Zooming into the Barriers and Motivations of the Ethiopian University Instructors for Designing and Delivering Content Online: An Institutional Case Study of the University of Gondar

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the educational field of study has been one of the areas that benefited from the proliferated use of digital technologies. Recent digital technologies in education have focused on online education in developed nations. However, they have paid less attention to the involvement of university instructors in online education in developing countries. Therefore, the current project tried to address this problem by examining the challenges and prospects of instructors in designing and developing content online in Ethiopia's public universities. This study involved 59 participants (15 semi-structured interviews, 32 participants in four focus group discussions, and 12 key informants), derived using a purposive sampling technique. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to explore participants’ explanations about the impediments and motivation of university instructors in designing and developing content online at the University of Gondar, Ethiopia. Explanations were presented in terms of impediments (the state of being faced with the challenges of university instructors) and motivation (the determination of instructors in higher education). The findings showed that the challenges of instructors can be classified as personal (technophobia, digital illiteracy, bad impression of content online, fear of making low-quality content, and lack of knowledge on how to produce content online) and institutional (insufficient infrastructure, absence of curriculums and policies on eLearning education. On the other hand, the prospects of instructors, such as taking eLearning education initiative, online education support services, and boosting awareness of online education, are the facilitators for instructors in developing content online in higher education.