E-Readiness in South African Higher Education: A Delphi study: With a focus on determining key factors and stakeholders

Abstract

The level of readiness to use information and communication technologies is referred to as a measure of “e-Readiness”. South African universities may be well-placed to use some applications of information and communication technologies, but unable to use others. From review of existing literature, it is unclear as to which factors are regarded as important to be “e-Ready” in the South African Higher education context. In order to address this problem, a research project with the following objectives was proposed: 1. To determine the key focus areas and stakeholders for e-Readiness in South African Higher Education, and 2. To illustrate these key focus areas and stakeholders, and show how they relate to one another in a model for e-Readiness in South African Higher Education. A two-round Delphi questionnaire was conducted with South African universities' Information Technology directors, South African National Research and Education Network managers and Association of South African Information Technology Directors managers. The main outcomes that were achieved were: 1. New definitions for e-Readiness and e-Learning were posited, 2. The key focus areas for e-Readiness were determined as: Information, Infrastructure and Human Capital, 3. Key stakeholders and their proposed key roles were determined, 4. A model for e-Readiness for Teaching and Learning in South African Higher Education was proposed and tested.