Press Review - Digital Education

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my press review.

I was reading an article the other day in the printed edition of Business Spotlight and it talks about the increasing use of electronic equipment in school.

In my mind it is an exciting issue and maybe you will also be as interested in it as I am.
I thought you might be interested, because technology is becoming more important nowadays. 

Basically what it says is that school looks different in Kenya than in Austria. There is no teacher in the classroom and small groups of ten-year-old children are gathered round tablets, tapping and swiping between brain teasers and educational videos. The students in these classes are using eLimu, which is a local software platform that aims to optimize learning by turning Kenya’s school curriculum into colourful and easy-to-digest exercises.

In Kenya are many companies, which try to bring education into the digital era by scanning textbooks, developing bite-sized courses for mobile phones and deploying tablets to rural schools. 

What shocked me most was the fact that, although Kenya is East Africa’s largest economy, there is only one primary teacher for 47 students. The majority has no access to computers or to the internet. The government wants to transform Kenya into a middle-income nation by 2030, as well as to achieve the sustainable development goals of providing universal access to the internet and to ensure that youth and adults have skills for employment and entrepreneurship. 

The author also mentions that Eneza Education is a Kenyan start-up, which provides courses by SMS and they have already reached 1.6 million users. Product manager David Henia says, that they do not want to replace teachers, they just want to help them. 

What puzzled me most was that many schools suffer from regular power outages, which makes it difficult to charge the devices. BRCK is a Nairobi tech company, which has developed the KioKit. This is a portable classroom including a Wi-Fi hotspot, a small server packed with educational content and 40 tablets that can be charged wirelessly and work in the roughest conditions in rural schools. 

Erik Hersman, the company’s chief executive says, that Digital education is the ultimate equalizer. Although it doesn’t remove all obstacles, it levels the playing field.

It is also mentioned in the text that even with public support, questions remain about how effective digital classrooms are. In Kibera, Mary Kinyanjui, a library’s manager, thinks that tablets make the children more eager to study and they want to improve their marks. She says that there is no limit to what they can learn online. 

Meanwhile, Kenya’s new educational companies are already exporting their products. Eneza has pilot programmes in Tanzania and Ghana, while BRCK is selling its classroom kits in 11 countries, including Uganda, Cambodia and, most recently, Kiribati.

Unlike other development trends, digital education is here to stay, claim these entrepreneurs. Hersman said, that digitization is not a fad, it is a foregone conclusion. 

To be honest I am in a conflict with myself because on the one side technology is important, because it a great way to improve studying and education. In addition to that it is a great way to support teachers as well, but on the other side it also replaces teacher. 

All in all I agree the statement of Hersman. Digitization is becoming more important nowadays.

In my mind it is easier to take notes with a laptop or a tablet. In addition to that, the Internet is a great way to exchange information and to take information of all topics. As for me, I think that it simplifies teaching and learning.

What do you think about digital education? Do you think it is easier and more uncomplicated to study with a laptop or a notebook?

See you soon!

Yours,

Kristina