Can Digital Learning Include the Developing World?
Al Fanar Media
Vijee Venkatraman / 29 May 2016
As educational technology evolves, digital learning is poised to expand its reach in the developing world. Last week, over two hundred practitioners from the Learning International Networks Consortium convened at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to explore how to accelerate that inclusion.
When Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) first emerged, some academics assumed that elite universities could simply upload their content to the web—free of charge—and solve the developing world’s access to higher education overnight. But this techno-utopian vision quickly collided with reality. Internet access remains uneven, even in industrialized nations, and both professors and students often need a shift in mindset before digital learning practices can take root.
The initial MOOC enthusiasm has waned. Experts at the conference acknowledged that persistent obstacles remain. Dennis Freeman, MIT’s dean of undergraduate education, noted that even at the institute, some faculty believe no teaching has occurred unless the blackboard is covered in equations—and they themselves are covered in chalk. He emphasized that the number of teaching hours is irrelevant; what matters is whether learning actually occurs.
In the Arab world, demographics demand a leap into digital learning, said Maysa Jalbout, CEO of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, in her keynote address. Over half of the region’s 385 million people are under 25. Many are refugees whose educational prospects have been shattered by political conflict. Youth unemployment in the region is the highest in the world, due in part to poor-quality education—with a few notable exceptions in centers of excellence.
Yet accredited online learning in the Arab world is scarce. Governments have largely refused to offer credit for online courses. As technology renders some jobs obsolete, even those already employed must acquire new skills or upgrade existing ones. To address this gap, the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation announced a program that allows young professionals in STEM fields to earn credentials online. Participants can complete a semester’s worth of coursework and receive a MicroMaster’s degree from MIT. The foundation plans to collaborate with other leading universities to expand such offerings.
MOOCs have struggled to gain traction among employers, who often don’t recognize their credentials. The new program aims to change that. “If we are offering the best education online, from the best university in the world, it is going to be very difficult for anyone to say this is not a valid education,” Jalbout said. She added that if employers begin hiring or promoting based on these credentials, the dynamic will shift entirely.
Concerns about academic integrity in online learning persist. But top universities have addressed this head-on. Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX—the online portal founded by Harvard and MIT—described innovations to prevent cheating. Timed exams now generate randomized problem sets, and webcam proctoring ensures accountability.
Still, digital learning must reach students earlier. “If educators wait until students finish school before introducing them to online learning, it may be too late to turn them into critical thinkers,” said Naveed Malik, Rector of Pakistan’s Virtual University. MOOCs are no longer the only game in town. An international panel discussed MIT Blossoms, a program that creates math and science videos for high school students. These videos link textbook concepts to everyday life. Teachers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Lebanon have contributed culturally rooted science content to the initiative.
Some advocates emphasized that connectivity isn’t a prerequisite for digital learning. Before the Internet, learners accessed information via diskettes and CD-ROMs. Why should schools pay for expensive Internet access just to download freely available content?
Information doesn’t have to be fetched from the web, said Cliff Missen, director of the WiderNet Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His team provides low-cost, high-impact technology to developing countries by preloading devices with educational resources. The key, he said, is for skilled librarians to curate locally relevant collections in collaboration with educators.
Change is slow, even when governments invest in digital tools. In Uruguay, the One Laptop Per Child project gave economically disadvantaged children access to computers and the Internet. But from the outset, said Cristobal Cobo, director of the Ceibal Foundation’s research center, the focus was not just on hardware—it was on training teachers, changing practices, and transforming how people teach and learn.
Researchers from India’s Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx) are assessing whether high schools in rural and semi-urban areas are ready for digital learning. They’re asking whether infrastructure and community “buy-in” exist. If not, they know from experience that interventions must precede any large-scale rollout.
Meanwhile, connectivity is improving in the Arab world. Nafez Dakkak, founding director of Edraak.org—an Arabic-language edX portal—said nine out of ten young people in the region believe Internet access can help them achieve their educational and career goals. There are now 135 million Arabic-speaking Internet users, a number growing by 20 percent annually.
As the digital divide narrows, the question remains: Will these changes lead to affordable, quality education for young Arabs? The answer depends not just on technology, but on trust, accreditation, and the willingness to reimagine what learning looks like.