Irreversible disruption is coming to the teaching pillar of universities

Currently, eLearning teaching and delivery methods need to be reimagined to make them accessible, equitable, and enjoyable globally. Currently, that is not the case.

Universities put so much focus on innovations regarding their faculties’ researches while most of the time taking for granted the teaching pillar.

In the year 2020, the tap on the shoulder that COVID gave to higher institutions globally is a gentle one- a jerk to get their online teaching and delivery skills in order as they scramble to provide education in the online format during the pandemic shut down.

Technology is moving at the speed of light and the younger millennial and Gen-Z generation that is running in tandem with it are passing currently in my classes. They tell me that COVID has dumped the good and bad of eLearning teaching and delivery methods on their lap. They wonder why professors that do not at all know how to communicate effectively in the online environment teach them classes or why innovations in online teaching that are conducive to their generation are neglected. It frustrates them that online teaching methods have not kept pace with the advancement in technology.

The same way two college students, Larry Page and Sergay Brin, invented Google out of need and forever changed how we do library and web searches, the generation that will initiate start-ups to transform online teaching delivery methods and in the process disrupt the status quo teaching pillar of higher education institutions’ will be these younger millennial and Gen-Z generations. They will pave the path for Generation Alpha to take their moving ball and slam it in the net. This is just around the corner due to the rapid pace in technology innovations.

When that happens, the disruptive tremor that higher institutions will experience regarding their teaching pillar will not be a gentle one. It will force universities to reimagine and innovate their online teaching, not just out of necessity, but also out of survival.

As I am reimagining and repurposing eLearning as a tool for education equity, the interactions that I have with my students through teaching help me to visualize and act upon the possibilities that are over the horizon.