Investigating African ‘Digital―Immigrant’ Students’ Reactions to Moodle Resources.docVIP

Investigating African ‘Digital―Immigrant’ Students’ Reactions to Moodle Resources Abstract In this study， we investigated the reactions and perceptions of ‘digital immigrant’ students to the adoption of blended learning combining the Moodle VLE and traditional face-to-face instructional delivery method on EAP courses in a Nigerian university of technology. Data sets from extractable online logs for activities， discussion board interaction and two online surveys are triangulated by focus group discussion responses. The data revealed that students’ use of the online components of the courses are high and perceptions of the various values such as relevance， reflective thinking， interactivity， tutor support， interpretation， learning experience and benefit are very positive， and are in the range of 60s to 90s in percentage points. However， peer to peer interaction while positive is not as high， indicating the additional work that need be done in addition to the challenges of infrastructure and cost that students would want addressed. Implications of the findings include the potentials of blended learning in difficult academic contexts and subject areas， the relevance of social interaction platforms in language learning and other subject areas， and the crucial role technology can play in large class contexts. Key words： Digital immigrant； Moodle； Blended learning； Interaction； Critical thinking； Learner autonomy INTRODUCTION When Marc Prensky came up with the terminologies ‘Digital Natives’ and ‘Digital Immigrants’， he did not have Nigerian young students as referents. Most of these youths do not belong to the generation that had “Computer games， email， the Internet， cell phones and instant messaging [as] integral parts of their lives” （Prensky， 2001）. But the rapid developments in the last two decades in the application of Information and Communications Technologies （ICTs） to education is a major challenge to educators， even in Africa， particularly sub-Saharan Africa and