Online education and how it can help Africa
Education in Africa
Malcolm X once said that “Educational is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” Africa and other developing countries need to embrace this quote and promote the education systems, which are in a total crisis. For instance, following UNESCO’s reports, one out of five children globally didn’t take in any sort of education in 2015. And in this, approximately 264 million kids between the age of six and seventeen lived in developing nations. However, this crisis could worsen. As African’s child population is expected to rise to 840 million inhabitants by the year 2050, but almost no resources and materials such as programming myths are earmarked to teaching these young individuals.
The spread of digital education
Regardless of these crises, e-learning is viewed as a possible answer to the question of whether access to education can be expanded at a reasonable cost. For instance, Bill Gates, the chief founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the co-founder of Microsoft, accepts that e-learning will modify education in the developing society and Better Bridge the literacy gap. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
E-learning plays an essential role in giving millions of souls across the globe a chance to obtain an education. And currently, many famous high-learning institutions in Africa and Asia are accepting this new invention. These centers have managed to register more than 8 million students across the board, with many more going digital. At the same time, modern methods of online education, such as massive open online courses, are as well protruding.
In numerous emerging countries, involvement in e-learning is still regulated by technological infrastructure roadblocks, popularly referred to as the digital divide. However, the fast spread of cell- phones have recently changed digital education into a much more sensible proposition. Besides, people from remote areas can access the internet, thanks to the mobile broadband innovation that is quickly developing.
Penniless governments in low-wage nations are frequently adopting e-learning as an opportunity to close capacity gaps. In contrast to the construction of physical institutions, online education guarantees an affordable, and faster remedy. Regardless of whether or not e-learning can meet this promise remains to be precise. But, the increased potential of e-learning in quick-rising nations is undoubtedly enormous. Few learned personalities see Africa as the most exclusive e-learning continent in the world.
Job demand and growth
One of the advantages of education is the likelihood of getting a higher salary. A learned person has an excellent chance of finding a more lucrative job. For example, income increases by about 10 percent with each additional year of learning. And higher education enables individuals to specialize in specific fields such as sales Development representative, business support consultant, administrative assistant, background investigator, solar power consultant, Data science manager. And other emerging higher-paying jobs include Software engineer who is highly in demand, accountant executive, Realtor, and recruiter, etc.
Best e-learning platforms
These e-learning platforms are ruling the world these days. Ever since the evolution of technology, they have become a popular and common thing for many students across the globe.
Khan Academy
Khan is one of the leading non-profit online platforms that widely known for providing education tutorials. Salman Khan introduced the channel in 2008, one of the best mathematicians. He aimed to develop a kit of online tools to assist students. The website creates short tutorials in the form of videos. Similarly, it has valuable practical tests and materials for tutors. Khan Academy aims to act as a sequel to its videos as it contains various highlights like Progress monitoring, practice tests, and teaching aids. The material may as well be obtained through cell-phone apps.
The videos present recording of illustrations on an electronic panel, which resembles the style of a tutor giving a lecture. The tutor portrays every drawing and how they correlate with the material that is being brought up. Numerous Non-profit teams have helped by supplying offline models of these videos to remote places in South America, Africa, and Asia. The recordings cover all topics broadcasted in school and for all assessments from lower classes to high school.
The Khan Academy channel as well provides materials from innovative YouTube platforms and associations like the Museum of Modern Art. Moreover, they offer internet courses to prepare for standardized examinations, comprising the MCAT and SAT, and the unveiled LSAT preparation classes. In 2017, the platform became the chief practice accomplice of the College Board’s Advanced.
Udemy
Udemy is a channel where teachers can organize online classes on topics based on their personal preferences. Using the features and tools available, tutors can send videos, PDF files, live tutorials, and PowerPoint presentations. Teachers may as well connect and collaborate with customers through online speeches.
The classes are provided in a variety of classifications, consisting of academics, music, fitness, arts and business, and entrepreneurship. Most courses focus on practical topics such as Excel programming or utilizing an iPhone camera. Udemy as well provides Udemy for Business, which gives businesses access to more than 3,000 lessons focused on topics ranging from advanced advertising strategies to office efficiency, planning, dashboard, and programming. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With Udemy for Business, associations can also create personalized learning entries for business preparation.
The channel provides paid and free classes, relying on the tutor. For instance, in the year 2015, the best tutors generated approximately $ 18 million in total earnings.
In the year 2013, the platform unveiled an application for Apple iOS that enables students to take courses directly from iPhones. The Android model was introduced in January 2014. And as of that period, the iOS application was downloaded more than a million times, and 20 percent of Udemy customers access their classes through mobile phones. In 2016, they added Apple TV to its iOS phase.
Coursera
Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller started this platform. It has an American e-learning site that specializes in providing massive open online courses, degrees, and specializations. The platform has merged with top universities and colleges to offer various classes and degrees like engineering, medicine, mathematics, computer science, business, and chemistry, etc.
These courses offer weekly tests, expert-rated assignments, and sometimes a final exam or project. Besides, the classes are provided on request. In this case, customers can take enough time to complete the course with all accessible materials.
In 2018, the platform had more than 34 million registered customers and more than 2,300 courses. By August this year, the number of courses had increased to 3,600.
EDX
The website is a MOOC provider and was established by Harvard University and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The platform specializes in offering university-level internet classes in different disciplines to various students across the world. It thoroughly researches learning by investigating how individuals utilize this site. EdX is a free channel and rolls on the open public edX Open-source software channel. And over 130 schools, philanthropic groups, and associations provide or plan to teach classes on the edX site. As of November 28, 2018, edX had enrolled approximately 20 million students handling more than 2,300 e-courses.
Alison
Alison is one of the globe’s most extensive free e-learning channels for education and skill preparations. It is a for-revenue social enterprise devoted to making it viable for any person to learn anything, at any place and time. It’s free on the internet, regardless of any subject level.
LinkedIn learning
It is an American site that provides video courses instructed by professionals in programming, innovation, and business skills. Besides, it is a branch of LinkedIn. LinkedIn Learning was established in the year 1995 by Lynda Weinman, and it was initially known as Lynda.com before being taken over by LinkedIn in 2015. Later in December 2016, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn. The platform started online tutoring in 2002 with around 100 courses, and eventually, it has grown to produce and publish stories on creative pioneers, artisans, and business visionaries.
To code
Above are the most popular free platforms to learn to code. And just like BitDegree, over 50 million individuals have studied how to code through these channels. All you are required to do is to dive in and select courses that suit and teach you everything from Python, HTML, Ruby, and CSS to JavaScript and SQL to Bash / Shell, and C ++.
Conclusion
With the common hurdles facing conventional colleges and universities, which involve higher tuition, budget cuts, and course shortages, several students, as well as those who love learning, have switched to e-learning. Online education has become one of the most popular higher education options in sub-Saharan Africa.