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Goosen E

The Challenges of Closing the Digital Divide - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...losing-the-digital-divide.html

PAT CAT digital divide

shared by Goosen E on 06 Feb 17 - No Cached
  • Q: What do we know about the people who aren’t able to obtain access to or afford broadband?
  • South Carolina
  • challenges of closing the digital divide.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • millions of people are caught in the divide
  • many are low-income and in rural areas
Goosen E

The challenge of bridging the digital divide - 0 views

2016.ifla.org/of-bridging-the-digital-divide

digital divide PAT CAT

shared by Goosen E on 06 Feb 17 - No Cached
  • 13–19 August 2016,
  • 9 September 2016, 13:05
Goosen E

Project Isizwe | Company Profile | Business Review Africa - 0 views

www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/...South-Africa-through-free-WiFi

CAT PAT research digital divide resources

shared by Goosen E on 07 Feb 17 - No Cached
  • Super Admin - Aug 23, 2016
  • Deloitte research has shown that productivity in developing countries could be enhanced by as much as 25 percent with the expansion of WiFi access.
  • 75 percent of citizens can’t easily or affordably get online
  • ...23 more annotations...
  • Project Isizwe, a not-for-profit organisation based in the city of Tshwane, is currently working with government bodies across South Africa to bring free public WiFi to the country. 
  • “We all understand the value of Internet connectivity,” Zahir Khan, the CEO of Project Isizwe, explains, “especially in terms of educational benefits, improved healthcare services, better opportunities for economic development — and, of course, social cohesion. From that perspective it’s critical to connect the country sooner rather than later.”
  • In 2013, a bid to connect every citizen was launched across the city of Tshwane. To date, it is Project Isizwe’s largest deployment effort, with 850 Free Internet Zones (FIZs) installed in the local area and almost two million unique users accessing the web since November of 2013. By 2018, Tshwane will have WiFi within walking distance of every citizen. 
  • installation of 213 Internet access points outside of schools in Tshwane.
  • This ensures that every learner, educator and community member in and around the schools is connected”.
  • Rural environments in South Africa also stand to benefit from the efforts of Project Isizwe,
  • these locations is admittedly more of a challenge
  • remote regions, state revenue is limited, thus it is more difficult to get these communities online.
  • “Funding has been the biggest barrier for expansion across the entire country,” Khan says.
  • Project Isizwe’s not-for-profit status
  • the project operates exclusively under cost-recovery: it doesn’t charge users for its service and the large-scale financial benefits of WiFi access for South Africa will not be immediately evident.
  • Research by the World Bank has shown that a 10 percent increase in what is called ‘broadband penetration’, the amount of the Internet access market that has been captured by high-speed broadband, will result in a 1.3 percent increase in a country’s GDP. 
  • access to an affordable mobile device
  • was also a barrier to Internet access in South Africa
  • cost of these items has fallen
  • Project Isizwe has deployed in rural environments, places as remote as the mountain village of Tshedza in Limpopo province
  • are finding creative ways to reach out into their newly-connected world.
  • Khan cites the story of Martin Nyokolodi, a young man in Tshwane who has launched his own Internet radio station, among his favourites. Not only does Nyokolodi utilise the City’s ‘TshWi-Fi’ service to broadcast his programme, he also takes Skype calls from listeners and maintains the station’s social media presence on the network.
  • Restaurant owners in proximity to a WiFi hotspot have been setting up shelters within signal range so that customers can access the web
  • these makeshift ‘Internet cafes’ have increased restaurant profits by as much as 80 percent
  • Internet has helped to streamline the process of care and diagnosis in South Africa’s clinics and medical facilities.
  • In its National Development Plan 2030, the government of South Africa states that it wants universally available Internet across the country in 14 years’ time. 
  • “The public hotspots become a place to bridge the digital divide, where regardless of personal circumstance or background, everyone has access to the same Internet,” Khan says.  
Goosen E

E-learning hard for SA to implement, but necessary: iLIVE - Times LIVE - 1 views

www.timeslive.co.za/...-implement-but-necessary-iLIVE

shared by Goosen E on 25 Jan 17 - No Cached
  • Most South African learners in rural and township areas do not have access to the Internet.
  • they will be entering a world where proficiency with digital technology is a fundamental necessity. 
  • when these learners leave school,
  • ...31 more annotations...
  • because of the myriad obstacles to widespread digital access in South Africa, some educators and experts in the technological field argue that e-learning is not viable for us. They believe that bridging the digital divide is too big a challenge.
  • in developed countries
  • technology allows them to engage more deeply with the subject matter, while – crucially, in today’s technology driven world – also allowing them to become comfortable with using digital technology.
  • Implementing e-learning programmes in South Africa is difficult.
  • that implemented properly, e-learning can assist in both equipping learners to enter a digital world, and alleviating what many see as a crisis in our education system.
  • proper implementation” lies in using educational technologies that span the online and offline worlds.
  • solutions
  • using educational technologies that span the online and offline worlds
  • Via Afrika
  • developing digital learning tools that require only limited Internet connectivity to work, and can be used both online and offline.
  • LivingPages app for Grade 10, 11 and 12 textbooks
  • interact with their textbooks using a smartphone or tablet
  • it enhances the printed page with extra digital content
  • can be streamed directly through the smartphone.
  • video
  • graphics
  • audio
  • Another
  • example
  • the Via Afrika eBook series for Grades 4–12.
  • e-textbooks can be read in the MobiReader app
  • allows for learners to engage with digital enhancements such as videos, slide shows and audio offline
  • Government is also making inroads into overcoming barriers to e-learning
  • Gauteng
  • its intention to introduce e-learning to the province’s schools, and distribute 88 000 tablets to schools that need them.
  • 2014-03-05
  • broadband technology is also becoming increasingly accessible
  • Too often underprivileged learners who gain entry into tertiary institutions find themselves poorly equipped to work with the technology needed to succeed in these institutions.
  • If given the opportunity to engage with digital technologies from a young age, learners won’t have to face such challenges later on.
  • will only increase as cheaper smartphones and internet access become available.
  • creative educational solutions
Goosen E

SA schools falling off the e-learning deep end | Fin24 - 2 views

www.fin24.com/...e-e-learning-deep-end-20160609

shared by Goosen E on 25 Jan 17 - No Cached
  • 2016-06-09
  • Few schools in South Africa have the ability to roll out effective e-learning programmes because of a lack of understanding of these platforms, says an industry insider
  • many South Africans schools, and the authorities that govern them, are misinformed as to what e-learning actually is,” Ian Light, chief executive of Eiffel Corp, told Fin24.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Eiffel Corp is an e-learning specialist and Light said that the lack of local understanding of the process makes it difficult to define the exact number of schools that have effective programmes in place.
  • some of the biggest barriers to schools having a successful e-learning ecosystem is the lack of a well-planned teaching and learning strategy that incorporates technology, a lack of funding to invest in online platforms to administer and deliver e-learning content as well as the complementary subsidising of network data and connectivity infrastructure at places of learning,” said Light.
  • In Gauteng, Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has spear-headed the provincial e-learning programme in which the paperless education system is expected to cost around R17bn.However, the programme has had challenges with a number of devices stolen.
  • More than 100 smart boards have been stolen in our schools since the installation in July 2015 of the ICT programme in the Grade 12 classrooms in 377 schools
  • But a critical component is the training of teachers to manage the delivery of the curriculum through technology tools.
  • it should be clear that the training (perhaps we should call it up-skilling) of teachers is a massive task
  • expensive and a labour intensive
  • But unless it is done in tandem with the roll-out of technology devices in schools, there will be minimal return on the technology investment," Kobus van Wyk recently told Fin24.
  • Van Wyk is the chief executive of the Associated Distributors of Educational Supplies in Southern Africa and managed the Khanya Project for a decade.
  • “South Africa needs strong, committed national leadership and complementary government policy to foster innovation and direct efforts to encourage teacher skills growth in this area,” said Light.
  • Poll that revealed more than half of school children said they knew more than their teachers about the use of tablets and computers for learning.
  • for e-learning to be effective and assist with bridging the divide for all learners, it needs effective planning that integrates with sound, measurable academic practices, cheap and reliable data connectivity as well as committed, long term funding from government,” said Light.
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