Trends

Trends

Zambian teachers test free digital learning tools

  A group of about thirty teachers from the Copperbelt region in Zambia convened in a workshop last month to receive an introduction to several free eLearning computer programmes. These tools, which included an offline version of Wikipedia, a quiz maker and other helpful programmes, have the potential to enrich the learning experience of teachers and students, even in areas with no internet connection.

Trends

Rural Internet kiosks herald last frontier in bridging digital divide

Rural Internet Kiosks are currently mushrooming throughout rural areas in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zambia, providing Africans who were previously cut-off from the digital world with Internet connections. These movable, cost-effective and recyclable kiosks, which operate with satellite connectivity provided by Intersat Africa and use solar energy, along with a highly energy efficient personal computer, allow rural communities to participate in the digital world. […]

Trends

Connecting the unconnected

In January 2010, in order to connect rural areas lacking any IT infrastructure to the Internet, the Fraunhofer FOKUS, a branch of Germany’s largest research organisation, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, will breathe life into the FOKUS NET4DC. Together with partners from target regions, this international centre for information and communication technologies in developing countries will develop and make available tailor-made IT infrastructures and communication networks. The […]

Trends

Virtual farming is bearing fruits

How to optimally market honey, to cultivate a field or to avoid soil erosion is what small-holding farmers can learn – among many other topics – from innovative three-dimensional learning visualisations, which are now available in Zimbabwe. At eLearning Africa 2009, Justin Mupinda, Country Programme Coordinator at World Links Zimbabwe, explained how the so-called “interactive 3d learning objects” (i3dlos) tools make use of the […]

Trends

Medicine and eLearning – reaching beyond borders

In Brussels, hands wearing surgical gloves make precise and skilful incisions into an abdomen. In Senegal, attentive participants of the “Demonstrations of Telemedicine” pre-conference workshop at eLearning Africa watch simultaneously on a big screen: The transnational videosurgery, carried out by Professor Guy-Bernard Cadière in Brussels for Senegalese medical students, was a great start to three days packed with topics concerning healthcare. The variety on […]

Trends

Testing ‘digital pens’ in hospitals in Tanzania

In many hospitals throughout the world, it is still standard practice for doctors and nurses to keep handwritten patient files; this is also the case in Africa. However, these files can easily get lost, and if patient data have to be transferred from one medical institution to another, the files can take a long time to arrive. Digital documents that can be shared and […]

Trends

ICT changing the fortunes of rural communities

Indeed, the power of ICTs as a force for socio-economic change is now being realised by the mostly poor residents in costal areas of rural Kenya. At the click of a button, members of well-organised rural self-help groups are able to search for markets for their farm products, make inquiries and even secure orders!

Trends

Oracle simplifies African high school student administration

Oracle has developed a software solution that is simple to use, fast to deploy and free to use and distribute to effectively manage student administration. The Oracle School Express (OSE) is a data capturing and reporting tool that enables school administrators to capture student statistics such as registrations, attendance, marks and school fees. The solution will run on a standard PC enabling the schools […]