Perspective Chapter: New Active Learning Models in Africa

Abstract

This desk review draws from the active learning literature to establish that the Culturo- Techno-Contextual Approach is a new active learning model of African origin that holds the key to students understanding of concepts within the continent. The chapter argues that the tripod of culture, technology, and context form the basis of the CTCA and are all triggered by engaging peers, community, teachers, and other active learning partners to ensure students understand concepts. Anchored on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, we argue that the five-step teaching processes used in the CTCA further involve students engaging with their communities, peers, friends and relations, technology, and others to enhance their understanding of concepts. We conclude that the CTCA is an active learning model that enhances students understanding of concepts in schools. We further propose the Collectivism, Culture & Context Framework (3C Framework) as one that can further enhance active learning and students’ understanding of concepts.

1. Introduction

Instructor roles are shifting from information presenter to designer of active learning processes, environments, and experiences that increase student engagement [1]. The more dynamic a lesson is, the more academically and emotionally engaged students will be in the learning activities. Many active learning processes are built on the foundation of cooperative learning. Cooperative learning refers to utilising small groups in the classroom to help students maximise their own and each other’s learning. Students must work cooperatively in small groups to attain joint learning goals in most active learning methods, such as problem-based, team, collaborative, and peer-assisted learning strategies [1].

In recent years, political, instructional, and academic interest in active learning has been expanding. Active learning, on the other hand, has many definitions. The learning outcomes have been mostly positive, but the measurement methods are not without problems [2].

Active learning is an umbrella word that is not particularly beneficial in developing research on learning. It is widely used to offer an alternative to lectures and does have a purpose in higher education classroom practice [3]. Lombardi et al. [3] believe that undergraduate students should be active class participants and that, in addition to cognitive knowledge production, the social construction of meaning plays a significant role for many students.

Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) are learning spaces specially designed to optimise the practice of active learning and amplify its positive effects on learners, from young children to university-level learners [4].

From the afore, we assert that active learning is a teaching method that involves keenly engaging students in the learning process from the study material and assignments, enabling for asking questions, discussion, and role-play, among others. The idea of active learning involves entrusting core learning responsibilities to the student to ensure their active involvement in the learning process. Within an African culture of active learning, we choose Hofstedes’ cultural dimension as the theoretical base of our study.

2. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory

This study presents the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA) as an active learning model of African origin. We, therefore, have adopted Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as our theoretical base. Geert Hofstede, a Dutch management scholar, developed Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory in 1980. Hofstede [5] proposed four cultural characteristics that could distinguish how a society’s culture influences the actions and values of its people. These are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism or collectivism, and masculinity or femininity. However, he later added two more dimensions [6]. These are long or short term orientation and indulgence or restraint. The collectivism dimension of [6] model is relevant to this study.

Even if there are diverse individuals within a group, the collective philosophy of one group can be homogeneous and vary from one group to the next; thus, [6] defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others.” This finds relevance to our study since the CTCA has its anchor on culture as a tool for enhancing students understanding of concepts.

Collectivism is how people in a community are integrated into groups. It is a social, not an individual, feature. Individualist societies have loose relationships: everyone is expected to take after themselves and their immediate family. On the collectivist side, people are integrated from birth into strong, cohesive in-groups, frequently extended families (including uncles, aunts, and grandparents) that continue to protect them in return for unquestioning allegiance and oppose others [6]. Later in the CTCA, this collectivist principle will be seen as students are expected to cooperate in groups to attain academic success.

3. Studies in active learning in Africa

Because of the large number of first-year students, lecturers have adopted coping tactics such as direct-transmission mode teaching and reduced time for practicals and assessment [7]. Assert that several strategies have been implemented to improve student participation and active learning in South Africa; however, these changes have to be facilitated and fostered by faculty and administrators. Consequently, they presented the implementation, results, and feedback of a new first-year course run from 2005 to 2008. The number of lectures was reduced in the course, and the number of more cooperative tutorials and practical based sessions was increased. These changes aimed to promote students’ active participation and encourage them to take responsibility for their learning. Wilson [7] report that, although there were some initial difficulties, most students and faculty were enthusiastic about the learning experience, and the abilities learned were thought to be transferable to other science courses.

Lecturers could have different reasons for choosing a specific teaching strategy, including the government policy, education institution policy, or management directive [8]. Despite these issues, they report that lecturers might choose to use Active learning methodologies on their own rather than because they are told to. Their qualitative interpretive case study sought to learn about the motivations of 11 lecturers from three different faculties in a private higher education university in South Africa: Faculty of Commerce and Law, Faculty of Social Science, and Faculty of Applied Science in implementing Active learning methodologies in their courses. Their findings suggest that lecturers use Active learning because they believe that: Active learning prepares students for the workplace by developing required skills; Active learning supports learning in the classroom; Active learning transforms boring passive learning classes into engaging, enjoyable active classes in which students want to participate; and their personal experience as students has had a lecturer who used Active learning strategies in their classes that worked for them.

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s administration also announced a new curriculum reforming the educational sector [9]. The program aimed to replace teacher-centred teaching practices with student-centred, active learning strategies. The findings revealed that most students’ learning styles were evenly distributed throughout the two dimensions of the ILS scales. They also found significant differences in the students’ learning styles and attitudes towards active learning regarding their gender, education level, and the types of schools.

4. The Culturo: techno-contextual approach (CTCA)

A new Afrocentric teaching model, which emphasises the use of digital technology in methodology and delivery and the relevance of partnerships in meeting the continent’s higher education demands, provides an effective teaching and learning paradigm, especially during the COVID-19 lockdowns [10]. In many studies, researchers have proffered different approaches to teaching. However, a recurrent theme in recent literature is the Culturo-Techno-Conceptual Approach, which suggests using indigenous/cultural models in teaching and learning to foster student understanding of concepts. Okebukola [11] proposed that the model amalgamates culture, technology and the context (environment), as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Culturo-techno-contextual approach. Sourced from Okebukola (2020).

The Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach is a teaching method based on culture, technology, and the context or the environment in which teaching and learning occur [11]. The relevant philosophies that the approach is grounded in are Kwame Nkrumah’s (ethnophilosophy) for culture, Martin Heidegger’s (techno-philosophy) for technology, and Michael Williams’ (Contextualism) for the contextual element of CTCA.

In this context, ethno-philosophy is based on Kwame Nkrumah’s idea of the African people’s uniqueness and culture, which he pioneered. Nkrumah believed that African culture is distinct from European ways of living but not inferior to them [12].

The CTCA’s ‘techno’ component is profoundly anchored in the ‘Heideggerian’ notion of technology as a technique for unveiling the world, a revelation in which individuals take control of reality.

CTCA’s context element is based on the philosophical framework of Contextualism. Contextualism asserts that our actions, utterances, or expressions, as well as our learning, can be understood only in the context in which they occur. When using CTCA to teach students, the explanations, situations, and examples should be relevant to their immediate surroundings to assimilate the information fast.

5. The CTCA and active learning

Unlike the lecture method that seems to emphasise the teachers as a repository of knowledge, the CTCA has a definite procedural teaching style that encourages interactions and active learning (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Steps involved in teaching using the CTCA. Sourced from [13].

In a CTCA class, the teacher does not teach in the first meeting with the students. The teacher introduces the topic and encourages the students to find out the cultural elements relating to the topic from their parents, relatives, elders, grandparents (culture), internet sources (technology) and their immediate environment (context). This aspect of the CTCA engages the students in knowledge finding from their perspectives before the teacher teaches the topic in the next lecture. Students can explore the topic from diverse sources, including cultural, technological and contextual perspectives, unveiling positive interactive learning between the students and the community and the internet even before the classroom engagements with the teacher on the subject or topic.

In the next class with the teacher, the teacher groups the students in numbers not exceeding 10 with mixed sexes and mixed abilities. These groups brainstorm on the cultural knowledge found from the parents and others together with the internet sources and the environment. This constitutes active learning since the students, in their interactions, agree and disagree on narrations that are right and those that are wrong from their views.

The next stage of the learning process entails leaders of each group presenting the results from their groups elaborating on the cultural perspective found from their parents, technology and the environment. While this is done, other group members note what they agree with and those they do not agree with to comment on when the opportunity arises. It should be noted that this aspect of teaching using the CTCA also unveils an opportunity for active learning since it is more of a peer learning process at this stage.

The teacher then takes over when all the groups are done presenting their findings on the topic from the cultural perspectives of their parents, technology and the environments. At this juncture, the teacher emphasises the correct narrations from the individual presenters while correcting viewpoints that were not right. This aspect of the teaching enhances clarity since students are likely to misinterpret their findings. This aspect of the teaching also brings to bear the issue of interactive learning.

Amidst these, the teacher sprinkles the teaching with some humour to ensure the students are at ease and relaxed to absorb the contents and o to ask questions when need be. Following that, students are relaxed. They can interact with the teacher and ask questions and critique the perspectives of their colleagues. This brings out the interactive component of the CTCA, which is worth reporting.

The teacher subsequently summarises the entire lecture and sends it to the students at the close of the day through the appropriate technological medium (email, WhatsApp, SMS). This also shows evidence of active earning since, after class, the teacher still engages the students electronically with the study’s contents within the day.

6. Methodology

This study is a desk review. The active learning literature provided baseline information on how African countries have used active learning models and the effects such have had on the continent’s education. The study specifically reviewed the literature on active learning in South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana. The anchor model is the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach. A full bibliography of information sources reviewed is reported in the references section.

7. Evidence of the effectiveness of the CTCA as an active teaching model

Several studies have examined the efficacy of using the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA) in breaking difficulties in concepts in different research fields. This section reviews such studies in indigenous knowledge systems, emphasising the CTCA.

In a survey of 5032 secondary biology students and their teachers (n = 311) in Lagos State on the impact of the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA) in tackling under-achievement in difficult concepts in Biology, [14] found that the value associated with Wilks’ lambda is [F = 15.63; p.05], confirming the significance of the MANCOVA and justifying a deeper probe into the F values relating to the study’s independent variable on the dependent variables of achievement and attitude; providing a foundation for the efficacy of CTCA and validation of its potency.

Awaah [13] also found that the experimental group (Mean = 22.20 and SD = 5.10) outperformed the control group (Mean = 20.45 and SD = 8.01) in politics and bureaucracy (p = .000) in a study of public administration students at the University of Professional Studies – Accra (UPSA) [p = 000; F (1, 130) = 14.07]. The results reveal that CTCA has the potential to improve undergraduate students’ performance in difficult public administration concepts. Within the study’s limitations, particularly the small sample size and short duration of the experiment, the study recommends (a) an exploratory use of CTCA for teaching public administration in undergraduate classes in Ghana’s university system; (b) a deeper look into the factors that influence CTCA’s potency; b) conducting more testing on larger groups of pupils in Ghana and other African countries; (d) using the Awaah indigenous paradigm for overcoming learning difficulties in public administration studies.

Similarly, [15] emphasises that it is vital for students to succeed in developing a sense of cultural belonging. Students need to find commonalities with their own life and living situations. They need to see a similarity with their context. This sense of belonging can be enhanced by including cultural practices in the educational curriculum.

Adewusi [15]‘s position finds semblance with that of [16] that science teachers initiate the process of thinking more about providing teachers with CTCA know-how in the quest for culturally and contextually appropriate methods of effective delivery of science. This finds further support in Egerue 2019 that teachers explore using the CTCA to enhance learners’ accomplishment in scientific explanations. Ogunbanwo [17] aptly takes a similar stance when he argues that teachers should adopt the CTCA teaching methodology to help pupils enhance their academic performance, attitudes and motivation.

Further, in a survey of 60 senior secondary three biology students on the potency of the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach on students’ achievement and attitude towards mutation and variation in Biology, [18] found that there was an impact of the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach as pieces of evidence showed the experimental group students performed better than the control group students on the achievement measure and attitude towards mutation and variation.

Gbeleyi and Egerue [19, 20] believes that using indigenous (cultural) knowledge in the computer studies/ICT classroom can facilitate meaningful learning and cultural sustainability in his study on flowcharting. To bridge the gaps and spaces that pupils experience in their thoughts, indigenous knowledge must be integrated. He adds that the most interesting experience for students is discovering that, after all, “their ancestors’” and “their direct parents’” view of the world does not always contradict that of modern science. When there are disagreements, the teacher explains the many points of view. He hopes that his findings will be useful to other scholars and educators interested in learning more about the indigenous strategy for cultural survival and advancement.

This is in line with [18]‘s findings that the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach had a significant impact on achievement, as experimental students outperformed their control group peers on the achievement scores. The finding supports [7]‘s notion that in order for effective teaching to occur, specific principles and ideas must be explained to connote ideas from the immediate environment that the students are already familiarised with in order to achieve inclusive learning and a positive behavioural change in the learner’s life (s). Learners understand better when they learn about concepts within their immediate environs by asking elders, family, tribespeople and friends. However, [19, 20] cautions that students should not allow traditional and religious beliefs to interfere with the scientific explanation of concepts. In today’s world, when students may be enticed to sacrifice scientific truth in favour of indigenous knowledge, [19, 20]‘s viewpoint is timely.

The culture of Africans permeates every fibre of African lives, including politics, and this culture had been harnessed for the continent’s benefit before the introduction of anything western [21]. This observation confirms [22]‘s observation that, in the era of globalisation and contemporary technological development, the people of Ghana must recognise that their culture is the basis of and the most important factor in the nation’s human history and material development.

8. The collectivism, culture & context framework (3C framework)

Inferring from the literature reviewed and evidence from the communal lifestyles of Africans where this study is situated, we argue that contextual culture is a catalyst to active learning. We draw our inspiration largely from the works of Okebukola and Hofstede. In the Okebukolan model, the cultural and context components of the CTCA have catalogued evidence of students engaging in active learning, which has registered numerous studies to back its efficacy.

The work of Hofstede also finds relevance in our new proposition. Hofstede situates the culture between collectivism and individualism. We find that largely collectivism represents values reflective in every sphere of the African lifestyle, including education. This notion had registered many positives in the classroom when the CTCA encouraged collaborative engagements as a tool for understanding concepts.

Our preposition defines contextual culture as relative to a given society and not generic. In this instance, even as this study is African specific, there is the understanding that Africa also has unique cultures peculiar to specific African societies that are not practised in other parts of the continent. To ensure interactive learning, teachers will need to encourage the use of cultures specific to the environment they teach to ensure students can identify with such cultures to enhance their understanding of concepts. For instance, if winter or summer are used as examples in a classroom in northern Ghana, it is likely to impede students’ understanding of the teaching weather and seasons. Alternatively, when the rainy season or dry season are used, the students will understand within the context of their environment because winter and summer are alien to them while raining and dry seasons are notions they are familiar with.

Contextual culture will thus include the use of examples relative to the given environment where teaching is taking place, situating teaching within the cultural practices of the environment within which learning is taking place, and minimising the usage of cultures foreign to the environment within which teaching is taking place, encouraging the use of indigenous examples by students, comparable at intervals the culture of the teaching settings with those of other jurisdictions to give students global worldview of the concepts being taught.

Further, collectivism, as espoused in our preposition, relates largely to the Ubuntu principle of Africans that encourages communal achievements as opposed to individualism, as re-echoed in the works of Hofstede. In this regard, we argue that if students are encouraged to learn collectively (collaborative learning) and emphasise group achievements instead of individual achievements in the classrooms, the student will be encouraged to learn interactively towards achieving academic success.

While our preposition is hinged on existing literature and our observations, it is important to note that the preposition may not be effective for active learning in individualistic societies that value individual achievements without recourse to collectivism.

From the afore, we suggest the framework (see Figure 3) as a model that will foster active learning in the educational sector.

Figure 3.

The collectivism, culture & context framework.

9. Conclusion

This study draws from existing literature on active learning in Africa to make a case for the Culturo- Techno-Contextual approach as an efficient active learning model of African origin. We demonstrate that using culture, technology and context, as espoused by [11], holds the key to active learning. Drawing from his work and the Hofstede culture dimensions, we propose the collectivism, culture, and context framework.

Abbreviations

ALC	Active Learning Classrooms
CTCA	Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach
UPSA	University of Professional Studies – Accra
3C Teaching Framework	The Collectivism, Culture & Context Teaching Framework