{"id":150421,"date":"2019-09-20T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=150421"},"modified":"2019-09-20T06:54:20","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T11:54:20","slug":"online-learning-platforms-3-overlooked-crucial-considerations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2019\/09\/online-learning-platforms-3-overlooked-crucial-considerations\/","title":{"rendered":"Online learning platforms: 3 overlooked but crucial considerations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>In our ICT and technology-driven world, digital learning platforms are becoming an increasing important medium, especially among school-aged children in the Caribbean. However, although such platforms tends to get all of the attention, some aspects of the ecosystem tend to be lacking, which can adversely affect their effectiveness.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2lQfifo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">roundup of IT\/tech news from last week<\/a>, there were two articles \u2013 one from Dominica, the other from Belize \u2013 on the roll out of digital learning platforms. In Dominica, regional \u00a0telecoms carrier, Digicel, launched an online <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learninghub.online\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learning Hub<\/a>, which according to Digicel Dominica\u2019s Chief Executive Officer, Nikima Royer-Jno. Baptiste, would limit interruptions to students\u2019 education, particularly in times of disasters:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>This will allow our students to be able to continue their education regardless of any impact or disruption to their education,\u201d she said. \u201cIf school is closed for the day because of any threat to their safety, our students will have the opportunity to continue at home.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">(Source:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dominicavibes.dm\/news-259334\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dominica Vibes<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>In Belize, and following a successful pilot project, there is now a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the local carrier, Digi, to create a digital learning platform. The platform, which now will be rolled out across the entire country, would be geared towards high school students, with purpose of enhancing teaching and learning across Belize (Source:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/guardian.bz\/digi-learn-to-be-rolled-out-country-wide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Guardian<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Following from the laptops and tablet computers in schools, and one laptop and one tablet computer per student initiatives, projects to now focus on developing digital learning platforms \u2013 thus placing greater emphasis on online learning \u2013 seem like a logical next step. Hence, it is likely that many other countries across the Caribbean either have rolled out similar platforms, are in the process of doing so.<\/p>\n<p>Without a doubt, digital learning platforms are welcomed, and are even essential in order to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increase access to education across the Caribbean region, and especially in remote and\/or sparely populated areas of countries, where distance learning arrangement are the most viable option<\/li>\n<li>Improve the quality of the teaching and learning tools available to students, regardless of their location<\/li>\n<li>provide on demand tuition, which students can access at any time, particularly when it might not be convenient for students to attend a brick-and-mortar school (e.g. during bad weather, following natural disasters, or due to farming and\/or harvesting commitments).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, in the euphoria of the roll out of online learning platforms, frequently, the supporting ecosystem is overlooked; but that ecosystem is critical to the platform having the anticipated impact. Below, we outline three issues that ought to be considered.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Access and connectivity may still be a challenge<\/h3>\n<p>First, the extent to which students may be able to access the platform is likely to be dependent on the device and the internet plan they have. Although most students may have a mobile\/cellular phone, they may not have a smartphone; and if they do not have tablet computer or laptop assigned to them, those students may struggle to connect to the platform. With regard to Internet plans, and unless all of the local carriers intend to zero-rate access to online learning platform, accessing the platform could consume a considerable data, especially if students are expected to use the platform for several hours a week on their device.<\/p>\n<p>Further, and this point is rarely acknowledged, is the fact that that Internet transmission quality and speeds tends to be uneven across many countries. Internet service in rural areas tends to be poorer than that available in urban areas. So, for example, although countries might be touting the country-wide availability of 4G (fourth generation mobile\/cellular technology) service, that technology might only be available in the main towns and cities, and in rural areas, one might be just about able to get 3G (third generation mobile\/cellular technology) service. Hence students in rural areas may find that they are unable to browse and access the platform as efficiently and effectively..<\/p>\n<p>As a result, students, particularly those in rural areas \u2013 who might already be disadvantaged with respect to the quality of the education available in their area, and so most in need of access to the online learning platform \u2013 may be the ones most adversely affected by these issues.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>21<sup>st<\/sup> century technology; 20<sup>th<\/sup> century curriculum<\/h3>\n<p>Second, and although not always made explicit, there is the hope that learning, through an online platform, will prepare students for the current and future needs of the job market, or to better embrace and leverage technology towards innovation, entrepreneurship and wealth creation. However, invariably, the curriculum that is being taught has not been truly designed for the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century and the future of work.<\/p>\n<p>Generally, Caribbean countries, and the region as a whole (for regional examinations), need to comprehensively revisit not just the syllabi that are being taught, but also the pedagogy (the method and practice of teaching) that is being used. Frequently, ICT and technology are considered only for tech-related subjects, such as Computer Science, IT and Industrial Technology. However, if students are to truly benefit from the use of technology in the learning process, a more fulsome consideration and integration of technology across all subjects is needed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Testing and remediation, but not on teaching<\/h3>\n<p>Finally, and coupled with the previous point, many online learning platforms are not designed to <em><strong>teach<\/strong><\/em> students new concepts. Instead, they facilitate reinforcement of already learnt concepts, testing and remediation. However, the ability for the platform to teach new concepts would be invaluable, especially in situations and for subjects that suffer from too few experienced teachers, such as for Mathematics and the Sciences.<\/p>\n<p>In order for the platform to provide quality teaching, the online teaching and learning environment would need to be developed. Concepts would need to be broken down in a manner that complement the platform, and a broad range of tools, such as text, video and animation, employed that would encourage students to use platform and to learn.<\/p>\n<p>Further, and it must be emphasised that even in the classroom, teaching is an iterative process. Every year, or for every cohort, good teachers review and update their teaching strategies and tools, to ensure that they stay relevant and can hold the interest of their students. In a similar way, the online platform cannot be complacent. There ought to be continuous tracking of its performance and effectiveness, and the requisite adjustments made.<\/p>\n<p>It therefore means that in addition to designing and monitoring the analytics the platform generates, resources must be allocated to analyse the results, and develop new and specific material and tools for each of the relevant subjects, and have them incorporated into the platform. Further, and similar to good teachers, provision should also be made for the course material to be refreshed, so that the quality and standard is maintained, and quality teaching and learning can be realised<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Image credit:\u00a0 Tomasz Miko\u0142ajczyk (<a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pixabay<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In our ICT and technology-driven world, digital learning platforms are becoming an increasing important medium, especially among school-aged children in the Caribbean. However, although such platforms tends to get all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[49,32,48],"class_list":["post-150421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ict-tech","tag-education","tag-information-society","tag-infrastructure","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Computers-destop-keyboards-mouse-Tomasz-Miko%C5%82ajczykPixabay.jpg?fit=1022%2C726&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-D89","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150421"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150427,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150421\/revisions\/150427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}