eLearning in an African Place: How ‘Alien’ eLearning Models Are Failing Many in Africa - Information and Communication Technologies for Development
Conference Papers Year : 2019

eLearning in an African Place: How ‘Alien’ eLearning Models Are Failing Many in Africa

Gertjan Van Stam
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Abstract

This paper discusses eLearning in contemporary times in an African place. While the paper acknowledges the importance of eLearning in that it facilitates distance learners’ activities and bridges geographical gaps across the world, it notes that in convoluted environments such as those of Africa, eLearning raises a lot of critical questions, some of which are cultural, and others are ethical and epistemological. This ambiguity emerges largely because eLearning, as it is understood in Africa, comes in foreign packages. The paper argues for the decolonisation of eLearning – that external practices of eLearning, particularly those ‘imposed’ on Africa from Europe and North America, fail many environments in Africa. This failing is because such practices rubberstamp the long-criticised philosophy of one-size-fits-all which has been blamed for impoverishing Africa besides underestimating the potential contribution of the African continent to the global world. On this note, the paper concludes that unless we decolonise eLearning and consider the issues of sensitivity, inclusivity, and attainability, eLearning will not be palatable or at least beneficial for most in Africa.

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hal-02281306 , version 1 (09-09-2019)

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Munyaradzi Mawere, Gertjan Van Stam. eLearning in an African Place: How ‘Alien’ eLearning Models Are Failing Many in Africa. 15th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries (ICT4D), May 2019, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. pp.421-432, ⟨10.1007/978-3-030-19115-3_35⟩. ⟨hal-02281306⟩
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