Gauteng Online gets set with e-learning solution

More than 1.4 million learners in public schools in the Gauteng province are now said to have access to the cutting edge technology of the Internet delivered through the GautengOnline infrastructure.

This consolidates the project’s status as the largest Cloud Computing initiative in the African continent and one of the biggest e-learning programmes in the world.

The project is one of the provincial government’s key ICT initiatives aimed at transforming Gauteng into a Smart Province. It was initiated not only to provide computer literacy to leaners, but to support the delivery of quality education by creating a sustainable e-learning environment in the classrooms of public schools so as to bridge the Digital Divide.

GoL is currently operational in 1562 schools in the province. The number of learners with GoL User IDs, Passwords and e-Mail addresses has reached 800 000, while over 40 000 educators in the province are connected to the network.

In addition, traffic across the GoL network continues to grow and millions of Internet page requests are delivered to Users every week. The figures demonstrate that the provincial government understands and appreciates the opportunities provided by the Internet and the impact that e-teaching, e-learning and e-education have on enhancing the delivery of quality basic education.

However with the significant advances in technology, and the inclusion of curricula into the ICT environment, the physical computer laboratory (GoL’s delivery method) has become obsolete. Today computer tablets have are the globally preferred method of disseminating information and curriculum content.

In line with these global trends, the GoL project has undergone a strategic review and its name has been changed to e-Learning Solution to reflect the core objective of the initiative.

Whereas the GoL was a turnkey solution provided by a single service provider, the e-Learning Solution will have structured such as Huawei Technologies providing all the tablets, each public school receiving 44 ten inch devices, a total of 88 000 tablets procured and the tablets will remain the property of the Gauteng Provincial Government.

In terms of connectivity Cloudseed will provide the core network which will comprise of WiFi and 3G connectivity to all 2 200 Provincial public schools. The company has been awarded a two year contract but thereafter, the service will be insourced and provided by the Gauteng Broadband Network.