With education being seen as a key foundation for Africa's development, eLearning has the potential to play a pivotal role in the transformation of the delivery of quality education across the continent. To achieve the level of scale required in the delivery of quality education, Africa needs to leap forward and maximize on the potential of eLearning in creating innovative learning solutions. The education delivery approach in Africa has to shift from one that is highly dependent on physical infrastructure such as schools and colleges, physical learning materials, and in class education delivery to one that makes extensive use of interactive education technology.
The methods of learning also need to be revised as learning require more of Higher order thinking methods that the current low order thinking methods that involve a teacher giving notes and student expected to use the notes to answer exams.
Ready to jump on the online learning bandwagon? The first question you should ask is "What are my learning goals and/or objectives? This question will help determine which method or platform is best for delivering content. Next, you must question logistics and available assets. For example, what types of technology do my students possess? Do my students have smartphones, iPads, laptops, etc.? Do my students have wireless network capabilities or Internet access at home and in school?
Once these basic questions are answered, you are ready to begin planning for online learning.
Online Learning
Online learning (or any learning for that matter) should be action-oriented, promoting active learning and engagement with the content. The online instruction should result in mastery of content goals and objectives all with the appropriate rigor. In designing online learning experiences, you must include the scaffolding students need to master new content. Also be aware that you will want to have additional resources for remediation and extension so that you can provide differentiated learning experiences for your students.
Blended Learning
Blended learning, also known as hybrid learning, is a combination of face-to-face and online instruction. The teacher connects personally with the students in the brick-and-mortar classroom and that relationship extends online. In part because of this connection, a teacher can immediately intervene with remediation or acceleration as needed. Also, the student does not experience the isolation that can occur in a completely online course.
Blended learning can be the best of both worlds. The teacher can provide the best multimedia resources to complement the core content and extend or reinforce the learning. He or she can also easily differentiate for students based on their instructional needs and learning styles. With blended learning, the emphasis is on active learning, independent and collaborative assessments, and learning beyond the classroom walls.
Tools for Blended Learning
Edmodo is one tool you could employ in a blended learning model. Edmodo provides a secure learning environment for any grade level/content area. The teacher creates a class and provides an access code to the students. The students then use the access code to join the class.