On February 25, 2011, the day Egyptian agitators used eMail, Twitter and Facebook to bring tens of thousands of teenage demonstrators into Tahrir Square for a synchronised demonstration with Egyptian and Tunisian flags, UNICEF published its new report on adolescence suggesting that Information Communications Technologies could help save young people from being ‘left adrift by globalization’. Their report foresaw falling fertility rates in low-income […]
General
China’s mighty telecom footprint in Africa
China plays a major role financing and supplying telecom and ICT equipment to Africa, a precondition for eLearning. Chinese companies have broken the monopoly of Western telecom giants in Africa, helped to bring down charges and contributed to the triumphal success of mobile phones on the continent. They have also donated educational communications hardware worth millions of dollars. However, China’s engagement has attracted […]
TIGA Awards 2011: celebrating excellence in eGovernment
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Government of Finland have announced the third Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) Awards for 2011. These awards recognise African governments’ effective use of ICTs for public services. One of the awards – in the category on Improved Educational Services Through the Use of ICTs – is organised jointly with the eLearning Africa Conference […]
IT and higher education in areas of conflict – an Afghan experience
Distance Learning can provide excellent opportunities to educate students in conflict zones. Regardless of ethnic, religious or political backgrounds, gender issues or geographical remoteness –all learners can be given access to high quality education. In sub-Saharan Africa, institutions, such as the African Virtual University, have worked beyond linguistic and cultural boundaries, indirectly promoting peace-building and inclusion even in heavily conflict-ridden countries, such as […]
Talking about the cloud
IBM’s slogan “Education for a Smarter Planet” is being applied to transform educational systems in Africa, especially in Tanzania, where the firm has signed a collaboration agreement for adopting information technology in education, research and development. IBM will be presenting at eLearning Africa on the new technology of cloud computing. Mick Slivecko, IBM Global Education & Learning Industry, and Christoph Schwaiger, IBM Global Technology […]
eLearning Adventure: Kenyans take a truck ride to Lusaka
In the early morning of Saturday, May 22nd, a big blue truck will leave Nairobi and head south. On board there will be about twenty teachers and educators from the Kenyan North Rift eLearning Consortium. Their final destination: the fifth eLearning Africa conference in Lusaka, Zambia, about 1200 miles from their home town. It is a little known fact that education can be a […]
Embracing all facets of ICT deployment in Africa
In his role as Africa Regional Director for the Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), Alex Twinomugisha helps to empower African countries to develop strategies for the proper use of ICT in education to promote their overall development. In the following interview, Nairobi-based Twinomugisha talks about the challenges his organisation has to overcome when deploying ICT in Africa and what effect technology continues to […]
Impressions from the Microsoft Pan-African Innovative Teachers Forum 2008
Alan Yates and Ronald Ndungu A think tank for innovative eLearning projects: At the Microsoft Pan-African Innovative Teachers Forum, teachers from all around Africa had the opportunity to present their lessons and also took part in a variety of skills-development workshops. Altogether, the event brought together 37 teachers who are doing exciting projects using technology in their classrooms, all of them finalists in a […]
The Association of African Universities (AAU) is the apex organisation and forum for consultation, exchange of information and cooperation among institutions of higher education in Africa. It represents the voice of higher education in Africa for regional and international bodies and supports networking by institutions of higher education in teaching, research, information exchange and dissemination. One of the emerging issues at institutions of higher […]
Reaching out to Chawama’s young people and beyond
Set up in the form of a small non-governmental organisation, the Chawama Youth Project helps young people in the disadvantaged township of Chawama on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia. When the project was initially launched in 2004, most of Chawama’s young people were unemployed, crime was rife and their future was bleak. So, in order to give the young people a better start in […]