E-Learning
Assignment Report of Ernst Elsener
Consultant in Open and Distance Education and retired Lecturer for Didactics of Informatics
Polytechnic of Namibia, Windhoek
July 14 – August 31, 2011
download report (pdf)
After having returned from my last mission in 2010 I was in regular contact with the Center of Lifelong Learning COLL at the Polytechnic of Namibia. We planned and effectuated an evaluation of an asynchronous course at the Polytechnic. The main task however consisted of developing a Live Online Learning Course in collaboration with the COLL-Team. Our communication tests, which we extensively carried out during my assignment in 2010, convinced us of the fact, that Tele-Teaching was feasible.
My arrival at the Polytechnic and the handover of my flat went smoothly and after a quick shopping tour together with my B360 expert colleagues Barbara Graf Horka and Karl Kupper I felt at home again. The following morning I was warmly welcomed by the COLL-Team, Ms. Delvaline Mowes, Ms. Georgina Avard and Leena Kloppers. In our meeting we agreed on the starting date of our pilot course and scheduled the next steps. The head of the IT-Department confirmed that he would order more bandwidth from the Polytechnic to the regional centers. During lunch at the Hotel School, I was updated on the latest developments and their daily duties. In the afternoon, an IT-expert connected my laptop in my flat via a fast LAN-cable to the internet. Now I was ready to start working and noticed very soon that the LAN access was on average less than half as powerful as last year and very unstable.
During my assignment, I was travelling around the country with my wife and some friends. Although we saw only a small part of the huge country, I was impressed by the sheer distances and the challenge this country faces to support a communication infrastructure. I tried to set up virtual meetings with the Polytechnic from different locations but apart from sending and receiving e-mails, it was impossible to connect.
Live online lessons to the regional centers could substantially facilitate the support of distance education students in these areas. This is the reason why the COLL-Team puts so much emphasis on this kind of communication. With the deterioration of the internet connection in the country in the last few months this goal had to be questioned.
Back at the Polytechnic I proposed that the pilot Tele-teaching course should be reduced to participants who join the virtual training sessions form the premises of the Polytechnic and from Switzerland. The COLL-Team supported me and we worked on this new plan during the rest of my assignment.
Despite of the technical set-back, all involved in the project are convinced of the potential of E-Learning at the Polytechnic of Namibia, especially in view of a broader accessibility of education for less privileged segments of the population and to optimize the quality of teaching. E-Learning can be a very cost-effective teaching approach and perhaps at some point in time some Swiss lecturers will be able to delivering specialized courses from Switzerland to students of the Polytechnic in Namibia.
Cham, September 14, 2011