The future of higher education in a digital age

In this day and age, the current teaching methods may seem old to some. Zero-textbook-degrees are an interesting suggestion but might need something else to happen before it can gain traction. Companies in fields related to specific courses could sponsor textbooks to some students instead of the full bursaries.

South Africa would benefit greatly from this under the perfect conditions. Unfortunately though, zero-textbook-cost-degrees would probably be best delivered through the introduction of fully digital textbooks. Not enough students have access to laptops to study whenever they want. We may be far away from seeing this happen but South African would be better off with this in place.

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Given the current state in which South Africa and other countries find themselves because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I suppose there are no other options but to upscale to use of digital tools. The department has already embarked on a plan to equip all higher education students with laptops and data so that they can access learning materials online during the course of lockdown.

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Thanks for your opinion. You have described the situation of lack access and lack of device in Africa. We are same in some rural area. Student hesitate to spend Money for buying Internet package for its high rate.

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Hello all
dear zingiswajojo
I live in south-eastern Europe (Greece). I agree with you; under the COVID-19 condition the world is experiencing, the use of digital education materials would be clearly an answer to educational challenges. However, there are many difficulties we have to face in order to improve digital material delivery including each country’s needs, national policies, poverty. In Greece, for example, living standards are falling steadily because of the financial crisis we are experiencing. So, during the recent lockdown, many people had no access to the internet or even to a computer. I cannot provide a statistics review right now, but the general feeling is that, in my country, educational and digital gaps widen between people.
Best regards

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