Abstract
Traditional education has held dominance in the field of education for years until the advent of digital education (e-learning), which altered the fundamental landscape of teaching and learning. Digital education, as launched alongside traditional education, is built around digital content; thus, this research study attempts to provide different ways of creating digital content for African languages, particularly isiZulu First Additional Language (FAL). Using theories of constructivism and connectivism as the theoretical framework, the study further explores different ways of preserving culture and language using digital content. Moreover, the study adopted a qualitative case study to understand better how digital content is created and used to preserve culture. Through semi-structured interviews and content analysis, deep insight is acquired into strategies that shape the process of content digitisation in the educational realm. Thematic analysis is employed in order to identify patterns and recurring themes within the collected data.
The findings shed light on the importance of creating clear and meaningful digital content to meet learners' needs. The significance of selecting the format to enhance learning experiences based on the subject matter is emphasised. The findings further show that the process of creating digital content involves using simple language and incorporating relevant examples within the digital content. Lastly, the study shows that the significance of creating digital content aligns with the national curriculum. Overall, this research contributes to the discussion on sensitive digital education while offering practical recommendations for content developers and educators in similar contexts.
Keywords: Digital education, digital content, content creation, digital schools, isiZulu first additional language.