Abstract
Most academics and students have smartphones, which has allowed the discordant deployment of mobile technologies for augmenting and enhancing teaching practices in classrooms, sometimes without the knowledge or support of the institution, despite the advancement of mobile data networks and mobile phone penetration rate in developing countries. Drawing on the Affordances theory, this study unravels the driving mechanism that forms academics' perception of mobile technologies for teaching practice augmentation in higher education. The early findings of this study through thematic analysis from three case studies (Management Science, Engineering and Medicine faculties) in Nigerian Universities reveal frustration with technology and preferences for synchronous social appification in the classroom due to the perceived accessibility and quick and free availability of social messaging applications. However, these mobile technologies are perceived to do more than augment communications between lecturers and students and are undeniably faster compared to other asynchronous media such as university email, other emails and Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Moreover, these social messaging technologies are perceived to provide a less cognitive load to master when academics need to get through to learners faster. It also offers easier learning threads and logs.