ICT access-user-use relationships in teaching / learning in higher education in South Africa : final project report

Abstract

This report describes the Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town’s research project which investigates information and communication technologies (ICT) access and use relationships amongst clusters of first-year university students. The project initially involved a short survey of students across five universities in South Africa. This was followed up by telephone interviews with 114 students and focus groups with a subset of 42 students. When an extension to the project was granted, a new phase of data collection was added using an additional methodology, that of digital semi-ethnographies, to enable the observation and capturing of additional insights into students’ day- to-day activities. Four Ethnographic Action Researchers (EARs) at four different universities across South Africa were appointed; they in turn recruited a total of 23 students to participate in the project throughout 2011. The EARs collected a range of data from each participant including interviews, online observations and video diaries. Two face to face workshops with the Project Team and the EARs took place culminating in a Digital Story workshop (involving four of the student participants) at the end of 2011. The last six months of the grant were spent coding for data analysis using NVivo software and undertaking preparatory work for writing and sharing research findings, an ongoing process which continues beyond the life of the project’s grant period.