Background: Continuous professional development (CPD) is necessary for every healthcare professional, but it is even more important in developing countries. In addition to the traditional need for CPD to keep improving the quality of service delivery, in developing countries, some health professionals work in remote areas where they lack the experience of senior colleagues. In this regard, online CPD is among the strategies that can improve the quality of health care services delivery.

Aim: Thus, this study assessed the needs, facilitators, and barriers of using online learning for continuous professional development among nurses, midwives, and physicians in Rwanda.

Design: The study used a cross-sectional study design and a survey to collect quantitative data from physicians, nurses, and midwives on their views about online learning for continuous professional development needs, facilitators, and barriers.

Method: The study used proportionate stratified random sampling strategy to collect quantitative data from 261 participants from 51 health institutions. The major analysis used was descriptive statistics in terms of describing the responses of participants in percentages and frequencies.

Results: The findings indicate that 97.3% of participants consider the importance of CPD, 71.6% prefer blended approach for CPD, and 86.5% use smartphones. About the internet status, 28.0% of participants reported to have fast and stable internet, 57.1% to have fast but not stable internet, and 14.2% reported to have not fast and stable internet.

Conclusion: Nurses, midwives, and physicians perceive online learning as a good source of continuing professional development, but its implementation must depend on improved internet access, compatible technology with smartphones, or increasing the availability of computers and tablets at health institutions.

Due to outbreaks of new diseases, development of new treatment regimens and requirement of evidence-based practice, health professionals continuously need to acquire updated knowledge and skills. This type of learning is known as continuous professional development (CPD). The scarcity of skilled health care professionals in developing countries further increases the need of CPD. Traditionally, face-to-face approach has been preferred as the best mode of CPD. Currently, health professionals have started using online learning for continued professional growth in different parts of the world. Consequently, research studies from different settings are needed to investigate the significance of online learning for CPD. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the importance and challenges attributed to online learning by the managers of health facilities in Rwanda. Moreover, the study aimed to identify the status of infrastructures that could support online CPD, and assess the perceived enhancement and barriers for implementing online CPD.

The misalignment between information technology (IT) and institutions continues to be a major problem, more particularly in higher education institutions. This state leads to a lack of technology value addition and poor institutional performance. Prior studies proposed models and frameworks with various organizational practices of IT-Business alignment. However, similar research, considering higher education institutions, is scarce. Therefore, this study explores and identifies the dimensions and practices of IT-institutional alignment from a higher education context. An exploratory embedded multiple-case study strategy was used on the two largest universities in Rwanda and Mozambique. Document survey and interviews were used for data collection. The literature and 14 interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach to identify patterns related to the alignment practices. This study identified 45 IT-alignment practices reflected from both institutions, and they were classified into six metrics as presented in the framework. Of these alignment practices, 27 reflect exceptionally the higher education context of teaching, learning, and research. The identified alignment practices can serve as a frame of reference for creating and assessing the alignment between technology and university activities in the case study of institutions or similar contexts. A statistical test and validation of these alignment practices are recommended.

This study aims to develop a contextual model with the practices of IT-institutional alignment for university performance. Based on the prior studies and an extended literature review, six hypotheses were put forward. With a survey research strategy, data were collected from 166 university and government institutions’ staff in Rwanda. Findings indicate a significant positive influence of the six categories of IT-institutional alignment practices on institutional performance. The mostly correlated alignment practices with a more significant positive effect were those related to “Structure/Governance,” “Skills,” and “Communication.” Moreover, an IT-Institutional Alignment Model (ITIAM) for the university performance was proposed with 44 practices. This study suggests that for improving the institutional performance through the integration of IT in service delivery, decision makers, and the university managers can primarily prioritize these alignments practices with greater positive influence. Further research could evaluate the ITIAM model for its acceptability and relevance in Rwandan universities or similar contexts.

The integration of information technology (IT) into service delivery is currently seen as an innovative strategy to support the modernising of universities worldwide. However, in some institutions in developing countries, including Rwanda, IT has failed to add the intended value to university services, despite huge associated investments in IT. Consequently, IT-organisational alignment continues to be a primary concern for university managers. This alignment is viewed in terms of its strategic, socio-cultural, and technological dimensions. For effective IT-institutional alignment, several antecedents (alignment practices) for creating an appropriate fit between IT and organisations have been suggested in the literature. However, several studies exploring IT alignment focused mainly on general business companies, and similar research with an emphasis on higher education institutions is still scarce. Therefore, the aim of this research was twofold: firstly, it attempted to understand the process of IT integration into universities; and secondly, to propose a contextual model for IT-institutional alignment within a higher education context. A design science research methodology (DSRM) was applied in this research, using surveys and case studies as research strategies. Preliminary findings at the exploration phase of this research indicated a strong misalignment between IT and the university services caused by the lack of clearly defined alignment practices. Furthermore, as the research main outcome, an IT-Institutional Alignment Model (ITIAM) was proposed after reaching an understanding of the current state and challenges related to IT integration into teaching, learning, research and university administration. This model includes 44 alignment practices, related to both technical and non-technical dimensions. These alignment practices were clustered under six categories: (1) Communication, (2) Structure/Governance, (3) Technology Scope, (4) Competence/Value Measurement, (5) Skills, and (6) Partnership. Alignment practices related to institutional structure and governance, skills and communication were found to have a strong positive influence on the institutional performance, as compared to those related to competence and value measurement, partnership, and technology scope. Based on the research findings, the proposed ITIAM, which was iteratively tested and evaluated using case study institutions, was found to be a relevant tool for guiding the implementation of IT systems towards the improvement of institutional performance. Hence, this thesis makes a theoretical contribution by applying the concept of IT alignment within a higher education context and by documenting the empirically tested contextual alignment practices as conveyed in the ITIAM Model. Additionally, as a practical implication, the results can serve as a reference for an effective IT integration process in university services and for how to improve performance through effective use of IT in teaching, learning, research and educational management.

The current trend in universities is marked by integrating information technologies into their service delivery. Particularly in administration and management, processes are being modernized, although not successfully in some institutions. This study aims first to understand the complexity of an integrated educational management information system (UR-IEMIS) at the University of Rwanda and then to evaluate the degree of its diffusion in university services. Complex Adaptive System and Innovation Diffusion theories were used as a conceptual framework for this study. Document survey, observations, and interviews were used for data collection. Findings indicate that complexity features characterize the UR-IEMIS, as it is composed of several different subsystems (Organism, Roles, Objects, Method, and Concept) which emerge, interact, co-evolve, and re-organize to adapt to the disruptive institutional structures. It was also revealed that the UR-IEMIS integration is still at the abstraction level for all subsystems while for only few university functions, the system is diffused at knowledge, persuasion, and decision stages. Concerns related to the current unsatisfactory state of UR-IEMIS integration and proposals for improvement are discussed. Further studies should explore the complexity and diffusion levels for E-learning systems that support pedagogical activities in a similar case study context.

While the purpose of public organizations is to serve citizens, the citizens themselves are not always consulted in order to develop better public services. We argue that the direct communication from citizens to public organizations contains a wealth of information on how the organizations could improve their services, and this information is worth exploring. In order to prove our argument, we have interviewed 19 public organizations in Rwanda and Sri Lanka, identified 26 issues raised by the citizens, and mapped these issues into four solution domains: availability and timeliness of information, policy development, business process development, availability and design of e-services.

Successful implementation of e-learning environments requires adequate teacher training. In this study, a solution is sought for how teacher training programmes on newly introduced Learning Management Systems (LMS) can be designed in such a way that they would be inclusive of different levels of digital competence, supportive of individual teacher development and flexible enough to be applied in different institutional environments. Following the soft design science research methodology, two co-creation and co-design sessions, as well as eight in-depth interviews, were used for designing and testing a model for the process of teacher training in using LMS. The outcome of the study indicated the need of an agile-based approach as well as two kinds of segmentation of the training process based on the level of competence and on the position of the training process on the timeline. Besides, the cascading of teacher training was found to be a key approach to make it cost- and time-efficient. Moreover, the introduction of agility to the recursive process of training was found to strengthen consistent knowledge building in teachers. This has been illustrated in the form of a spiral model of knowledge construction, with teachers beginning to learn the basics and incrementally progressing to acquire advanced skills. The proposed process model allows academic institutions to mobilize the teaching task force by equipping them with technological knowledge systematically. This way, the level of expertise in using LMS can be developed incrementally and in synergy with the Pyramid Model of Digital literacy. The level of knowledge acquisition by teachers would correspond to the levels in the pyramid, and thereby, it would be easy to see them “climb up” the pyramid as they progress. A more thorough evaluation of the model using different cases and a careful revision of its components are considered as further steps in this research.

The more the students get experienced with technologies, the more the need for tertiary education systems to adopt innovative pedagogical strategies for accommodating different learning needs. Depending on students' prior experience with computer-based tools, they may have different degrees of familiarity with new technologies. At University of Rwanda (UR), for example, the familiarity and experience with technology for incoming students is not clearly known. Universities need to understand this phenomenon for efficient education planning and management. Therefore, this study aims to understand the degree of familiarity with technology for first-year students at the University of Rwanda. Accessibility, ownership, usage and previous computer-based training are used in this study' conceptual framework as factors that determine the degree of familiarity with technology. Firstly, results indicate that the majority of participants are not familiar with technology and never had any previous exposure to eLearning systems. Secondly, regarding the digital tools, while smartphones are the most accessed, owned and used tools by respondents, they rarely or never used them for learning activities. Thirdly, findings portrayed a heterogeneous technology experience with a substantial variation of access, use, ownership and previous training on new technologies among the sample. Strategies for improving experience and confidence with technology, for first-year students, are recommended for this institution. This will prepare new students for early technology uptake and readiness while empowering them to develop appropriate competencies and skills for the digital age. Further studies in the area of experience with technology are also proposed.

Language technology can improve the efficiency and quality of the services provided by public organizations, first of all, the communication with citizens. So far, this has been investigated in the context of Western countries. We do not know, however, how beneficial such application of language technology could be for the so called developing countries. In order to find this out, we explored the communication between ten public organizations and the citizens in Rwanda. We discovered about 20 communication channels; 12 of them could benefit from various applications of language technology. Furthermore, we explored the potential of language technology for analysis of digital communication in order to better understand the citizens’ needs and opinions and, hereby, increase the level of e-participation, participatory decision and policy making.