ICT Enabled Learning and Teaching Innovations in Higher Education

Abstract

It is overwhelmingly clear today that new age 21st century Information Communication Technology (ICT) has taken over the lesser sustainable old age traditional information communication models and is being incorporated more and more, challenges notwithstanding, into higher education delivery services. African higher education institutions must therefore tap into the invaluable opportunity that ICT provides towards contributing to the efficient and effective delivery of higher education in today’s modern technologically inclined world environment. However, it is hard to use video materials for the electronic learning contents and provide the video meeting system among members since the Internet infrastructure in these countries is not good enough for applications requiring high speed network. Despite the opportunities that ICT provides for efficient higher education delivery, several existing challenges seriously impede the full integration of ICT into higher education delivery. These challenges include the unavailability of adequate ICT resources in higher education institutions, low student to ICT ratios, ICT illiteracy, ineffective curriculum development to suit electronic learning and teaching models, lack of appropriate ICT skills by the higher education stakeholders, limited or no access to power, costly internet access and challenges in the preparation, planning and maintenance of quality in the standardization of locally developed intellectual content. The objective of this research study paper is to determine the; sustainable development benefit of ICT enabled learning and teaching innovations in higher education, challenges to their integration into higher education and policy recommendations to overcome those challenges. The research design was of a descriptive survey nature based on a purposive critical analytical literature review methodology sourcing relevant purposively sampled literature on the; sustainable development benefit of ICT enabled learning and teaching innovations in higher education, challenges to their integration into higher education and policy recommendations to overcome those challenges. The conclusion arrived at was that efficient ICT enabled learning and teaching innovations’ integration into higher education is of critical positive significance to sustainable development of higher education in the developing world, however, it is hard to use video materials for the electronic learning contents and provide the video meeting system since the internet infrastructure in these countries is not good enough for applications requiring high speed network and policy intervention is a prerequisite for remedial action to this challenge among other interrelated challenges to the efficient integration of ICT enabled learning and teaching innovations into higher education.