The entire spectrum of education, from grade school right up to tertiary education, was severely impacted by the COVID-driven lockdowns that hit the sector like a tidal wave in 2020.
Schools, universities and colleges were forced, within weeks, to transform from predominantly classroom-based teaching to remote, Internet-based methods. For most institutions, this became a mad scramble to maintain the momentum of teaching and learning. Success rates varied widely.
What can we learn from this in the light of both the 2020 experience and the access we now (fortunately) have to advanced digital technology? Put simply, after the arrival of COVID and its resultant lockdowns, what is the future of digital-based education?
To start with, what has become abundantly clear is that the education sector will not return to what it was before. We have a new normal. But what will that normal look like and how best will we as educators be able to serve our students? What should we be doing to shape and fashion this “new normal” to everyone’s advantage?
As an example, consider the work we do at WeThinkCode, a private educational institution that trains software developers. It aims to build Africa’s next generation of top tech talent in order to drive the digitisation of business across the continent. We recruit the sharpest minds and mould them into exceptional software engineers using cutting-edge technology and a course curriculum built by global thought leaders. As such, we are well-positioned in the digital/remote learning space and this has given us a unique perspective on the future of digital education.
Our experience shows there are two aspects of digital education that are likely to emerge as the process evolves.
The first is the use of digital formats to deliver course content and information as well as administer evaluations like assignments and tests. In other words, moving away entirely from printed textbooks and paper-based models.
The second aspect, separate from the pure delivery of content, is the fundamental requirement for in-person human interactions, such as engaging with lecturers and physically meeting with other learners to collaborate around learning.
Digital will dominate our education future
Firstly, I expect to see digital learning become the dominant, if not exclusive, format over time. To underline this, our campus is fully digital and all training material is delivered in a digital format. This method has been successful for several years.
Because we used remote, digital learning as its default method even before COVID, I believe this reinforces the veracity of our opinions on the relative success of the method. We talk from experience.
I expect to see digital learning become the dominant, if not exclusive, format over time.
Operating digitally expands the universe from which expert teachers can be sourced. WeThinkCode has benefited from mentorship, mock interviews and workshops being delivered by local and international experts that are stationed far away from our campuses. This is a fantastic improvement to access.
Economically, there is significant financial saving to be made by reusing digital content. It costs more or less the same amount to share an artefact with a single person as with many people. Evolving the content is also a lot easier, as updates to digital content do not create the same waste that occurs when old textbooks become redundant.
Cost to remote learners
Secondly, it needs to be understood that too much of any good thing has its downside. While virtual engagement shrinks the world and gives us access to people that would be, otherwise, inaccessible, when that becomes the only form of engagement, the isolation introduces new barriers as spontaneous engagement and non-verbal communication are stripped out of the learning experience.
We found that the sudden arrival of the pandemic forced a complete shift to virtual interactions, with no in-person contact at all. Our students definitely struggled with this format, underlining the crucial importance of social interaction in shared spaces as part of the learning process, as well as the management of an individual’s motivation. Being deprived of these interactions under lockdown conditions confirmed the importance of in-person interactions.
There is an energy to live interactions that our students missed. The layer of adaptability and responsiveness that comes from being able to “read the room” is lost on virtual interactions, where most cameras are off, microphones are muted and facilitators feel the alienation of speaking into space.
The “co-creation” aspect to software development is also compromised. By taking away the ability to talk spontaneously, gather around whiteboards and draw out ideas, it has become more difficult for students to grapple with and grasp certain complex concepts.
Blended models rule
What is the answer? Given a more normal environment, where social interactions become possible, we will move towards a blended learning model. A hybrid approach − online delivery when appropriate and gathering together when appropriate − will allow us to leverage the best of both worlds.
But what about the problems faced by disadvantaged students?
Physical access to learning infrastructure – computers, data and content – is part of the challenge. Many of our students come from low-income households and Internet access and airtime costs are real barriers to learning remotely.
The issue of access is an incredibly complex concept and is closely tied to South Africa’s extreme income inequality and high levels of poverty, where living conditions and the lack of private space are not conducive to learning. Until this is successfully addressed, digital education cannot be offered to everyone who deserves it and becomes yet another layer of structural inequality.
In conclusion: COVID has disrupted our norms and forced us to rapidly adapt to a changed world by adopting new technologies. In a post-COVID, post-lockdown environment, I see remote digital learning gaining traction as a medium of training in certain contexts.
Blending it with traditional learning formats, we will be able to leverage the benefits of both models.
For South Africa, we must tread carefully. Until solutions are found to the lack of broad access to the necessary hardware, Internet access and airtime, a rash decision to shift to delivering learning on exclusively digital platforms will exacerbate the already pandemic crisis where many underserved communities do not have access to quality education.
Where good intentions are not checked by pragmatic insights, the legitimate dreams of millions of competent, motivated and hard-working young people will be put in jeopardy. Collaboration between stakeholders in education – both government and the private sector – will become crucial in unlocking these fundamental infrastructural challenges.
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