Decolonizing e-learning: Time to critically examine online learning in Africa

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Introduction
Distance education has long roots in the African continent. For example, the University of South Africa (UNISA) which was founded in 1873, began its distance education programs as far back as 1946. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged and forced the world to shut down, all countries struggled with the mass migration to emergency remote online teaching (Bozkurt, et al., 2020) regardless of the experiences that existed with distance education or online learning, COVID-19 pushed online learning to the forefront and forced institutions of higher education around the world to rethink their purpose, course delivery, overall teaching and learning, and particularly their eLearning strategies Like all institutions around the world, African institutions of higher education had to find strategies to ensure continuity of education not only during the pandemic (Okebukola et al., 2020; Paschal & Mkulu, 2020), but also plan in case a similar situation arises in the future (Marinoni, Van’t Land, & Jensen, 2020; Mhlanga, Denhere, & Moloi, 2022). One outcome of the pandemic is a realization that there is a need to ensure that institutions either have instructional designers to develop online courses or have those who teach at the university develop skills for teaching online.The environment in which learning takes place has as much impact on the learner as the content presented and approaches used.
This proposal reports on an initiative designed to build e-learning capacity. The Mastercard Foundation’s e-learning initiative is an effort to equip and grow the capacity of e-learning designers and developers as well as train online teachers on the African continent. The initiative consists of multiple stakeholders on the continent and in the African diaspora. Using the Diffusion of Innovation theory to guide the reflection (Rogers, 1983) and drawing from their experiences in training and designing online learning for institutions of higher education in Africa, this panel will address current practices in e-learning and design of online courses on the African continent. The panelists will then interrogate the current practices from the decolonization perspectives. Among the questions the panelists will address are:
What it means to decolonize online learning in the African context
How should one start the process of decolonization of online learning in Africa in terms of design process as well as content.
What challenges and opportunities can the decolonization of online learning in Africa create for the field of instructional design and technology.
This panel will enable us to contextualize and situate online learning in the African context, and serve as a starting point for a needed discussion about a decolonial appeoach to the design of online learning.

References

Bozkurt, A., Jung, I., Xiao, J., Vladimirschi, V., Schuwer, R., Egorov, G., ... & Paskevicius, M. (2020). A global outlook to the interruption of education due to COVID-19 pandemic: Navigating in a time of uncertainty and crisis. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 1-126.

Paschal, M.J. & Mkulu, D.G. (2020). Online classes during COVID-19 pandemic in higher learning institutions in Africa. Global Research in Higher Education. 3(3):1-21.

Mhlanga, D., Denhere, V., & Moloi, T. (2022). COVID-19 and the Key Digital Transformation Lessons for Higher Education Institutions in South Africa. Education Sciences, 12(7), 464.

Marinoni, G., Van’t Land, H., & Jensen, T. (2020). The impact of Covid-19 on higher education around the world. IAU global survey report, 23.

Okebukola, P. A., Suwadu, B., Oladejo, A., Nyandwi, R., Ademola, I., Okorie, H., & Awaah, F. (2020). Delivering high school Chemistry during COVID-19 lockdown: Voices from Africa. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 3285-3289.

Sub Unit

• Africa SIG

Chair

• Rebecca Y Bayeck, Utah State University

Individual Presentations

• Designing for online African learners - Rebecca Y Bayeck, Utah State University; Martial Dembélé, University of Montreal; Onesimus Otieno, Oakwood University

• What it means to teach online during the pandemic in Africa - Tutaleni I Asino, Oklahoma State University