A loop or stagnation? Lecturers’ meta-literacy gaps and the 5th Industrial Revolution
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Abstract
The Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR) has transformed higher education by emphasizing human–technology collaboration, ethical reasoning, and sustainable innovation, creating new demands for lecturers’ meta-literacy skills. However, a gap remains between institutional expectations and lecturers’ preparedness, as many educators experience technological anxiety, resistance, or stagnation amid rapid digital transformation. This study investigated lecturers’ autonomy in integrating emerging technologies, meta-literacy competence, and professional relatedness in sustaining technology-enhanced teaching at universities in Kwara State, Nigeria. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the study explains how the satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness influences lecturers’ professional growth or stagnation. A descriptive correlational design was employed using a standardized questionnaire administered to 100 university lecturers selected through convenience sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation. The results showed high levels of autonomy in technology integration (x̄ = 3.05), meta-literacy competence (x̄ = 3.05), and moderately high professional relatedness (x̄ = 2.93). However, shortcomings were identified in access to institutional resources, advanced AI-driven educational technologies, and structured professional learning communities. Correlation analysis revealed significant positive relationships among lecturers’ autonomy, meta-literacy competence, and professional relatedness (p < 0.05), indicating that these factors collectively support sustainable technology-enhanced teaching. Although lecturers demonstrated strong motivation and capability to adopt emerging technologies in the 5IR era, inadequate institutional support may hinder sustained innovation. Strengthening autonomy, competence, and professional relatedness is therefore essential to prevent pedagogical stagnation and foster continuous innovation in higher education.
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