Acquisition and utilization of ICT skills among University Students in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case of Universities in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate Kenyan university students’ skills and practices of using information and communication technologies (ICT). Views about the importance of ICT were also evaluated. One hundred and fifty students responded to a self-report questionnaire. The students were from 10 universities that use ICT in various forms and represented both public and private universities in Kenya. From the analysis, there emerged three constructs that represented these students’ interactions with and perceptions on ICT. The first construct entailed the view that computer assisted learning makes the learning process more meaningful and motivates one towards further learning. Competence in using ICT emerged as the second construct, along with intensive use of ICT at home in addition to networking with expert cultures and tutoring other people to improve their ICT skills. The third construct was the intensity of using ICT and this seemed to be determined by the availability of equipment and the extent to which ICT is used rather than by a student’s expertise in ICT.