KAREN WALSTRA DISTANCE E-EDUCATION:
T he South African education system
needs much improvement in many areas, and the innovative use of technology could assist in solving this dilemma by linking everyday lessons and classroom technology in a manner that all children could be exposed to meaningful and effective education in a relatively easy manner right in their own classrooms.
In the modern classroom, teachers use interactive boards as they are teaching and learning, connecting to the Internet. Allowing a lesson to be taught from one classroom to numerous venues, allowing children and teachers to see, hear and interact with one another even though great distances separate them. This is one form of distance education.
Distance learning is not a new concept. The University of London states that its distance learning or international programmes began in 18581
Australia’s University of Queensland began offering distance learning courses in 19112
using the postal system, while .
Australia’s first ‘School of the Air’ lessons were broadcast using short wave radio from Adelaide in 1951 via the Royal Flying Doctor Service to children in the outback3
.
This service continued until 2003 when the majority of these outlying schools began using computers and the Internet instead of the radio for education4
. The University of South
Africa (UNISA) is one of the largest distance learning institutions in the world. Professor A J H van der Walt had investigated that the postal systems could be used for correspondence instruction and teaching for students who did not live near the university. Therefore in 1946 the UNISA Division of External Studies became a pioneering distance education institute in Southern Africa5
. 58 Management Today | September 2012
LINKING EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIVELY TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE.
In 2008 the Mpumalanga Department of Education initiated the Ligbron E-Learning project who partnered with Ligbron Academy of Technology using technology from Edit Microsystems such as SMART Interactive white boards, Bridgit conferencing software and Yenka virtual labs for Maths, Science and Technology to help less-advantaged schools uplift their standards of teaching and learning by using everyday classroom technology as an innovative teaching and learning communication tool to the benefit of all teachers and learners involved. Live transmissions of leading mathematics and science teachers’ lessons were transmitted from Ligbron Academy of Technology to the other three less-advantaged schools in a 45 km radius of the Ermelo area. This enabled the learners and teachers from other schools to participate in the lessons and ask questions to the leading teacher. All the connected classes’ learners and teachers could see, hear and interact in the lessons. This distance learning was inspirational and motivational, as it happened in real time.
The technology used included desktop sharing between schools by using Smart boards and Bridgit conferencing software. Digital cameras were used for the live video streaming between the different schools – which were between 7 km and 45 km away from each other. Computer and software training was conducted in all the schools with the course leader operating from one venue6
This project was extremely successful, and over time extended to various other schools7
. .
Distance learning and interactive-blended learning using a combination of technology hardware, software and teaching practice has enhanced the education of many learners in this way.
The Innovation Journal
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