Electronic Learning Media at Higher
Education in Uganda: The Impact ofGender, Media Ownership and Field
Of Study.
Ndawula Stephen (PhD)Background Uganda is a landlocked developing country

located in East Africa with a population of
33.4 million
 The Uganda system of education is basedon an initial seven years of primaryeducation. Students who successfullycomplete primary schooling join a fouryears secondary ordinary level (O.Level).
 Those who successfully complete O.Level
may then choose to enroll in the two- year
Advanced Level (A.Level) program afterwhich to tertiary institutions.

Higher Education in Uganda: An Overview
 The terms higher’’ or ‘‘tertiary’’ are often usedinterchangeably to denote types of postsecondary
institution education (Mohamedbhai, 2008).
 Uganda has 29 universities, of which 5 are public and
24 are private (New Vision, 2011). In Uganda apartfrom universities there are other postsecondary
institutions and colleges that constitute to higher
education.
 However, given the pace of the permeation of e-media
in the country’s education sector, more progress has
been registered at universities. Higher education inUganda began with Makerere University initiallyestablished in 1922 as a technical school. Makerere is
the largest University in Uganda with 22 faculties
merged into eight colleges, and a student population ofabout 40,000.

Other public Universities in Uganda Mbarara University of Science & Technology(MUST) http://www.must.ac.ug/must.php is a public
university founded in 1989.

 Kyambogo (http://www.kyu.ac.ug/ ) is the second

largest University in the country, established on 18th
July 2003

 Gulu University http://www.gu.ac.ug/

is located inGulu Municipality; was established at the same timewith Kyambogo University in 2003.

 Busitema University (BU)

http://www.busitema.ac.ug/ is the latest of the public
universities in Uganda founded in 2007

The Electronic Learning Media andHigher Education in Uganda
The concept of electronic media takes into account power
driven teaching/ learning devises. In this paper shall be
confined to computers as pedagogical devises at higher
education (Balarabe, 2006).
 Using technology to enhance student learning in universities
has become an important area for discussion and study.
Electronic (ICT) devices are recently emerging technologies
that have become integral part of higher education system(Mukwa et al, 2008; Crowe, A., et al 2006 and UNESCO, 2000).
 In complicity with national ICT policy, universities in Uganda
provide Electronic Learning Media to students so as to increase
their capacity to incorporate the resource while attempting
academic tasks. Some universities have developed Web
presence for students and the outside world.
 Electronic Learning Media in Uganda as one of the mostsignificant technological developments in institutions of higher
learning, has the potential to provide learning opportunities all
the time, at any location, is cost effective and has wide reach(Kim, et al, 2005 and Michau et al, 2001).
Conceptual Framework
Conceptual framework forElectronic Learning Media Field of Study Media Ownership Gender Gap

A conceptual framework of the userfactors according to (Slate et al, 2002,Bates, 1996 and Coley at el, 1997) thatguided the study.

Conceptual Framework
Electronic Learning
Media

Gender Gap

Media Ownership

Field of Study

User Friendly Learning
Environment

Literature was reviewed basing on the abovemodel

Gender Gap
 This can be attributed to a combination ofgendered technology embodying malevalues, stereotyped content that favors
men and sex differences in cognition.

 The user gender gap affects the learners’

time spent on e-media for some academic
tasks. To a great extent success or failureof students’ use of the e-media in alearning institution is a gender question(Slate et al, 2002).

Media Ownership Media ownership implies the possession ofcomputers by students/ users. Students
who have personal computers tend todevelop more Internet knowledge andconfidence (Coley at el, 1997).

 A Personal Computer, for instance,increases the user opportunities to accessthe Internet for academic purposes.
Students without personal computers are
disadvantaged in the current technologybased education.

Field of Study

Field of study constitutes the learners’ areas of specialization atuniversity. The two broad fields of study in this research are thesciences and humanities. Students’ field of study influences
functions and methods used with e-media. In some fields of study
the subjects give chance of training in computer use; and hence
the level of implementation of among students will automaticallydiffer (Hong et al, 2003).
In higher education academics, there are students obliged toregularly use the technology into their classroom activities. A
computer obviously becomes a main medium necessary for
implementation of an academic program.
From the foregoing literature, it is evident that electronic media
has added a new dimension to educational communication andtechnology at higher education. No doubt, the Electronic media is
a powerful ingredient of the information resources universities
have. This study is therefore timely since it examines the key
impacting factors.

Statement of the Problem
 Since the commencement of electronic media

use at higher education in Uganda, not muchresearch has been done concerning theimpacting factors. It is important to explore
students’ concerns in relation to any newtechnology because it is difficult for authorities
to know if they are meeting the needs of users
effectively (OECD, 2005). This study therefore,
attempted to explore the role of gender;
media ownership and field of study on
students’ use of electronic media.

Study Hypothesis

H01 There is no significant
relationship between gender gap andstudents’ use of the Electronic media.
H02 There is no significantrelationship between media
ownership and students’ use of theElectronic media.
H03 There is no significant
relationship between field of study
and students’ use of Electronic media

Methodology
Population and Sample
The study considered final year undergraduates who weretaking ICT as a compulsory discipline in the university
faculties. In all, they were one thousand one hundred five(1165) students who constituted the population. Final year
students were identified as potential members of the sample
because; In Ugandan universities, it is at the final year level thatthe curriculum has fully covered tasks requiring use ofelectronic media (KYU, 2007).
 Final year students have had longer experience working
with the electronic media than any other academicyears.
 It was evident basing on the university teaching time
tables that final year students unlike other levels, havemore lessons in a week, working with electronic media
 A total of three hundred and fifty students (350) who
were randomly selected constituted a sample for theentire study.

Sample selection
Dale (1979), a sample of 10% to 30% of thetotal population is appropriate for the study.
 350 participants out of 1165 were thus
regarded appropriate number of respondents
 Thissample was deemed accurate anddesirable for the study, using a selfadministered questionnaire.
Instrumentation (Questionnaire)
A questionnaire with three sections
developed according to the independent
variables namely; Gender gap
Owning a personal computer
Field of study
In all, 36 questionnaire items were used
to examine students’ use of the emedia.

Validity and Reliability of Questionnaire
Number of Items Declared Valid

The formula; CVI ＝Total Number of items in the questionnaire
Number of items and the raters for the CVI.
Rater

Total number items in Numberofa questionnairedeclared valid

Rater 1302307

Rater 2302208

Rater 3302604Rater 430

2406

Total

120095025

CVI=

95 =
120

Items NumberofItems
declared invalid

0.79

CVI value of 0.79 was considered to be appropriate as suggested byDeVellis (1991).
Pilot tested on a group of students taking the same course from anearby university to improve the reliability.

Demographic characteristics of thestudents(N=280)Gender GapField of StudyMedia ownership

N%

Male

17763%

Female10337%

Humanities

14050%

Sciences

14050%

Yes

15254%

No

12846%

Statistical Data Analysis
A t-test was regarded most suitable since the study
involved an evaluation of differences in means
between two groups for each hypothesis. Forinstance: Gender had male and female
 Media ownership had those with and without

computers, while Field of study comprised of humanities and sciences.
In such a scenario, a-test was most appropriate forcomparing mean (Wong et al, 2007). With thevariables and the statement responses, a total of
thirty six entries were made for each questionnaire.

Gender gap and use of e-media
GenderFemale
MaleCount
Computer importantNo
Not SureYesacquire new learningtechniques

No
Not Sure
Yes

Clear

No
Not SureYes

to accomplish the given
academic tasksNo
Not Sure
Yes

Col %

CountCol %

164

92.7%

928

4.5%

852.8%

3

144

81.4%

84

22

12.4%

17

116.2%

2

128

72.3%

61

25

14.1%

18

24

13.6%

24

132

74.6%

73

21

11.9%

1224

13.6%

18

89.3%
7.8%
2.9%
81.6%
16.5%
1.9%
59.2%
17.5%
23.3%
70.9%
11.7%
17.5%

Gender gap and use of e-media

GenderMaleFemale

NMeantStd.
stati
Deviationstic177

17.1695

4.04022103

17.9320

4.36847

df-1.478

278

p-value.141

Gender gap and use of e-media

In table, the findings show that the average score of female students was slightly
higher (17.1695), with a mean difference of 0.76. An independent sample t-test wasused to establish whether there were significant differences in the means. Accordingly
the computed value of the t-statistic (-1.478) was insignificant at 0.05 level ofsignificance (i.e. 0.141> 0.05). The finding therefore implies that although the findingsof the females are slightly higher than that of males, the difference in the means is notstatistically significant. No significant difference was found in the subscales (p > 0.05);
therefore, the null hypothesis was not rejected. This implies that as far as this study
was concerned, use of e-media among students at higher education in Uganda is notdependent on the gender gap.
It can therefore be concluded that there is no significant relationship between genderand students’ use of the e-learning media. This conclusion provides further evidence
supporting previous studies by Gulbahar, et al (2008), Wong, et al (2007) and Hargittai(2002) who also argue that there is no significant relationship between users' gender
gap and attitudes towards use of the Internet.

Relationship between having a personal and use of e-media

N

Mean

Std.
tdf
Deviati
stati
on
stic

Yes

152

24.2500

3.16699

No

128

23.2656

2.57940

2.817

p-value278.005

The findings show that the average score of female students was slightly
higher (17.1695), with a mean difference of 0.76. An independent sample
t-test was used to establish whether there were significant differences inthe means. Accordingly the computed value of the t-statistic (-1.478) was
insignificant at 0.05 level of significance (i.e. 0.141> 0.05). The finding
therefore implies that although the findings of the females are slightly
higher than that of males, the difference in the means is not statisticallysignificant. No significant difference was found in the subscales (p >0.05); therefore, the null hypothesis was not rejected. This implies that as
far as this study was concerned, use of e-media among students at
higher education in Uganda is not dependent on the gender gap.

Relationship between Field of study and use of e-media

Sciences
Humanities

N

Mean

Std.
tdf
Deviat
stati
ion
stic

140

17.91433.74259140

16.4929

3.75796

3.171

p-value278.002

The means of the responses by the students towards questions based on
their fields of study were tested by using a t-test method. One hundred andforty (140) respondents from sciences and another one hundred and forty(140) respondents from humanities had means of 17.9143 and 16.4929
respectively. The t-test revealed a p-value of .002 and a t-value of 3.0171
degrees of freedom. Since the p-value of 0.002 is less than 0.05, the alphalevel of significance, the findings show that field of study has a significant
effect on students’ the use of e-media. According to the data in the table 1.3,
e-media was more used by students pursuing sciences than theircounterparts in humanities.

Summary of the Findings

There is no significant relationshipbetween gender and undergraduate
students’ use of Electronic media.
There is no significant relationshipbetween age difference andundergraduate students’ use ofElectronic media.
There is significant relationship between
fields of study and undergraduate
students’ use of Electronic media.

Conclusion Since hypothesis one has proved that there is no

significant relationship between gender and students’use of e-media, it can thus be concluded that at higher
education in Uganda girls as well as boys can be
successful users of e-technology.

 The second hypothesis in this study concerned therelationship between ownership of a personal computerand students’ use of e-technology. It can be concluded
that owning a personal computer among university
students enhances the use of e-technology.

 Thirdly, field of study was found to be impacting on

students’ use of e-media. Students from the science
related disciplines were found to be more users of etechnology as opposed to their counterparts from thehumanities. In conclusion, the types of subject
combination offered by students have a significantrelationship on use of e-media.

Recommendations






The study illustrated no significant difference between the maleand the female in use of the Electronic media. Drawing upon
Hargittai’s (2002) findings about gender mentioned earlier, thisfinding demonstrates that both the female and male can adopt
the technology in a manner that fits their everyday practice.
With the increasing diffusion of technology, some of thedifferences between genders can disappear.
More diffusion of e-media be done at higher education be
encouraged among girls to sustains gender balance in use of
Electronic media.
Similarly, more electronic media access which is free should beprovided at the university. It is the presenter’s belief that thispolicy is an excellent initiative that might yield positive
contribution in the students' usage of e-media.
It is worth noting here that one very important factor in thisstudy is the issue of computer ownership. Computer ownershipis one of the variables that many researchers have intensively
investigated and found to be a significant factor that influences
Electronic media use. For that matter, at higher education thereis need to devise a policy in which students are provided with apersonal computer at subsidized prices. Students’ loan schemes
can also be initiated to enable students acquire personalcomputers.

Thank you
Arigato!!