Virtual classroom
In a country and on a continent in need of new research in support of human development, the Virtual Postgraduate Learning Support (VPLS) initiative of Stellenbosch University (SU) is good news. It is helping to produce more postgraduate students and thereby contributing to the University’s goal of being relevant to society.
The system uses a combination of satellite transmission, smart cards, the internet and cellphones to link lecturers and students over vast distances.This allows for direct two-way communication while teaching is in progress.
The system’s integrated interactivity gives postgraduate students the opportunity to pursue their studies without having to give up their jobs.
“People want to learn while they are earning. This initiative makes that possible,” says Prof Tommy Park, Consultant and Research Fellow of SU’s Telematic Services (TS), the division in charge of the initiative.
"Not everyone can come here to study. So, you use technology to take the university to them.”
This initiative contributes to the fight against poverty by providing education opportunities based on student needs and supported by technology.
Various faculties, which form part of the initiative, namely Health Sciences, Economics and Management Sciences, Education and Military Sciences, offer the course content.
In 2010, approximately 2 300 postgraduate students registered to use SU’s virtual learning platform.
The virtual learning platform has had a huge impact on the growth of postgraduate student numbers. In 2000, only 5,5% of these students were supported by the telematic platform. By 2009, this figure had grown to 21%.
In 2010, 35% of students on the platform were registered for masters’ degrees, 25% for honours programmes and the rest mainly for postgraduate diplomas.
Student in large parts of Africa, where internet access is either absent or extremely patchy are reached through a blend of satellite transmissions with internet, cellphone (SMS) and smart card technologies.
“Satellite technology combined with mobile telephony, which is much more prevalent on our continent than landline-based internet, works well,” says Dr Antoinette van der Merwe, the director of iTS.
“It’s an African solution to an African challenge.”
Clients, such as Medi-Clinic, EduReach and the National Institute for the Deaf, municipalities and other higher education institutions also use the telematic platform. The University of the Western Cape, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of South Africa use this service to reach over 40 000 students.
The Division is working on a project in collaboration with the Western Cape Education Department, with the aim of supporting underperforming schools. The project has already reached 20 000 Grade 11 and 12 learners in 145 schools and will be expanded to 69 schools in the Northern Cape in 2012.