The future of educational bookselling in SA

Perhaps we should look to one of our BRICS partner-countries, Brazil, to get a glimpse of what the future of Educational bookselling in South Africa could hold in store. Nuvem de Livros, a subscription based digital library that started in September 2011, has recently boasted that they have 1 million users in Brazil and Argentina, making them the single largest e-book subscription service in the world, short only of the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library. The reason for their success? Students, according to Nate Hoffeider at Thedigitalreader.com. Nuvem de Livros was launched to offer students access to content that Brazil’s limited school libraries couldn’t provide. The goals were ambitious to start with – Terra Brasil reports that this platform has a goal of supporting the 15 million Brazilian students who only have a limited access to a library, as well as the 3 million college students taking distance-learning courses.

On home ground, the argument for introducing new technology to build “digital classrooms” has shifted – the question is no longer whether it’s a good idea or if it will work, but rather a practical one. Although we’re seeing more schools adapt to using tablets in the classroom, even in rural schools, it looks like mobile phones could provide much wider access to online learning – according to recent research by the University of Pretoria, about 96% of distance learning students access the internet via their mobile phones, whereas a mere 1% access the internet from a home computer.
Tablets for all
In July this year, the CSIR’s ICT for Rural Education (ICT4RED) gave out tablets to 160 teachers in 11 Eastern Cape Schools to aid their teaching. The project (an initiative of the council’s Meraka Institute) aims to change the landscape of education in rural areas, according to Meraka’s Merryl Ford. She also added: “The project will aim to develop a mobile teaching model that can be applied countrywide, turning old models and approaches upside down by starting with the most disadvantaged schools in the country – if what we’re doing works in rural schools, it will work anywhere. We want to develop a sustainable, replicable model that can be implemented across the country”.
The Gauteng department of Education plans to distribute about 80,000 tablets to schools across the province by January 2014. At the second annual Gauteng ICT Summit in Randburg in September, the department’s chief information officer, Brenda Molathlegi, said that the plan was a step toward introducing other technologies to build digital classrooms, according to Bdlive.co.za. She highlighted smartphones, reliable connectivity and teachers with know-how of new technology as some of the important factors to consider when building these “digital classrooms”.
The Western Cape Education Department has also developed an e-Education platform in the form of a curriculum website and a Learning Management System which houses a repository of educational digital resources. The Western Cape Government is committed to bringing broadband access to schools by the end of 2014. The vision involves a shift to virtual learning environments, with digital resources and systems more readily available to schools, and enhanced engagement between educators and learners, says MEC Donald Grant.
Smartphones – new solutions
Mobile phone ownership across the continent is rocketing, and with it, high expectations of the potential of mobile phones to help expand the quality and reach of education. But, warns Steve Vosloo, senior Project Officer in the Unesco Mobile learning division for Teacher Development and Higher Education, “If we start to see mobile technology as the silver bullet, then mobile learning is doomed from the start”, and continues “It’s not going to be the saviour of Africa’s education, but it can potentially make a significant contribution”.
Apart from the fact that accessing learning materials on mobile phones is without doubt an exciting prospect for many who doubt the “tablet readiness” of South African schools, a recent study showed that high school students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia showed an increased comprehension of text when reading on mobile phones. According to the study, the smaller screen sizes meant that text is broken up into smaller sections, which allows the brain to see and read only the text that is on that line. Enter innovative apps like EverEgg, a new mobile book reader for Mxit, which makes uploading books, editing them, and setting prices easy for publishers and authors. Pan Macmillan, New Africa Books, Modjaji Books, and Burnet Media are some of the publishers who have already signed up to the platform, where Mxit users will be able to buy books to read on their smartphones. (Mxit has about 7,4 million users).
But while tablets and mobile phones certainly aren’t regarded as basic human rights (yet), textbooks are: Judge Kollapen (referring to the Limpopo textbook case) recognized textbooks as a component of the right to basic education, and therefore the state is under an obligation to ensure that learners do in fact have textbooks. He said, “The provision of learner support material in the form of textbooks, as may be prescribed is an essential component of the right to basic education and its provision is inextricably linked to the fulfilment of the right. In fact, it is difficult to conceive, even with the best of intentions, how the right to basic education can be given effect to in the absence of textbooks”. By all accounts the government’s undertaking to get books in front of 85% of all state school learners by 2014 is wildly ambitious.
So although this might make many Educational booksellers feel quite comfortable and safe knowing that for most, these technological advances do not spell doom just yet, it is becoming imperative for educational booksellers to have a deeper look at their service offering, and perhaps consider investigating the potential possibilities presented by the digital revolution