Understanding the Importance of Technological Competence When Moving into the Digital Education Space The past decade has seen the world of higher education gradually shifting. And Covid-19 caused that shift to advance to seismic proportions. Universities and educators, along with students, had to adjust quickly. In response, universities transitioned to online and blended learning models, […]
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a diverse and dynamic institution that aims to contribute to the development of Africa through higher education. One of the major challenges faced by UJ was adapting traditional courses to an online format and ensuring authentic assessments. Additionally, recruiting enough students for online courses was crucial for establishing credibility. To address these challenges, UJ sought the expertise of Eiffel Corp, a company with experience in digital teaching and learning management systems. As a result of the collaboration, students appreciated the well-thought-out instructional design, finding it helpful in navigating the course. The courses have been kept up to date, thanks to careful instructional design and content development.
The course had to go through a well-thought-out process and proper design for the course to make sense to students. As with all courses, we also face the challenge of recruiting students. We need enough students to complete the course in order to establish a credible reputation for this online course.
Eiffel Corp assisted with training lecturers at the University of Johannesburg in Digital Teaching, specifically focusing on the tools that a Learning Management System has to offer. Having the support in project management provided us significant assistance to
ensure the project roll out, ran smoothly.
Feedback from our students confirmed that the well thought out instructional design certainly helped them to navigate their way through the course more easily. The course is now being kept up to date, all thanks to the well thought through Instructional Design and Content Development.
Eiffel Corp has become
more than just an
external service provider,
but part of the team.
To ensure that The University of Johannesburg (UJ) continues to contribute to the development of the African continent through higher education, lecturers needed a better understanding of the underlying theoretical concepts within digital teaching and learning. Eiffel Corp partnered with UJ to help align methodologies with learning behaviours and practices in the digital space. Our Digital Teaching eXpert Essentials course equipped UJ lecturers with the necessary skills to deliver their course content with impact. We aimed to help them focus on education while technology does the heavy lifting.
UJ lecturers needed a better understanding of the underlying theoretical concepts within digital teaching and learning.
There was a need to align learning methodologies with learning behaviours and practices in the digital space.
Lecturers needed guidance in designing their online course sites.
Eiffel Corp’s Digital Teaching eXpert Essentials course was presented to the group of lecturers. The DTX Series is delivered to equip lecturers with skills to develop engaging learning experiences for all types of delivery modes.
The lecturers now have a better understanding of digital teaching and learning.
Lecturers have a better grasp of how to structure their course sites to enhance their students’ learning experience.
Lecturers applied the knowledge learnt during the DTX course to develop a course site and deliver their course to students.
Optimising students'
learning experiences
To ensure the proper use of technology, NEMISA aims to provide all South Africans with digital skills training. This is to improve the quality of life of all people. However, they found that their existing LMS was lacking in various areas, impacting their end user experience. This resulted in a lower impact in terms of the learning experience, and therefore they could not fulfil their goal of transferring innovative skills. Eiffel Corp’s role was to ensure the organisation gets the most out of the tools available on its LMS.
NEMISA’s biggest challenge was that their LMS was not meeting their requirements to equip their learners adequately with 4IR skills. The LMS did not represent NEMISA at the level it needed to. To summarise their status, the existing system had usage challenges, the LMS was not personalised and the user experience was confusing.
For NEMISA to deliver their courses at the level they need to, they had to rebrand their Learning Management System (LMS) to enhance its overall image and functionality. Additionally, they upgraded their assessment tools to ensure accurate and comprehensive evaluations of student performance. They also had to introduce a student orientation course and develop a Course Development Toolkit, equipping their instructors with the necessary resources and tools to create high-quality courses.
Eiffel Corp stepped in as a partner of NEMISA, enabling the organisation to apply the tools available on their LMS optimally, but more importantly, to establish their brand for future teaching and learning success.
Providing national digital skills training for the proper use of technology.
Known for its academic excellence, Wits always strives to ensure its course content delivery quality. To meet the demands of technology, they’ve had to transform their traditional contact-based approach to education into a blended format that combines online and in-person learning. The aim is to deliver all subjects in a blended format while maintaining high academic standards and ensuring uninterrupted progress throughout the academic year. This process involves enhancing digitally enabled subjects through a subject development programme facilitated by well-trained and experienced instructional designers at Eiffel Corp
Enabling all subjects for delivery in a blended format
Quality of learning development and improvement programme while simultaneously ensuring uninterrupted progress of the academic year
Transforming the institution from a traditional contact-based centre to one which can operate and perform across multiple levels of engagement, spaces and markets for further student enrolment
Blended subject artefact – Building upon the instructional design templates for chosen subject delivery, the subject development programme will base the enhancement of all digitally enabled subjects in a Blended format
Typical digital components for inclusion in a WITS blended course would include a detailed overview, course readings, lesson plans, content collection in use, course gradebook, etc.
All Wits subjects will be reviewed against the internal quality review report to determine the status of the subject prior to digital conversion and to identify the necessary components necessary for development
An onsite team whose primary focus is the digitisation and online learning outcomes conversion process was deployed
A digital course development function team is assigned to distil the core outcomes of each digitised subject in concern with the SME while simultaneously assisting teaching faculty in their readiness for blended teaching delivery where required
An active development team to coordinate with the in-place Wits teaching with technology team to ensure a seamless development and deployment procedure throughout the length of the delivery programme
Ensuring course
content delivery
quality.
In 2023, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a groundbreaking technology, transforming various industries worldwide. The higher education sector in South Africa is no exception, as institutions strive to leverage AI’s potential to enhance learning, research, and student experiences. Therefore, we want to explore the significance of embracing AI in higher education and highlight Eiffel […]
NMU faced the challenge of ensuring that its lecturers embraced the future of education. To overcome this challenge, Eiffel Corp’s Practical Digital Teaching (PDT) training programme was implemented. The PDT training aimed to equip lecturers with a comprehensive understanding of the Learning Management System (LMS) and its functionalities, empower them to utilise various tools within the LMS to create their content and expose them to a wide range of tools, applications, and technologies available on the LMS and from third-party sources. The outcome of the PDT training was increased competence and confidence among lecturers in utilising technology for teaching purposes.
NMU recognised the need for its lecturers to embrace the future of education, incorporating digital teaching methods effectively. As a result, lecturers required guidance on utilising the various tools within the LMS to create their own content.
NMU implemented Eiffel Corp’s Practical Digital Teaching (PDT) training programme to address this challenge. PDT was designed to equip educators with the essential skills and knowledge to integrate technology into their teaching practices successfully.
Lecturers at NMU gained a comprehensive understanding of the LMS and its functionality. As a result, they became proficient in planning and building their courses on the institution’s newly adopted LMS, effectively utilising the available tools and resources.
The pace was good, the
content and resources were
perfect. The interactions
were very useful.
With WSU’s purpose being to get the institution equipped for Industry 4.0, they were in need of training on how to manage and navigate their Moodle LMS effectively. Eiffel Corp helped WSU by providing a Moodle Admin Training Course designed to equip Site Administrators with the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to oversee their LMS, enabling administrators to learn how to manage their LMS environment from the user interface. At the end of the training, the Site Administrators had full knowledge of navigating the admin area and efficiently running their LMS site
WSU decided to move over to an Open-Source LMS, namely Moodle LMS
The new LMS required that their administrators be taught the ins and outs of the Moodle LMS as administrators
EC’s Moodle Admin Training course has been designed to equip Site Administrators with the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to oversee their LMS
The Fundamental Admin Course provides a foundation from which new Site
Administrators will learn the LMS’s capability and the importance of their role in the LMS environment
At the end of the course, WSU Site Administrators understand Moodle LMS and how to navigate the admin area
WSU site administrators can efficiently manage their course content
The course enabled understanding and applying the fundamental site administration settings
WSU can extract and analyse reports
Administrators gained confidence in managing the LMS
Providing quality
education and
technological and
career-orientated
programmes.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Takes the World by Storm Known as “the imitation of human intelligence’”, AI uses machines, especially computers, to understand, interpret and give practical explanations of the information in question. Artificial intelligence technology is evolving at a rate never seen before and has made some major waves worldwide, proverbially taking the world […]
Coursera is an online course provider that offers 4000 courses from about 150 universities. The teaching and learning team at Coursera was tasked with ensuring quality content production for these clients. Coursera needed Learning Design Consulting Services to achieve this, including curriculum design sessions, onboarding workshops, answering instructional design questions, and reviewing the course content. As a strategic EdTech partner, Eiffel Corp supported Coursera with this process. The outcomes led to the successful delivery of learning design workshops and consultations and contributed to Coursera achieving the highest competency ratings on client experience surveys.
High volumes of courses & institutions provided via the platform require quality control of course content.
Eiffel Corp’s highly qualified Instructional Designers to offer Scaled Learning Design Consulting services and training to ensure quality content production from Coursera B2B clients.
Implement workshops onboarding instructors to Coursera pedagogy and platform.
Address client instructional design questions.
Review client course content and provide and provide actionable feedback
Successful delivery of learning design workshops consultation per Coursera standards
Empowered clients to ensure engaging course content and quality assurance
Contributed to Coursera achieving the highest possible competency ratings on client experience surveys as a result of Eiffel’s support to Coursera’s EMEA clients
Devoted to providing
access to the best higher
education experiences