Home NewsNational EdTech Program: Covid-19 Leaves  Online Learning Legacy For Higher Learning Institutions

EdTech Program: Covid-19 Leaves  Online Learning Legacy For Higher Learning Institutions

by Williams Buningwire
5:54 pm

L-R: Dr. Mathias Nduwingoma, Director of Centre for Open Distance and eLearning (CODeL) at UR, host Ines Nyinawumuntu, Alleluia Mireille Kirezi, a Mastercard Foundation student at Carnegie Mellon University Eric Ruzindana, the Marketing Director at Talent Match Inc

COVID-19 was tough for all local higher education institutions, their staff and students. But one good legacy it left is the fact that universities have established online learning capacities that will be used today and in future.

After the pandemic hit in early 2020, local universities established online pedagogy−a teaching strategy that facilitates and enables the delivery of online lessons using technology and digital mediums of communication.

Online pedagogy trains teachers and students in teaching and learning using the internet and technology. During the pandemic, this system was established in various local universities including the University of Rwanda (UR), Carnegie Mellon University Africa, Kigali Independent University, among others.

Estimates indicate that 29% of institutions were able to quickly move teaching and learning online and today, there is evidence of an increased appetite and urgency to enable e-learning at the tertiary level.

“It was a hard time. But the pandemic left a good legacy for online learning. When a student is admitted at the University, he/she is registered on the online platform. It is easy to identify students who attended the class and those absent. The student attendance can easily be recorded,” Dr. Mathias Nduwingoma, Director of Centre for Open Distance and eLearning (CODeL) at UR said.

“Online learning has met resistance. Some people believe people who study online do not get enough skills as those who attended physical classrooms. At the beginning, some teachers didn’t believe the system can effectively work. Essentially, students will not hear and understand exactly what the lecturer will be teaching,” Dr. Nduwingoma added.

He pointed out that students who focus while studying online by doing their assignments on time gather skills needed in the labor market, but results can only be achieved by only focusing on following the online pedagogy provided by the university.

On August 29 during EdTech Monday, a program championed by Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT in partnership with the Rwanda ICT cluster to leverage technology to advance education and learning in Rwanda, this topic was high on agenda.

EdTech Monday is broadcast live on KTRadio and streamed live on Kigali Today YouTube Channel once every month, mostly last Monday from 6 PM to 7 PM.

“We have many things we urge lecturers to do before teaching; giving time for students to speak on what they like/dislike. You have to be attentive and listen to students a lot because you could be having different students with perhaps health complications,” Dr. Nduwingoma said.

Alleluia Mireille Kirezi, a Mastercard Foundation student at Carnegie Mellon University and Data Scientist said“In online learning, you can record. So, it becomes easy to revise, even when the teacher has gone. It just needs discipline and being focused.”

According to the Ministry of Education, about 85% of schools will be connected to the internet in the next two years, a model that is expected to revolutionize education.

“We have been helping students to catch up digitally. However, they should be ready if they want significant results,” Eric Ruzindana, the Marketing Director at Talent Match Inc, a social enterprise that aims at closing skills gap in Rwanda.

“We also share job opportunities for people with digital skills. First of all, one should be eager to learn and take skills that are needed in the labor market,” Ruzindana added.