Distance learning methods have long been recognized as a viable alternative to address this need, from the time of mail delivery, and going to radio and tv models <cite>. With the internet revolution in the last century, the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) example has been the dominant model <cite>. Both edx and Coursera, the 2 most popular MOOC platforms, provide complete specializations that cover the necessary background for the biologist and computer scientist in bioinformatics alike (
https://www.edx.org/micromasters/bioinformatics) and (
https://www.coursera.org/specializations/bioinformatics). Each of these specializations is composed of a series of courses that the learner may take individually or one after the other.
Accessibility to MOOCs however, is hindered by internet connectivity, abillity to use the platform; and soon it becomes overwhelming and daunting to complete the courses unless budget for well in advance in the busy life of Africa!. <I will rephrase and cite later!>.
H3ABioNet \cite{Mulder_2015}
Points to address:
On line courses has attracted a considerable concern nowadays and is recognized as an alternative platform for classical learning to cope with scarcity of resources.