This article, written by an academic working at a university in Kenya, takes a critical look at online learning and how it was propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic into higher education. The author points out that online learning cannot simply replace face-to-face learning as some sort of panacea. In a Kenyan context, as in many other African contexts, online learning has a number of negatives, such as issues to do with poor connectivity, high data costs, an unstable power supply, an inability to do practicals or field work and even write examinations under conducive conditions. The author proposes a number of things that are needed in order to make digital learning work better. He also points out a number of challenges, such as that “only 40%” of the Kenyan population use the internet and very few universities have well developed IT infrastructure and staff who can oversee such systems. He offers a number of suggestions and solutions, such as blended learning. While the article takes a critical look at online learning, the author believes that with sufficient resources and infrastructure, digital learning should be part of the learning experience, remembering that “one size does not fit all”.

Read the full article here. This article was first published by The Conversation.