The digital identities of Southern African academics : what role does technological habitus play in the formation of academics' digital identities with regard to teaching and learning? a comparison between the National University of Lesotho and the University of the Witwatersrand.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover how technological habitus affects the formation of digital identities (DIds) of Southern African academics as well as how this affects the integration of digital technologies (DTs) in teaching and learning. Through administered questionnaires and semistructured interviews, data was collected from academics at the University of the Witwatersrand and the National University of Lesotho. The study uses Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and the concept of field, as well as literature in the fields of Education and Sociology in this discovery. It was found out in the study that different categories of habitus do have an influence in the formation of the digital identities of academics, and that this affects ways in which academics integrate DTs in their teaching and learning. The categories of habitus included; age, social class, DTs literacy as well as educational background. The study concluded that among other things, ways in which academics were taught, as well as times in which they studied have had much of a negative influence in their attitudes toward DTs as well as their value in the field of education. The study also found out that because of these negative attitudes towards use of DTs in education, most academics do not see a need for any form of training in DTs, and this resulted from a way of life in which they were born and educated.