The Kenyan Minister for Education Prof. G. Saitoti, while opening the eLearning Africa Conference, is quoted to have said that thousands of teacher could loose jobs if and when eLearning is fully implemented in Kenyan schools. I disagree. We might probably need more teachers, or retraining of most of the existing ones.
In addition, he is quoted to have said that eLearning is cheap and requires less man power. I disagree. eLearning is not as cheap as it is usually advertised, neither does it require less man power as hyped. To the contrary, eLearning is a very expensive initial investment. The costs of hardware, software, training, material development and the like are so high. Also, not ALL learning can be done through eLearning!
In addition, he believes that the use of eLearning is not age restrictive as with formal school. I also disagree. Age restriction in education if anything is a people issue not a technology issue. The idea of open learning, and open learning universities that have operated without using technology is a clear testimony. While the flexibility offered by eLearning is an advantage to the working class, admission criteria in formal learning institutions need to be revised to cater for the restrictions imposed on age and prior learning.
1 comment:
Do blame the professor, the concept of E-learning is new to everyone including himself, and most have little understanding of what E-learning entails.
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