eLearning and the Developing World

In the eLearning industry, we tend to think only about the effectiveness and quality of our courseware for our organizations and clients. There’s another benefit of our easily-accessible work, however, and it’s one that we ought to think about more often. There are many places in the world where classroom education is not just inconvenient, it’s inaccessible. In these regions, many people are now using mobile phones to gain access to education.

Kevin James Moore’s recent article, Mobile phones revolutionizing education in Africa, discusses the many ways in which technology-enhanced learning is helping people gain skills and knowledge in areas such as language, farming, and technology. Because there are few opportunities for people in remote regions to take training, eLearning is even helping to train new teachers. In turn, the people of Africa are feeling more connected to each other and the rest of the world.

Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that eLearning can be more than just an innovative and exciting way of garnering and disseminating information; it can also be a way to contribute to the lifelong-learning process, connect remote regions with the rest of the world, and help those less fortunate.