Photo by Samantha Borges on Unsplash
“We need to bring learning to people instead of people to learning.” – Elliot Masie
In the past few years, there has been a massive shift towards e-learning in South Africa. While there have always been institutions offering this learning format, there has not always been such heavy pressure to adopt it. Given the hurdles of COVID, mass looting, and student protests, the difference between universities that succeed and ones that don’t will depend on whether they afford students the opportunity of e-learning.
Besides the dire need for e-learning given the current South African context, there are many reasons why the demand for it has rapidly increased. Here are a few of the benefits of online learning that have led to its popularity not only nationwide, but also worldwide:
Learn at Your Own Pace
Oftentimes lecturers have to pace their teaching to find a happy medium between the slower students in class and the students who rapidly absorb information. With online learning, you can learn at your own pace and not a pace that’s dictated by your lecturer. This can help you speed through the sections you easily grasp and take your time on the sections that you find challenging, ensuring you fully comprehend them.
Enjoy More Flexibility
Many young individuals may aspire to get tertiary education but may not be able to because lecture times clash with their jobs or their caretaking responsibilities. E-learning offers more flexibility, allowing students to plan their studies around their busy lives.
Affordability
The overheads of running an e-learning programme as opposed to a traditional attendance-based university are much lower, meaning that such programmes can be offered to students at more affordable rates, opening up learning opportunities to more people.
Learn to be Self-Disciplined
Since e-learning students don’t have lecturers constantly monitoring them and following up on whether they’ve done their work, they have to quickly learn to be self-disciplined to avoid falling behind, failing, and wasting their money.
Additionally, with more reputable universities moving into the online space, e-learning has gained a more positive reputation and, in the working world, it is looked upon positively since it carries across an image of independence and self-discipline – attributes which are extremely valuable to succeed in life after studies.
These are just some of the benefits of online learning that students can look forward to!
At African Academy, we are affording our students the opportunity to study our Multi-Disciplinary Drawing Office Practice online, ensuring we cater to students with different lifestyles and study needs, and we are working on taking more of our courses into the online space.
If you are interested in finding out more about our e-learning opportunities, please email info@africanacademy.co.za OR heidi@africanacademy.co.za.
