Online education and internet access?

Online teaching and learning is the most popular way of knowledge administration and dissemination. That is particulary true during this COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Institutions and governments have put in numerous efforts for online Education to prosper. Within the past years, it has had a major impact on education and general masses’ perception of learning. Often refers to as e-learning, it has created tremendous excitement both inside and outside higher education (Volery & Volery Professor at Lyon, 2000).

Online Education refers to education that takes place over the internet (Stern, n.d.). It is a type of distance learning that happens through an interconnected network via a specific platform. The online method of education can be a highly effective alternative method of education for the students or persons that are self-disciplined, matured and motivated, well organized and having a high degree of time management skills (Kumar, 2010). Distance education offers an added value to the learners as it is, in most cases self-paced thus allowing the learner to engage in other activities (if necessary) while studying.

When we talk about online education, the attribute that stands out from the literature is the convenience that goes with it. In fact, it is argued that convenience is the foremost advantage of online Education (Fedynich, 2007). This convenience is in relation to many factors, including but not limited to:

 * No commuting or travel time to campus. For example, someone from the republic of Mali can effectively participate in a study program at the Virtual University of Ivory Coast.
 * No geographic location constraint in selecting the learning option(s)
 * Virtual discussion with instructors 
 * Access to resources 
 * Cost-effective for both students and Institutions 

According to the World Bank organization, to ensure positive economic growth and development that benefits all citizens, Africa must make big strides in digital literacy. In Sub Saharan Africa, 230 million jobs will require digital skills by 2030, according to the Digital Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa report that IFC recently published (WorldBank, 2020).

Online education can play an important role in that direction. Digital literacy is a pre-requirement in engaging in online Education. Although that is an important factor, the issue faced by most African institutions and students is online access. How to make internet access easier for learners and instructors?

The lack of online access either due to financial causes or logistics might exclude participants from the online class, or preventing institutions to deliver teaching materials. This is a major problem for all online programs that are reliant on Internet access (Fedynich, 2007). For instance, according to world internet statistics, in Ivory Coast, only 45.3 % of the population has access to the internet. Quality transmission is another issue of the telecommunications system and other resources required to successfully transmit information.

A starting point to make online education more accessible and effective could be a study that investigates ways to improve internet access in developing countries based on a causal model that will take into account quality transmission …

What are your thoughts??

References

Fedynich, L. V. (2007). Teaching beyond the classroom walls: The pros and cons of cyber learning. http://www.aabri.com/copyright.html.

Kumar, D. (2010). Pros and Cons of Online Education.

Stern, J. (n.d.). Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning. Retrieved July 8, 2020, from http://www.sloan-c.org/resources/index.asp

Volery, T., & Volery Professor at Lyon, T. E. (2000). Critical success factors in online education. ARTICLE in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513540010344731

WorldBank. (2020). Africa’s future is bright—and digital. https://blogs.worldbank.org/digital-development/africas-future-bright-and-digital