Relationship Between ICT Use & Undergraduate Students’ Critical Thinking Skills for e-Learning in Selected Universities in Kenya

Description

E-learning heralded new era of higher education worldwide especially after the advent of COVID 19. The implementation of e-learning in many universities was fraught with challenges. The use of ICT in e-learning to the end that students can reason critically is the desire of many universities. This book examines the relationship between Information Communication Technology (ICT) use and undergraduate students’ critical thinking skills for e-learning. ICT is operationalized in terms of self-efficacy, teaching style and applications in use while critical thinking skills were measured in terms of analysis, evaluation, inference, and reasoning. The book recommends that university administrators should enhance policies related to ICT use while ODeL departments should ensure continuous support for lecturers and students for effective e-learning. Further, LMS vendors and suppliers should provide user friendly platforms with propensity for collaborative thinking. Lecturers who teach online should design and teach their courses with a balance of social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence as envisaged in the Community of Inquiry model and social constructivism theory. Course syllabi should be designed with outcomes, activities and assessment frameworks that seek to promote critical thinking skills.

Dr. Bernard Kimani is an Adjunct Lecturer with Africa International University where he teaches in the School of Education, Arts and Social Sciences (SEAS). He is a curriculum and instruction expert with research interests in online education particularly in the areas of instructional design and development of critical thinking skills among learners. He teaches Designs for Critical Thinking, Multimedia in Education, Educational Technology, Sociological Foundations of Education, History and Philosophy of Education among others at the postgraduate level. He has previously served as an adjunct faculty at Riara University, Pan African Christian University and Mt. Kenya University. He holds a BA degree from Global University, and Masters and PhD degrees in Education of Africa International University. Dr. Kimani is a member of the County Public Service Board in the County Government of Kiambu and the Chair, Governance, Ethics and Discipline Board Committee. He also chairs the TVET CDACC Sector Skills Advisory Committee for the Christian Ministry Sector which developed the competency-based curriculum and assessment tools for Christian ministry for Kenya and approved by TVETA in 2018.