It happened so suddenly. One week schools and universities were considering their options if a “worst case scenario” forced them to shut down campuses. The next they were scrambling to adapt to an utterly changed world.
Many universities had for some time used online lectures to augment teaching, but primarily in the form of recorded lectures that could then be viewed at any time. The concept of “Moocs”, for “massive open online courses”, brought free online university courses to the world, and is now dominated by commercial offerings like Udemy and Coursera. Many traditional universities launched online offshoots as they embraced Mooc thinking.
Some schools referred their students to the likes of Khan Academy to revise or learn ideas they couldn’t grasp in class. Many embraced Google Classroom for assignments or Apple Teacher for extending lessons.
But it is hard to find any physical university or school that was fully prepared for the scale and scope of the shutdown that occurred in a wave across the world over the past month. Most scrambled to adapt their courses to a combination of live and recorded lectures and teaching sessions, but were still left floundering when practical and physical participation was required.
In South Africa, the government provided a convenient escape clause, declaring an early school holiday. It meant that those schools with the means could start devising online teaching programmes that would, with luck and a great deal of expertise, be ready when the new term was due to start.
Sadly, the vast majority of South African schools do not have that luxury: the schools themselves are not equipped for digital teaching, both due to lack of training and lack of resources, and the students simply do not have the means to learn remotely. A decade-and-a-half of dithering over wireless spectrum allocation has made sure that data costs remain too high, coverage to spotty, and technology too inaccessible, to allow for a universal digital education culture.
We cannot underestimate the challenge, now or for the future: the crisis has revealed how utterly unprepared the schooling system has been all along for the future world of work. It has also revealed how utterly essential it is to prepare for that future.
However, we do not have to blunder blindly into fumbled new models and uncertain new techniques. Numerous case studies have evolved over the years, and a vast body of best practice is available.
Read more on the next page about how difficult online education is to implement in many parts of the work, and how curricula must change.
Even the issue of having millions of students without Internet access is not unique to South Africa. In the USA, 14% of households with school-age children don’t have Internet access and many of those who do have access live in rural areas with poor signal. This has been a serious enough obstacle to prevent many school districts from moving to online teaching during the crisis, citing equity concerns.
The solution is not obvious, but the needed response is: government must urgently mandate mobile network operators to zero-rate all educational sites and services that meet minimum requirements – such as having an ac.za address, and providing curriculum-based resources. It is no longer enough for the operators to pre-define those services that can be included in their own portals.
The Department of Basic Education can rope in radio stations and TV networks to broadcast curriculum-based material, tied in to a nationwide plan and aligned to the current required learning schedule. At least for those children who want it, and parents who care strongly about it, learning does not have to vanish completely.
Even for physical activity, crucial for pre-school kids, there are solutions. The British International School in Hanoi, Vietnam, has provided one such example: children have been given take-home boxes containing homemade play-dough, craft materials and lists of games families can play together. Enthusiasm for the initiative has resulted in teachers of older grades also “curating” boxes.
In the longer term, the curriculum itself must be changed radically, to take in both modes of teaching and content geared towards the new realities. For now, e-learning and remote teaching will have to become the norm, where it is possible.
For those who are fortunate enough to teach and learn in connected communities, the immediate options are obvious, if not simple. They can be found in abundance on the Internet, from the largest technology, education and philanthropic companies, to the smallest start-ups.
However, online resources and digitisation of the curriculum are not enough in themselves. We need “digitalisation”, which means the entire way of thinking about learning and teaching becomes a digital process that is integrated with related systems, resources and activities.
“We need to do things differently instead of simply translating traditional methods into digital ones,” says Sean Hampton-Cole, an educational technology specialist who has overseen technology integration at several South African schools.
“E-learning, like all learning, must not always be about content delivery. It is in collaborative work that digital learning is truly transforming education.”
He, too, acknowledges the massive digital divide in this country: “Of course, there are serious issues: inclusivity concerns, technical problems, lack of parental supervision, difficult home circumstances, parent outbursts, and so on. And there are no easy solutions to these problems. At the very least, I think we now realise that governments and organisations around the world must prioritise systemic solutions for those who do not have access to the internet and affordable devices.”
The one segment of South African society that will not have been caught off-guard by the education lockdown is the home-schooling community. The SA Schools Act allows for a child to be registered for home education, but that has often been viewed as a recourse for religious extremists and over-involved parents.
In reality, it can be a highly progressive approach, and those who have taken it are no doubt feeling smug for the moment. The rest of society has been forced into home-schooling, whether it likes it or not.
As one of my friends posted on Facebook this week: “Home schooling update. Heaven help me.”
• Arthur Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee
Read more on the next page about the tools used for online learning.
Tools for online learning
The world’s biggest technology companies have leaped into action to provide resources, and that is an ideal starting point to understand what is available and possible.
Microsoft offers resources to both teachers and students for moving to a virtual classroom. Its superbly constructed Remote Learning portal includes webinars to learn best practice, as well as a guide for parents, at:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/remote-learning
Google offers a guide to home educational techniques, resources and tools, including setting up a home for video calling and how to live-stream lessons, at its “Teach from Home” hub, at:
https://teachfromhome.google/intl/en/
Apple is heavily focused on its own products, but for those embedded in its ecosystem, a guide is offered at:
https://www.apple.com/education/
Instructure, the company behind the Canvas learning platform, has published a guide to online learning planning tools and resources “for when the classroom closes”, at:
https://www.instructure.com/canvas/tools-for-online-learning-when-the-classroom-closes
Blackboard, one of the world’s largest educational technology companies, used by many South African schools, has a comprehensive and practical guide to “Preparing to Scale Teaching and Learning Online”, at:
https://www.blackboard.com/go/scale-teaching-and-learning-online
There are many other tools and resources. In South Africa, Siyavula has for years made maths and science textbooks and curriculum material available for grades 4 to 12 at no cost, for handsets and computer. No less than 10-million textbooks have been provided for free in this way. It also offers a Siyavula Practice online learning tool. Find it at:
https://www.siyavula.com/
Read more on the next page about the tips and tricks for remote teaching.
Tips and tricks for remote teaching
Sean Hampton-Cole, an educational technology specialist, offers this comprehensive list of tips and tricks for remote education:
- The use of an appropriate instructional management system is essential.
- Videos need to be short.
- Use streaming services sparingly – mostly for interactive sessions.
- Allow students to learn in their own time.
- Be aware of technical issues such as sound in your videos.
- Make videos fun and engaging and don’t sweat the small stuff.
- Resist the temptation to use too many apps.
- Think carefully about using apps focussed on pre-packaged content.
- New types of assessments are possible.
- Allow students to work independently and collaboratively instead of focussing purely on the content.
- Extend and differentiate.
- Provide and gather feedback.
- Be patient.
- Don’t try to do too much. Allow for thinking and reflection time. And off time.