The SMARTER model, an innovative educational framework, is designed for blended learning environments, seamlessly integrating both online and face-to-face instructional components. Employing a flipped classroom methodology, this model ensures an equitable division between online and traditional classroom interactions, aiming to cultivate a dynamic and collaborative learning atmosphere. This research focused on developing and rigorously evaluating the SMARTER model’s validity, practicality, and effectiveness. Adopting a research and development (R&D) approach informed by the methodologies of Borg, Gall, and Gall, this study utilized a mixed-methods strategy. This encompassed a robust validation process by experts in design, content, and media, alongside an empirical analysis of the model’s application in actual educational settings. The aim was to comprehensively assess its effectiveness and practicality. The findings from this study affirm the SMARTER model’s validity, practicality, and effectiveness in improving students’ information literacy skills. Comparative analysis between a control group, taught using a traditional expository approach, and an experimental group, educated under the SMARTER model, highlighted significant improvements in the latter group. This effectiveness underscores the model’s capacity not only to efficiently deliver content but also to actively engage students in a collaborative learning process. The results advocate for the model’s potential broader adoption and adaptation across similar educational contexts. They also establish a foundation for future research aimed at exploring the SMARTER model’s scalability and adaptability across diverse instructional environments.

Africa has been fighting against colonialism and Eurocentrism for a long time in an attempt to reverse the regime of oppression and socio-economic marginalization and exploitation, and take back control of its cultural identity and right to self-determination. This adventure requires the recognition and revitalisation of indigenous arts, culture, and law—all of which have been subjugated and ignored during colonial rule. Ironically, the situation has not improved much by the dominating presence of post-independent neo-colonial structures and perpetuated Eurocentric phenomenon that have been ingrained into the socio-cultural and economic fabrics of the African state. This research explores the critical need for integrating science on African indigenous arts, culture, and legal systems, as a way of globalizing as well as revitalizing these elements, towards the ultimate emancipation of the continent from the vestiges of colonialism and Eurocentricism. Relying on the postcolonial, and indigenous knowledge systems theoretical frameworks, the study engages the ethnographic, collaborative and interdisciplinary research approaches, subjecting data obtained to thematic analysis. Underscoring the profound interconnectedness of science, indigenous arts, and cultural heritage, the study argues that combining scientific methods with indigenous African epistemology provides a powerful framework for advancing Africa’s true independence from the protracted legacies of colonialism and Eurocentrism. The research concludes that a holistic integration of these elements therefore, is indispensable for fostering a decolonized and inclusive approach to knowledge production, self-determination and sustainable development, against the background of the rich insights and sustainable practices embedded within the African cultural traditions. Ultimately, the research recommends that embracing and integrating science on indigenous epistemologies can propel Africa towards an emancipated, truly independent, and culturally affirming future, transcending the enduring legacies of colonialism and Eurocentrism.