Graduate students’ preferences in technology usage in student-faculty interactions at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract

Technology has had a major impact in education especially in the context of tertiary education. Such impact has manifested more in the advanced world compared to the developing world. This indicates that digital technologies undoubtedly have the potential to enhance traditional classroom teaching. Unfortunately, the exact nature of their contributions to educational achievement are highly debated and understudied in the African context. The impact of various uses of technology in tertiary African education needs to be well understood. This study therefore aimed at exploring graduate students’ perception regarding the use of technology in facilitating student-faculty interaction and its impact on learning experiences and outcomes at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. The study had graduate students from EVT 852- Curriculum Development in Vocational and Technical Education, and SOC 803- Special Problems in Theory Building classes as its population. These courses were purposively chosen to be studied. All the twenty-three students in the two classes participated in the study. The qualitative research design informed the orientation of the study. In-depth interviews were conducted. The deductive and inductive thematic analytical approach informed the discussion of the qualitative data elicited via the interviews. The study found out that the participants were satisfied with the face-toface and online technology-based forms of interaction for pedagogical and post-lecture communication purposes respectively. It is therefore recommended, among others, that more emphasis should be placed on technological use in education because it has the capability to enhance the learning experiences and outcomes of graduate students.

Key Words: Higher Education, Graduate Students, Face-to face interaction, Technology usage, Student-Faculty interaction, and Pedagogy