as presented by Venkatesh et al. (2003) on the observed factors. The study was highly qualitative and involved a survey of literatures on researches conducted in various universities found in African countries. The countries which research studies were involved were selected at random. In order to arrive at reasonable conclusion, literature from at least one country from each of the five regions of Africa was involved. Findings revealed that the main reasons for ICTs use among university students in Africa are pedagogical and social; however the later are subdivided into various reasons. It was further deduced that university students are finding ways for ICTs to smoothen the progress of their academic and social life. These finding agree with the assertion by the UTAUT’s first core determinant variables of technology use, the performance expectancy. The study also revealed that the extent of use of ICTs tools and applications by university students in Africa depends on the availability of those tools/applications, which is unlike the effort expectancy as asserted by the UTAUT model. It was also discovered that male students are using ICTs slightly more than females; the main differentiation is however on social reasons than pedagogical reasons, among other findings. In most cases the study agrees with the UTAUT model on the factors persuading ICTs use among university students in Africa except in few cases as presented in the document.

Studies propose the inclusion of open-ended (OE) and problem solving (PS) questions in online exams so as to improve effectiveness in assessing students’ academic progress. However there is lack of research on perceptions of students on the effectiveness of OE and PS in online exams. This study was thus set out to investigate perceptions of university students on effectiveness of online exams with OE and PS questions. The study involved 60 students from the Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) and adopted the cross-sectional research design. Data collection instruments were questionnaires, interviews and review of existing documents. Study findings established that there is no formal online exam system implemented in the study area. However the study revealed an urgent need for online exams. This was so because the study area is experiencing increasing enrolment students as years go by. Such an increase is not proportional to the increase in number of academic staff, among other academic resources hence handling of exams (paper based), particularly invigilation and marking, is increasingly becoming difficult. Furthermore, although students demonstrated an understanding to online exams they declared a negative feeling towards implementation of OE and PS questions. Major reasons including ICT illiteracy among many students, unavailability of appropriate technologies required for attempting such kind of questions, generally poor ICT infrastructure, and the likely absence of fairness if such kind of questions will be marked electronically. The study recommends that online exams especially those used in universalities should contain both types of questions, there must be stakeholders’ awareness creation on the importance of online exams consisting of both objective and subjective types of questions, and ICT infrastructure in higher learning institutions must be improved, among others.

This study was carried out to investigate the extent and purposes of social media uses among higher learning students. The study was conducted at the Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU) in Tanzania and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi between May and October 2014. A total of 140 randomly selected students, 70 from each university, were surveyed using a cross-sectional research design. Results showed that more than 80% of students from each University use social networking sites (SNSs), with MoCU students being more active users when compared to LUANAR students. Facebook was the most popular SNS in both Universities, used by more than 90% of students. Students in both Universities use SNSs for both social and academic reasons. However it was interesting that 60% of students in each University use SNSs for social reasons. The study recommend that Universities should take the high rates of SNS uses among students as an opportunity within which academic uses can be applied.

The study set out to explore prospects of using digital libraries to enhance access to academic materials to library users in the Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. Interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions were methodological underpinnings adopted to explore the case using cross-sectional type of designs. Study findings revealed that despite the fact that each HLI had a library, but sitting pattern did not keep pace with the increasing number of students enrolled each year. Opening and closing hours were also observed to be an obstacle for
many library users to access learning materials, lack of variety and updated books in various study disciplines, and involvement of a lot of mechanical books searching was also observed to be challenges facing readers in the existing libraries. The turning point for the above mentioned challenges is to establish digital library. However, digital library implementation fall into doldrums because of the following identified factors; shortage of fund, low technology, power rationing, inadequate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to the libraries, shortage of skilled personnel who can start and run digital library, unstable network infrastructures, and high cost for internet bandwidth. The study calls for deliberate action to implement digital libraries especially in HLIs in order to harvest the prospects of digital libraries in enhancing access to learning materials and consequently improving students’ academic performance.

There have been a worldwide increasing number of mobile phone users as years go. Although mobile phones can include many features, most of users use their phones as simple devices for voice calls and Short Message Service (SMS). SMS provides a convenient means for people to communicate with each other via mobile devices. There are basically three kinds of interactions provided by SMS-based
system; one way only, two ways, and SMS based chat. However there have been identified weak points of each of these interaction methods. Some are; poor support for forum/group discussions, demand for use of multimedia, GPRS or 3G enabled mobile phones, limitation of SMS per day/person, the need for signing up on the web to be able to use the system, and special software requirements. Due to the various identified challenges in each of the interaction method, the paper suggests an implementation of Mobile Discussion Group as an SMS system that provides more
friendly group-based interaction.