Online learning resources for the ‘new normal’
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen a sharp increase in both the development and the consumption of online learning materials. Students, parents and teachers alike have been turning to the internet to explore new ways of learning and digital knowledge-sharing. Here is a list of some of the most popular online resources to enhance online education experiences and foster a love for lifelong learning in fun and interactive ways:
Facebook Zero
The app itself is not data intensive, but can be used to access educational pages to help children further their goals and progress on their learning journey. Facebook pages such as Opportunities for Africans and Opportunity Desk for You post educational material as well as opportunities for scholarships, competitions, internships, training and volunteering.
Duolingo
Learners who do not speak English as their primary language can use this app to help with their conversational skills, reading and writing. This is also a helpful tool for children who are taking an additional language like French or German. There is both a free and a paid version of this app.
Ambani Africa
Closer to home, this Android app offers six African languages at a foundation-phase level, making it perfect for young children who want to grasp core concepts in their mother tongue. The app, which can also be used by older children and adults who are learning the basics of isizulu, isixhosa, Setswana, Sepedi, Thsivenda or English, makes use of games, songs and stories, as well as Augmented Reality downloadable books to facilitate learning. There is also an option for weekly online group classes and individual tutoring.
Youtube
The video streaming platform has its own dedicated education and learning channel that can help visual learners with everything from study-from-home tips to crash courses in traditional school subjects and lessons on SQL (a programming language), illustration, cooking and art. The channel also has career guidance videos and industry explainers to help students make informed decisions about their future.
Brainpop.com
This website offers an array of animated resources to support learning and engage students, either at school, at home or on mobile devices. The content includes videos, quizzes, games, mobile apps and activity pages and covers hundreds of topics within the subjects of math, science, social studies, English, technology, arts and music, and also includes health. While there are paid subscriptions available, there is also a range of free interactive content available on the site.
Codecademy
Here students can learn to code for free, with selfpaced learning courses on topics such as Python, front-end engineering, Javascript, HTML, web development, data science and more. Beginners to coding can access the basics of programming languages. The website offers a number of courses free of charge — all that is needed is a computer and access to the internet.
Udemy
While most people think of the American massive open online course (MOOC) as being aimed at adults wanting to reskill or upskill, there are a surprising amount of courses that cater specifically to primary and high school students. By mid-2021, the platform had more than 44-million students, 183 000 courses and 65 000 educators and instructors teaching materials in 75 different languages.
NOVA videos
This website is perfect for grade six to 12 students, and makes engaging and compelling science documentaries available for viewing free of charge. There are a wide variety of topics, and viewers have the choice to watch a bite-sized version or longer version of the documentary that will capture the imagination in ways that a school textbook never could.
UNESCO
UNESCO also has a comprehensive list of distance learning solutions and online learning tools available here: https://en.unesco.org/ covid19/educationresponse/solutions