E-LEARNING CAN BRING THE WORLD TO KENYA SCHOOLS

The world is moving at an unimaginable speed in the area of information use and dissemination. The use of Information Technology, knowledge and information can be transferred and cross-fertilized in real time. Hence, the need to pay attention to the way information technology has changed the educational sector through the internet.

The use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet in learning is seen as a means to improve accessibility, efficiency and quality of learning by facilitating access to information resources and services as well as remote exchanges and collaboration. Nonetheless, by the middle of the 20th century the growth in technology and applications even in the field of education became unavoidable to be ignored. The world of technology continued to grow and today the whole world has become a global village. By the beginning of the 21st millennium educational technology has stretched educational boundaries and created new ones on a daily basis. One of these new and rapidly expanding boundaries is e-learning which is offering tremendous advantage to education sector.

E-learning in this sense is the use of network technologies to create, foster, deliver, and facilitate learning, anytime and anywhere. It is also the use of internet and digital technologies to create experiences that educate a young generation and is of great help when they grow up. It has the potential to revolutionize the way we teach and how we learn.

E-learning has therefore become a new paradigm and philosophy in education with a mission to serve as a development platform for present-day society based on knowledge. The TVET, University Education, and Basic Education acts advocate for the use of ICT in education.

 It is evident that the concept of e-learning is considered to be very attractive as a new learning model whose effect will be a positive one to the development of education in Kenya with all its potentialities.

In addition to that, there is need to build and fully equip Science labs in secondary schools in each county. We must realize that it is difficult to get the best result from poor facilities. This is why laboratory facilities in our schools must be revamped to foster e-learning.

E-learning must be built on infrastructural background with highly effective internet connectivity to succeed. More so, to guarantee an effective learning system it is therefore, fundamental to implement self-sustaining Internet and computer training, which will eventually allow teachers and learners to keep pace with latest development and technologies.

Kenya should ensure the availability of accessible, efficient, reliable, and affordable ICT services. The government to encourage the use of ICT in schools, colleges, universities, Technical & Vocational Education and Training  (TVET) and other educational institutions in the country so as to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

There are strategies that must be used to promote the development of e-learning resources such as the need to facilitate public-private partnerships to mobilize resources in order to support e-learning initiatives, promote the development of an integrated e-learning curriculum to support ICT in education and promote distance education and virtual institutions particularly in higher education and training.

The government should ensure that ICT in education sector is easily accessed, properly funded and adequate. Also, the cost of development of interactive e-learning contents should be considered. We should also embrace ICT as a medium of instruction and management tool, build capacity for teachers, and include ICT Curriculum at ECD and primary levels.  

E-learning will ensure that training is enhanced through use of multiple media and trainee interaction and hence boosting the level of education as well as linking learners to other content, experts, and peers.

The power of ICT to connect teachers and learners to the acquisition of knowledge they need wherever that knowledge exists is harnessed through e-learning hence it’s the right way for this country.

Moreover, we must prioritize mainstreaming ICTs into the teaching and learning processes in the current Kenyan education system. There is also need for alternative and innovative methods of learning, which can make education available beyond lecture halls in Kenya, not limited to a particular time, pace, or space.