Abstract

The emergence of new technologies and the challenges posed to the world by the Covid19

pandemic means academics and students had to move quite quickly from traditional face-to-
face, blended, or asynchronous classrooms to almost virtual learning spaces in its entirety.

Academics, and in our Case in the State of Victoria, Australia, we had to move to remote
/virtual teaching and learning platforms almost entirely. This new paradigm shift presents
both opportunities and challenges, though the opportunities in my opinion outweigh the
challenges. It presents the opportunity for Universities to redesign their curricula for a global
student reach, to expand education frontiers, and to interact, connect, renew, and reinvent
education that meets the savvy world of the 21st century. For Africa, this presents an
opportunity for a decolonised education curriculum; that might harness the demographic and
technological advantages of its youthful population, while at the same time creating
collaborative partnerships and opportunities for both learners and academics. My experience
of using online teaching virtual platforms have demonstrated the potential that this offers for
(higher) education across Africa. It has been twenty years since computers were actively
introduced and used in classrooms across the world. The uptake has been modest, while
the use for virtual learning has been much slower than initially expected in many parts of the
world. A lack of resources has often been cited as the limiting factor. The fear of change
coupled with new learnings and upgrades that come with new technologies cannot be
overlooked. However, while these new technologies may be considered disruptive, virtual
classrooms and innovative technologies should be viewed as a learning enhancing tool.
Such a tool utilizes a student centric approach to learning, and why not an Afrocentric
curriculum. The academic within such a paradigm becomes more of a facilitator or an expert
consultant, rather than the bearer of all knowledge and wisdom.