Innovative Leadership: Opening Post-School Education in South Africa through Enabling Early e-Learning Adoption

Abstract

Since the rise of the computer and the internet, technology-enhanced learning (TEL) has gradually become a more prominent part of the post-school education and training sector (Gaebel et al. 2014; Kanuka 2008). Interest in TEL dramatically rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, but even preceding the lockdowns, e-learning offerings were already increasing at a rate of 15% per year worldwide (Alqahtani & Rajkhan 2020). TEL and online learning in general were becoming more commonplace, both as a substitute for, or complement to, face-to-face learning and teaching.

In South Africa, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has called for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to widen flexible access to learning by varying their modes of delivery to include e-learning and blended learning so as to become more open, accessible and inclusive (DHET 2013, 2017). In response, many of the 50 colleges in the TVET sector have sought to increase the range and diversity of e-learning experiences within their various programmes.