Educational technology (EdTech) plays a vital role in teaching and learning with e-learning ensuring equal access to education and continuity even when contact classes are impossible. The South African departments of education are making efforts to realize the use of technology in schools. The COVID-19 pandemic has an adverse impact on the education sector and accelerated the adoption of technology by many institutions with some shifting to distant learning to ensure academic continuity. There are various educational technologies. The aim of the study is to explore public high school learners’ perspectives on e-learning and the challenges in its adoption. Secondary data is used to draw conclusion. An interpretivism paradigm with an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach is used. The findings show that e-learning implementation needs careful consideration and planning. The results of this study indicate that lack of access to devices, the high cost of internet access, a perceived lack of interest among teachers and perceived ineffectiveness are the key challenges to e-learning adoption in South African public schools within poor communities. Addressing key challenges will ensure a successful implementation of e-learning.

Technology plays a crucial role in education and many other sectors of the economy. The national lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has made apparent the importance of technology in education, with schools that adopted technologies continuing with teaching and learning using remote means, while other schools had to wait for physical classes to resume. The benefits of technology can only be realized if technology is adopted and accepted by the users. Educators are the key players in the success or failure of technology in education.  We used an interpretivist approach to explore educator perceptions on the use of technology in South African public schools. The Motivation-Opportunity-Ability model guided the development of our data collection instruments and data analysis. Purposive sampling was used to select a public high school in an underprivileged Cape Flats community. Participants were randomly selected from the school and focus group discussions and interviews were conducted. A survey was administered to triangulate qualitative data. Results show that educators are interested in using user-friendly and effective technology.  This paper comes as part of a broad study on technology in education.

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