E-learning and ICTs play only a small role in the Department of Basic Education's (DBE's) comprehensive turnaround plan for school education, called Action Plan 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025.
The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) says along with the ministries of home affairs; communications; health; public service and administration; science and technology; and women, children and persons with disabilities; basic education minister Angie Motshekga co-signed a “delivery agreement for outcome one”.
“Its objective is to improve the quality of basic education. It's the first of the 12 outcomes approved by Cabinet earlier this year to improve performance and service delivery.”
Ambitious policies
The GCIS says the agreement is based on four outputs, including improving the quality of teaching and learning; undertaking regular assessments to track progress; improving early childhood development; and ensuring a credible, outcomes-focused planning and accountability system.
Policies are being finalised that will see the department develop new training packages through distance education and e-education, and the development of relevant training programmes by universities and private training providers, it adds.
Motshekga says there are several outcomes that the department wants to see in every school by 2025. One of these is that from grade three onwards, all learners must be computer literate. The minister explains that this is due to the fact that much learning happens through the use of computers.
University of Pretoria academic Muavia Gallie described the turnaround plan as ambitious, according to the GCIS.
Endless possibility
Speaking about the allocation of the R1.1 billion that was given to the DBE by the European Union (EU) last month, ambassador of the EU Lodewijk Bri"et says technology has a great role to play in education.
“I see endless possibilities on how science, technology and innovation could assist in, for example, achieving universal primary education in SA.”
However, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of education and training Wilmot James says teacher training should be the main focus when allocating the funds.
“I would spend all the money on in-service and pre-service training for teachers to improve quality. ICT is not the answer to our education problems, teacher quality is. ICT is an aid and teachers should learn to master it as part of their training.”
Gallie also advised the department to look at having a system that will be able to track the number of teachers.
"We need intellectual systems that will keep everything together. We should be able to know how many teachers are present in the system today and have a system where you'll be able to access all education information."
Winning combination
Global qualifications awarding organisation Edexcel says education will evolve with technology.
It adds that research proves a growing increase in the number of students enrolling for online courses.
“Seemingly, more and more students are opting for the accessibility and convenience online learning offers.”
SA's education sector recently launched an interactive telematics online learning programme, according to Edexcel. Some 14 000 matriculants now engage and interact with lecturers via satellite link.
“Adding to the global increase of online learning, experts predict this to be merely the beginning of the transformation within e-learning, and as technology continues to advance and develop, education will have to follow suit.”
Ian Yoell, regional director of Edexcel Southern Africa, believes online learning should be viewed as a supplementary yet equivalent tool and support structure that is neither superior nor less effective than traditional methods.
"One technique is not intrinsically better than the other. The combination of online and traditional offers the best of both worlds."
However, Yoell adds that learners and educators should not ignore the constraints of e-learning.
“Depending on the course or programme, limitations include the lack of interaction with a larger study group, costly technology upgrades for the institution or college and local Internet bandwidth constrictions.”
Scott Anderberg, a director in Pearson's Learning Solutions group, predicts that mobile education, personalised learning and the collection and application of relevant data and technology will influence and improve educational outcomes, and ultimately shape the face of e-learning over the next five to 10 years.
"The education sector will be operating on an entirely different model come 2020.”
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