Institutional Policies and Online Education in Developing Countries: Challenges for a Globalizing Education/University

Introduction

In the last 20 years, there has been significant development in science and technology, triggering the massification of digital and online gadgets, tools, and platforms for a variety of daily activities, including communication, administration, business, educations, among others. In the education sector, two scenarios were witnessed. Some countries and institutions early adopted and legitimized teaching and learning processes based on digital and online platforms, shifting from the traditional face-to-face modality. However, due to various circumstances (economic challenges and sociocultural practices), other countries and institutes did not easily adhere to the online teaching and learning processes, especially in developing countries. The significant hindrances include financial difficulties – parents do not afford to provide gadgets and Internet services – and adverse/negative perception and worldviews about the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for education purposes.

Nevertheless, theorists of online education believe that the use of ICT for educational purposes in this era of technology and Internet is irreversible (Bates, 2017). Some institutions, especially in Higher and Tertiary Education, offer exclusively online programs, meaning they use online modalities to conduct teaching and learning processes. Other institutions combine face-to-face teaching and learning activities and online strategies (blended learning). In these cases, traditional and new modalities of education complement each other. On the one hand, most of the lecturers and teachers salute the relevance of presential teaching and learning processes, particularly in early education levels, to efficiently play their affective role (as instructors) (Quiang, 2018) and positively contribute to inculcate and build an individual's ubuntu¹.

On the other hand, they underscore the need to adapt themselves and their learners to use online teaching and learning strategies to facilitate and maximize the benefits of the educational process (Ally, 2008). In addition to this, online learning is the global and irreversible trend to develop and meet nowadays.

Teachers, learners, institutions, societies, and countries are to benefit from the online education process. It allows enrollment, participation, and instruction of large numbers of students and, simultaneously, it permits instructors to easily consider the needs of each student as an individual; it is ideal for each student to learn regardless of his particular style of learning: activists, theorists, reflectors and pragmatics (Fry et al. 2009, p. 18); it is based on relevant and up-to-date material, triggering relevant, consistent and integrated learning. Nevertheless, effective designing and implementation (including social and moral education of communities about online education functionality) are the keys to fascinating results (Mattar et al. 2020).

The benefits of online learning are well captured in Ally (2008). According to Ally, the advantage of online learning for learners is its flexibility in terms of time and space; they can learn any time, from anywhere, and with a myriad of resources to choose from for learning. Online material allows for smooth and relevant asynchronous online learning using up-to-date books and articles, while synchronous online learning allows the interaction between learners and their instructors. For teachers, in turn, teaching is flexible in terms of time and place as well. Teachers can easily guide students to achieve their needs in online education, recommending appropriate information and material. All these benefits make this modality of education a reliable strategy to use in human pandemics like the Covid-19 and a relevant and adequate approach to education in this more and more globalized online society.