How Lovedale TVET College Transformed with Snapplify’s Scalable Digital Platform.
Key Challenges
Pressure to Modernise
Approaching its centenary, the college faced mounting expectations to adopt digital tools and modern teaching approaches.
High Costs and Losses from Physical Textbooks
Educators and staff had a heavy support burden towards learners and parents.
Students Unprepared for the Digital Age
Many students had no exposure to digital learning environments or tools, putting them at a disadvantage.
No Foundational Digital Infrastructure
The college lacked basic elements such as student authentication systems or digital content platforms.
Improvements and Successes
Lovedale TVET College has seen significant improvements since adopting Snapplify, including:
- Digital Lending Library
- Students accessed textbooks through a digital loan system, allowing the college to retain ownership and reuse content across semesters.
- Offline Access
- Using the Snapplify Reader app, students could study anywhere — with or without an internet connection.
- Digital Identities for All Students
- Snapplify Access gave students their first formal digital identity, allowing them to log in and access digital resources securely.
- Lecturer Access to Teaching Material
- Lecturers used Snapplify to access the textbooks purchased for them, ensuring smoother teaching delivery.
Snapplify offered a simple, ready-to-use platform that didn’t rely on complex infrastructure. The solution met the college’s immediate needs: getting students’ textbooks quickly, allowing offline access, and establishing digital identities — all with minimal disruption and maximum support.
Implementation
Digital library
Deployed Snapplify Engage as the college’s first digital library platform which supplied access to TVET learning resources.
Streamlined user onboarding
Trained staff and completed onboarding within one week, despite the academic year already having begun.
Loan management
Enabled semester-based textbook lending and return cycles.
24/7 support
The school has access to dedicated support 24/7 for learners, educators and parents.
Digital identities
Implemented Snapplify Access to create digital student identities which can be used to access any additional third part apps implemented at the college.
The decision to choose Snapplify
“Snapplify provided a simple, practical solution that matched our needs and helped us go digital without needing major infrastructure changes. It’s user-friendly, scalable, and has helped us modernise how we support students and lecturers.”
About Lovedale TVET College
Founded nearly a century ago, Lovedale TVET College is one of South Africa’s most established vocational education institutions, with campuses in Alice, King William’s Town, and Zwelitsha in the Eastern Cape. As the institution approached its 100-year anniversary, leadership committed to embracing digital transformation — a necessary shift to align with the future of learning and the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).