Digital inhibitors in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic
1 Department of Management Sciences, Midlands State University, Harare, Zimbabwe.
2 Department of Language Literature and Culture, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Review
World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, 2023, 08(02), 197–203.
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjaets.2023.8.2.0087
Publication history:
Received on 08 Februay 2023; revised on 21 March 2023; accepted on 23 March 2023
Abstract:
The novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) global pandemic has brought vast changes to people’s lifestyles in general and has changed business processes globally. The education systems are not spared from the COVID-19 impact and business delivery procedures. Africa mainly being the consumer of digital goods and services and not necessarily the producer as shown in the centre periphery model was not spared either. This paper explores the effects of COVD- 19 at institutions of higher learning and how they were immensely affected resulting in increased use of the web 2.0. However, the digital learning methods encountered digital inhibitors which include but not limited to accessibility, connectivity, social, geographical, economic, legal and technological digital issues. Challenges faced by the community of higher learning institutions in Zimbabwe embracing the digital learning tools are discussed. Using a qualitative approach, this article interrogates the impact of these higher education digital inhibitors in Africa with special reference to Zimbabwe during and post COVID-19 global pandemic. The research instruments used were online interviews and experiences. It is against this background that the writers unearth digital inhibitors in higher education during the COVID-19 era. Post COVID-19 era cannot be still business as usual. It is recommended that to bridge the gap there is need to consider Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as basic necessity not a luxury that have too be accessed by all as well as being in a position to operate the tools and having information literacy skills.
Keywords:
Digital; Inhibitors; Digital inhibitors; Education; Higher education; Web 2.0; Post COVID 19; Corona Virus; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Information literacy.
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Copyright © 2023 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0