Experienced Senior Lecturer with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Research Design, Lecturing, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, and Curriculum Development. Strong education professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused in Education from University of Canterbury.
The rapid evolution of information tech no logy, the pro Iiferation of computer and media devices... more The rapid evolution of information tech no logy, the pro Iiferation of computer and media devices and the rapid growth in the use ICT and the internet for organisational management have spawned new forms of crimes and made old crimes easier to commit it. References to news in Ghanaian newspapers confirm the rising incidence of these crimes. A review of available literature, however, portrays a paucity of research that explores such crimes in African and for that matter, Ghanaian settings. In this position paper, we use "Academic 419" as a metaphor to describe computer crimes, highlighting some of such crimes from the international literature with a major focus on the types that can potentially occur in the University of Cape Coast. For us, it is imperative for leadership and management in their utilisation of ICT to be more vigilant in security issues and accept the need to safeguard their ICT systems to achieve maximal efficiency and effectiveness in their institutions. T...
Ghana Journal of Education: Issues and Practice (GJE), 2015
Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education has been an import... more Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education has been an important concern in many countries. The purpose of the study was to find out the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards Information and Communication Technology. Descriptive survey design was used for this study, and a semantic differential questionnaire with seven options was used to measure the attitudes of preservice teachers towards ICT. Three hundred students drawn from Level 400 of a department in the University of Cape Coast in Ghana were selected to form the sample for the study using the stratified random sampling technique. From the study, the preservice teachers showed positive attitude to ICT with a mean score of five for all the subscales of the questionnaire which translates as ‘slightly important’. The research reviewed that overall, preservice teachers can be categorised at the “understanding and application of process” stage of the technology adoption stages. A further ana...
Ghana Journal of Education: Issues and Practice (GJE), 2020
This study assessed the attitude and level of confidence of Basic 1-6 teachers in Ghana in implem... more This study assessed the attitude and level of confidence of Basic 1-6 teachers in Ghana in implementing the new standard-based computing curriculum. The study employed the survey design. Simple random sampling and stratified sampling were used to select 127 teachers from five regions in Ghana. Frequencies, percentages and Pearson correlation statistics were used to analyse the data collected. The findings showed that most of the teachers have high confidence in handling the revised computing curriculum. In addition, most teachers have positive attitude towards using ICT tools for teaching and learning. Availability of ICT resources in basic schools in Ghana remain a challenge. The findings further indicated that some basic school teachers had taken academic courses to improve their academic qualifications within the last three years. However, most teachers said they had not attended any ICT-based workshop in the last one year. The study recommended more in-service training for teach...
A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was st... more A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was stimulated by crises to become more innovative. This case study research provides a rich picture of rapid adoption of social media and e-learning as the ‘tide’ of e-learning rose in waves, both rising and falling as changing needs were addressed over five years (2010-2015). The overarching research question was: How has the University changed with e-learning in the wake of seismic activities? The co-evolution of digital technologies and education in this ‘late adopter’ (Rogers, 2003) university is linked with organisational development. Social media does support communication of organisational responses to crises, including increased adoption of e-learning. This paper shows there is a place for social media alongside e-learning tools and that their combined use also fosters resilience for students and academic staff (Dabner, 2012; Mackey, Gilmore, Dabner, Breeze & Buckley (2012). This case...
An effective classroom is where there are various forms of interactions: student-student and teac... more An effective classroom is where there are various forms of interactions: student-student and teacher-student. Unfortunately, most of the interactions that go on in our lecture theatres are minimal. This paper reports an innovative method of engaging students through the use of an Audience Response System (ARS) in a university course. The ARS was used to explore the possibility of improving the interactions in the lecture theatres. The overarching research question was: How best does ARS support lecturer-student interactions in the lecture theatre? A questionnaire and interview were used to elicit students’ views on the use of ARS as an instructional tool. Students reported that they enjoyed using ARS as it facilitated class interaction and collaboration. Internet onnectivity and incompatibility issues on some devices made teaching with the ARS a bit challenging. It is therefore recommended that lecturers can make use of ARS to improve interactions in their lecture rooms.
This paper presents a case study of one College of Business (College of Business and Law from 201... more This paper presents a case study of one College of Business (College of Business and Law from 2013) impacted in 2011 by earthquakes in New Zealand. Analyses from interviews of nine staff and documents were used to describe processes of increasing resilience with e-learning over the worst seismic events. Increasing deployment of the University’s learning management system by staff and students plus audio recordings and video recordings of lectures enabled the College to continue its teaching. The Technology Acceptance Model and the generic model of organisational resilience by Resilient Organisations informed the analysis of the adoption and adaptation of e-learning than continued after the crises in the university.
The paper sought to look at the issues that affect the way an institution like UCC should deal wi... more The paper sought to look at the issues that affect the way an institution like UCC should deal with email and how best UCC can improve the usage of its email system by implementing an email policy. An evaluative research design was used to investigate the use of email system in UCC. Content analysis approach was used to study documents such as the ICT policies of the university. This was to find a policy relating to the use of email in the university. An email policy for the UCC guiding the use of email does not exist. However, there is an ICT policy for UCC that has scanty information relating to the use of email in UCC. An inference can be made from the ICT policy that the issue of email use in the university has not been adequately addressed. In the spirit of constructive criticism, it is the belief of the author that attending to the problems identified and recommendations offered in this study would help improve the use of the email system in University of Cape Coast significan...
The study investigated if a statistical relationship existed between academic achievement and ach... more The study investigated if a statistical relationship existed between academic achievement and achievement of students in ICT. Two research instruments were used to collect data. One was the end of semester examination in ICT involving hands-on computer exercises in MS-Word and SPSS was used to measure students achievement and a questionnaire which was used to measure attitude. On Students’ achievement in ICT, there was no difference between the mean scores of the undergraduate students and postgraduate students. With regards to Students ’ attitudes toward ICT both postgraduates and undergraduate students both showed positive attitudes towards ICT. Also, the relationship between attitudes and achievement there is a moderate correlation between undergraduate students attitudes to ICT and their achievement in ICT where as among the postgraduate students there was a weak correlation between postgraduate students attitudes to ICT and their achievement in ICT. It is recommended that stude...
The under-representation of females in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fields of s... more The under-representation of females in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fields of study and careers continues to attract considerable attention. This article discusses findings of a research that investigated interest in ICT studies and careers among female secondary school students from schools in three districts in the Central Region of Ghana. The article outlines the demographic background of the participating girls, their experiences with ICT, and their preferences for future studies and careers in ICT. Engineering was the least preferred career choice among female science students in coeducational schools whilst Computer Science/ICT and Nursing were the least preferred career choice among science students in female only schools. However, Medicine was the most preferred career choice among students of both types of schools.
Change can be viewed as an evolutionary process in which the educators and their organisations ar... more Change can be viewed as an evolutionary process in which the educators and their organisations are co-evolving with digital technologies (Davis, Eickelmann, & Zaka, 2013) and sometimes the co-evolution is stimulated by a shock that speeds changes in behaviour of the organisation as well as its staff and students. This paper presents the emerging findings in a case study of one College of Education that was impacted by seismic events in New Zealand. Documentary analysis and an interview of two staff indicate that evolution was prompted and has been sustained to enable the College to become more resilient. For example, with the adoption of a lecture capture system and also a move away from physical of assignments mailed to the college into online assessment managed through the LMS. This evolutionary process will be later evaluated though the generic model of organisational resilience by Resilient Organisations
The purpose of this study was to explore how the University of Cape Coast, Ghana can improve its ... more The purpose of this study was to explore how the University of Cape Coast, Ghana can improve its web presence by utilising web 2.0 tools such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr to create online communities. The Technology Acceptance Model is used in making the case for the adoption of web 2.0 tools. Increasing computer literate students, internet penetration and Facebook user rates are cited good indicators for adoption of web 2.0 tools. The possible use of web 2.0 tools such as VoIP, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr are examined. It is concluded that Web 2.0 technologies have come to stay and the members of the University who are Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants have come to live with them. The University of Cape Coast should take advantage of these tools to incorporate web 2.0 tools in the university communication system.
Management is the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and th... more Management is the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people. The school like any other organization needs to be managed. Introduction of the Educational Management Information System by the Ministry of Education was to effectively manage resources in the education sector. The purpose of the study was to find out whether EMIS is being used effectively in the districts by the Ministry of Education in the Central Region of Ghana and the extent of its effectiveness. The research design used was cross-sectional survey. The design involved two stages in which mixed methods were used to collect data. A multistage sampling design procedure was used to select the sample. Seven districts were selected by convenience for the study. Two instruments were used to collect data for the study. From the findings, it was deduced that the respondents had a fair knowledge about the purpose of EMIS and officers in the district education directorates...
The rapid evolution of information tech no logy, the pro Iiferation of computer and media devices... more The rapid evolution of information tech no logy, the pro Iiferation of computer and media devices and the rapid growth in the use ICT and the internet for organisational management have spawned new forms of crimes and made old crimes easier to commit it. References to news in Ghanaian newspapers confirm the rising incidence of these crimes. A review of available literature, however, portrays a paucity of research that explores such crimes in African and for that matter, Ghanaian settings. In this position paper, we use "Academic 419" as a metaphor to describe computer crimes, highlighting some of such crimes from the international literature with a major focus on the types that can potentially occur in the University of Cape Coast. For us, it is imperative for leadership and management in their utilisation of ICT to be more vigilant in security issues and accept the need to safeguard their ICT systems to achieve maximal efficiency and effectiveness in their institutions. T...
Ghana Journal of Education: Issues and Practice (GJE), 2015
Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education has been an import... more Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education has been an important concern in many countries. The purpose of the study was to find out the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards Information and Communication Technology. Descriptive survey design was used for this study, and a semantic differential questionnaire with seven options was used to measure the attitudes of preservice teachers towards ICT. Three hundred students drawn from Level 400 of a department in the University of Cape Coast in Ghana were selected to form the sample for the study using the stratified random sampling technique. From the study, the preservice teachers showed positive attitude to ICT with a mean score of five for all the subscales of the questionnaire which translates as ‘slightly important’. The research reviewed that overall, preservice teachers can be categorised at the “understanding and application of process” stage of the technology adoption stages. A further ana...
Ghana Journal of Education: Issues and Practice (GJE), 2020
This study assessed the attitude and level of confidence of Basic 1-6 teachers in Ghana in implem... more This study assessed the attitude and level of confidence of Basic 1-6 teachers in Ghana in implementing the new standard-based computing curriculum. The study employed the survey design. Simple random sampling and stratified sampling were used to select 127 teachers from five regions in Ghana. Frequencies, percentages and Pearson correlation statistics were used to analyse the data collected. The findings showed that most of the teachers have high confidence in handling the revised computing curriculum. In addition, most teachers have positive attitude towards using ICT tools for teaching and learning. Availability of ICT resources in basic schools in Ghana remain a challenge. The findings further indicated that some basic school teachers had taken academic courses to improve their academic qualifications within the last three years. However, most teachers said they had not attended any ICT-based workshop in the last one year. The study recommended more in-service training for teach...
A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was st... more A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was stimulated by crises to become more innovative. This case study research provides a rich picture of rapid adoption of social media and e-learning as the ‘tide’ of e-learning rose in waves, both rising and falling as changing needs were addressed over five years (2010-2015). The overarching research question was: How has the University changed with e-learning in the wake of seismic activities? The co-evolution of digital technologies and education in this ‘late adopter’ (Rogers, 2003) university is linked with organisational development. Social media does support communication of organisational responses to crises, including increased adoption of e-learning. This paper shows there is a place for social media alongside e-learning tools and that their combined use also fosters resilience for students and academic staff (Dabner, 2012; Mackey, Gilmore, Dabner, Breeze & Buckley (2012). This case...
An effective classroom is where there are various forms of interactions: student-student and teac... more An effective classroom is where there are various forms of interactions: student-student and teacher-student. Unfortunately, most of the interactions that go on in our lecture theatres are minimal. This paper reports an innovative method of engaging students through the use of an Audience Response System (ARS) in a university course. The ARS was used to explore the possibility of improving the interactions in the lecture theatres. The overarching research question was: How best does ARS support lecturer-student interactions in the lecture theatre? A questionnaire and interview were used to elicit students’ views on the use of ARS as an instructional tool. Students reported that they enjoyed using ARS as it facilitated class interaction and collaboration. Internet onnectivity and incompatibility issues on some devices made teaching with the ARS a bit challenging. It is therefore recommended that lecturers can make use of ARS to improve interactions in their lecture rooms.
This paper presents a case study of one College of Business (College of Business and Law from 201... more This paper presents a case study of one College of Business (College of Business and Law from 2013) impacted in 2011 by earthquakes in New Zealand. Analyses from interviews of nine staff and documents were used to describe processes of increasing resilience with e-learning over the worst seismic events. Increasing deployment of the University’s learning management system by staff and students plus audio recordings and video recordings of lectures enabled the College to continue its teaching. The Technology Acceptance Model and the generic model of organisational resilience by Resilient Organisations informed the analysis of the adoption and adaptation of e-learning than continued after the crises in the university.
The paper sought to look at the issues that affect the way an institution like UCC should deal wi... more The paper sought to look at the issues that affect the way an institution like UCC should deal with email and how best UCC can improve the usage of its email system by implementing an email policy. An evaluative research design was used to investigate the use of email system in UCC. Content analysis approach was used to study documents such as the ICT policies of the university. This was to find a policy relating to the use of email in the university. An email policy for the UCC guiding the use of email does not exist. However, there is an ICT policy for UCC that has scanty information relating to the use of email in UCC. An inference can be made from the ICT policy that the issue of email use in the university has not been adequately addressed. In the spirit of constructive criticism, it is the belief of the author that attending to the problems identified and recommendations offered in this study would help improve the use of the email system in University of Cape Coast significan...
The study investigated if a statistical relationship existed between academic achievement and ach... more The study investigated if a statistical relationship existed between academic achievement and achievement of students in ICT. Two research instruments were used to collect data. One was the end of semester examination in ICT involving hands-on computer exercises in MS-Word and SPSS was used to measure students achievement and a questionnaire which was used to measure attitude. On Students’ achievement in ICT, there was no difference between the mean scores of the undergraduate students and postgraduate students. With regards to Students ’ attitudes toward ICT both postgraduates and undergraduate students both showed positive attitudes towards ICT. Also, the relationship between attitudes and achievement there is a moderate correlation between undergraduate students attitudes to ICT and their achievement in ICT where as among the postgraduate students there was a weak correlation between postgraduate students attitudes to ICT and their achievement in ICT. It is recommended that stude...
The under-representation of females in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fields of s... more The under-representation of females in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fields of study and careers continues to attract considerable attention. This article discusses findings of a research that investigated interest in ICT studies and careers among female secondary school students from schools in three districts in the Central Region of Ghana. The article outlines the demographic background of the participating girls, their experiences with ICT, and their preferences for future studies and careers in ICT. Engineering was the least preferred career choice among female science students in coeducational schools whilst Computer Science/ICT and Nursing were the least preferred career choice among science students in female only schools. However, Medicine was the most preferred career choice among students of both types of schools.
Change can be viewed as an evolutionary process in which the educators and their organisations ar... more Change can be viewed as an evolutionary process in which the educators and their organisations are co-evolving with digital technologies (Davis, Eickelmann, & Zaka, 2013) and sometimes the co-evolution is stimulated by a shock that speeds changes in behaviour of the organisation as well as its staff and students. This paper presents the emerging findings in a case study of one College of Education that was impacted by seismic events in New Zealand. Documentary analysis and an interview of two staff indicate that evolution was prompted and has been sustained to enable the College to become more resilient. For example, with the adoption of a lecture capture system and also a move away from physical of assignments mailed to the college into online assessment managed through the LMS. This evolutionary process will be later evaluated though the generic model of organisational resilience by Resilient Organisations
The purpose of this study was to explore how the University of Cape Coast, Ghana can improve its ... more The purpose of this study was to explore how the University of Cape Coast, Ghana can improve its web presence by utilising web 2.0 tools such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr to create online communities. The Technology Acceptance Model is used in making the case for the adoption of web 2.0 tools. Increasing computer literate students, internet penetration and Facebook user rates are cited good indicators for adoption of web 2.0 tools. The possible use of web 2.0 tools such as VoIP, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr are examined. It is concluded that Web 2.0 technologies have come to stay and the members of the University who are Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants have come to live with them. The University of Cape Coast should take advantage of these tools to incorporate web 2.0 tools in the university communication system.
Management is the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and th... more Management is the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people. The school like any other organization needs to be managed. Introduction of the Educational Management Information System by the Ministry of Education was to effectively manage resources in the education sector. The purpose of the study was to find out whether EMIS is being used effectively in the districts by the Ministry of Education in the Central Region of Ghana and the extent of its effectiveness. The research design used was cross-sectional survey. The design involved two stages in which mixed methods were used to collect data. A multistage sampling design procedure was used to select the sample. Seven districts were selected by convenience for the study. Two instruments were used to collect data for the study. From the findings, it was deduced that the respondents had a fair knowledge about the purpose of EMIS and officers in the district education directorates...
A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was st... more A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was stimulated by crises to become more innovative. This case study research provides a rich picture of rapid adoption of social media and e-learning as the 'tide' of e-learning rose in waves, both rising and falling as changing needs were addressed over five years (2010-2015). The overarching research question was: How has the University changed with e-learning in the wake of seismic activities? The co-evolution of digital technologies and education in this 'late adopter' (Rogers, 2003) university is linked with organisational development. Social media does support communication of organisational responses to crises, including increased adoption of e-learning. This paper shows there is a place for social media alongside e-learning tools and that their combined use also fosters resilience for students and academic staff (Dabner, 2012; Mackey, Gilmore, Dabner, Breeze & Buckley (2012). This case study of one University's journey " there and back " from a major seismic event has charted only one aspect of the journey to increase resilience. Ayebi-Arthur (2016) describes more aspects that are relevant to DEANZ conference's theme of Twin Pillars including infrastructure and e-learning support. Universities in Aotearoa New Zealand cannot dodge the likelihood of natural disasters that can close one or more buildings on a campus (Seville, Hawker, & Lyttle, 2012). The findings are also relevant to other crises such as those caused by weather and digital infrastructure.
A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was st... more A university set on a beautiful spacious landscape had little need for e-learning until it was stimulated by crises to become more innovative. This case study research provides a rich picture of rapid adoption of social media and e-learning as the ‘tide’ of e-learning rose in waves, both rising and falling as changing needs were addressed over five years (2010-2015). The overarching research question was: How has the University changed with e-learning in the wake of seismic activities? The co-evolution of digital technologies and education in this ‘late adopter’ (Rogers, 2003) university is linked with organisational development. Social media does support communication of organisational responses to crises, including increased adoption of e-learning. This paper shows there is a place for social media alongside e-learning tools and that their combined use also fosters resilience for students and academic staff (Dabner, 2012; Mackey, Gilmore, Dabner, Breeze & Buckley (2012). This case study of one University’s journey “there and back” from a major seismic event has charted only one aspect of the journey to increase resilience. Ayebi-Arthur (2016) describes more aspects that are relevant to DEANZ conference’s theme of Twin Pillars including infrastructure and e-learning support. Universities in Aotearoa New Zealand cannot dodge the likelihood of natural disasters that can close one or more buildings on a campus (Seville, Hawker, & Lyttle, 2012). The findings are also relevant to other crises such as those caused by weather and digital infrastructure.
What can e-learning offer in a crisis that closes the University campus? This paper presents the ... more What can e-learning offer in a crisis that closes the University campus? This paper presents the emerging findings in a case study of one College of Business impacted in 2011 by earthquakes in New Zealand. Analyses from interviews of nine staff and documents they recommended were used to describe processes of increasing resilience with e-learning over the worst seismic events. Increasing deployment of the University’s learning management system by staff and students plus audio recordings and video recordings of lectures enabled the College to continue its teaching. The Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989) and the generic model of organisational resilience by Resilient Organisations (Resilient Organisations, 2012) will be used to evaluate the adoption and adaptation of e-learning when a crisis occurs
Change can be viewed as an evolutionary process in which the educators and their
organisations ar... more Change can be viewed as an evolutionary process in which the educators and their organisations are co-evolving to with digital technologies (Davis, Eickelmann, & Zaka, 2013) and sometimes the co-evolution is stimulated by a shock that speeds changes in behaviour of the organisation as well as its staff and students. This paper presents the emerging findings in a case study of one College of Education that was impacted by seismic events in New Zealand. Documentary analysis and an interview of two staff indicate that evolution was prompted and has been sustained to enable the College to become more resilient. For example, with the adoption of a lecture capture system and also a move away from physical of assignments mailed to the college into online assessment managed through the LMS. This evolutionary process will be later evaluated though the generic model of organisational resilience by Resilient Organisations (2012).
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Papers by Kofi Ayebi-Arthur
The co-evolution of digital technologies and education in this ‘late adopter’ (Rogers, 2003) university is linked with organisational development. Social media does support communication of
organisational responses to crises, including increased adoption of e-learning. This paper shows there is a place for social media alongside e-learning tools and that their combined use also fosters resilience for students and academic staff (Dabner, 2012; Mackey, Gilmore, Dabner, Breeze & Buckley (2012). This case study of one University’s journey “there and back” from a major seismic event has charted only one aspect of the journey to increase resilience. Ayebi-Arthur (2016) describes more aspects that are relevant to DEANZ conference’s theme of Twin Pillars including infrastructure and e-learning support. Universities in Aotearoa New Zealand cannot dodge the likelihood of natural disasters that can close one or more buildings on a campus (Seville, Hawker, & Lyttle, 2012). The findings are also relevant to other crises such as those caused by weather and digital infrastructure.
organisations are co-evolving to with digital technologies (Davis, Eickelmann, & Zaka, 2013)
and sometimes the co-evolution is stimulated by a shock that speeds changes in behaviour of the
organisation as well as its staff and students. This paper presents the emerging findings in a case
study of one College of Education that was impacted by seismic events in New Zealand.
Documentary analysis and an interview of two staff indicate that evolution was prompted and has
been sustained to enable the College to become more resilient. For example, with the adoption of
a lecture capture system and also a move away from physical of assignments mailed to the
college into online assessment managed through the LMS. This evolutionary process will be later
evaluated though the generic model of organisational resilience by Resilient Organisations
(2012).