Threading through the needle of digital education in Sub-Saharan Africa: understanding the concerns of university lecturers

Abstract

Adopting the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in education has generated mixed worries, particularly concerning the perceived challenges faced by students, lecturers, and institutions. In this article, we report the findings of a study investigating the lecturers’ concerns about adopting the 4IR in education and what institutions may undertake if it is to be successful. The study, designed as a qualitative descriptive survey, was framed from Fuller’s [(1969). Concerns of teachers: A developmental conceptualization. American Educational Research Journal, 6(2), 207–226. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312006002207] concerns-based adoption model to glean insights from 15 lecturers from universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Online questionnaires generated data that were thematically analysed. Findings show that lecturers were worried about the inadequacy of the digital infrastructures, increased social inequalities among students, reduced lecturer autonomy, and the threat to their jobs. This study implores governments of developing universities to initiate crowdfunding to set up digital infrastructures that are democratically used to mitigate the imminent exclusion of marginalized students from university education. Moreover, lecturers need to be re-skilled to remain relevant. The study provides emerging universities with policy and practice insights on capacity building in lecturers and a funding alternative for institutional support during technology adoption, drawing from the lecturers’ perspectives whose opinions are sometimes not sought during educational reforms.