The 9th eLearning Africa conference was by all accounts a success in bringing together a vast array of experts and change-makers in the eLearning industry. Over 1,500 participants and 300 speakers gathered for three days at the Speke Resort and Conference Centre in the Ugandan capital Kampala, set on the edge of magnificent Lake Victoria.
On 28th May the Government of Uganda hosted the Seventh Ministerial Round Table (MRT) on “Affordable and Equitable Broadband Access for Transformative Learning”. In attendance were Ministers, Deputy Ministers and ministerial representatives of Basic and Higher Education, ICT, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Post, Telecommunications and ICT from Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
After discussion around the barriers to improved access, opportunities to excel and grow, and much more, the participants in the MRT made a series of recommendations with regard to priorities and methods for improving infrastructure in Africa that included, among others, more public/private partnerships, infrastructure sharing and creating a single telecommunications market in Africa.
Over the course of three days there were too many highlights to mention: sessions catered to all interests within the frame of technology and learning, from the opening plenary to the knowledge exchange, parallel sessions and workshops.
On 29th May His Excellency Edward Ssekandi, Vice-President of the Republic of Uganda, launched the eLearning Africa Report 2014, which provides an analysis of all African nations and prospects for growth and development in the field of eLearning and sectors such as ICT, education, health, agriculture and tourism.
As in previous years, the eLearning Africa Debate closed the conference with healthy discussion and good humour, encouraging a majority of participants and speakers to come together and debate the motion: “This house believes that there is now nothing more important to education than access to the Internet.”
#eLA14 was a hot topic on Twitter, with participants tweeting and posting on social media networks about all the sessions, keeping in touch with other speakers and participants throughout the conference. Contributing to the Twitter buzz were the Social Media Reporters, who provided live updates from every session to keep everybody in the loop.
If you’re already feeling nostalgic for eLearning Africa, a range of photos from the event is available online. For a snapshot of the three-day conference, check out the photo galleries. A film of first impressions from eLearning Africa 2014 is also available online for your viewing pleasure!
The eLearning Africa organisers would like to extend a big thanks to all the partners, sponsors, speakers and participants who brought such energy and enthusiasm to the conference, making it a great success.
