ICT teaching and learning in a new educational paradigm: Lecturers’ perceptions versus students’ experiences

Over the last two decades there have been fundamental shifts in the way teaching and learning are perceived and conducted within the tertiary education sector. One is a move from teacher-centred to student-centred education, and another is a move from the traditional to the virtual classroom. However, there are indications that academics and students have not universally embraced this new educational paradigm. A further challenge faced by ICT educators is the rapidly evolving ICT discipline. In an ICT faculty at an Australian university, large-scale curriculum changes to the undergraduate degrees resulted in a set of foundational courses offered to all students in their first year of study. With such major changes, it seemed timely to investigate students’ and lecturers’ perspectives of the new degrees. Using interviews, similarities and differences between students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of their educational program were found. The findings are presented under the themes of motivation, interest, course content, learning environment and adaptation. A conclusion of this study is that students and lecturers operating within a student-centred, technology-enhanced educational paradigm are facing difficulties, and there is a need for universities to work towards addressing these issues.