Advances toward digital learning. A scoping review of research and practices from East Africa

This chapter presents a scoping review concerning transforming education with emphasis on exploring new pedagogical approaches supported by digital technologies in East African higher education. The review is motivated by the Building Stronger Universities (BSU) project which is funded by Danida (Denmark's development cooperation). The aim of the review is to identify the extent and nature of the use of digital technologies and new pedagogies. That is, which technologies are in use, how are they used and how is the relation between student centered pedagogies and digital technologies described and accounted for. The review consists of two searches, using the same search terms and databases, one covering the period from 2009 to 2017 and another from 2018 to 2023. Three main areas appeared from the analysis of the paper: professional development, support of the e-learning process, and community learning.
The analysis also revealed that the use of mobile phones and Moodle is widespread, that the primary use concerns sharing of content such as course outlines, slides and reading material, and that there is a general agreement that use of digital technologies promote collaboration, self-regulated and student-centered learning. Furthermore, some cross cutting challenges were identified, the importance of access, the need for digital skills, and institutional support. Based on the finding from the review we propose a framework for transforming education using student-centered pedagogies and digital technologies.