Online Learning in Zimbabwe

The World We Will Die In Is Totally Different From The One We Were Born Into, That Is The 4th Industrial Revolution
The rate of technological change is accelerating. We can attribute this to Moore’s Law which is the doubling of computer processing speed every 18 months. For most of humanity’s existence, humans would die in a world that looked the same as the one in which they were born in. Right now, we will die in a world that is significantly different from the world into which we were born.

The World Economic Forum acknowledged this in its Future of Jobs report, we’re entering a fourth industrial revolution:

Developments in previously disjointed fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and genetics and biotechnology are all building on and amplifying one another . . . On average, by 2020, more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today.
Think about how much things have changed in the past 20 years. From mobile phones, social media, cars, education, etc. then try to imagine how vastly different things will be in 2021, or even 2100.

The key for Zimbabwe to surviving this new industrial revolution is leading it. This will require several key elements: the right legal foundation for businesses, awareness of this change by government, a massive investment by public and private enterprises to develop talent that can make most of this change happen.
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With so many technologies emerging, it can be difficult keeping up. It can be painful being on the bleeding edge of technology because technology also tends to die just as fast as it is born. Think of Blackberry, at one point they were the most advanced smart phone on the market but within a 5-year period, Android and Apple took over.

Combining a report by The McKinsey Global Institute and knowledge of Southernsoft Technology’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), we’ve compiled a list of 14 technologies that will lead the fourth industrial revolution. As the Institute notes,

Not every emerging technology will alter the business or social landscape – but some truly do have the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work, and rearrange value pools.”

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In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 9 million children drop out of primary school every year according to the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Internet is a resourceful tool that can improve and transform the education sector and contribute to economic transformation of African nations, a new study by the Internet Society indicates.
Dubbed the Internet for Education in Africa, the study says a blended learning environment that leverages Internet can potentially help connect education to work, improve the skills that allow youth to access employment, empower lifelong learners, and importantly, support women, girls and people living with disabilities to participate in learning without space, time and other cultural and social barriers.

While education struggles to cope with the digital transformation, Internet connectivity has grown exponentially.
Africa is today the fastest-growing and second largest mobile phone market in the world. While in some countries, including Botswana, Gabon and Namibia, there are more mobile subscriptions than inhabitants, Africa still has the lowest mobile pe*******on of any market. There is plenty more growth to come. Over 620 million mobile subscriptions mean that, for the first time in the history of the continent, its people are connected.

With this increasing statistics, digital learning is a real possibility. More than a quarter of the African population (334 million) has access to Internet, the majority of whom are young people who are to use it for education purposes. According to the African Development Bank, Africa is the continent with the world’s second fastest growing economy. Africa is at risk of losing a generation of 21st century workers and job creators. If current trends continue, Africa will be home to one billion young people by 2050, but one-third of them will not be able to complete basic secondary education. Digital education will be important in empowering young people in Africa.

Digital education is a system of teaching that emphasises the use of computers and Internet to impart knowledge.
This year the world marks a significant milestone: 50% global Internet pe*******on. Though Internet access has become a daily expectation for many, it’s hardly available.


Today, over four billion people some 56% of the world are still not using the Internet. The majority of this offline population are women. Most live in less developed countries and other developing countries. One of the key obstacles countries face in the race to expand access is affordability the vast majority of those without Internet access today are offline simply because they cannot afford a basic connection.

The arrival of Seacom marine fibre optic cable on the Kenyan coast in 2009 excited Internet users — who were promised reliable and faster service. In Kenya, 1GB of mobile broadband is said to cost an average of 9,72% of the average monthly incomes — making Kenya’s Internet more expensive than other comparative countries such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ghana. Only five countries in Africa qualify to be termed as having affordable access. They are Sudan, Mauritius, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Countries that were leading in this year’s index including Cambodia, Mexico, Peru and Benin have implemented several reforms that the A4AI recommends to be emulated by other regions.

The traditional education system was termed outdated and out of touch with the 21st century challenges. All the activities are carried out manually, teachers have to maintain all the chapter contents to be taught in
the class on paper, attendance records are maintained in register books, keeping track of teaching progress is also a cumbersome task.

As Internet grows, educational challenges are advancing and normally the two are not supposed to be intersecting.
What Rwanda is doing is a step in the right direction and will ensure that the education system produces global citizens capable of working anywhere in the world. Once the programme becomes fully operational, it will empower students with digital tools, practices, and technologies so they can actively participate in their own learning at anytime and anywhere.

There’s little doubt that our vibrant continent is making great strides towards a bright future, with our economy expected to grow by 3.4% in 2017 and 4.3% in 2018, according to research in the African Outlook Report. Children across Africa’s rural communities are being left behind and with more than 70% of the continent’s population living in rural areas, this is a major problem.

The same report shows that at least half the population resides more than 25km from the nearest fibre connection. It’s clear that, while we may be celebrating the growth of connectivity in cities, last-mile connectivity is still a major stumbling block.

It’s true that we as Africans still have a great deal of work to do if we want to see our incredible continent continue on its path of transformation, but the key to our success lies in the power of innovation.

Taking individual online courses can help students pursue their long-range goals without being locked into a formal course of study. This flexibility can make for a better fit with career and family commitments while still allowing individuals to pursue their objectives.
Globtorch Online education is enrolling , offering a wide range of courses Online . For inquiries visit our platform www.globtorch.com

IS ONLINE LEARNING THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION?

In the past, if you wanted to get a qualification, or even simply learn something new, you would sign up for a course at a bricks-and-mortar institution, pay any relevant fees, and then physically attend class. That was until the online learning revolution started.
Last year, the e-learning market was worth an enormous $166.5 billion. It’s been estimated that this will grow to $300 billion by 2018. Its growing financial value is matched only by the swelling numbers of students choosing to follow an online course.

In the latest Global Shapers Survey of 25,000 young people from across the world, 77.84% of respondents reported having taken online courses in the past. So is online learning the future of education?

What is Online Education?

Let’s start first by looking at what exactly it is. Online education takes two major forms. The first: for-credit courses where students enrolled in tertiary education take online classes offered by home or other higher education learning institutions for credit. Some well-known cases include the MIT OpenCourseWare and the Harvard Online learning.

The second form of online education consists of professional training and certification preparation. Such online learning is usually targeted at professionals or students seeking training or preparing for certification exams. Popular courses include training in foreign languages, accounting and nursing.

In the Global Shapers Survey, close to half (47.79%) of respondents said they would be willing to pursue certification for certain skills, including online certification, once they have started their working careers. This again speaks to the large potential and market for online education.
Teething problems
The growth of online education has not been without challenges. Since its early inception in the 1960s, online education has been constantly criticized for its apparent lack of quality control, particularly the scarcity of high-quality teachers.

It’s also been said that online learning deprives students of some of the benefits of being in a classroom, such as teacher-student interaction, as well as other things such as a reliable internet connection and electricity supply.

Overcoming the Challenges in Online Learning

Regardless of these concerns, online education has made great strides in recent years. For starters, more and more institutions of higher learning have introduced or reinforced their online education platforms, the main considerations being cost reduction for students and recruitment expansion in face of rising competition. As a result, online education has become an increasingly important part of tertiary education, with colleges and universities using world-famous faculty members and professional support teams to promote online courses.

To tackle the question of teaching quality, a number of providers have turned to user rating and internal evaluation. Star teacher, for instance, has become a popular teacher evaluation mechanism in China and South Korea, two of the largest e-learning markets.

Overall, such progress seems to have eased the doubt about the quality of teaching, and 40.56% of respondents in the Global Shapers Survey said online education is as strong as traditional learning in a classroom, with another 11.76% saying they didn’t know.

Online education is a type of educational instruction that is delivered via the internet to students using their home computers , Tablets and their Smartphones .Most of the time, online degree programs and courses are offered via the host school's online learning platform, although some are delivered using alternative technologies.

Over six million students currently take one or more of their courses online; 50% of universities offer an online degree program. These numbers are only growing. Technology has changed the nature of education—and the jobs of educators. Online instruction requires different methods to help students learn.
Technology has also changed the nature of Education in Zimbabwe , this has been made possible through Globtorch Online Education & Business Solutions www.globtorch.com
Which provides a framework for creating a digital classroom—with a Learning Management System —and guidance to get students interacting with the course material, the instructor, and each other. Collaboration is the key to making the learning experience more dynamic.

Globtorch – Online Learning and Business Solutions Platform