Digital Learning presents an opportunity for industry players to engage and mobilize stakeholders and resources to develop Botswana’s future human capital at an early stage and age.
As resource-based economy is faced with structural challenges, there is need to shift the focus and emphasis on knowledge economy through investment in innovative solutions and technologies.
As broader part of stakeholder engagement to facilitate private sector participation in the Schools Digitalization Programme, there is need to reflect on challenges of technology-enabled education from capacity building to re-engineering pedagogy, change management to providing digital space.
Anchored on Government’s priorities on digitalization, there is need to establish viable solutions to the many challenges that confront a seamless integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education and equally provide an opportunity for learners and schools to share practical experiences of ICT in education in geographically and culturally diverse areas.What are the factors that shape the effective adoption of innovation in education technologies to particular local situations?
How do we scale-up promising innovations in ICT in education from a near perfect “pilot” environment in which they were conceived to the striking realities in the vast majority of schools?
In recent years, industry players such as Orange Botswana and Grant Thornton have supported the Digital Schools Project, a Government, yet private sector-led initiative that provided a platform for collaborative learning, knowledge networking to facilitate lifelong learning for primary schools across Botswana.
Are teachers’ capabilities and effective pedagogy the most crucial contextual variables that shape the effectiveness of an innovation?
Questions abound, so does the efforts to find out viable solutions to the many challenges that confront a seamless integration of ICTs in education.
In recent years, industry players such as Orange Botswana and Grant Thornton have supported the Digital Schools Project, a Government, yet private sector-led initiative that provided a platform for collaborative learning, knowledge networking to facilitate lifelong learning for primary schools across Botswana.
The knowledge networking opportunities provided through structured sessions and discussions equip learners with requisite skills and learning tools in the Digital Era and equally connect stakeholders to collaboration and mutually beneficial partnerships.
The initiative, which is an extension of the knowledge sharing and networking space that takes a step further in bridging the knowledge gap and promote dialogue, new alliances, inter-personal networks and cross-sectoral links so that useful knowledge is shared and channeled to develop education and sustain inclusive learning and growth.
Premised on national strategies on ICT in education, localization, customization and content management, educating the educators, re-engineering pedagogy, e-Learning trends and practices as well as global education trends, the Digital Inclusion initiatives continue to elicit greater and broader national interest as stakeholders have redefined education in Botswana and provided the basis for policy reforms for ICT-enabled education in the country.
While most communities in Botswana are struggling to close the existing digital and educational divides, those that have adopted ICT-enabled education are evaluating their interventions and strategizing for the most effective processes for a sustainable ICT invention for improving the quality and reach in education.
While innovators develop modules through such initiatives and get feedback from the learners and users, Government and private sector entities may get to look at some of the researches that are in practice and require support for deepening the process, filed testing of experiments as well as upscaling and expansion of operations.
In a way, such iniatiatives are an extension of the knowledge sharing and networking space that require a platform for consultative dialoguing, strategic planning, business partnering in the field of e-Education and equally facilitate engagements in close assessment of issues relating to the Programme uptake and project implementation steered by external financial support to emerging technologies and applications in tele-education, premised on identified challenges and opportunities in e-Education.
The author is governance and sustainability commentator. He previously served in the Orange Botswana-supported Digital Schools Project Implementation Team.
