International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) Volume 10, Issue 01, January 2019, pp. 1213-1221, Article ID: IJCIET_10_01_111 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=10&Issue=1 ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

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THEORISING THE USE OF IN ENGINEERING IN CAMEROONIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Kehdinga George Fomunyam Teaching and Learning Development Centre Mangosuthu of Technology

ABSTRACT The use of technology is one of the recent evolutions that have occurred in education today (Ngoran, 2016). This evolution has caused a great debate around the world and is at the fore front of promoting it. Thus, the use of technology in Cameroonian education cannot be minimized, yet it is not without problems. Engineering education in has become more problematic following the use of technology. Significant attention has been devoted to the use of educational technology in engineering education throughout the world, but it has not been theorized in Cameroonian Higher education. In this article, we develop a theoretical basis for the use of educational technology from the opinion of Engineering teachers and students. We explore this by giving an overview of the use of technology in Higher education by hypothesizes and describing the perceptions and attitudes of Engineering teachers and students towards the use of Educational technology in engineering education in Cameroonian Higher Education. The study employed cross sectional survey design and used questionnaires and interviews as research instruments. Findings show that Engineering teachers and students have positive perceptions towards the use of educational technology in engineering education and the perceptions do not differ between teachers and students or across institutions. The research has important implications for administrators, Engineering department, teachers and students. Keywords: Educational technology, Engineering education, Cameroon, Higher education Cite this Article: Kehdinga George Fomunyam, Theorising the Use of Educational Technology in Engineering Education in Cameroonian Higher Education, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 10(01), 2019, pp. 1213–1221 http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=10&Issue=1

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1213 [email protected] Kehdinga George Fomunyam

1. INTRODUCTION Since the introduction of engineering education in the world, research on Engineering Education (EE) has flourished as Engineering has become a discipline widely taught in almost all . A considerable amount of research has been conducted on engineering education throughout the world such as teachers’ perceptions about the use of computers (Aydin, 2013; Khoza, 2015; Ipek & Ziatdinov, 2017). Although significant has been carried out in other countries on the use of educational technology in Higher education, very little or nothing has been done in Cameroon (Bisong, 2015). Much still remains, however, to uncover Engineering lecturers and students view on the use of educational technology in Cameroonian Higher education. The results of previous research on the use of educational technology are mostly context-specific as regarding the population, sample and limitation. This means that the findings cannot be applied to Cameroon because of contextual differences. Cameroonian Engineering teachers and students have differing experiences with educational technologies due to the multilingual, multicultural situation of the country (Echu, 2003) and also, their historical context. For this reason, this research focuses on examining and evaluating Engineering teachers’ and students’ perceptions and attitudes of the use of educational technology in Engineering education in Higher institutions in Cameroon to see if the technologies work well for the teaching and learning process. Therefore, this study draws attention to the need to theorise the use of educational technology in engineering education in Cameroon.

2. THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION According to Bisong (2015), educational technology is one of the things among many others that lead to success in every education. Educational technology has been described as a systematic and organized process of applying modern technology to improve the quality of education. Kamp (2016) defines it as a systematic way of conceptualising the execution and evaluation of the educational process. It involves the application of modern educational teaching techniques. It includes instructional materials, methods and organisation of work and relationships, that is, the behaviour of all participants in the educational process. Without it, the teaching and learning process without be made less effective, thereby hampering the kind of educational encounters engineering students have. Educational technology is vital for the functioning of any institution today. To be able to understand how important educational technology is to an institution, we have to understand how much educational technology an institution requires. Higher education is poised to better prepare students for the labour market and therefore it helps to endow vital innovative and creative skills (Kamp, 2016). The engineering discipline needs educational technology for the facilitation of teaching and learning especially because the Engineer would be functioning within the parameters of the 4th industrial revolution. It is expected that technologies will help Higher education become more innovative and productive (Klopfer, 2016). However, the use of technology does not necessarily suggest better performance in education especially in a context like Cameroon where educational technologies is not readily available for use and what is available is not always accessible. Some researchers believe that technology is the way to go (Johnson et al, 2017), while others (Bruyckere et al., 2015) believe that the effect of technology on teaching and learning has been limited and expect that it will not fundamentally change education. The use or integration of educational technology in the teaching and learning process depends on the lecturer and students who are both participants in the knowledge creation process. It is for this reason that

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1214 [email protected] Theorising the Use of Educational Technology in Engineering Education in Cameroonian Higher Education this paper theorizes the use of educational technology in engineering education in Cameroonian Higher education.

3. THE RESEARCH CONTEXT Cameroon like some sub-Saharan African countries is making enormous progress in the use of technology in various development sectors, including education. According to Tetang (2007), technology was introduced into the curriculum of private schools in the 1990s, but there is no specific policy guiding the teaching or use of technology in education, which has led to each private school applying its own or programme. He added that educational technology was officially introduced in Cameroon in 2001 by the president. The Cyber Education project launched by the government targeted two sectors: secondary and tertiary education and since the French government plays a great role in the implementation, France is a major partner both financially and technically. Thus, there is no doubt that the manuals of technology were all written in French. This caused a lot of problem in Cameroon since Cameroon is bilingual with English and French as official languages. Technologies considered all over the world have not yet been widely introduced and adopted in Cameroon, but it is expected that such technologies would increasingly influence educational practices if developed to fit the context in which they will be used. For this reason, Engineering education has been reluctant in accepting technologies for learning, but change is inevitable and such rejection can no longer be accepted because in recent times the internationalization of higher education has ensured educational and pathways move across the institution (Klaassen de Vries, & Kamp, 2017). Technologies like 3D printing, the internet, learning management platforms, social media platforms, and Virtual Reality amongst others are progressive developments which ought to bring a competitive advantage, but in a context like Cameroon with a slow pace of growth and adaptability, gaining access to this technology and making use of them in engineering education has been a challenge (Johnson et al., 2014). Besides, technologies are in a dynamic state of change, and are continuously refined and developed with regard to new developments. Today, more than ever, educational technology is very important in education especially in engineering education. Although there has been considerable interest in the study of Engineering Education in general and Educational technology in the past years, there seems to be a dearth of research interest in this domain of study in Cameroon. This may be as a result of the little or no attention paid to educational technology in Cameroonian universities. Metuge (2002, p.158) wonders whether our present use of technology in Engineering education practice at the tertiary level in Cameroon deserves the label educational technology. Another possible reason why there is the lack of research in this area is the fact that Cameroonian Higher institutions are probably not aware of the importance of Educational technology. Perhaps, this is as a result of lack of focus on educational technology. Also, the official bilingualism policy practiced in Cameroon poses cultural challenges that require careful management within the Engineering curriculum in order to teach or learn with the aid educational technologies. In today’s highly competitive world and given the challenges of the 21st century, it is more important for Higher education to adopt educational technologies to facilitate teaching and learning in Engineering education. Though this might seem possible, what matters is not only for higher institutions to adopt Educational technologies, but for them to be able to make use of these technologies. Thus, it is important that this paper theorises the use of educational technologies in education in Cameroon. Most important, the use of technologies in education has been under severe attack and scrutiny by researchers recently for the teaching and learning deficiency of teachers and students. A few researchers have mentioned this problem but none

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1215 [email protected] Kehdinga George Fomunyam of them have tried to address the situation. Barclay et al (1991) argue that if the theories supporting the use of technology in education are to achieve their goals of preparing skilled students, the theories must reflect the Cameroonian situation. In the same way, technologies adopted in Higher education in Cameroon should be those that can be used in Cameroon. According to Aydin (2013) problems are likely to occur when using technology in the Cameroonian context. Theorizers remain unaware of the organizational constraints that influence the use of technologies in Cameroonian higher education and rely instead on emphasizing its use in education. This view is supported by Fomunyam (2014) who argue that such use without paying attention to the context reflects a disparity in education. Incorporating the view of lecturers and students into reconceptualising the use of educational technology in institutions is a recent phenomenon which has caused great debate around the world, yet, previous research in Cameroon has overlooked it. For this reason, this research focuses on examining the views of Engineering lecturers and students regarding the use of educational technology in Cameroonian Higher education and the challenges that face its use in Cameroonian Higher institution.

4. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Many researchers have proclaimed how important technology is to education and many theories have been propounded to support this view. However, what the theorizers failed to articulate is the necessity of context in teaching and learning and the suitability of resources in such context. In such settings, of which Cameroon is a perfect example, effective use and integration of educational technology in engineering education is not so easily perceivable because they are westernized products and most of them are highly used in developed countries. The legacy of colonialism and marginalization such as low self-esteem, and lack of resources amongst others has ensured that locating and using educational technologies in Cameroon remain a challenge with little opportunities for practicality and success in enhancing teaching and learning. Also, most online resources are development and anchored in the west and if they have to be introduced in Cameroon, then there is the need for empowering the national stakeholders to enable them to modify such resources as a way of making them responsive.

5. RESEARCH FOCUS 1. What are teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards the use of educational technology in engineering education in Cameroonian Higher education? 2. What are students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the use of educational technology in engineering education in Cameroonian Higher education? 3. Are there differences in the views of teachers and students use of educational technology in engineering education in Cameroonian Higher education? 4. What are some of the challenges facing the use of educational technology in Engineering education in Cameroonian Higher education and what possible solutions can be propose for these challenges?

6. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theoretical perspective adopted for this paper is the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT). This choice is informed by the theory’s comprehensiveness and explicitly in theorizing the use of educational technology. Igira and Gregory (2009) argue that CHAT has passed through three generations or phases: the first phase focused on mediated action, the second phase focused on the individual in collective activity, and the third phase which

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1216 [email protected] Theorising the Use of Educational Technology in Engineering Education in Cameroonian Higher Education currently focuses on multiple, interacting activity systems and boundary-crossings between them. CHAT criticized traditional research approaches that tend to focus only on the user of the technology. Giroux (2018) adds that it focuses on the use of technology within its environmental context. This approach requires that a shared understanding of the character, history of the subject, the object unto which the individual is attempting to reach, the characteristics of the surrounding environment and the tools available to the subject are considered before teaching and learning can take place. The theory emphasizes the understanding of the totality of human activity in context (Foot, 2014). The CHAT paradigm argues that learning is a process of constant interaction with the environment and knowledge is constructed by individual learners, building on existing historical experiences within the student’s context. It holds that technology is a mechanism to actively engage learners in the learning process and emphasized that the use of educational technology should be contextualize. Roth (2007) argues that CHAT provides an opportunity for conscious, goal- directed actions take a central place in teaching and learning, where they mediate between activities directed toward societal motives, and non-conscious operations conditioned by the context. Actions are therefore both conscious cultural-historical and non-conscious, materially embodied features of human cognition. On the one hand, activities and actions mutually presuppose each other in the use of technology. Activities such as “video conferencing” are realized through concrete, goal-directed practical actions such as “purchasing a digital device,” “ordering internet,” or “securing fast and secure internet.” But actions are only accomplished because they realize a specific activity. The sense attributed to a particular action arises from its relationship with the activity such that the same action has a different sense when produced in a different activity system. This theory is therefore relevant to this paper because it presents the importance of context in the use of technology as well as the activities in teaching and learning enhanced through the use of educational technology.

7. METHODOLOGY The methodology employed for this research consisted in a cross-sectional survey design. Generally, survey designs are used to sample a large number of respondents and to assess participants’ perceptions and attitudes (thoughts, opinions and feelings). Our reason for using a survey design is that we quantitatively described particular aspects of our population. Also, our data were collected from a particular population from which the findings were later generalized to the population (Kraemer (1991) as cited in Glasow, 2005). As Isaac and Michael (1997:136) assert, surveys are used: To answer questions that have been raised, to solve problems that have been posed or observed, to assess needs and set goals, to determine whether or not specific objectives have been met, to establish baselines against which future comparisons can be made, to analyze trends across time, and generally, to describe what exists, in what amount, and in what context. In this research, the cross sectional survey design was used because the participants cut across institutions. We generated data from a sample selected to represent a larger population at a particular time. The research approach is the qualitative and Dornyei (2007) argue that this is the exploration of a particular phenomenon in detail to unearth every detail about it. The qualitative approach was chosen because the researchers wanted to develop a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon using multiple instruments of data generation that contribute to making our findings and conclusions more convincing and more accurate (McMillan and Schumacher, 2000). Interviews and questionnaires were the two main instruments used. The sample population comprised Engineering lecturers and students from six higher education institutions. These six

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1217 [email protected] Kehdinga George Fomunyam are the most prominent amongst those offering engineering education. Open ended questionnaires were administered to students, while interviews were conducted with lecturers. The interviews each lasted for 45 minutes. The lecturers were made to complete a consent form indicating their approval to participate in the research while the students were made to understand that by completing the questionnaire they were giving their approval to participate in the study. They were to return the questionnaire blank if they did not want to participate. A total of 680 students completed the questionnaire, while 122 returned the questionnaire blank. The rest of the students about 4000 in number did not respond to the questionnaire or return it. On the other hand, sixteen lecturers were interviewed. About 18 lecturers originally indicated their consent to participate in the research but only 16 eventually took part in the research.

8. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS Findings from the questionnaire distributed show that the opinions of both lecturers and students did not differ towards the use of educational technology in engineering education. Both lecturers and students agreed on the potentials of technology in improve the quality of educational experiences if integrated in engineering education. They all confirmed of having used at least one technological tool like computers and projectors at one point or another in the course of teaching and learning in engineering education. Out of the 16 lecturers who participated in the interview only 3 pointed out that they had used almost all of the educational technologies that might be available in Cameroon like, YouTube, google forms, video calls, power point presentation, smart phones, and projectors amongst others in the course of teaching and learning. All of them disagreed to teaching online due to poor internet access. The participants pointed out that most of them could not go completely digital with teaching and learning because of poor internet access; as such they preferred to engage the more traditional methods like the chalkboard. About 83.3 percent of the students and lecturers were of the opinion that they would prefer using educational technology like laptops, learning management systems, electronic white boards, and other educational apps in teaching and learning but don’t get to use. Again, they do not use them often because they (73%) either cannot afford them (educational technological equipment) while 63% of them said that they lack access to some educational technology or that the technologies are not available to them (electronic white board, internet access and some software). Others (46.7%) complained that some of the educational technologies are often scarce and expensive. A student explained her reason for not having a laptop in these words; “in a country like Cameroon where it is very difficult to get employed and start working at an early age, it seems difficult for university students to afford a laptop or smart phone”. Another student added that “affording a smart phone was a luxury”. This goes to prove the fact that whereas in Europe and America where technology is everywhere and children at the age of 6 months can own and play with technology, in Cameroon, it is so different. A working class cannot even afford to buy certain technologies because they are either expensive or they are not available to him or her (Klopfer, 2016). In line with this, Bisong (2015) reports that most students, however, lack access to the Internet and web-based learning in Cameroon. Indeed, only students with access to the internet are able to utilise online learning. In an interview, a respondent confesses that online learning “is not very prominent in Cameroon, yet, it is very challenging to get a perfect network as the network in Cameroon is often poor”. When asked to note the technologies frequently used in Cameroon, respondents noted Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google search and Power point. The findings of this research are similar to those of Klaassen et. al., (2017) which prove that the most used technologies in education are not developed for education, but are consumer technologies. In

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1218 [email protected] Theorising the Use of Educational Technology in Engineering Education in Cameroonian Higher Education other words, the most used technologies are developed for use by the general public. In response to the use of emerging technologies to be developed in the future, all the lecturers (100%) were worried about the use of emerging technologies which are to help bridge the skills gap for today’s students especially with the problems faced by the available technologies. Doubts aroused because they feared that if the current education practice is not capable of dealing with the old technologies like television and projectors, then what more of new developments in technologies. Majority of respondents (86.7%) show consent for distance learning programme and e- learning which as of yet is still a great challenge in Higher education in Cameroon. Shaibou (2015, p.14) supports this by pointing out that “despite the efforts made so far, the distance learning programme is still to be thoroughly popularized” in Cameroon. He further stresses the fact that in Cameroon, only Yaoundé and Douala are very well connected as regards to technologies. Prerequisites are not easy to meet at a personal level. To him, “access to e-distance learning remains a challenge for Cameroonians” (p.14). Most of the participants (70%) seem to be more comfortable with traditional teaching methods. However, 30% argued for the fact that they prefer the use of technology in teaching and learning because “the world is fast changing into a technology world”, as a student puts it. While the availability of educational technology and access to the internet were identified as strong points, 86.7% of the participants reported that one of the main constraints facing the use of educational technology is that Higher education currently lacks sufficient variety in distance learning materials used. Those interviewed also noted that students were generally unprepared for online or distance learning, but many suggested measures to remedy this problem such as educating students on the importance of e-learning. Students’ lack of independent learning skills was similarly identified by most of the teachers (85.7%) as one of the greatest obstacles to teaching at a distance. Many constructive suggestions, however, were given that could offer direction to lecturers and students on how to adapt and use educational technology in Cameroon. The study yields many useful insights into possible solutions to help solve the challenges of using educational technology like training teachers in the use of educational technology, equipping all schools with technology facilities and providing internet access to all on campus. Most important, the government should not only put in place policies guiding the teaching or use of technology in education but should make sure that the policies are implemented. In addition, the study also revealed that challenges on the use of educational technologies in engineering education in higher education abound. The challenges related to the use of educational technology in engineering education in Cameroon cuts across the entire higher education sector since both the public and private institutions reportedly face the same challenges. Both the lecturers and the students pointed out similar challenges like the availability of educational technology within universities, the lack of vital technological skills, and lack of resources to secure technological gadgets, digital immigration and inability to properly adapt technology to fit the educational classroom in Cameroon. In interviews with engineering lecturers, they mentioned some severe challenges of the use of educational technologies in Cameroon. This challenges can be grouped into specific categories. The first challenge was budget. Some lecturers pointed out that higher education in Cameroon lack vital funds or ‘budget’ to help achieve the dream of effectively using educational technologies in their classrooms because such projects rely mainly on external funding. Tetang (2007, p.2) supports this problem of funding technologies in Cameroon when he postulates that “the lack of funding technologies in Cameroon puts their sustainability into question”. Also, another lecturer argued that higher education institutions have poor purchasing

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1219 [email protected] Kehdinga George Fomunyam power, and no budget has been allotted to them to support technology activities in universities. Most computers used in schools are donations. Moreover, the few projects funding educational technology in Cameroon focus mainly on public institutions and neglect the private universities who constitute the majority in relation to engineering education. Another participant added that “private universities have not been involved in the project, thus, creating a gap between the two educational systems”. Most of the online learning resources accessible through the Cameroonian learning platform CAM-EDUC are in French, thus constituting a handicap for the English-speaking community. A student made mention of the fact that lecturer preparation to teach using technology is problematic. In addition, both lecturers and students (100%) emphasised that all those online resources are based in Europe, indicating the need for empowering the national stakeholders to enable them to produce online learning materials corresponding to the local environment. Shaibou (2015) posits that this challenge is by far one of the most problematic in Cameroonian Higher education because universities lack general internet access.

9. CONCLUSION Given the fact that achieving innovative skills effectively is an essential part of Engineering education and an elixir, one that can ensure future employment and can guarantee organizational success since the world is changing into a technological world, it is important that the use of technology is theorized to reflect the Cameroonian context in which it is used. An increasing level of investment in educational technology will surely help, but it is evident that the focus of this study is not whether technology is important in engineering education but whether it is used (or not) and how well the technology is used to support teaching and learning in engineering education. Both engineering lecturers and students in higher education will need to have a better understanding of what technology can do for education in order for them to try the available educational technologies unlike public technologies. This implies that there is a need for higher education to investigate, test, and assess the usability of a technology in their environment before making introducing it to students. To make this happen, Higher education will need to reconsider their policies.

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