ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the discourse discussed in the various chapters of this book and highlights the state of higher education ICT integration in several countries in Africa. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought heightened awareness of the need for HEIs to rethink their teaching and adopt digitalisation strategies that extend beyond traditional face-to-face classrooms. The focus on this locality arose from an observation that suboptimal ICT integration in these resource-restrained settings is often attributed to inadequate resources, both in terms of physical and human development, yet research on this area in the African context is fragmented. While ICT is recognised as a catalyst for change globally, in Africa, large-scale successful ICT adoption in higher education is scant. This underlines the necessity of a book of this nature to explore the contextual factors at play. Botha (2016) remarked that “inasmuch as we acknowledge the value of digital access and technology adoption as a stimulus and driver of social justice, the majority of those who stand to benefit the most from their affordances are not yet connected” (p. 76). This can be attributed to infrastructure, internet access, and digital skills; hence, the difficulties in turning ICT affordances into opportunities and means to transform tertiary education, especially in relation to improving access, teaching, and learning.
