E-Education adoption in emerging economy countries: Case of Malawi

Abstract

A considerable amount of money worldwide is being spent on education to fast track social-economic growth of countries. The introduction of electronic education (e-Education) has made significant change in the education sector with the teacher's role being changed from teacher to instructor. The Malawi Government is interesting in leveraging eEducation to reduce the gap in achieving better and quality education between rural and urban schools. A case study was conducted to find e-Education best practices being used by other countries to eliminate the gap. The Republic of South Korea as the leading country in the world on ICT Development Indicators as of 2011 and Republic of Kenya which is using the same education system as Malawi were selected as case study countries. The Technology Organization Environment (TOE) theoretical framework was used to collect and analyze the secondary data. e-Education can be achieved using mobile devices using mEducation applications. The results of the study showed that in TOE “organization and environment” contexts are the crucial areas for e-Education adoption. Taking the Malawi case, top management's leading role; coordination between the players; enabling “policies and regulations” and continuous funding of the education projects can help smoothen the implementation and sustenance of e-Education. The study recommends establishment of an ICT fund for continuity and success of e-Education implementation. The results of this case study can also be applied to other emerging economy countries when implementing e-Education or any technology adoption.