Education is the key to prosperity and economic growth, and the digital world is the doorway through which we must all travel in the brave new world of education. 

u|Chief asked two dynamic digital learning leaders and entrepreneurs for their thoughts on the future of digital learning and its potential to revolutionise our society and – as a result – the economy.

Nomsa Seisa, CEO, Rekindle Learning

“Coming from a non-tech background, it has been phenomenal to see the impact that digitising information – and digital in itself – has for the industry. In education specifically, I have already seen the difference that we can make in small businesses and in big businesses, as well as in peoples’ lives. We can now educate more people and it makes a difference in terms of how people learn and how they retain knowledge so, for me, that is where Rekindle should be going and it is where we are going.

“I think digital learning will create massive change socially and economically as it will be incredibly disruptive. I have seen people change their attitude about learning and I’ve seen corporates become more engaged with their employees. Rather than simply saying “this employee is not up to a task” or that “they can’t ever do something”, now these same employers and managers are finding ways to assist their employees to become better.

“The same applies with young children and school learners. We are supporting people through a process that helps them to become better people, to become better performers and, as a result, to add to the economy.”

“I have seen people change their attitude about learning and I’ve seen corporates become more engaged with their employees. Rather than simply saying “this employee is not up to a task”, they are finding ways to assist their employees to become better.” – Nomsa Seisa.

Rapelang Rabana, Chief Digital Officer, BCX

“Digital learning is so disruptive thanks to the personalisation that digital learning provides. For too long we’ve been trying to educate people as if we are moving cattle through a kraal, as a single passage. It’s so important to recognize that people will always be at different stages of their learning and development.

“We need to ask ourselves, ‘how do we support individual learning so that people can still get to the same place’, and this applies whether they are learning at a slower pace or if they are ahead of the pack. The last thing you want is for high achievers to get bored. Everyone needs to get to the same place, but in their own time.

“In companies throughout the country, there are huge issues because they tend to want to teach towards the middle or the middle of the curve because they are trying to account for everyone at the same time. However, that isn’t sustainable because then you end up with the fast learners being disruptive because they are bored, but the reality is that they needed to be taught in a different way and a different speed to keep them engaged and to maximise their ability to grow their skills and knowledge.

“For too long we’ve been trying to educate people as if we are moving cattle through a kraal, as a single passage. It’s so important to recognize that people will always be at different stages of their learning and development.” – Rapelang Rabana.

“For me, when it comes to any kind of socio-economic challenge – whether it’s learning or healthcare or agricultural produce – we have to solve all of these challenges in a meaningful way that actually changes the trajectory of how we develop as a country and as a continent. We need to be able to inject technology somewhere in there in order to achieve scale. In the education and learning space top-end universities have already solved how you educate 30 000 people exceptionally well… the question is how do you do that for 30 million people… or billions of people!

“We need to learn to change how we approach education and if we don’t figure out how to do this at scale then top education will remain available only to the very few privileged people and we will never be able to really capture large numbers of young people and educate them in a meaningful way.

http://rekindlelearning.com | www.bcx.co.za