Broadband to boost education

By Alex Kayle, Senior portals journalist

Johannesburg, 27 Mar 2009

SA needs an information society made up of knowledge workers participating in a knowledge economy, competing on global level, said Steve Vosloo, fellow and researcher from 21^st Century Learning, an initiative stemming from the Shuttleworth Foundation.

Vosloo spoke at the South African National Broadband Forum, held at the Sunnyside Park Hotel, on the effective use of ICT in education. Essential tools include Web 2.0 technologies, online social networks and mobile devices to develop education in the developing economies. The South African Broadband Forum is an organisation focused on driving awareness and drafting a policy to make broadband a national priority for the country.

The emergence of high-speed broadband is changing the role of the teacher, and how learners experience and digest information, Vosloo said. “We've moved from a situation where the teacher was seen as the single expert, and this has changed as SA has moved from an information poor context into an information rich world.

“We no longer depend on a single source of information, but rather multiple sources of information. The teacher's role has evolved to become more critical than ever; they are now information facilitators to direct learners and help them to develop skills to make sense of the information on the Internet, and to have discussions around social media such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. The critical reasoning of information has become more important than ever.”

No limits

Broadband enables peer-to-peer learning across time and space, Vosloo said. “Broadband takes a whole new dimension of collaboration. In today's world, communication and information sharing spans different communities across continents.”

Vosloo is optimistic about the new undersea fibre-optic cables that are being implemented by Seacom. The project is expected to reach fruition on 17 June this year. He said this will drive wide-spread Internet access, improve Internet quality and bring more affordable Internet to the masses. This will have far-reaching benefits for South African education, as more learners will have access to high-speed, affordable Internet.

Cellphones and 3G technology currently have the biggest impact in the education space, because the technology is pervasive, he said. More people have access to cellphones than PCs. The biggest challenges facing broadband in the education sector is the lack of awareness on how teachers and parents can effectively use Internet to improve the learning experience, he noted. The high cost of broadband also remains an inhibitor.