• Daystar University
• 10 Nov, 2023

By Masaki Magack

Many African and global leaders have spoken, parents have accentuated their advice and musicians have sung alluding to the fact that “education is the key to success”. However, in the 21st century, this narrative seems to be slowly sinking away by the emergence of digitization and digital disruptions in our education systems. My glimpse of digital disruptions and thirst for education, and that of other young African scholars, especially those whose first physical presence in an international conference, began the moment my paper on “The uses and authenticity of emojis in academic forums in Kenyan Universities” was accepted for physical presentation at the 73rd Annual ICA conference in Canada.

Allow me to’ flow with the glow’ that, recently ChatGPT and Bard, some of the conversational generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) joined other digital disruptions on the trends ‘blinding’ the minds of the young generations that there is no need to sweat and sacrifice through sleepless nights in achieving anything but rather leaving behind a ‘feeling’ of getting it on a silver platter through digital affordances. I can call it electronic journalism but little do they know that this could probably be an addiction in the global south and not in the global north. However, I am not implying that there is little good to technological advancement and innovation since, on the contrary, I am a digital enthusiast and full beneficiary of these disruptions.

A degree is just a starter in Canada since their young men and women there are on their third or second degrees having gone through a rigorous problem-based learning curriculum. This evidently came out during their conference paper presentations. As I walked through the streets of Toronto, filled with anticipation towards joining other delegates and academic giants from all corners of the globe in such a summer environment; indeed the host had prepared to welcome the participants in one of the luxurious hotels- Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. Colossal sessions notably explored the authenticity of communication with all divisions represented as I was left spoilt for choices as scholars from diverse backgrounds shared ideas they had either problematized or theorized to all participants rich in diversified cultures.

At this moment, I won’t shy away from mentioning that in most of the sessions I attended, I found little or no presentation/participation by young African scholars and this left me wondering if I was misplaced or rather dreaming under the illusion of Virtual Reality. Even with that dearth representation, these students must be originating from Global North University. However, little hope was reinstated in the fact that this was a hybrid conference, with participation from different ICA Chapters having been launched, giving everyone around the world a chance to have a glimpse of the live happenings.

Ooh Yes, for those who are wondering why travel for more than 20hrs when I am enabled a click away on a hyperlink and participate –should now sit back and listen to this testimony. Or you could say… oh yes preacher go on! In fact, I should have begun by saying that Daystar University was happily represented by Sr. Prof. Agnes Lucy Lando, Dr. Leah Komen and myself and this could be the only ones from the whole of Kenya, generally. Before I lose you, the highlight of different cultures and identities across the globe sparked my attention, leave alone the language, the dress code, the insights, the ideas, conversations kept all participants alert throughout until one couldn’t tell when time was over. Having been organized during summer, the sun’s phenomenon of shining longer during the day hence making nights shorter became a nightmare since I was unable to literally sleep at 9pm when I couldn’t see any promising darkness, till almost around 10pm. The networking kicked in instantaneously as soon as I handed over my conference badge. Wandering through conferences, publishers’ sections with books on display, winning a few gifts here and there and by the end of the conference, I had filled a bag of books to carry with me. I can only say less since there is more to it, however, I would encourage the young African scholars to dare and immerse themselves in such experiences towards fast tracking their academic career growth.