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PUBLISHED DATE: - 26-06-2024
DOI: -
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajssei/Volume06Issue06-29
PAGE NO.: - 227-239
ASSESSING THE CHALLENGES IN USING
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING AND
LEARNING IN STATE UNIVERSITIES IN
CAMEROON
Dr Agbor Emmanuel, Oben
Ph.D. Educational Administration, University of Buea, Cameroon
INTRODUCTION
Using Digital technologies in the context of
instruction is expected to support a shift from
teacher-centred practices to learner-centred
instruction, thereby fostering the acquisition of
some 21st century employability skills like
creativity, critical thinking and problem solving,
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Abstract
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technological literacy, and communication skills,
just to name a few (Oben, 2023; Langthaler &
Bazafkan, 2020). In distance, online learning, as
well as blended learning settings, these digital
technologies help widen access to remote
populations, especially where lack of resources
does not allow for expansion of educational
institutions and infrastructure, or to complement
the face-to-face teaching and learning process.
Langthaler and Bazafkan (2020), referred to the
use of digital technology in teaching and learning
as an opportunity to improve the quality of
education and to offer solutions to long-standing
problems such as educational inequalities and
restricted access.
Pre-Covid, teaching and learning in Cameroonian
universities was dominated by the traditional
“brick and mortar only” classroom model which
relied heavily on in-person lecture, hard copy
educational resources, and little or no use of digital
technologies notably, Learning Management
Systems, Video conferencing platforms, Microsoft
PowerPoint, and Smart devices, just to name these
few. Since 2020, most state universities started
experimenting with digital technologies in
teaching, amidst several challenges. While
increasing digitalization has been proven
worldwide to enhance academic flexibility,
accelerate and deepen skills (Oben, 2023; Endeley,
2018; Chetty et al. 2017, Kornelis and petraka,
2020; Manjusha, 2021; ), motivate and engage
students, help adapt school to workplace
experience (Bughin et al. 2018; Frey & Osborne,
2017; McKinsey Global Institute, 2018; OECD,
2018), thereby enhancing economic viability of
graduates, Cameroonian state universities like
many other African universities cannot afford to
stay behind the technological drive in higher
education system.
Given that empirical evidence in Cameroon on the
potential
benefits
(or
value-added)
of
digitalization in education are slim, and
considering the high costs involved in creating and
running multimedia centres in state universities,
the situation is further compounded by the
reluctance to change and skills deficiency for both
faculty and students, university administrators
and policy makers in Cameroon needed assurances
that the investment of increasingly scarce CFA
francs into digitalization process offers a good
return than investing elsewhere. University faculty
also needed assurances that digital technologies
are easy to use in instruction, are useful for
knowledge dissemination and will not increase
their workload, while Students on their part
needed assurances that their investment in
digitalized learning can make their learning easier,
while improving their return on education.
The Higher Education law N° 2023/007 of 25 July
2023, instituting the use of digital technologies in
teaching, makes governments’ resolve to push
through with the digital technology enhanced
teaching agenda clear, and firm while taking away
these apprehensions. In support of this vision, the
Head of State Prior to 2020, donated laptop
computers to all state university students in the
academic year 2016-2017, and dropped customs
charges on the importation of ICT material for
education for a number of years. This ambition of
the state was also clearly stated in the National
Development Strategy paper 2020-2030 as the
trinomial "Quality assurance, Professionalisation
and digitization of teaching, and Employability"
outlined in four programmes to be carried out by
the Ministry of Higher Education.
Notwithstanding these measures and incentives,
teaching with these digital technologies in state
universities has not been a smooth ride. Assessing
these challenges avails the government as well as
the university authorities, the opportunity to
adequately address them thereby creating a
conducive environment for the use of these digital
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technologies in teaching in state universities in
Cameroon. This is the focus of this paper, which
aims at finding out what challenges faculty and
students are facing in the use of digital
technologies in teaching in state universities in
Cameroon.
Literature Review
Teaching with Digital Technologies
Several definitions exist for teaching: Impedovo
(2013) defined teaching as the concerted sharing
of knowledge and experience, which is usually
organised within a discipline, and, more generally,
the provision of stimulus to the psychological and
intellectual growth of a person by another person
or artefact. Edmund (1967) also defined teaching
as "an interactive process, primarily involving
classroom talk, which takes place between teacher
and students, and occurs during certain definable
activities". Teaching is a process in which one
individual teaches or instructs another individual.
Teaching is considered the act of imparting
instructions to the learners in a classroom
situation. To teach is to engage students in
learning; thus, teaching consists of getting students
involved in the active construction of knowledge.
In the context of this study, teaching is considered
an interactive process that takes place between a
teacher and students within a classroom or
virtually using digital technologies for the active
construction of knowledge.
Digital technologies according to Vuorkari et al.
(2016), denote a wide range of technologies, tools,
services, and applications using various types of
hardware and software. They facilitate services or
activities by using electronic means to create,
store, process, transmit, and display information.
Broadly, digital technologies include the use of
personal computers, digital television, radio,
mobile phones, and robots (Rice, 2003; Vuorkari et
al., 2016).
Teaching with digital technologies, according to
Bloomberg (2018), is understood as the innovative
use of technological hardware and software in
teaching, often referred to as technology-enhanced
learning or e-learning. It allows educators to
design engaging learning opportunities in the
courses they teach, and this can take the form of
blended or fully online courses and programmes,
giving students some element of control over time,
place, path, or pace. According to Manjusha (2021),
teaching with digital technologies involves the
blending of data, text, and techniques into day-to-
day work, such that there is a transformation from
the industrial age to the age of technology and
creativity. To this author, what is commonly called
"digitalization" can take the form of an online
application, an online examination, the exchange of
online or web knowledge, digital support materials
of various formats (ppt, pdf, and doc), social
groups, and digital contents and publications. In
the context of this study, digital technologies are
electronic tools, systems, devices, applications, and
resources, both hardware and software, that
generate, store, or process data. Considered in this
study are Learning Management Systems, Video
Conferencing platforms, Microsoft PowerPoint,
and Smart Devices.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Learning management systems, according to
Barreto et al. (2020), are platforms that assist in
the delivery of content online for learning
purposes. LMS is a web-based software used to
facilitate the delivery of online, face-to-face, and
blended courses, whether in an academic setting or
in the world of business. A learning management
system (LMS) is a software application or web-
based technology used to plan, implement, and
assess a specific learning process. It is used in
administration,
documentation,
tracking,
reporting, automation, and delivery of educational
courses, training programmes, materials, and
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learning and development programmes. The most
common LMS used in educational institutions
include Moodle, Google Classroom, Blackboard
Learning, and Schoology. In the context of this
study, Google Classroom and Moodle are
considered the LMS tools for teaching in state
universities in Cameroon.
Video Conferencing Platforms
Massner (2021) described video conferencing
platforms as tools that facilitate online
communications for video meetings, audio
meetings, and seminars. They mostly have built-in
communication features like screen sharing, chat,
and recording. In education, video conferencing
platforms allow teachers to connect with students
no matter where they are. Examples of these
platforms are Zoom, Google Meet, Skype,
GoToMeeting, Lesson Space, Slack, BlueJeans, and
BigBlueButton. For this study, Google Meet and
Zoom are considered video conferencing platforms
used in teaching in state universities in Cameroon.
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint is simply a presentation-
based programme that uses graphics, videos,
pictures, and the arts, just to name a few, to make
a presentation more interactive and interesting.
According to Luke (2021), Microsoft PowerPoint is
a slide-based presentation tool that comes as part
of Microsoft's Office 365 package. It can be used by
teachers and students as a way of creating
slideshows. PowerPoint allows users to share the
presentations live in the room as well as digitally
online via a video conference interface. Students
can also work through a presentation in their own
time, making this a versatile way to communicate.
In this study, Microsoft PowerPoint is considered a
slide show presentation programme that uses
slides projected on a screen or clean surface to
convey rich multimedia information. It accepts the
addition of text, images, art, and videos.
Smart Devices
Silverio-Fernández et al. (2018) defined smart
devices as interactive electronic gadgets that
understand simple commands sent by users and
help in daily activities. These devices are generally
connected to other devices or networks via
different wireless protocols and can operate to
some extent interactively and autonomously.
Examples of smart devices are mobile phones,
tablets, laptops, phablets, smart watches, smart
glasses, and other personal electronics. For this
study, smart phones and laptops are considered as
smart devices used in teaching in state universities
in Cameroon.
From a theoretical standpoint, the researcher
focused on two theories to support the research
work: the theory of diffusion of innovation by
Everett Roger (1962) and the Technology
Acceptance Model (TAM) by Fred Davis (1986).
Theory of Diffusion of Innovation (DOI)
The Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, one of
the earliest social science theories, was created by
Roger in 1962. The theory describes how a fresh
concept or product gathers momentum over time
and diffuses or spreads among a particular
population. The idea is most suited for looking into
how technology is being adopted in the
educational system, particularly in higher
education institutions. It is a theory detailing how
innovations in science, technology, and other fields
travel among communities and cultures before
being widely accepted. Innovators, early adopters,
the early majority, the late majority, and laggards
are the primary participants in the idea.
Researchers have discovered that early adopters of
innovations differ from those who accept them
later in life. Understanding the traits of the target
demographic that will facilitate or impede
acceptance of the invention is crucial when
promoting it to that group. There are five
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established adopter categories, and while the
majority of the general population tends to fall into
the middle categories, it is still necessary to
understand the characteristics of the target
population. When promoting an innovation, there
are different strategies used to appeal to the
different adopter categories, as seen in figure 1.
Figure 1:
Diffusion of Innovation Theory
http://blog.leanmonitor.com/early-adopters-allies-launching-product/
The innovators
—
those willing to test the
innovation
—
come first. They are bold and curious
about novel concepts. They are frequently the first
to generate novel ideas and are very eager to take
chances. If anything, not much has to be done to
appeal to this group. Then follows the group of
early adopters, who are thought leaders, value
leadership opportunities, and represent opinion
leaders. They are usually open to embracing new
concepts and mindful of the necessity for change.
This group does not require any additional
information to persuade them to embrace the
innovation, therefore manuals and information
sheets on implementation are sufficient to get
them started. Next is the early majority. They are
the third category. They are rarely leaders in the
adoption of new ideas, but they do adopt new ideas
before the average person. All they need is
evidence that the innovation works and that they
are willing to adopt it. Therefore, success stories
and evidence of the innovation's effectiveness are
all that are needed to get them on board. The late
majority is a category of adopters who are typically
sceptical of change and will only adopt an
innovation after it has been tried by the majority.
They require information on how many other
people have tried the innovation and adopted it
successfully before they too can follow. The last
group of adopters are the laggards. This group of
people are bound by tradition and very
conservative. They are very resistant to change
and are the hardest group to bring on board.
Strategies to appeal to this group include statistics,
fear appeals, and pressure from people in the other
adopter groups. According to Rogers, a person's
decision to adopt or reject an invention is
influenced by a variety of factors, including relative
advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability,
and observability. In this study,
Roger’s diffusion of
innovation theory describes the pattern and speed
at which university lecturers adopt digital
technologies and tools in teaching students in state
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universities. As the use of digital technologies in
teaching continues to spread among the teaching
community in state universities, more and more
teachers will adopt innovative teaching methods
moving from one stage to another.
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by Fred
Davis (1986)
This study also stands on the theoretical
foundation of the Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM) by Fred Davis who designed it to measure
the adoption of new technology based on customer
attitudes. TAM states that the success of new
technology adoption is based on positive attitudes
towards two measures: perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use. Its foundations lie further
back in time when Ajzen and Fishbein (1980)
developed the ‘Theory of Reasoned Action’, but
Davis wanted an easier-to-use model to look at
technology at work.
Modified Core Module of T.A.M
Source: www. Smartinsights.com (2022)
Using digital technologies in teaching is an
innovation in state universities in Cameroon, and
as with every innovation, there are bound to be
challenges and even resistance to its use despite its
apparent advantages. It is therefore important that
the technology be accepted for use by the end
users
—
university faculty and students. To Davis,
greater acceptance or adoption of digital
technologies in teaching and learning can only be
possible when the faculty and students see the
technologies as useful and easy to use and change
their attitudes towards them by frequently using
them. While TAM has been criticised on a number
of grounds, it serves in this study as a useful
general framework and is consistent with a
number of investigations into the factors that
influence older adults’ intentions to use new
technology (Braun, 2013).
Objective of the study
The main objective of this study is to find out what
challenges faculty and students are facing in the
use of digital technologies in state universities in
Cameroon. Specifically, the study sought to:
•
Find out what challenges faculty and
students face in the use of LMS in teaching in state
universities in Cameroon
•
Find out what challenges faculty and
students face in the use of Video Conferencing
platform in teaching in state universities in
Cameroon
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•
Find out what challenges faculty members
face in the use of Microsoft PowerPoint in teaching
in state universities in Cameroon
•
Find out what challenges faculty and
students face in the use of smart devices in state
universities in Cameroon
Research Questions
The main research question of this study is, what
challenges do faculty and students face in the use
of digital technologies in teaching in State
Universities in Cameroon? Specifically,
•
What challenges do faculty and students
face in the use of LMS in state universities in
Cameroon?
•
What challenges do faculty and students
face in the use of Video Conference Platforms in
state universities in Cameroon?
•
What challenges do faculty members face in
the use of Microsoft PowerPoint in state
universities in Cameroon?
•
What challenges do faculty and students
face in the use of smart devices in state universities
in Cameroon?
METHODOLOGY
According to Kothari and Garg (2014), a research
design is the arrangement of conditions for the
collection and analysis of data in a manner that
aims to combine relevance to the research purpose
with economy in procedure. The study followed a
survey design with a qualitative method. The study
was carried out in five state universities in the
cities of Buea, Douala, Dschang, Maroua and
Yaoundé. The population of the study was made up
of the total number of students and teachers of
state universities in Cameroon. Using Kothari and
Garg (2014), the researcher selected a sample size
of 406 participants from professional faculties,
comprising 386 final year undergraduate students,
and 20 faculty members who must have taught
with digital technologies for at least five years.
Stratified purposive sampling was used to select 5
out of 8 long existing state universities, and
purposive sampling to select final year
undergraduates and faculty members. A
questionnaire with open ended questions was
used to collect data from final year undergraduate
students while an interview guide was used to
collect data from faculty members. The
administration of the instruments was done by the
researcher and two research assistants trained for
the purpose. Qualitative data gathered from both
the questionnaire and the interview guide was
analyzed thematically with the help of quotations
and themes.
DISCUSSION
The findings of the study are presented in tabular
form and discussed, following the specific research
objectives.
Challenges faculty and students face in using Learning Management Systems
Table 1: Challenges Faculty and Students Face in Using LMS
Themes
Quotations
Students
Poor/unstable
internet
“Internet problem”, “Connection problem”, “Problem of connection”,
“Network issues”, ” Unstable network”, ‘Internet issues”, ‘Poor
network at times”, ‘Slow internet by using MTN sims makes it
difficult”, ‘Poor unstable network in my environment”, “Network
fluctuations”
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Inadequate
teacher interaction
“Lack of interaction with teacher”, ‘No interaction with the teacher”,
“Absence de partitions de tout le monde”, “Lack of interaction with
teacher”
Distraction
“Distraction”. ‘Concentration”, ‘Distraction from home”,
Data
“Data problem”, “Learning online need enough mobile data”
‘Inadequate finance to often buy data”, ‘Data and connection
subscription”.
Power failure
“Power failure and internet”, ‘Power failure”
Teachers
Internet
connection
“The main challenge I face is internet connection” , “The problem here
is that of poor internet connection”, “Poor internet connection”,
‘Sometimes, there is poor internet network”, “Internet connection
problems”, “Poor internet connection”, “The network in Buea is not
very good plus frequent power outages that make teaching with LMS
challenging”.
Lack of
computers
“A few students don’t have the computer to work on”.
“Some students do not have laptops”.
lack of interest by
few students
“A major challenge I have using Google Classroom are: students’ lack
of interest”, “One of the challenges is that a few students are not
comfortable with the technologies”
Power failure
“Power outages”, “As challenge there is the problem of power failure”
Among the students who accepted to the use LMS
in teaching, the challenges they face in the use of
said digital technology are grouped into five
categories and, the frequently mentioned
challenge is Poor internet connection, while
inadequate/no
interaction
with
teacher,
distraction, data and power failure are other
challenges reported. Similarly to the students,
many of the teachers said they are faced with the
problem of poor internet connection when using
LMS in teaching as narrated “The main challenge I
face is internet connection”, “The problem here is
that of poor internet connection”, “Poor internet
connection”.. Other problems faced with are that
some students do not have computers, lack of
interest by few students and power failure.
Challenges Faculty and Study Face in Using Video Conferencing Platforms
Table 2: Challenges Faced Using Video Conferencing Platforms
Themes
Quotations
Students
Poor/unstable
internet
“Poor internet”, “Problem of connection”, “Internet
problem”, ‘Network issues”, “Poor internet connection”
“Unstable network”, ‘Internet issues”, ‘Problem of
connection”, ‘Connection problems”, ‘Poor connection
network”, ‘Internet challenge”, ‘Internet facility”,
‘Network fluctuations”.
Distraction
“Distraction”, ‘Home distractions”.
Data
“Data connection”, ‘Lack of data”, ‘Data connection
problem”, “Uses more data”
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Power failure “Power failure”, “Frequent power failure”.
Poor video
quality
“Poor video quality”
Organisation
“Poor scheduling of tasks”.
Teachers
Internet
connection
“The main challenge is poor network connection”, “Poor
internet connection”, “Internet connections”, “Poor internet
connection”, “A major difficulty is the problem of network
failures”, “Poor internet connection”, “The main challenge I
face is that most students don’t get to follow the lessons till the
end for poor connections”, “Poor network is a major challenge”.
Data
“The main challenge I face is that most students don’t get to
follow the lessons till the end for poor connections or lack of
data, “Students inability to connect due to lack of data”, “Lack
of data”
Evaluation
difficulties
“It is difficult to evaluate the students on the platform”
Lack of good
devices
“Students inability to connect due to lack of good device”,
“Sometimes students don’t have adapted gadgets that support
video conferencing”
Students’
digital
illiteracy
“The inability of some students to use the tools”
From these findings, among the students who
accepted to the use video conferencing in teaching,
the challenges they face were grouped into six
categories and, the frequently mentioned
challenge was poor internet while, distraction,
data, poor video quality, power failure and
organization of tasks are other challenges
reported. Similarly to the students, many of the
teachers indicated that poor internet connection is
the dominant challenge they are faced with when
using video conferencing platforms in teaching as
narrated “The main challenge is poor network
connection”, “Poor internet connection”, “Internet
connections”. The lack of data, difficulty in carrying
out evaluation using video conferencing, digital
illiteracy of some students and the lack of good
devices by some students are other challenges
reported by teachers.
Challenges Faculty Members Face in Using Microsoft PowerPoint in Teaching
Table 3: Challenges Faced Using Microsoft PowerPoint in Teaching
Themes
Quotations
Power failure
“Power failure which unfortunately is more frequent now”, “We have a lot of
disruptions in energy supply that make the classes to sometimes end before time or
not even hold”, “Frequent Power failure”, “Frequent power outages disrupts my
lessons”, “Power failure is regular in Douala and so the equipment cannot function”,
“There is the problem frequent power cuts”, ‘The frequent power cuts are a challenge
to teaching with PowerPoint”, ‘Irregular energy supply is a challenge”, “Frequent
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power cuts that interrupt and end the lecture”, “The frequent power cut in Buea is
the main challenge I have teaching with PowerPoint”.
Unsupportive
school
infrastructures
“Most lecture halls are not equipped with overhead projectors and the necessary
electrical connections to support teaching with the tool”
Based on challenges faced by teachers in using
Microsoft PowerPoint in teaching, many of them
complain of frequent power failure as narrated
“We have a lot of disruptions in energy supply that
make the classes to sometimes end before time or
not even hold”, “Frequent Power failure”,
“Frequent power outages disrupts my lessons”,
“Power failure is regular in Douala and so the
equipment cannot function”. The other challenge
recorded was unsupportive school infrastructure
as depicted in the following: “Most lec
ture halls are
not equipped with overhead projectors and the
necessary electrical connections to support
teaching with the tool”
Challenges Faculty and Students Face using Smart Devices
Table 4:
Challenges Faculty and Students Face using Smart Devices
Themes
Quotations
Students
Distraction
“Problem of concentration”, ‘Distraction”, ‘Lack of concentration”,
‘Concentration problem”, ‘I am tempted to be distracted”, ‘Easily get distracted
by social media”. ‘La distraction”, ‘Distract a lot”, ‘Psychological distractions”,
‘Distractions from recurrent pop-ups”, ‘Distracting yet useful’, “It distract, La
distraction facile”, ‘La distraction quotidienne”, ‘Beaucoup de distractions par
les”.
Power failure
“Power outage”, ‘Electricity failure”, “Lack of electricity to charge laptop”,
“Power supply”, ‘Unstable electricity”, ‘Absence of power supply in most
classes”, ‘Lack of power supply in the classrooms”.
Poor/unstable
internet
“Poor network”, ‘Manque de connexion”, “Network”, ‘Connection problem”,
‘Disruption by internet connection’,‘Poor network”.
Teacher
interaction
“Lack of interaction with the teacher”, “Lack of interaction with the teacher”,
‘Interactivity”.
Cost
“High cost of gadget”, ‘Financial costs”.
Data
‘I don’t always have money to buy Data”.
Teachers
Students’
distraction
“Lack of concentration from the students, plagiarism is common place”, ‘The
main challenge I have is to manage distraction from students who are on social
media while in class”, ‘Distractions in class”, “Lack of concentration from the
students”, “The main challenge in using smart devices is the issue of distraction,
as students sometime have divided attention: on the lesson and on social media”,
‘The main challenge I have is getting students attentive in class and not to be on
WhatsApp and Facebook during class”, “The main challenge is to manage the
distraction that these tools bring to class”, “The main challenge in using smart
devices is the issue of distraction, as students sometime have divided attention:
on the lesson and on social media”,“Student’s abusive use of the devices in class
e.g. social media chats during lectures”, “A real problem with these devices
especially the smart phone is disruption”, “The challenge resides in managing
disruptions from the wrong use of the devices e.g. chatting on WhatsApp during
the class”, “The main challenge in using smart devices is the issue of distraction,
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as students sometime have divided attention: on the lesson and on social media”.
Plagiarism
by students
“Cheating in examination is common and copy work from internet sources”,
“Copy work is more from internet sources”, ‘Plagiarism”.
Cheating in
examinations
“The devices favour cheating in examinations”, “The main challenge is to
manage cheating”
Laziness by
students
“This device may make students lazy as they copy from internet sources”.
From these findings, most of the students accepted
that they used smart devices in learning. Grouping
their challenges into six categories, the frequently
mentioned challenge was distraction, followed by
power failure and poor/unstable internet. Limited
interaction with teachers, cost of gadgets and data
were other challenges reported.
Based on challenges reported by teachers in using
smart devices in teaching, many of them like the
students themselves complained of distraction as
depicted in the statement
s: Distractions in class”,
“Lack of concentration from the students”, “The
main challenge in using smart devices is the issue
of distraction, as students sometime have divided
attention: on the lesson and on social media”., ‘The
main challenge I have is getting students attentive
in class and not to be on WhatsApp and Facebook
during class”, “The main challenge is to manage the
distraction that these tools bring to class”.
Plagiarism by students (coping work from other
sources), cheating in examination and laziness by
some students are other challenges mentioned.
CONCLUSION
The findings of the study culminated in the
conclusion that Poor internet connection,
distractions,
frequent
power
cuts,
and
unsupportive classrooms are the dominant
challenges reported by teachers and students in
the use of digital technologies in teaching in state
universities in Cameroon.
RECOMMENDATION
From the findings of the study, it was
recommended that Government could do the
following: cause telecommunications companies to
improve on their quality of services rendered as
well as reduce the cost of internet. Government
could diversify energy supply sources to include
solar energy in universities Campuses to mitigate
the effects of frequent power outages. University
authorities can regularly organize training
sessions for teachers and students on how to use
digital technologies in the context of education.
University authorities can ensure that lectures
halls are equipped with overhead projectors to
facilitate teaching with these digital technologies.
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