The Infusion of Emerging Technologies in Complex Higher Education Settings (original) (raw)
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The politics of e-learning in South African higher education
International Journal of Education and …, 2007
The notion of e-learning, commonly understood as 'learning facilitated online through network technologies' (Garrison & Anderson, 2003), has emerged across South African higher education institutions since the 1990s. As in other national contexts, e-learning practices appear together with an entirely new vocabulary, institutional policies and structures, and substantial institutional budgets. E-learning also appears as one of many ICT-enhanced practices in universities from the provision of e-mail, online journals, and networked libraries, to the development of creative software solutions for information management tasks in teaching, research and all sorts of institutional administrative systems for online registration, finance, human resources, student performance data, course evaluations and so on. The new practices have provoked a range of issues around online pedagogies, patterns of access and of exclusion, increasing ICT costs in the context of unequal resources and competing institutional priorities, and the relation of e-learning practices to other institutional interventions seeking to transform the colonial fabric and cultures of South African higher education institutions. It is therefore useful to view ICTs as 'one thread in a complex net of transformation, including historical redress, curriculum transformation, diversity, equity and so on' (Czerniewicz, Ravjee & Mlitwa, 2006: 43). Organisationally, the emergence of full-scale 'digital universities', such as the African Virtual University (Juma, 2003), which involves more than 30 higher education institutions from 17 African countries, and the increasing use of online learning in contact universities, are seen to blur the traditional distinctions between distance-mode and contact-mode institutions (Butcher 2003: 13-19). Butcher suggests that these kinds of 'dual-mode' institutions are increasing in developing countries. The universities of Stellenbosch and Pretoria as two clear examples in South Africa, where the number of 'distance' students enrolled in traditionally 'contact' institutions increased by almost 500% between 1993 and 1999, particularly in the historically Afrikaans language universities (Jansen, 2004: 303).
The Challenges of E-learning in South Africa
Trends in E-learning, 2018
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest open distance e-learning (ODeL) university in the continent of Africa, with a student headcount more than 300,000. Over two decades after the transition from apartheid to democracy, vast inequalities across race, class, gender and socioeconomic status persist in South Africa, with the majority of the African people being the most affected. Demographically, the African people constitute about 80.8% of the country's total population, compared to whites, who constitute a meagre 8.8%, yet African households carry the highest burden of poverty, living way below the official poverty line of $1.90/day as determined by the World Bank and other international agencies. This chapter explores these inequalities and ponders on the role of e-learning for this poorest section of society in a country where modern technological devises in the form of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and access to the Internet are perceived to be ubiquitous. South Africa's Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) commits to "an expansion of open and distance education and the establishment of more 'satellite' premises where universities or colleges provide classes at places and times convenient to students (including in rural areas)". This chapter also explores the role of UNISA in the provision of distance learning through structured and sustainable e-learning.
International journal of membrane science and technology, 2024
This paper argues that the digitalisation of university registration processes has given rise to concealed elitism. The phenomenon became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as elite students accessed advanced medical care and education degrees while individuals from indigent families and rural communities bore the brunt of the pandemic. Drawing from the perspectives of critical emancipatory research (CER), the observational study described in this paper sought to explain students' experiences during the transition to digitalised registration processes and to identify practical solutions for the deficiencies in the new system, ensuring inclusivity for all students in the future. This observational study did not have a specific sample size but observed the groups of incoming first-year students gathered outside many university gates during the registration period in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study consequently concluded that many universities in KwaZulu-Natal are not prepared for digitalisation of student applications for several reasons: (i) the use of technology conceals elitism, a lingering aspect of the apartheid era that disenfranchises students from indigent and rural communities; (ii) universities lack reliable infrastructure, as they were not initially designed for contemporary communication and teaching methods; and (iii) the rise of technological innovation destabilises the intentions of our South African democracy and the massification agenda. This paper proposes a dual method of communication (virtual and walk-in inquiries) that would accommodate democracy and recognise people's right to education. This approach would ensure that students from different socioeconomic backgrounds are accommodated in higher education institutions. The paper recommends technological innovations that do not remind black and poor students that they were once marginalised from accessing tertiary education due to systems that were not favourable to them.
The impact of South Africa’s ICT infrastructure on higher education
2008
In this paper we describe South Africa's information and communication technologies (ICTs) infrastructure, highlight the issues South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) face in terms of ICT access and argue that a greater awareness of these issues can help us plan better e-learning interventions in Higher Education. We draw on recent research about the use of ICTs in our sector describing the prevailing and emergent practices with regard to the pedagogic integration of ICTs as well as a survey conducted amongst 14 "e-Learning managers" from South African HEIs. The South African ICT infrastructure of concern to HEIs are evaluated in terms of issues such as internet users, bandwidth, demographic divides, cost and cell phone subscriptions. Barriers to e-learning that affect staff and students across institutions are also highlighted. We then examine what these constraints mean for teaching and learning and provide some suggestions as to how opportunities can be maximised. It is concluded that despite our varied HE institutional contexts, each with their own infrastructural and organisational challenges, there are definite areas for collaboration, joint research projects and sharing of good practice. These opportunities are critical for elearning practitioners, especially whilst we are operating in an environment of resource constraint.