Written by Dr. Anne A. Aseey
The Digital Age is understood differently across continents but in Africa, the context and use could be different though the paradigm of immersion in technology could be holding in both circumstances. The rate of emergence of new technologies is alarming but human beings will adjust to survive and thrive in uncertain times.
There is a relationship between our institutions and our traditional thinking or what may be referred to as ‘architectural design’ of that particular age. Mostly, our institutions, especial educational ones were built largely for the generation at that time (brick and mortar) with no intuition of the digital age approaching and taking over and other unforeseen circumstances.
For now, the new changes like Fourth Industrial Revolution, globalization, coupled with pandemic such as Coronavirus, locust invasion, ravaging floods among others require adjustments in the way man executes services and to who the services are meant for and with what effect. Educational institutions will be more collaborative with enhanced stakeholder involvement to understand and mitigate the situation they are in now. Borrowing from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 in New Orleans;
‘I’ve been thinking about what we’ve learned from Katrina and how life will change—especially how schools will change. After Katrina, New Orleans shifted to what eventually became the first all-charter-school city in the country. No, I’m not predicting that we’ll do anything like that because of coronavirus’. Douglas N. Harris, Nonresident Senior Fellow – Governance Studies, Brown Center on Education Policy.
In Africa, most activities from social, political and economic stalled due to Coronavirus outbreak. The African Union CDC officials stated that the coronavirus epidemic as an “existential war for the continent”. In the education sector, the situation may never be the same with over 1, 268,164,088 (72%) of learners out of their institutions in over 177 countries in April 2020. These institutional closures, alongside hashtags like, #lockdown, #socialdistancing and #stayathome requires new innovative approaches to conceptualize. Some of the strategies and approaches which are being used in availing education to the learners has been through homeschooling, radio, the television, remote learning, online learning, distance learning, blended learning, gamification and the like.
In Kenya, all educational institutions were closed down under the directive of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya in mid-March 2020. The institutions at all levels were then tasked with looking for alternative ways and means of ensuring that learning continues remotely. The position of remote learning is still bleak in Africa as compared to other countries as less than 25 per cent of low-income countries currently provide any type of remote learning, and of these, the majority are using TV and radio. In contrast, in the developed world close to 90 per cent are providing remote learning opportunities with almost all offering services being offered online.
In adapting and adopting new learning and teaching paradigms, the education sector had to leverage the assets of home-based learning as they stay and work at home, rather than trying to recreate school. The remote mode of learning is capable of bringing private meaningful learning experiences that can connect to learners’ home environment, interest and local identities and also use the available devices in the home environment. It may come with its merits and demerits. As the instructor is not immediately present in front of the class as learners in Kenya are used to, some necessary adjustments had to be done by the education institutions and the learners (pupils/students).
In higher education, especially universities, existing polices had to be re-drafted to include online learning pedagogy as an emergency pedagogy. The new teaching approaches received mixed feelings from policy makers, service providers, students and other stakeholders. But to save on time and normalize the situation, strategies were set and remote learning implemented in most educational institutions. Learning continued both in synchronous and asynchronous modes and institutions were able to cope with the termly and semester requirements alongside providing reading resources remotely as done by the University of Nairobi through utilization of electronic resources with thousands of learning resources available remotely. These initiatives were lauded by majority of education stakeholders as remote learning and home schooling concepts have been embraced at relevant levels.
From the instructor’s perspectives, remote learning has its challenges including lack of well-defined infrastructure systems, lack of adequate preparation for the sudden change, having both students and instructors at home at the same time, lack of internet connectivity, students preparedness, cost of teaching and preparation for online teaching, online assessment and evaluation nightmare among others. For students, attitude change is still needed, lack of reasonable and relevant devices to facilitate the learning process, some from nomadic communities are notable to be in one place during scheduled classes, students with disabilities losing in the online process, lack of internet connectivity in rural areas, no preparation on migration from face to face to online learning and others. For institutions, the move from school to remote learning comes with several challenges like cost, policies to implement it, structures and facilities, staff training, relevant and available resources, student’s diversity, examination issues online and others.
Educational institutions have somehow weathered the storm in meeting the demands for enhanced teaching and learning using an array of devices during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya. These achievements may change the education system in the country for some years to come with learners utilizing and appreciating the value of digital devices they have in their hands like mobile phone, smart phones, laptops, tablets and others. For institutions, the whole process of learning and teaching though tedious, will drastically change to incorporate new inventions and innovations which will aid and assist in offering quality, relevant and competitive education. This will go alongside help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for all in low-income economies wherever and whenever they are in time.
Dr. Anne A. Aseey is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Open and Distance Learning, University of Nairobi and Vice-Chair, University of Nairobi Alumni Association. Contacts: email: aaseey@uonbi.ac.ke
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of the University of Nairobi.
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