Reimagine What You Already Know: Toward New Solutions to Longstanding Problems

Abstract

Knowledge and technology can combine to change societies dramatically, creating opportunities that were previously unthinkable. Many African nations now stand at the threshold of revolutionary changes based on information communication technologies (ICTs). Instead of painstakingly developing traditional banking, education, and other sectors—with decades of wasted human lives and opportunities—introducing mobile technology has put completely new solutions into the hands of a new generation. Some of the key elements of these new solutions are in education, the backbone for innovation and economic development. Although innovators are seeking new ways to educate the next generation, the problem of delivering adequate educational services to those without the means to afford expensive private schools is still a critical problem. We suggest that education must be reimagined, very nearly from the ground up. Once people take education out of the four walls of the traditional classroom into homes, libraries, internet cafés, and city streets, a completely new learning experience is imaginable—an experience that innovators need to harness now in order to transform the way in which education is delivered in Africa. Students in the “digital” school will decide what, where, and when to learn. We need these digital models to start reimagining education in Africa. We offer reimaginings of several elements in the education sector, including school management, the classroom, the learning experience, and certification.