FEDSAS and Eduloan share e-learning excitement with schools nationwide

As excitement buzzes round South Africa over e-learning and its potential to help teachers and learners make the most of classroom time and personal study, two major learning facilitators have joined forces. The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS) and Eduloan have partnered to present a series of Digital Citizenship 2015 seminars to help schools chart their way forward through the technology landscape.

“Last year, we helped schools devise their individual e-learning road maps,” says Riaan van der Bergh, Education Technology Manager at FEDSAS. “This year with Digital Citizenship 2015 we are looking at the practicalities that must be dealt with when schools introduce and implement e-learning so that they will be empowered to do this at a pace that best suits their needs and budgets.”

“Access to e-learning will dramatically change the scope and depth of what our children learn, broadening their horizons and brightening their future. All of us want the learners in our families to have the best possible opportunities to realise their potential so at Eduloan, we are thrilled to be partnering with FEDSAS in this Digital Citizenship 2015 initiative, ” says Charlotte Smit, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of Eduloan, leading education finance specialist in South Africa. Eduloan provides solutions to help parents access financing easily for the devices that will replace textbooks and stationery. “We believe e-learning is an exciting and rewarding new way of studying that will bring results to make parents proud and help our country as a whole grow from strength to strength,” says Smit.

Digital Citizenship 2015 events are already underway in Gauteng and will take place in all nine provinces in the next three months. Each one lasts four hours and can accommodate up to 150 people.

“These events are aimed at principals, deputy principals, the member of the school governing body responsible for IT and finances, and IT champions appointed within schools,” explains Van der Bergh. “We’ve kept the costs low at R250 per person – and if a school wants to send a group of up to five people we’ve capped the cost at just R600 for all of them.”

School representatives will be assisted to draft a long-term plan for introducing technology, generally expanding use out from the core of the school office, via multimedia classrooms that utilise technology such as interactive whiteboards, explains Van der Bergh.

Ultimately, learners will work on tablets instead of using textbooks, pen and paper and they will be able to review lesson highlights stored on the school’s server to consolidate work done with the teacher in class.

“The Digital Citizen 2015 seminars discuss how to budget for implementing this process because it’s an essential development for our nation’s learners and future workforce,” he says. “Other priority content includes practical, step-by-step guidance on coping with the changeover.

“The four focus areas of the seminars are: technology infrastructure; digitising the office; enriching the classroom with devices; and equipping learners with devices.”

For some time, Eduloan has run its Edutools programme, empowering tertiary students to equip themselves with essential study tools such as laptops or tablets,” says Smit. “Now we’ve identified the need to expand this offering to include devices required by learners in our schools. We’ve sourced a range of good-value deals to help parents set up their children for this fascinating new way of learning.”

FEDSAS and Eduloan aim to tailor their e-learning solutions to whatever stage in the e-learning journey schools find themselves heading for next. FEDSAS has partnered with a number of other providers whom are accompanying Eduloan on this roadshow.

For details of booking a place at the Digital Citizenship 2015 seminars, go to: www.fedsas.org.za

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• Eduloan and FEDSAS are taking the pain out of transitioning to eLearning through their Digital Citizenship Seminars 2015 (insert link)
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About Eduloan

Eduloan is the leading education finance specialist in Southern Africa. In keeping with our emphasis on empowerment and access to education, Eduloan’s operations throughout the subcontinent ensure that we offer study opportunities as widely as possible and also cater for all levels of tuition.

We were founded in 1996 and our current shareholders are the Public Investment Corporation, Open Learning Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which includes Future growth and Kopane Investments (Pty) Ltd, The Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd, and management and staff.

We have so far extended more than R4 billion in study loans helping more than 760 000 people across Southern Africa unlock their true potential, build their own and their children’s futures and contribute to their nation’s growth.

Recognising that critical cash-flow and budgeting issues can make the difference between completing a course and dropping out, we launched our pioneering bursary fund-management product, Eduxtras. This is aimed at assisting both students and bursars alike. It enables effective budgeting and ensures control of spend on crucial elements of the broad study package, including tuition fees, books, food and accommodation needs.

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