Uploading but Not Teaching: A Governance-Centered Analysis of Selective Digital Compliance in Post-Conflict African Higher Education

Abstract

E-learning mandates in sub-Saharan African higher education institutions routinely presuppose that faculty compliance follows naturally from policy directives and infrastructure deployment. This assumption is rarely tested empirically in post-conflict, low-resource contexts. This paper draws on systematic direct observation of Google Classroom activity across 133 course sections, 82 faculty members, and 4,673 students at African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) in Monrovia, Liberia, assessed against standardised benchmarks across four defined compliance dimensions: syllabus posting, learning resource upload, digital midterm exam delivery, and grade posting. Each section was coded into a proficiency rating of Very Good, Fair, or Poor based on cumulative performance. The data reveal a sharp divergence between passive and active digital pedagogy. Passive compliance was relatively strong: 94% of faculty uploaded learning resources, and 73.7% posted syllabi. Active engagement collapsed: only 28.6% delivered midterm examinations digitally, and just 24.1% posted grades through the learning management system. Overall proficiency was rated Very Good in 37.6% of sections, Fair in 60.2%, and Poor in 2.3%. Cross-referencing with parallel attendance monitoring records further revealed that 86.2% of faculty recording absences were rated Fair or Poor for digital performance, establishing a coherent pattern of professional disengagement rather than isolated non-compliance. Applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations alongside African higher education governance scholarship, the paper argues that the deficit reflects a structural governance failure, not a training gap. Social affiliation dynamics, absent consequence mechanisms, faith-based institutional culture, and post-conflict educational inheritance are identified as the primary systemic drivers. The paper contributes original disaggregated institutional evidence from a Liberian denominational university context that remains virtually absent from the empirical e-learning literature, with concrete implications for governance reform.