Disruptive Technologies in Engineering Education: A Case Study

Abstract

Post-COVID-19 has shaped the educational system in the world particularly in university engineering education by using a digital technology platform such as a learning management system (LMS) with an embedded virtual environment. However students and lecturers rarely adopt and use this technology but rather prefer other platforms such as WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. that are not owned or controlled by the University management because they are not originally intended for teaching and learning even though they have the educational capability. This paper seeks to verify the extent to which disruptive technologies influence engineering university education. Much literature has investigated the role of disruptive technologies in recent studies but none of them related it to the context of university engineering education in Nigeria. Activity Theory and Expansive Learning methods were used to analyse the data obtained through survey questions and interviews on the respondent's actual practices. Out of 450 respondents involved in the studies. The survey showed that respondents tend to endorse the Disruptive Innovation theory as the respondents justify the reasons for adopting their preferred choice of technologies rather than following the designer's original intentions for inventing them. The survey questions and interview results showed that WhatsApp,Zoom,Google form and Twitter are the five topmost learning and teaching disruptive technologies frequently used by students and lecturers instead of LMS because they are easily accessible and convenient. The survey revealed that learners use a narrow range of technologies to support learning rather than those provided by their university management. Students and lecturers are not adopting LMS to support learning and teaching usage. The use of other learning technologies outside LMS has hindered the monitoring and evaluation of online education effectively by the University management