- 04/10/2017
- Category: Commentaries
Universal access to quality education is embraced as one of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). In a world that is progressively dependent on information and communication technologies (ICT), information poverty has surfaced, redefining the characteristic of being a part of an underprivileged group besides of economic and social incapability. The African region knows the issue best with the current largely digitally illiterate society and frail technological capacity, which led to the region to become thehometo millions of the information-deprived. Amidst the African States’ shared vision to fight for equitable access to education, an innovation called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) present promising remedy to the problem. MOOCs are highly interactive online courses accessible to everyone on the World Wide Web, typically free of charge that offer the potential to enable access to high-quality education to students, even in the most underserved regions of the world.[i]
Similar to other developing regions where educational resources are limited, it is easy to see that the demand for MOOCs is much greater in Africa. Ironically, African states comprised the most unreceptive entities in the global MOOC discourse. When we look at the context at home, the development of online courses in Indonesia has shown significant progress in the past decades. The practice of online course within the nation has gain firmer ground among high school graduates, particularly through the rising prominence of Indonesia’s Open University (Universitas Terbuka) as evidenced by the increasing number enrolling in the open and distant learning education institution over the last few years.[ii]In the midst of this growing trend, what can we learn from the African context to furtheraccommodate MOOC progression in Indonesia?
Digital Divide Hurdles MOOC Integration
When discussing the passiveness of MOOC activities on the African continent, the term ‘digital divide’ is central. The digital divide is accused of being the reason behind Africa’s unresponsiveness in MOOC development. Although digital divide as a global issue consists of multiple dimensions such as economic, technology and information literacy, telecommunication dimension poses the main challenge of MOOC development in the region. This particular aspect refers to the ‘impacts that divide between those with access to more advanced ICT, such as broadband Internet service, and those with access to more basic forms of ICT, such as telephone lines.’[iii]Africa in the current state is not ready for MOOCs due tosomefactors, including but not limited to weak instructors’ readiness for digital education, scarce locally developed electronic content, low bandwidth Internet connectivity, limited access to computers, computer illiteracy of higher education participants, and frequent electricity shutdowns.[iv]
Local Adaptability is Key to MOOC’s Success
In light of these challenges, Africa’s approach to MOOCs proliferation must be rooted in adapting to the limited resources of the prospective students. MOOCs providers, which typically originated from North America and Europe, have to possess the flexibility to the extent that the African learners can obtain the knowledge efficiently and ensure that the education outcome will be readily applicable. The adaptation process should be focused on two main subjects: technological flexibility and curriculum acclimatization.
Firstly, the fact that mobile phones are the most prevalent communication device in Africa, especially students in rural areas, means that they are particularly useful to make the online courses accessible for larger audience.[v] Therefore, it is sensible for MOOC providers to allow their courses available in mobile format. The provision of mobile learning will significantly reduce technological, and eventually, financial constraints encountered by potential students. Also, the convenience of mobile phones means that students who are already familiar with mobile phone applications will not have to face new cognitive burden as a result of low level of digital literacy, which is prone to happen for first time traditional PC MOOC users. Secondly, MOOC providers need to turn their curricula customizable according to job market’s need. This is important to guarantee that the MOOC graduates are properly equipped to compete in the employment pool. NESAP-ICT pilot initiative is a fruitful example, in which partnership between a MOOC provider with Tanzanian government offers to help equip students with market-relevant IT skills.[vi] The program has managed to create an online course curriculum that corresponds with the actual necessities of Tanzanian private sector employment tracks.
Conclusion
Despite its powerful potential in providing high-quality education for African citizens, MOOCs rely on digital technologies and e-learning spaces to achieve their goal, which poses major challenges in the digitally underdeveloped Africa. This case provides another instance in which increasing pervasiveness of ICT skills and digital literacy can open a tremendous prospect for experimentation for aninnovative form of high-quality education. Since developing digital literacy and other skills needed to prepare African students is likely to take time, MOOCs providers need to step up by start adjusting its technology and curricula to match the situation. This is, by far, the most feasible and viable answer to stop the paradox of education problem in the region. Taking a lesson from African counterpart, we have to grasp the idea that technological readiness is vital to welcome future opportunities in the digital era. The governmentneeds to start investing in MOOCs, not only in providing necessary infrastructures and technologies but also adjusting the curriculum to one that can respond to the need of job market.
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[i] Castillo, N., Lee, J., Zahra, F. and Wagner, D. (2015). MOOCS for development: Trends, challenges, and opportunities. Information Technologies & International Development, 11(2), pp.35-42.
[ii] Wahyuni, S. (2017). UT becomes increasingly popular among high school graduates. [online] The Jakarta Post. Available at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/adv/2017/09/30/ut-becomes-increasingly-popular-among-high-school-graduates.html [Accessed 1 Oct. 2017].
[iii] Bertot, J. C. (2003). The multiple dimensions of the digital divide: More than the technology haves and have-nots. Government Information Quarterly, 20(2), 185–191.
[iv] Oyo, B. and Kalema, B. (2014). Massive open online courses for Africa by Africa. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(6).
[v] Valk, J., Rashid, A., & Elder, L. (2010). Using mobile phones to improve educational outcomes: An analysis of evidence from Asia. The International Review of Research in Open And Distance Learning, 11(1), 117-140.
[vi] Ibid
