. In the Namibian educational environment during COVID-19 many schools were affected as a result of COVID-19 such as primary school, secondary school, as well as tertiary institutions experiencing challenges of eLearning platform usage as a means of facilitating teaching and learning among learners and students as most of them have to adapt to the new environment of the online platform. However, despite some schools had adopted and implemented eLearning the study discovered that many schools including universities do not fully utilize the platform implemented in their schools and as such many schools have been struggling to adapt to the new environment of online learning

1. International Journal of Smart Computing and Information Technology
2020, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 39–42
Copyright © 2021 BOHR Publishers
www.bohrpub.com
The Usage of E-Learning Challenges in the Namibia Educational
Institutions: A Namibian Experience During Covid-19
Nikodemus Angula1 and Sinte Mutelo2
1Organisation, Address, City, Postcode, Country
2Nambia University of Science and Technology, 13 Jackson Kaujuea Street, Windhoek, 9000., Namibia
E-mail: chcangula@gmail.com; smutelo@nust.na
Abstract. In the Namibian educational environment during COVID-19 many schools were affected as a result of
COVID-19 such as primary school, secondary school, as well as tertiary institutions experiencing challenges of
eLearning platform usage as a means of facilitating teaching and learning among learners and students as most
of them have to adapt to the new environment of the online platform. However, despite some schools had adopted
and implemented eLearning the study discovered that many schools including universities do not fully utilize the
platform implemented in their schools and as such many schools have been struggling to adapt to the new environ-
ment of online learning. The usage of eLearning across the globe has made work easier for both Lecturers, students,
Teachers and Learners to access the system wherever there is internet connectivity. The study discovered that the
adoption and implementation of e-learning have been a challenge in Namibian educational institutions due to the
of lack ICT knowledge to utilize the e-learning platform, hence it takes time for staffs to acquaint themselves with
the new technology adopted or implemented.
Keywords: ICT, Namibian educational institutions, Students and Lecturers, eLearning.
1 Introduction
Our style of living has changed dramatically because of
technology use, the way we learn and communicate, the
way we teach has changed too (Nath et al., 2021). To
enhance everything, technology plays a role. The use of
ICT solutions particularly in higher education technology
is an effective technological tool in learning (Crossley and
McNamara, 2016). E-learning has become an important
part of society today, comprising an extensive array of dig-
itization approaches, components and delivery methods
(Sangra and Gonzalez-Sanmamed, 2010). E-learning has
become a thing of the day in facilitating learning in higher
education.
Educational technology such as e-learning includes
numerous types of media that deliver text, audio, images,
animation, and streaming video, and includes technology
applications and processes such as audio or videotape,
satellite TV, CD-ROM, and computer-based learning, as
well as local intranet/extranet and web-based learning
(Arkorful and Abaidoo, 2015).
Educational technology and e-learning can occur in or
out of the classroom. It can be self-paced, asynchronous
learning or may be instructor-led synchronous learning.
It is suited to distance learning and in conjunction with
face-to-face teaching, which is termed blended. Namibia
educational institutions have been experiencing challenges
(Verma et al., 2021).
The objective of this paper is to design a framework
that can help improve the adoption of electronic learning
during the Covid-19 epidemic to enhance teaching and
learning.
1.1 Problem Statement
Despite that fact that Namibian educational institutions
are equipped with computer labs, smart board, free wire-
less internet, local area networks, state of art technologies
which can facilitate the use of online/remote teaching and
learning. Students and lecturers lack the skills, knowl-
edge and devices to enhance and enhance the utilisation
of e-learning. The Lectures are used to traditional ways of
facilitating learning, while students depend on lectures to
39

2. 40 Nikodemus Angula and Sinte Mutelo
learn and continue learning. During the hit of Covid-19, the
university emphasised the utilisation of Moodle, a learn-
ing management systems already existing at the university,
Introduced Microsoft Teams and Zoom services. However,
Students and lecturers were faced with many challenges to
adopting the implemented systems.
It is with this existing problem that a framework
to guide the adoption of electronic learning (e-learning)
is designed to guide higher institutes of learning. The
developed framework will enable the implementation of
e-learning which can be adopted by other sectors enabling
facilitating learning online.
The main objective of this paper is to develop a frame-
work to guide the adoption and implementation of elec-
tronic learning in Namibian educational institutions. This
paper provides the view of the Namibia University of Sci-
ence and Technology students and lecturers framework.
The reason for this framework is to ensure that the Namib-
ian educational institutions implement the eLearning ser-
vices successfully. The main question benign addressed in
this paper is: How can a framework be developed to improve
smooth adoption and implementation of electronic learning with-
out challenges?
2 Overview of eLearning System
in Namibian Educational
Institutions
Namibian educational institutions are one of the educa-
tional institutions that keeps up with the pace in the usage
of ICT infrastructure and new technology trends.
Namibian educational institutions over the years has
been experiencing challenges in the implementation and
adoption of e-learning due to lack of human capital and
technical skills on the staff who are fully equipped to utilise
the technology platform implemented in the institutions.
Students, Learners, Teachers and Lecturers Namibian
educational institutions can use e-learning to enable them
to learn anytime and anywhere. E-learning can include
training, the delivery of just – in time information and
guidance from experts. The benefits e-learning can offer
is that it has quicker delivery cycle times than traditional
classroom-based instruction (Welsh et al., 2003). However,
because of the speed and ease in which e-learning is
delivered, the costs of learning and development for an
organization are drastically reduced. In addition, there are
immediate cost-effective gains of e-learning in terms of
reducing training time as well as cost-effective savings in
terms of trainers, course materials, travel and accommo-
dation. However, it is equally important to highlight that
e-learning, when done right, can also improve an organi-
zation’s profitability.
3 Methodology
Based on the research aim, the qualitative interpretive
methods were selected to understand and examine the
implementation and adoption of e-learning in Namibian
educational institutions.
The qualitative Interpretivism methods were selected
primarily because it allows researchers to gather data of
subjective views and opinions from both students, learn-
ers, teachers and lecturers who were engaged in the study.
The semi-structured interview technique was selected pri-
marily because it enables the gathering of rich data,
through insightful view and opinion from the participants
(Rowley et al., 2011). The semi-structured interview tech-
nique allows flexibility during data collection, this includes
instant probing of participants answers, as this was done
over the telephone. According to Draper and Swift (2010),
the interviewer has the flexibility to rephrase and restruc-
ture the questions during the interviews.
The data were analyzed to get a better understanding of
the adoption and implementation of e-learning in Namib-
ian educational institutions.
4 Developments-framework
Development
This Namibian educational institutions framework devel-
oped would improve smooth adoption and implementa-
tion of electronic learning without experiencing challenges
since this educational framework would act as a central-
ized online platform for self-study, new skills-acquisitions
and self-improvement among learners, teachers, students
and Lecturers in Namibian educational institutions when
Figure 1. Namibia educational institutions framework.

3. The Usage of E-Learning Challenges in the Namibia Educational Institutions 41
adopting and implementing eLearning. The educational
framework developed is also addressing the issue of
information exchange and communication among learn-
ers, teachers, students and lecturers between Namibian
educational institutions.
5 Results
The study found out that the adoption and implementation
of e-learning have been a challenge in Namibian educa-
tional institutions due to the lack of ICT knowledge to
utilize the e-learning platform, hence it takes time for staffs
to acquaint themselves with the new technology adopted
or implemented.
A total of 30 participants which includes students and
lecturer from 5 departments at NUST were engaged in the
study and semi-structured questionnaires were distributed
through Google form link.
Students, Learners, Teachers and Lecturers
Response Rate
The study was conducted with the Namibian educational
institutions in Namibia with students, learners, teachers
and lecturers. A total of 18 participants responded to the
semi-structured questionnaires of which 38.9% represents
male while female 61.1%.
Figure 2 below represents the number of participants
that were engaged in the study which means female were
the majority to respond with a 61.1% response rate while
the minority were male with a response rate of 38.9%.
The study distributed Google link form to different
age group as represented on the pie chart above in
a form of age group response rate in percentage. The
age group between 18–25 response rate were 22.2%, age
group between 26–35 response rate were 55.6%, age group
between 36–45 response rate were 16.7% and the age group
Figure 2. Learners, teachers, students and lecturers
response rate.
Figure 3. Learners, teachers, students and lecturers age
group response rate.
Table 1. Number of learners , teachers, students and lectur-
ers in each age group.
Number of
Participants
in Each
Gender Age Group Age Groups
Female 18–25 11
male 26–35 7
36–45
46 and Above
Total participants 18
between 46 and the above response rate was 10% repre-
sented in green colour to represent participants who fall in
the age group between 46 and above.
The above represent the gender, age group and the num-
ber of participants who were engaged in the study of which
the female was 11 while the male was 7 as depicted on the
table above.
The participants engaged in the study indicated the
adoption and implementation of e-learning has been a
challenge in Namibian educational institutions due to the
lack of ICT knowledge to utilize the e-learning platform,
hence it takes time for staffs to acquaint themselves with
the new technology adopted or implemented.
The participants engaged in the study indicated the
adoption and implementation of e-learning has been a
challenge in Namibian educational institutions due to the
lack of ICT knowledge to utilize the e-learning platform,
hence it takes time for staffs to acquaint themselves with
the new technology adopted or implemented.
6 Business Benefits
The Namibian educational framework developed would
enable educational institutions in Namibia to improve

4. 42 Nikodemus Angula and Sinte Mutelo
their engagement with each other’s, improve knowledge
retention, encourages learning between Namibian educa-
tional institutions, encourage collaboration among learn-
ers, teachers, students and Lecturers and students, learners
can learn useful life skills through the technology educa-
tional framework developed.
7 Recommendations
The study recommends the following:
Proper training should be introduced in advance when
adoption and implementation of
• E-Learning in Namibian educational institutions Stu-
dents, Learners, Teachers and Lecturers.
• The government of Namibia should invest in
online platform to assist Namibian educational
institutions to successfully adopt and implement
eLearning.
8 Conclusions
The adoption and implementation of e-learning in Namib-
ian educational institutions has been crucial for students
and lecturers to execute their academic tasks efficiently and
effectively in the delivery of educational technology that
enables lecturers and students to access study materials
online and as a result, this can improve the performance
of the students.
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