Improving Higher Education Instructional Delivery in the Developing World: The Role of University Teachers as Digital Leaders

Abstract

The last couple of years have seen an increasing demand on university teachers, especially in the developing world, to apply innovations to their instructional delivery to meet students’ needs and cater to national aspirations. To succeed in this, a digital leadership initiative that ensures effective use of technology-mediated instruction is indispensable. This study used the context of Ghana to examine the kinds of digital technology tools university teachers in the developing world often used in their teaching as digital leaders and whether the tools were effective in promoting academic work. The study used the embedded mixed method design based on which 252 teachers of the country’s universities were accidentally selected to complete questionnaires. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study mainly found laptops, mobile phones, and projectors as the commonest digital technology tools used in teaching by the participants, and they thought that the tools effectively promoted academic work. The findings have global implications because knowing the effectiveness of digital technology use in higher education teaching in Ghana could serve as a source of information on measures to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the academic work of HEIs in developing countries.