The dreams plan: A blupoint strategy for e-education provision in South Africa

Abstract

Since 2004, the government of South Africa has issued a number of white papers calling for the development of a national e-education strategy. A recent study published in this journal (Mooketsi & Chigona, 2014) suggests that the current e-education strategy is not working for many communities in South Africa. This paper presents an alternative e-education strategy for South Africa known as the DREAMs plan (Digital Resources for Education And Mobility). The DREAMs plan proposes the following three conjectures. First, offline platforms are more important than online platforms for building a sustainable SA e-education strategy. Second, mobile technologies are more important than non-mobile technologies for building a sustainable SA e-education strategy. Third, sideloading cultures are more important than downloading cultures for building a sustainable SA e-education strategy. The paper finishes with some final thoughts on the place of dreaming and dreamers in the wider development agenda.