Online learning is fast becoming a popular tool across the world, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, where learning institutions and businesses were forced to adapt quickly or risk being left behind. However, access to online learning platforms is still a luxury that is not afforded to the vast majority of the population.
Students who have access to digital devices and the internet have the ability to continue their education from home when they are not able to attend campus, while lower-income and rural students who lack the resources, ultimately experience learning losses and are severely disadvantaged.
The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, recently weighed in on the plans the Department has for the expansion of access to information technology for higher education institutions and whether or not our higher education system has the capacity to expand this medium of learning.
In response to the a Parliamentary committee question, Nzimande comments:
The Department of Higher Education and Training has embraced the digital transformation journey and has prioritised utilising technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning which will ultimately improve institutional efficiency and student success.
The Department reveals that they have a number of initiatives in place to assess the extent of online learning in the various institutions in the Post School Education and Training (PSET) sector. These measures include, amongst others:
- Investment in the development of a National Open Learning System (NOLS), with the aim of progressively harnessing open learning principles in the sector, provide students with an efficient open learning system with viable learning options, use ICT as an enabler for teaching and learning, and make high quality, shared resources increasingly available as Open Educational Resources (OER).
- Commissioned a research project on the current use of technology in TVET colleges.
- Funded the South African National Research Network (SANReN) to connect all 50 TVET colleges with more than 300 sites covering the entire country (TCCP) including rural institutions. This project is 80% complete and has had positive outcomes thus far.
The Minister states that building capacity to expand access through online education is still a work in progress. However, the DHET has established a National Guideline on the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning, and all colleges were informed of its use in 2021/22.
Additionally, the depatartment has founded a project on blended learning which focuses on building lecturer and tutor capacity in the blended learning of mathematics and statistics education, tutoring and support. At this stage, there is no formal programme to capacitate lecturers and tutors for blended tuition.
The objective of the project is to conduct workshops and work with inter-university and faculty communities of practice that consist of lecturers and tutors who will focus on sharing best practices and creating new knowledge to advance their ability to educate optimally will be established.
South Africa still has a long way to go with regards to expanding access to online education, but there are several measures in place to ensure that access is improved over the coming years.
