E-Learning is the Future, says a GIZ Expert
A German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) e-learning expert Elke Wemhoff said, “E-learning is the future.” She said this at the opening of an E-Learning (Electronic Learning) development implementation kick off workshop at the ECSU Development Learning Center on November 5, 2013.
Opening the workshop, President of ECSU, Dr. Hailemichael Aberra said,
“E-learning is new to the country and to our university. And there is a challenge in introducing it.”
He noted it should be gradually introduced to students of ECSU so that they can use it and benefit from it. He underscored that the program should be student-friendly. He expressed his belief that blended approach that combines face-to-face learning and e-Learning would be appropriate for the university. He said that more attention has to be given to introduce e-learning to students by guiding and supporting them to use it.
He underlined the importance of having the necessary infrastructure for e-Learning: computers and internet service. He said ECSU has established computer labs; computers are also accessible in women dormitories. The university library is also open round the clock. Dr. Hailemichael noted that many of the university students don’t have laptops. There are also students who came from remote areas where they had little access to the computer. He thanked e-learning advisor at the ECSU Development Learning Center (DLC), Christian Zange, for working very hard to introduce e-Learning to the university community. Dr. Hailemichael concluded his speech by saying to the participants, “Colleagues, it (the introduction of e-learning) is a very important stage in the development of our university.”
Two experts that came from the E-Learning Academy of GIZ in Bonn, Germany, Seynabou Fachinger and Elke Wemhoff, tell the participants some important facts about e-learning.
Fachinger said, “If you use e-learning, you will save money.” Wemhoff on her part said another important benefit of e-learning is saving time.
“You don’t need to waste time travelling. The advantage with e-learning is that you are more flexible with your time. But like face-to-face learning, in e-learning we also need to have time to learn.”
Fachinger said,
“There is co-constructing and co-sharing in e-learning. There is exchange of ideas between different people across the world in e-learning. Very often there are many people from different parts of the world. People are different and everybody has to bring something, experiences and expertise. Whenever I’m in an e-learning course, I meet with interesting people. You meet people you wouldn’t meet normally.”
Elke Wemhoff said despite the lack of infrastructure prevalence in Ethiopia, even if many students at ECSU don’t know how to use computers and don’t have their own laptops, still it is important to know about e-learning. That is because as she put it, “E-Learning is the future.”
Two trainers, who came from the Philippines and Namibia, and a number of the academic staff members of ECSU are in attendance at the three day kick off workshop.
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