Kumasi Hive, a non-profit organization with specialization in the training of the youth in technical, entrepreneurial, and digital skills, has launched a virtual online learning platform to accelerate its mission of making learning accessible to all people anywhere in Ghana.
The “Hive Academy” which was launched online on Friday January 29, 2021 through Zoom brought together experts from the academia and online education sector to deliberate on “Why Ghana should embrace local online learning platforms: using the Hive Academy as a case Study”.
The Academy aims among others to extend training and online services to foster self-paced learning and increase accessibility to training programs run at Kumasi Hive; serve as a go-to repository for online courses in Ghana; provide local creators with a platform for hosting and managing their training courses; serve as a backup repository for training materials for in-person training programs at Kumasi Hive.
Panelists at the programme discussed the objectives, advantages and disadvantages of online education in Ghana, the various types of e-learning systems available at the Hive Academy, the strategies involved in the system, the perceived challenges in the implementation of the online learning system and possible solutions. They also suggested some useful recommendations on the way forward.
The discussants encouraged individuals and organizations in the country to take advantage and adopt online learning to better their educational qualifications while acquiring new knowledge and skills. This suggestion came on the back of the realization that people are no longer interested in in-person training or classes due to work schedules and the raging coronavirus outbreak in the country.
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The Board Chair of the Kumasi Hive, Madam Adelaide Asante, in her presentation highlighted the advantages of online education and said it span from course accessibility on schedule, the availability of courses 24 hours daily, removal of geographical barriers, reduction in the cost of delivering teaching and learning, increased interaction of students and lecturers, and the availability of learning materials online.
She also mentioned improved computer and internet skills of learners and lecturers and the accessibility to a wide range of learning resources on the internet, among others.
She mention the disadvantages to include inadequate bandwidth and inadequate ICT infrastructure but noted that the advantages far generally outweigh the disadvantages of online teaching and learning in Ghana.
Other members of the panelist – Chirag Shamdasani, Program Partner, Digital Economy at Mastercard Foundation, Benedicta Naa Odarkor Ablateye, a Community Associate of Kumasi Hive, and Adelaide Asante, Chief Operating Officer at African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Ghana, emphasized the importance of online learning to students, academic institutions and the socio economic development of Ghana in their presentations. There were also demonstrations to participants on how to use the web version of the online learning platform.
The Hive Academy is essentially an extension of the training programs offered at Kumasi Hive to enable people from all walks of life now to benefit from the training online from the comfort of their homes at a self-paced manner.
Management of the organization have stated that the Kumasi Hive Academy has come to stay and would present a great opportunity for people to equip themselves with relevant skills needed to make headway in the business world. Hive Academy can be accessed at www.hiveacademy.co
Kumasi Hive
Kumasi Hive is a tech hub established in 2015 with a mission to create equal opportunities for the Ghanaian youth by providing relevant training in emerging technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D modelling and printing, web development and digital fabrication. It also serves as a platform for trainees to prototype their ideas. The Hive also supports entrepreneurship through business incubation and acceleration programs for Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) while making funds available to scale-up budding startups.
By Jeorge Wilson Kingson || ghananewsonline.com.gh