Elijah Omwenga

Towards the development of a citizen-centric framework for evaluating the impact of eGovernment: A case study of developing countries

eGovernment has emerged as one of the innovative ways of providing information and delivering services to citizens. It is providing governments with new opportunities of bringing services closer to the citizen in cost-effective, efficient and transparent ways. In spite of the implementation of e-government, there is little research that has been conducted in the context of developing countries to benchmark and appraise the impact of e-government on the target groups. Assessment of impact is important to justify public fund expenditure and inform future projects. Most studies on assessment of e-government have been done in developed countries where the context is different from that of developing countries. Therefore, there is need to develop frameworks that are suitable in the context of developing countries. Studies on assessing impact have been done at macro, meso and micro levels. These studies are largely based on supply-side and a few on demand-side with little focus on outcomes and impact. In this paper, we perform an analysis of various proposed e-government assessment frameworks with the aim of identifying and recommending the adoption of a framework that is suitable in the context of a developing country. We propose the adoption of a hybrid framework that amalgamates the frameworks developed by Bhatnagar and Singh and Verdegem et al due to their contextual suitability and citizen-centric approach. This is an exploratory study that lays foundation for further research in the development of an appropriate framework using the proposed approach.

Citizen-centric critical success factors for the implementation of e-government: A case study of Kenya Huduma Centres

The development of the Internet and emerging technologies offer government new opportunities to serve and interact with citizens in transformative ways that were not possible before. E-government is concerned with transforming service delivery and the fundamental relationship between government and citizens. Most governments have realized the importance of ICT and are therefore moving away from the conventional means of services delivery to the use of e-government. However, e-government has been faced with multiple implementation challenges, particularly in the developing countries, consequently, affecting their success rates. There are very few studies that have been conducted in Kenya to establish success factors and uptake of e-government from a citizen perspective. The aim of this research was to identify these factors and challenges that hinder successful implementation of e-government from a citizen-centric perspective. Specifically, the study identified implementation challenges of e-government in the Kenyan context with special focus on Huduma (Service) Centres. We developed and administered a data collection instrument to citizens at the main Huduma Centre in Nairobi County. Our findings indicate that the greatest challenges faced by citizens in accessing e-government services in order of importance are: inadequate ICT Infrastructure, low citizen participation, poor Internet Connectivity, low government funding and low level of awareness. We also identified challenges and made recommendations to inform future projects.

Regulating group cognitive conflicts using intelligent agents in collaborative M-learning

Group cognitive conflicts occur when a learner in a collaborative mobile learning environment becomes aware of a discrepancy between his/her existing cognitive framework and new information or experience. The cognitive conflicts stimulate the learning process by making an individual to move from his/her learning sphere and participate with others in the learning process. However, there is a big challenge on how students handle and resolve conflicts during collaborative learning. Intelligent agents have been used in this paper to provide support for group interactions by regulating the group conflicts. An experimental design with one control group and two experimental groups (role playing and guided negotiation) is used to compare levels of group knowledge construction. The findings showed improved levels of knowledge construction where regulated conflicts were used compared to where they were not used.

Designing adaptive learning support through machine learning techniques

The use of web 2.0 technologies in web based learning systems has made learning more learner-centered. In a learner centered environment, there is need to provide appropriate support to learners based on individual learner characteristics in order to maximize learning. This requires a Web-based learning system to have an adaptive interface to suit individual learner characteristics in order to accommodate diversity of learner needs and abilities and to maintain an appropriate context for interaction and for achieving personalized learning. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how machine learning techniques can provide adaptive learning support in a Web-based learning system. In this research, two machine learning algorithms namely: Heterogeneous Value Difference Metric (HVDM) and Naive Bayes Classifier (NBC) were used. HVDM was used to determine those learners who were similar to the current learner while NBC was used to estimate the likelihood that the learner would need to use additional materials for the current concept. To demonstrate the concept we used a course in object oriented programming (OOP).

The Critical organizational Factors of e-Government in Kenya

eGovernment focusses on the use of technology to achieve levels of improvement in various areas of government, transforming the nature of politics and relations between the government and citizens. However, in Kenya, just like in other developing nations, many eGovernment projects have either stalled or failed to meet their objectives due to some key organizational factors. This study therefore highlights critical organizational factors affecting eGovernment projects and the nature of their relationships with eGovernment performance. The study employed cross-sectional survey design. Targeting the entire 18 eGovernment projects implemented through the Information Communications Authority of Kenya since 2005. Both primary and secondary data was collected and analyzed based on response from 217 respondents out of the 300 who participated (72% response rate). At the end, it emerged that out of the various organizational factors hypothesized to predict eGovernment projects Performance, only organizational structure, prioritization of deliverables, and organizational culture are critical in Kenyan context. Others identified in previous studies such as future needs of the organization, power distribution, structure, information system strategy alignment, prioritization of deliverables, and training were also important but not critical.

Methods of Investigating the Use of Podcasting in Higher Education: A Review of Recent Studies

The high mobile penetration levels and the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies that include Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, Screen cast, and Google Tools etc provide academic institutions with an opportunity to address some of the challenges they are facing in the provision of quality education given the ever increasing enrolment numbers. It is also important to note that the use of m-learning tools, if correctly conceptualized and built, constitutes an efficient complementary tool to the traditional teaching methods. The study reviewed journal articles with a view to examining the methods used in the investigating the adoption of podcasting in Higher Education. It was found that most studies were in the form of Action Research which either took an interpretive or positivist approach with the choice being guided by the objectives of the study. The review also points out to the need for orientation on use of podcasting at initial stages of its implementation.