Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to define e-learning in a higher education context (definition of e-learning (DE) criteria). Against the background of reshaping entrepreneurial education within an Industry 4.0 context, the chapter further explores existing literature on e-learning frameworks for developing countries (EFDC criteria), such as Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The chapter also examines the development and establishment of e-learning structures in Namibia, before concluding with a summary of the main criteria based on discussions in the chapter.
TopIntroduction
This section will describe the general perspective of the chapter and end by specifically stating the objective.
Reshaping Entrepreneurial Education Within an Industry 4.0 Context
Many universities around the world still lag behind and have not fully embraced technologies and the application of these within higher education. Technologies for the transformation of higher education had significantly lagged behind other industries moving to more digitally-driven outcomes. While many colleges and universities are interested in using more technologies to support student learning, as, according to Naidoo (2017, p. 187), e-learning technologies provide “opportunities for improved access through the removal of temporal, geographic and situational barriers”, e-learning and the management of education at African universities and by global leadership indicated that criteria and guidelines for the selection and implementation of such efforts do not seem to be successful (Goosen, 2004). Most stakeholders believe that technologies will become ever more interwoven into the fabric of academic life. Colleges around the world embraced more flexibility, offering both virtual and physical classrooms. Coding and robotics are making their way into many curricula, even in foundations phase education.
The purpose of this chapter is to define e-learning in a higher education context (Definition of E-learning, (DE) criteria). The chapter further explores existing literature on E-learning Frameworks in Developing Countries (EFDC criteria), such as Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The chapter also examines the development and establishment of e-learning structures in Namibia, before concluding with a summary of the main criteria based on the discussions in the chapter.
Target Audience
Like that of the book that it proposes to form part of, the primary target audience of this proposed chapter includes students and scholars, who need a single volume reference book encompassing the major components of Reshaping Entrepreneurial Education Within an Industry 4.0 Context. The secondary target audience is practitioners, who need the same for their work.
Recommended Topics
From the recommended topics suggested for this book, the chapter will specifically focus on:
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The 4th industrial revolution and its impact on entrepreneurial education.
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Challenges faced by online learning.
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Investigating how universities around the world use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and new technologies as teaching tools to improve the teaching and learning experience
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Case studies from individual countries.
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Assistive technologies for disabled learners within universities and other themes related to the topic.
Objective
As part of this book, the chapter will focus on the field of education to show how higher education institutions (HEIs) are undergoing radical transformations driven by Industry 4.0. Today, there are around 220 million tertiary education students around the world, up from 100 million in 2000. In Latin America and the Caribbean, digital technologies and capabilities are essential towards realizing more resilient tertiary education systems. According to the journal article on educational technology systems by Singh, Steele and Singh (2021, p. 140), the “coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic” had clearly revealed the same by changing “the landscape of higher education” as “academic institutions across the world continue to deal with the global health crisis”. The pace at which technologies evolve, and the extent to which the traditional model limits access to education, must be acknowledged. The higher education sector requires a fundamental rethink, as students’ needs shift and digital ecosystems for learning and knowledge change. Therefore, higher education institutions must create conducive environments for students that actually represent the world of innovation through scientific research and technologies.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Educational Technology: This refers to the practice of enabling and efforts to ensure improved academic activities through the use of technological devices such as computers, hardware and software. In general terms, educational technology refers to the use ICT devices to support and improve academic performances and educational activities.
Internet: This refers to an extended network of computers connected to each other worldwide, functioning as an entity to enable communication, sharing of information, learning, as well as online shopping.
E-Resources: This is an encompassing concept referring to digitally produced documents or files that can be stored electronically and can be disseminated electronically over the internet, or through flash drives, CDs and DVDs. They also include online libraries and virtual learning platforms.
Integrated Framework: By common definition, integration refers to a combination of different aspects into a whole; therefore, an integrated framework in the context of e-learning refers to the intermingling of the users, specialists and the server systems in order to create an operational unit that enables and supports learning and teaching. This generally refers to the combining of a number of systems to create one complete functional system.
Student-Centered Learning (SCL): This is the type of learning in which students are mostly in control as their learning takes place at their convenience in terms of what they learn, how they learn and when they learn. It is a learning approach in which the student is the center of the teaching and learning process instead of the teacher.
Learning Management System (LMS): This refers to a system, which can also be in the form of a software that allows and provides automated administration and use of an e-learning platform by the users (students and lecturers) and the system administrators or managers. The system permits users to interact online, registers student progress, provides automated feedback and equally provides automated reports to the lecturers and managers of the system.
Hybrid Learning: This is sometimes called blended-learning in reference to it being an approach that blends and amalgamates face-to-face learning with online learning platforms or e-learning.
E-Learning: This is the use of different electronic technology devices such as the internet, computers and mobile phones to improve and support the teaching and learning processes. In a straightforward understanding, e-learning simply refers to teaching and learning that takes place online or over the internet. E-learning is sometimes used symmetrically with online learning, in reference to learning done through the use of computers over the internet, since online learning is part of e-learning.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT): This refers to the incorporation of communication and computer devices to allow users or operators to have functional operations such as retrieval, loading, conveyance and management of information through networked systems.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE): This refers to a merger of different technological devices and learning strategies in order to create a computerized learning environment or platform that is able react to a broader number of students or users.