Digital learning management systems in Africa: myths and realities

Abstract

This paper reports on a survey of 358 respondents across 25 African countries into their usage of learning management systems. It concludes that while there are some enthusiastic advocates of such systems, the reality is that most African educators as yet have little knowledge about, or interest in, their usage. There remain very considerable infrastructural constraints to be overcome before they can be widely adopted for open and distance learning across the continent, and there is still reluctance in many institutions to develop systems that can enable learning resources to be made available in this way. This does not mean that the potential of high‐quality digital learning management systems should be ignored in Africa, but rather that much more sustained work needs to be done in human capacity development and infrastructural provision if African learners are truly to benefit from the interactive learning experiences that such systems can deliver.

Keywords:

• ICT
• LMS
• Africa
• OER
• universities

Acknowledgements

This research has been funded by a DelPHE award from DFID, managed by the British Council, and an Edulink award from the ACP‐EU Partnerships in Higher Education programme. The authors are particularly grateful to all those who provided advice on the questionnaire design, to Clint Rogers for his comments on an earlier version of the paper, and to two anonymous referees who provided valuable additional suggestions.