Online education, social media and other topics

Abstract

Several of the articles in this issue are concerned with online education and social media, but one deals with ICT literacy in Nigerian universities and another with ICT and the teaching of Islamic studies in the UK, again demonstrating the breadth of this field. In 2013 we will have two special issues presenting the best papers from two academic conferences. We are open also to other special issues (probably from 2014) on other relevant topics. If you have any ideas on this, please contact me (Arthur.Tatnall@vu.edu.au). In this last issue for 2012 the first article is by Jared Keengwe and David Georgina on: ‘The digital course training workshop for online learning and teaching’. The authors point out that a primary concern with Information Technology training has been that such training focuses on the technical aspects of learning management system (LMS) platforms and pedagogy-enhancing software without any concern for the content of the courses. The Digital Course Training Workshop (DCTW) approach examined in this article addresses this concern by supporting a content-first approach. The article aims to stimulate reflections on the need for systematic faculty professional development programs and activities to help higher education faculty in the transition process from traditional to online courses. The second article: ‘ICT literacy among undergraduates in Nigerian universities’ is by AirenEdaleAdetimirin. The article relates a study to investigate the availability, use of Information and Communication Technology and the ICT literacy skills of undergraduates in seven Nigerian universities. The study found that computers, telephone and the Internet were the three technologies mostly used by the undergraduates, although more on an occasional basis. The three major factors affecting the ICT literacy of the undergraduates were identified as irregular power supply, inadequate ICT and limited duration of the use of the ICT. The author advocates that for increased ICT literacy among undergraduates, university administrators need to Educ Inf Technol (2012) 17:361–364 DOI 10.1007/s10639-012-9196-x