Improving African students’ understanding of cybersecurity using African Indigenous pedagogy and technology

The study aims to enhance African students’ understanding of cybersecurity by integrating African culture into higher education. It uses the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA), a pedagogical method based on using indigenous knowledge to break down complex scientific concepts, and the Afrocyberlibrary, a database of Indigenous knowledge in cybersecurity. The quantitative phase involved a quasi-experiment with 71 students, while the qualitative phase had seven participants. The study showed that CTCA and Afrocyberlibrary improved student achievement in cybersecurity compared to the regular lecture method; its effects on gender were inconclusive. The CTCA was praised for blending culture and technology, making cybersecurity learning more meaningful, and employing cultural examples to explain concepts. Students appreciated the intuitive interface and rich educational content of the Afrocyberlibrary. This study’s findings imply that Afrocyberlibrary’s combination of indigenous knowledge and its application to contemporary digital education can contribute to the digitisation and democratisation of higher education.