The Eastern Cape Department of Education has seen the number of its matric pupils able to successfully pass the year increase rapidly, and it says this success is thanks to its implementation of digital and electronic learning, information, communication, and educational technologies.

At a recently hosted elearning summit in East London, the department outlined just how its strides in digital and electronic education adoption were going. It said that it has managed to achieve the fastest increase in passing matric pupils in the country, averaging 5.6 percent more successful passes every year.

This may not seem like much, but when the difference is your own child passing or not, any improvement starts to matter. Especially ones like this.

“There are extremely valuable lessons from this evidence-based approach in developing a more future forward policy of remediation that can lead to excellence,” says Dr Corrin Varady, education analyst and CEO of IDEA, a Microsoft education partner that offers STEM education for children from grades 4 to grade 12 as well as ICT and digital skills to adults and corporates via its digital and online platforms.

Varady says that despite the Department of Basic Education envisioning an education system transformed by digital technologies a decade ago in its White Paper on eEducation, the real life implementation of these policies has “not only been slow, but uneven.”

“With this self-reflection, the Department recognises that policies like this and the Action Plan to 2024: Towards the realisation of schooling 2030 are outdated, and is reportedly developing new guidelines to provide strategic direction for e-learning deployment,” he adds.

Under the previous ANC administration, Varady says “the DBE measured its e-learning implementation efforts solely on the number of schools equipped with internet connectivity and ICT devices.”

“While these tools are undeniably foundational for digital education, they are just one component of a functional e-learning framework. In the Eastern Cape, however, the vision is now clear. It is very much focused on the simultaneous nurturing of critical elements such as teacher training, instructional video recording and a multimedia digital curriculum as well as monitoring and evaluation.”

“On how well learners learn, but also on how well teachers tech”

Outcomes, of course, are then measured on not only how well students learn on elearning platform, but how well teachers teach on them as well.

Another key element to the Eastern Cape framework that has led to so much success, is the striking of new partnerships between the government and the private sector.

“These have not only resulted in the resourcing of schools with ICT devices and educational software but also the development and provision of access to content hosted by e-libraries, the rollout of smart classroom solutions and broadcasts of virtual lessons facilitated by subject specialists and expert teachers,” he says.

“Attracting private sector innovation for public sector education ensures the future of outcomes,” Varady adds.

Every province must have their own way of eLearning

At the learning summit in East London, Dr Esethu Stofile, Chief Education specialist for E-Learning at the Eastern Cape Department of Education said that the department has “laid down the gauntlet, challenging e-learning to be innovative, and daring to find solutions that will drive educational outcomes.”

Varady believes this approach should be rolled out across the other provinces in the hopes of increasing and bettering learning outcomes. But also, provinces should gear their elearning policies according to the needs and understandings of their own specific regions.

“Provinces must have ownership of their own e-learning implementation given that each region has its own unique needs and challenges that have to be addressed. Ultimately, it is up to them to run these programmes, so it is crucial that they have the flexibility to put these into practice effectively. Additionally, learnings can be shared across provinces to improve educational outcomes nationally,” he explains.

“E-learning can no longer be an exercise in ticking boxes. Given the nationwide pressing issues of classroom overcrowding, teacher shortages, and infrastructure backlogs, a forward-thinking e-learning implementation policy is now urgently needed if we are to ensure that every child in South Africa enjoys the right to a quality education.”

[Image – Provided]