Dr. Nataliey Bitature discusses Uketa Learning, an online platform built for Uganda that offers short videos (6-8 minutes), mobile-money payments, and installment plans. Coaches have at least 10 years' experience, and learners report promotions and practical skills from the self-paced courses.
Questions this video answers
Uganda University (partner).
At least 10 years' experience in their professional field.
Mobile money, cash, or installment payments.
Chapters
Foreign. It's so nice to have you on the show, doctor. Really, really nice.
My pleasure.
Anyway, let's talk about, you know, the learning and lockdown. You know, how, you know, learning has changed since lockdown.
Covid, of course, is a crazy time for everyone all over the world.
Yeah.
Things closed and people had to adapt. And that's what I think was the big learning for everyone during that time. And so you can imagine how many people were learning at the time, whether you were going to school, you were in a university, you were in a program, but now everything stopped after you've invested, you put your money, your time, but you still have to be able to learn and get the value. Because the beauty of knowledge is once you have it, no one can take that from your mind.
How do you do it with your online.
How do you make someone focus? Know that.
Okay, now I'm ready for the online session.
You know, I think it's more convenient, I always say, if you have mbs for Tik Tok, you have mds to learn something. Yes. As much as we all learn, learn all day, all the time. Now with social media, with what you're seeing, it's about being specific. When you want to learn a new skill, what do you do? What are your avenues? Whether it's for your job, it's for your business, when you notice a gap in your knowledge or you're inspired. I listened to a podcast and they were talking about the value of social media marketing, and now I need to see how to do that for my business. What's your first step? I think it's become natural for everyone that Google is your first step. That's where you go to learn something, to understand something, a new word, a new concept. So I think it's not so hard to bring that practice. And the beauty of things like online courses with Utah that we use is you can rewind, you can forward, you can play it faster, you can play it slower, you can watch it again and again to make sure you're absorbing it, which you can't do in, like a university classroom.
Yes, yes. So if, if someone was listening in right now, wanted to join, you know.
What do we do first?
When do we rush to, you know.
Go to Google as you already do, just type in Uketa Learning. What I love about Uketa is it showed me how, as a coach with an African, Ugandan perspective, I can make things more relatable, more affordable, and more concise. So it's not like you're going to sit there for four weeks and do an online course. It's eight minutes, six minute videos that you go through in series and you learn something and it's practical. So I made sure we get other coaches who are experts and who have already achieved something in their field and then they tell you the specific tips they're not going to tell you. Read these seven books before you even think about this field. So you get up today, this is what you do, this is how you're going to make it.
So how do you know keep the students engaged and participating in the online study.
What I think is the most important is interactive. So with every module you get a worksheet which asks you questions about how you're going to apply what you've just learned in your specific life and you can submit those worksheets. We also have a chat for the coaches. So as a student you can ask questions and the coaches will respond to you. This works in a flexible way for everyone. So you being able to WhatsApp your teacher, what do you think about this? Or how is this going?
And you know, sometimes our Internet of Uganda, so what if things just, you know, technical issues happen?
So that's why we had to make sure it's practical for our climate. This is not America. Firstly, it's easy to pay. You can use mobile money or you can pay in cash or you can even pay in installments. And then with technical things, it's self paced. So if I can't watch it today, I can watch tomorrow. If I have time in the morning or I have time at night, it's up to me. When I'm investing my time for this course, it's not like I'm going to say Dr. Natalie is there at 9am and everyone needs to be online. No, once you've enrolled for the course, it's up to you. When it's convenient for you, how do.
You involve the parents? Because you know, kids always have these gadgets. But then how do you involve, you know, the, the normal ground, traditional parent to understand that this online education is legit, it's real, you know, and the kids are really learning from it, not just being online.
Actually most of our students are parents themselves. Lots of young parents and there are lots of people who understand what the value is, is in upskilling yourself and continuing to invest in your education. We even have a course on positive parenting about early childhood development from our experts in that field. So I think it's something that even parents have learned how to maneuver online and learn things and can also benefit from a system like this. Wow.
I already love it and I just can't wait to join. I think I'm going to join right after this interview. Any last remarks?
I think what makes me happy about Iketa is how you can benefit so fast. So someone will enroll in a course within a month or two. They're sending me a message like, oh my goodness, I've been applying this in my job. I got a promotion. Oh my goodness. I started using the principles for personal development. I've lost weight. So it's always interesting bits of feedback that I didn't expect. But I'm very glad that we're able to put this information where it needs to be in an affordable and accessible and convenient way for our students. Okay.
In case, you know, you may want.
To join this and then your parents aren't saying no.
Are you for real? If they take my money, you know.
Something like that, I can understand those concerns. We do have high security on the platform. We do monitor everything that happens. The certificates come from Uganda University, one of our partners. And all our coaches have at least 10 years experience in their professional field. Of course we are easy to access. You can always call us, ask us questions. But I think the culture of always elearning is something that we're now starting to understand. Whether you have an office job or you're an entrepreneur, you're always going to have to keep learning. And none of us want to go back to university for three more years. That's true. So we have to find ways to make it easy, make it convenient, make it relatable, and make it something that you can continue to do. Not just one course, the next course. So we're always looking for ideas for more courses, we're looking for more coaches because when you're doing things online, you're not limited. Anything is possible. And I love to share that attitude with everyone we work with.
Well, thanks for coming through. Must been quite a pleasure. Learned a lot.
