Every year hundreds of thousands of students enroll in South African universities but out of 60% of black African students who complete the first year, only 15% graduate. The drop-out students come from ineffective public school systems and are not trained for the cut-throat college competition. Research shows there is also racial and class-based discrimination. These students are not able to keep up with the university routine and may look for alternate solutions to education. Online learning is one of the ways.
However, classroom discrimination is not the only reason why South Africans would want to turn to online learning. There are many benefits of online learning.
1. Easy Access
Online learning offers easy access to students regardless of the day, time and location. Students can keep a job and also enroll in online learning classes. This provides them with easy access to learn and fix their schedules according to what is convenient for them.
2. Self-Paced Learning
Most online courses offer self-paced learning option. Students can choose the number of hours they are willing to invest and complete a course accordingly. This simple option accommodates all types of students in different circumstances and with different learning speeds.
3. Fees
Sometimes online courses turn out to be much cheaper. Of course, the universities have to charge for maintaining the upkeep of premises and bills. Online courses are cheaper because such overhead costs are not included in the fee structure. There are also discounts and installment plans which the students can access.
Given these benefits and advantages, a lot of websites with online learning courses have sprout catering to the South African market. The growing popularity and positive response from the South African market have greatly encouraged these websites to add more courses and online learning services. Here are some of the best online education platforms that are popular in South Africa and what advantages these offers.
Eneza
Eneza Education was founded by Kenyan teachers and it uses SMS technology in classrooms to improve student learning. The platform seeks to offer quality educational resources to even the remotest schools in Kenya and other countries. With its SMS technology, Eneza gives students the tools to study, learn and collect data for parents and teachers. Students can even make quizzes related to their curriculum. They can take quizzes by activating a code on their mobile phone.
Obami
Obami was founded in 2010 and is a SaaS software suite which offers training through documentation or online sessions. It also includes online support. Obami is an excellent learning management system software which features academic learning, blended learning, eCommerce, corporate/business learning, gamification, mobile learning, learner portal, and synchronous learning.
Ubongo
Ubongi is South Africa’s leading ‘edutainment’ company that creates fun and localized multi-platform educational media in order to reach millions of African families via accessible technologies. Their programs improve school readiness as well as learning outcomes for students while promoting behavioral and social change for kids.
Tutor.ng
It is one of the most robust learning platforms in Africa which offers tools for engaging and tutoring learners all over the country. It is an online tutoring platform with resources for tutors to transform any environment into a learning space.
Sterio.me
A Nigerian invention, sterio.me gives students access to lessons and materials using SMS outside the classroom. It has teacher’s pre-recorded quizzes and lectures which can be shared with the students using a specific SMS code. Educators are also notified when students finish the lessons. It can let the tutors give feedback and track performances.
Daptio
Daptio was founded in 2013 and is a leader in adaptive learning. It makes use of artificial intelligence to help students, teachers, and mentors to understand the proficiency level of every student. It allows the students to find the right content and leads to a tailored education system.
All these platforms are working towards bringing education and online learning to students and educators all over the country. Some of these platforms are not native to South Africa but have undergone localization to make the content local. There are many companies that offer website translation services. If you need to translate your website content as well for an overhaul, you can hire the same translation company for its content translation services.
Localization service is an excellent way to take an online learning platform across borders. Localization is all about adapting the content to local culture. This includes modifying fonts, layouts, language, date/time, currency and animations or images. If your online course is targeting the South African market, it makes more sense for it to show images of native people instead of people from other nationalities. Localization helps the target audience learn better because they are able to relate more to the content and grabs their attention.
AfroLingo is a leading localization company with website translation services that has helped hundreds of such learning platforms localize their website and content. With experience and a talented team that understands the nuances of cultural differences, AfroLingo has earned the trust of many clients around the world.
