E-Learning a godsend for varsity study
A pupil and his teacher during e-learning.
What you need to know:
- All they are required to do now is make one capital investment of a laptop and daily subscriptions for internet.
- The universities would cut the cost of student management while lecturers no longer need to commute to work.
The chancellor of a local university reportedly advised his council that the strategy of doing nothing is unacceptable even when the best strategy in unknown. Online teaching and learning has become the go-to strategy as many universities absorb their September intake and start online classes.
As a new approach, the default setting is to resist, grumblingly learn and then do it. But it has affordances with a promise for higher education.
First, it would dramatically cut the cost of university education. Students spend heavily on living expenses on campus. All they are required to do now is make one capital investment of a laptop and daily subscriptions for internet.
The universities would cut the cost of student management while lecturers no longer need to commute to work. Universities would admit more students since physical spaces like laboratories and workshops can be used in shifts. The university education cost would come down significantly, the demand for higher education would rise, the quality of human resource would improve and the GDP would greatly improve.
Economically productive
Secondly, students can now be economically productive. The prolonged closure was initially problematic as students reacted to the absence of the informal interactions with their peers. This provided an opportunity for a home-grown, parent-driven socio-cultural informal class that is virtuously programed and nurtured to produce an empowered adult. This comes with a need for constructive economic engagement.
Finally, if strict restrictions on academic progression are reviewed, students can pace themselves, attend multiple lecturers in a day and get ready for graduation in under four years. With proper preparation and precise delivery by the lecturer, large amount of content can be covered in succinct, powerful and compact lectures. The icing on the cake is, the lessons are preserved for iterative improvement and for future use.
Dr Rugano teaches instructional technology at the University of Embu. [email protected].
