Southern Times-ICT Innovation Advancing the cause of education

Windhoek - Over the past seven years, the eLearning community in Africa has grown in leaps and bounds, according to eLearning Africa 2012 Report.
“This is evident from the growth in the number and variety of participants attending the eLearning Africa conferences each year and the growing number of eLearning programmes, research initiatives, partnerships and organisations in Africa,” says the report.
The report, which covered 41 African countries, documented for the first time eLearning experience in Africa including their influence on the education and training landscape on the continent.

Read more at: http://www.southerntimesafrica.com/news_article.php?id=8381&title=ICT%20Innovation%20%20%20Advancing%20the%20cause%20of%20education&type=83

African Voices on the Digital Revolutio

A new report shows that laptops and mobile phones are now far and away the most popular new learning devices in Africa – while, despite the hype, tablets are still lagging, only being used regularly by 20% of eLearning practitioners.
This is just one of the surprising findings contained in the eLearning Africa Report 2013. Launched today (Thursday) at the Windhoek Safari Conference Centre by the Namibian Minister for ICT, the Honorable Joel Kaapanda, the report offers new insight into the complex uses of technology in African education – from the point of view of Africans themselves.
Providing a unique snapshot of ICT developments across the Continent, the eLearning Africa Report goes beyond statistics and gives a voice to hundreds of Africans involved in eLearning practice at grassroots level. Its aim is to reflect “the stories, views and experiences of African practitioners and their contribution to the broader African eLearning narrative.”

Read more at: http://www.elearning-africa.com/press_releases_html/pr_2013_05_30.html

NComputing showcases African customer successes in building ICT education infrastructure for students and teachers

Windhoek, Namibia - May 29, 2013
At this year's eLearning Africa conference, NComputing, the leader in accelerating the adoption of desktop virtualisation, today reported on the latest customer successes using its desktop virtualisation solutions to increase access to high quality Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and e-learning in Africa.
NComputing's desktop virtualisation technology helps African schools, colleges and universities overcome the key challenges related to building and sustaining high quality ICT infrastructure, including limited access to electricity, financial resources and shortage of IT skills.

Read more at: http://www.itnewsonline.com/showrwstory.php?storyid=11008

eLearning Africa calls Round Table of Ministers

International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training. An Annual Event for Building eLearning Capacities in Africa.

A round table of ministers and representatives from all across Africa is due to convene at eLearning Africa. The sixth of its kind to date, this yearly meeting offers a chance for governments to draw on the knowledge they have built up collectively over 20 years.
African educators, still challenged with the mammoth task of providing basic education, will take the opportunity to share progress reports and policies. In today’s volatile world, where new technologies have dramatic implications for policy development, such pan-African communication is vital in ensuring geographically distant countries facing similar problems can compare experiences.
Policy and Innovation in Education in Africa is this year’s theme. At a time when governments are getting involved more than ever in the growth of ICTs – with Kenya’s National Master Plan, Namibia’s Vision 2030, and the rise of African hubs – it is all the more vital for ministers to be able to learn from each other.

Read more at: http://www.elearning-africa.com/press_release.php

WSIS Forum 2013 - IICD & GKPF session - Neelie Kroes

WSIS Forum 2013 - Thematic Workshop: 'Speed up! Towards a Generation of e-Literacy for All' (organised by IICD and GKPF on May 15th).

Video message from European Commission VP, Mrs Neelie Kroes, talking about the role that digital skills play in Europe's twin challenges of restoring opportunities to all at a time of crisis, and to increase Europe's competitiveness on the world stage. Mrs Kroes discussed how the European Commission's Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs is addressing this important task in collaboration with many different European stakeholders.

See on YouTube: http://youtu.be/2g-8QeWf8Hk

Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunity, Tanzania

Venue: KINU Co-Creation and Innovation Space, 1st Floor Conservation House Plot No.245, A. H. Mwinyi Road, Dar es Salaam
Date and time: 24- 28 June, 2013 (9:00 - 17:00)
Technological innovation is taking place at a breath-taking pace. Simple, open source internet-based applications and services designed to enhance on-line collaboration are now available to the wider public at little or no cost at all. These new online technologies known as Web 2.0 and ‘social media’ enable people to collaborate to create, share and publish information.

See it on Scoop.it, via ICT for Education and Development

ICT For Education Solutions: In Africa, By Africans, For The Global Economy

Africa’s leading forum for the technology-assisted learning industry, eLearning Africa, will on May 29th-31st be celebrating the rise of ‘Made in Africa’ tech solutions in Windhoek, Namibia, at the 2013 edition of its annual conference.
Now in its eighth year, eLearning Africa will be bringing together a wide range of perspectives on ICT for development, education and training. The conference will also be preceded by the annual eLearning Africa round table meeting of education and ICT ministers from across Africa.
“This year our focus will be on innovation and we are all really proud that some of the most exciting and innovative new solutions in education have been pioneered and developed in Africa”, says Rebecca Stromeyer, founder of eLearning Africa and Executive Director of ICWE.

Read more at: http://www.ventures-africa.com/2013/04/ict-for-education-solutions-in-africa-by-africans-for-the-global-economy/

Seventh Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF7)

Deadline reminder: Call for abstracts and proposals
The deadline for submitting papers and proposals for PCF7 is 30 April 2013. All papers and proposals must address Open Learning for Development: Towards Empowerment and Transformation through one of PCF7's five themes: Girls' and Women's Education; Skills Development; Promoting Open Educational Resources (OER); Innovation and Technology; and, Institutional Development
PCF7 will take place in Abuja, Nigeria from 2 to 6 December 2013, co-hosted by the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). It is a dynamic event with a variety of formats to enable participation, knowledge sharing, learning and networking. Apart from paper presentations there will also be a variety of activities that address the interests and expectations of different participants.

www.col.org/PCF7
www.col.org/PCF7Submissions

Welcome to e/merge 2012 - Online Conference

See on Scoop.it - Studying Teaching and Learning

Registration remains open and free for all colleagues based in Africa … 


We’re at the start of a busy week 2 of e/merge 2012. Keynotes by David Theo Goldberg - Networking Knowledge: Globalizing Connected Learning; and Laura Czerniewicz - Open Scholarship and what it means for African universities; presentations on social media for teaching and learning, online networks and courses for professional development, collaborative learning and eLearning quality development. Research papers which use innovative theoretical frames and methodologies. Workshops include Connected Teacher Toolkit, Content Curation, Learning Analytics, Paragogy, Designing and Conducting Research Interviews Online. http://emerge2012.net/live

See on emerge2012.net


via Tumblr Welcome to e/merge 2012 - Online Conference

Khan Academy allows teachers to tap into needs immediately via online learning - San Jose Mercury News

See on Scoop.it - Studying Teaching and Learning

One of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” as named by “Time Magazine” this year is educating students at William Burnett Elementary School, even though they have never met him.

Sal Khan is the voice behind Khan Academy, a free online tutoring site with a library of more than 3,200 video tutorials, interactive challenges and assessments available to anyone with a Gmail address from any computer with access to the web. Topics are virtually limitless; covering kindergarten - through 12th-grade math, science topics such as biology, chemistry and physics, finance and history, and the catalogue is growing on a daily basis.

See on mercurynews.com

via Tumblr Khan Academy allows teachers to tap into needs immediately via online learning - San Jose Mercury News

Free conference on integrating technology

You are cordially invited to join the live online conference on the weekend of Feb 3-5, 2012.

Please join the Moodle conference area and the Ning social network to get the latest updates: http://www.integrating-technology.org/course/view.php?id=283 and http://connecting-online.ning.com

The conference will be of interest to educators, administrators, students, and community members who value the importance of integrating technology into the curriculum to improve instruction, learning, and business. Online learning involves various skills on the part of the instructor and learner. These include social and communication skills, social networking, independent learning strategies, critical and higher order thinking skills, creativity, and effective online and face-to-face facilitation. In addition, there are many challenges that educators, administrators, students, businesses, and community members face.

Open Access Week, October 19 – 23, 2009

I just want to remind everyone that Open Access Week starts in a week's time - so you've just got time to organize something.

This event, which takes place October 19 – 23, is an annual event to broaden awareness and understanding of open access to research, including access policies from all types of research funders, within the international higher education community and the general public. As you all know, open access is a topic close to my heart, so I hope you'll all participate in some way.

Open Access Week builds on the momentum generated by the 120 campuses in 27 countries that celebrated Open Access Day in 2008. Event organizers SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and Students for FreeCulture welcome key new contributors, who will help to enhance and expand the global reach of this popular event in 2009: eIFL.net (Electronic Information for Libraries), OASIS (the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook); and the Open Access Directory (OAD).

This year’s program will highlight educational resources on Open Access that local hosts can use to customize their own programs to suit local audiences and time zones. OASIS will serve as the centerpiece of the 2009 program, delivering resources for every constituency and every awareness level. The Open Access Directory will again provide an index of participants on five continents, as well as their growing clearinghouse for all OA resources. Through the collaborative functionality of the two initiatives, OA videos, briefing papers, podcasts, slideshows, posters and other informative tools will be drawn from all over the Web to be highlighted during Open Access Week.

The organizers will also work with registrants to develop a variety of sample program tracks, such as “Administrators’ introduction to campus open-access policies and funds,” “OA 101,” and “Complying with the NIH public access policy” that take full advantage of available tools. Participants are invited to adapt these resources for local use, and to mark Open Access Week by hosting an event, distributing literature, blogging — or even just wearing an Open Access t-shirt.

For more information about Open Access Week and to register, visit http://www.openaccessweek.org.

Reminder: Open Access Week, October 19 – 23, 2009

I just want to remind everyone that October 19 – 23 is Open Access Week.

This annual event presents an opportunity to broaden awareness and understanding of Open Access to research, including access policies from all types of research funders, within the international higher education community and the general public.

Open Access Week builds on the momentum generated by the 120 campuses in 27 countries that celebrated Open Access Day in 2008. Event organizers SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and Students for FreeCulture welcome key new contributors, who will help to enhance and expand the global reach of this popular event in 2009: eIFL.net (Electronic Information for Libraries), OASIS (the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook); and the Open Access Directory (OAD).

This year’s program will highlight educational resources on Open Access that local hosts can use to customize their own programs to suit local audiences and time zones. OASIS will serve as the centerpiece of the 2009 program, delivering resources for every constituency and every awareness level. The Open Access Directory will again provide an index of participants on five continents, as well as their growing clearinghouse for all OA resources. Through the collaborative functionality of the two initiatives, OA videos, briefing papers, podcasts, slideshows, posters and other informative tools will be drawn from all over the Web to be highlighted during Open Access Week.

The organizers will also work with registrants to develop a variety of sample program tracks, such as “Administrators’ introduction to campus open-access policies and funds,” “OA 101,” and “Complying with the NIH public access policy” that take full advantage of available tools. Participants are invited to adapt these resources for local use, and to mark Open Access Week by hosting an event, distributing literature, blogging — or even just wearing an Open Access t-shirt.

For more information about Open Access Week and to register, visit http://www.openaccessweek.org.

Open Access Week, October 19 – 23, 2009

Washington, DC – March 5, 2009
To accommodate widespread global interest in the movement toward Open Access to scholarly research results, October 19 – 23, 2009 will mark the first international Open Access Week. The now-annual event, expanded from one day to a full week, presents an opportunity to broaden awareness and understanding of Open Access to research, including access policies from all types of research funders, within the international higher education community and the general public.

Open Access Week builds on the momentum generated by the 120 campuses in 27 countries that celebrated Open Access Day in 2008. Event organizers SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and Students for FreeCulture welcome key new contributors, who will help to enhance and expand the global reach of this popular event in 2009: eIFL.net (Electronic Information for Libraries), OASIS (the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook); and the Open Access Directory (OAD).

“I’m participating in Open Access Week again this year because I want to shed light on the tremendous potential of Open Access,” said Allyson Mower, Scholarly Communications & Copyright Librarian for the University of Utah’s Marriott Library. “People searching for information usually consume whatever is readily available. Open Access ensures that quality information is at people’s fingertips.”

“eIFL.net works to make intellectual outputs of developing and transitional countries more visible and more easily accessible,” added Rima Kupryte, Director of eIFL.net. “We believe that Open Access contributes to improved education, teaching, and research, and accelerates innovations and economical developments in these countries. Open Access Week is a great opportunity to promote Open Access globally.”

This year’s program will highlight educational resources on Open Access that local hosts can use to customize their own programs to suit local audiences and time zones. OASIS will serve as the centerpiece of the 2009 program, delivering resources for every constituency and every awareness level. The Open Access Directory will again provide an index of participants on five continents, as well as their growing clearinghouse for all OA resources. Through the collaborative functionality of the two initiatives, OA videos, briefing papers, podcasts, slideshows, posters and other informative tools will be drawn from all over the Web to be highlighted during Open Access Week.

The organizers will also work with registrants to develop a variety of sample program tracks, such as “Administrators’ introduction to campus open-access policies and funds,” “OA 101,” and “Complying with the NIH public access policy” that take full advantage of available tools. Participants are invited to adapt these resources for local use, and to mark Open Access Week by hosting an event, distributing literature, blogging — or even just wearing an Open Access t-shirt.

“After the success of last year’s Open Access Day, we’re delighted to be co-organizing the first ever Open Access Week with our fellow collaborators, again in conjunction with the anniversary of one of our flagship journals,” said Peter Jerram, CEO for the Public Library of Science. “We ask our supporters to celebrate the fifth anniversary of PLoS Medicine by spreading the word about Open Access and getting involved in the week.”

“There’s no more certain sign of the momentum behind Open Access to research than an annual, global celebration of this scale,” added Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC. “Occasions like this are the best possible way to attract attention from busy faculty members and administrators, and to demonstrate the widespread appeal of Open Access. It’s SPARC’s pleasure to be working with our partners to realize the event once again this year.”

For more information about Open Access Week and to register, visit http://www.openaccessweek.org.

ICTD Conference, Qatar, April 2009

The 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2009) will take place April 17-19, 2009 at the Carnegie Mellon Doha, Qatar http://www.ictd2009.org




ICTD spans information and communication technologies (ICT) and their role in global socio-economic development. Every sector is involved – governments, academia, small start-ups, large corporations, inter-governmental organizations, and non-profits and non-governmental organizations. In spite of the tremendous energy and resources behind these projects, scientifically sound research in this space is just beginning to emerge: What is the actual impact of ICTD projects? What novel technology is required to meet development needs? What methodologies lead to the success or failure of a project?

The goal of the ICTD conference is to provide a forum for academic researchers and scholarly practitioners working with ICT applied to development. The conference will be scientifically rigorous and multi-disciplinary – papers reporting high-quality original research are solicited. Submitted papers will be subjected to double-blind peer review, and a full proceedings will be published at the time of the conference. The conference will bring together researchers and reflective practitioners in both the social and technical sciences, with anticipated representation from anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial design, and the like., in addition to domain specialists in various development fields such as healthcare, agriculture, enterprise, education, governance, etc.

For the purposes of this conference, the term “ICT” will comprise computing devices (e.g., PCs, PDAs, sensor networks), technologies for voice and data connectivity, the Internet, and related technologies. Application domains include, but are not restricted to, education, agriculture, enterprise, healthcare, poverty alleviation, general communication, and governance. Papers considering novel design, new technology, project assessment, policy, impact, content, social issues around ICT for development, and so forth will be considered. Well-presented negative results from which generalizable conclusions can be drawn are also sought.

More information can be obtained from the conference website http://www.ictd2009.org

Conference on Communities and Technologies

Fourth International Conference on Communities and Technologies
June 25-27, 2009, on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University

Paper submission deadline: December 15, 2008

http://cct2009.ist.psu.edu/

The Communities and Technologies biennial international conference serves as a forum for stimulating and disseminating research on the complex connections between communities - both physical and virtual - and information and communication technologies. Researchers studying aspects of the interaction between communities and technologies from any disciplinary perspective are invited to participate.

Sponsored by Microsoft Research and Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology. In cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM SIGCHI and SIGCAS). Proceedings will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

Information technology is not just for people who bowl alone!

Intelligent Communities

Creating a More Connected Community with Broadband: An Intelligent Communities ePanel

As friends of the Intelligent Community Forum, we would like to invite you to a special ePanel organized by the Ontario Ministry of Government Services:

What: An online discussion with four leaders of communities named as Intelligent Communities on how their communities are using broadband to help citizens and organizations increase their efficiency, expand their knowledge and improve living standards.

When: Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 9:00 am - 10:30 am EST

Where: http://digitalontario.na3.acrobat.com/intelligentcommunities/

** You must pre-register by emailing digitalontario@ontario.ca **

Minimum Computer Requirements: Pentium II, 128mb RAM, 56kpbs Internet connection, speakers or headphones, most common internet browsers. (For full compatibilities, visit www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/systemreqs/)

ePanel Moderator:
Louis Zacharilla, Co-Founder, Intelligent Community Forum

ePanel Experts:
Gordon Kennedy, Former Deputy Chief Executive, Scottish Enterprise, City of Glasgow - 2004 Intelligent Community of the Year

William Lin, Chief Executive Officer, Dragon Telecom, Tianjin, China - Two-time Top 7 Intelligent Community

Lev Gonick, Vice President, Information Technology Services, Case Western Reserve University, City of Cleveland - Two-time Top 7 Intelligent Community

Thomas Hurst, Chief Investment Officer, City of Sunderland - Five-time Top 7 Intelligent Community

Find out how the Intelligent Community Forum defines intelligent communities. Register for the ePanel today - spots are limited! Participants will be able to ask questions, rate content, take quick surveys and post comments.

For more information on ICF and the criteria for evaluating intelligent communities, please visit the Web site: http://www.intelligentcommunity.org

ePanels support the Ministry of Government Services’ (MGS) research into the challenges and opportunities of broadband technology.

Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF5)

The the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF5), held at the University of London in July 2008, was a huge success. It was advertised in this blog on February 25, 2008, when I was eagerly anticipating going. Unfortunately I couldn't attend - instead I had an appointment with a Gamma Knife machine :-)

Here are some details of the event taken from an article in Connections/EdTech News, October 2008.

PCF5: EXPLORING ACCESS TO LEARNING FOR DEVELOPMENT

More than 700 delegates from 70 countries attended the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF5) at the University of London in July 2008. COL's biennial forum has grown to become one of the world's leading international conferences on learning and global development. This year's forum was by far the largest. The theme of PCF5 was "Access to Learning for Development" and the unique contributions that open and distance learning (ODL) can make towards achieving international development goals.

There were more than 320 papers, workshops and discussions around the forum's four main action themes:
. Children and young people;
. Governance, conflict and social justice;
. Health; and
. Livelihoods.

Three cross-cutting issues - appropriate learning technologies, institutions and learner support - helped to inform the discussions. Over four days, delegates discussed best practices, shared their experiences and were inspired by keynotes from leaders in ODL.

COL's Excellence in Distance Education Awards were also presented at PCF5.

THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

PCF5 was hosted by COL in partnership with the University of London, forming a part of the University's celebration of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of its External Programme.

Vice Chancellor Sir Graeme Davies opened PCF5 with comments about the world's first open access university - the University of London. While many people associate distance education with the Internet and modern technology, the University of London began offering distance education in 1858 to enable people to learn without having to come to London. They exploited state-of-the-art technologies of the day - the postal service (developed to take advantage of the new railways) and the printing press. The University of London worked with partner institutions that provided local support and in so doing, helped to develop universities throughout the Commonwealth.

Charles Dickens' magazine, All the Year Round, called the University of London "the people's university". The External Programme's many graduates include five Nobel Prize winners, many heads of state and prisoners of war during World War I and II.

............. and finally, what everyone has been waiting for ...........




PCF6 TO BE HELD IN KOCHI, INDIA

COL President Sir John Daniel and Dr. Latha Pillai, Pro Vice-Chancellor of India's Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), took the podium at PCF5 in London to announce that the Sixth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning will be held in Kochi (Cochin, Kerala), India, co-hosted by IGNOU in late November 2010.
www.col.org/pcf6

Social Action and IT

Making Links Conference
11th - 13th November 2008
Melbourne University, ICT Building, 111 Barry Street, Carlton, Victoria, Australia

Making Links is a conference that seeks to engage interested people, organisations and groups working at the intersection of social action and IT - including community workers, educators, trainers, not-for-profit organisations, school teachers, environmental campaigners and activists.



The Conference seeks to:

• Bring the community sector together to access resources, training and services, and to share ideas, skills and creative applications of technology;
• Explore the possibilities ICTs generate for communities whose voices have been marginalized and excluded from the mainstream;
• Showcase innovative, grass roots ICT initiatives in community cultural development, outreach, and e-learning;
• Build and develop networks amongst workers and activists interested in how ICT can be used to support social justice.

The conference, which started in 2004, is organised by a steering committee composed of representatives from a range of not-for-profit organisations.

Technology: A platform for development?

Thursday 30 - Friday 31 October 2008
Chatham House, London

Technology is now recognized as having the potential to transform the lives of millions in the developing world. This major international conference will seek to identify best practice for achieving the successful implementation of new technology. Sessions will address issues including:

* The role of broadband and mobile technology
* The political environment and regulation
* Infrastructure development and scaling up solutions
* Selection of optimum technologies
* Driving new investment
* Ensuring successful implementation


This conference will provide a unique opportunity to meet with senior figures from the technology and development sectors, including policymakers, government representatives, industry leaders and investors. The format of the event allows extensive opportunities for networking and informal meetings between conference sessions, and at the drinks reception at the end of day one.


Conference brochure

All details for this conference will be published on the Chatham House website. Please check the site for up to date information on registration, confirmed conference speakers, sessions and other information.
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk


Speaker highlights

Greg Butler
Industry Director
Microsoft Education Solutions Group

Professor David P Mellor OBE
Chairman
United Kingdom Telecoms Academy

Rt Hon Alun Michael MP
United Kingdom

Richard Simpson
Director General, e-commerce
Industry Canada

Estelle Akofio-Sowah
Managing Director
BusyInternet

Professor Tim Unwin
Professor of Geography and UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
University of London