Learning maths and science online in Africa

Educational content is an issue with which many African countries still struggle, so Intel’s approach to preparing Ghanaian science students for the digital age seems quite promising. The objective of www.skoool.com.gh is to provide a rich and integrated platform for science and math education.

Topics generally seen as being very “dry” are delivered in a rather playful manner. An interactive football match, for example, serves to illustrate math topics like types of angles. On the methodological side, the main features of skoool are interactive simulations, exam-centre study notes, exam guides for maths and integrated science as well as study and revision tips.

In conjunction with its participation in the third eLearning Africa Conference, held in Accra, and in line with its Intel World Ahead Program, Intel launched the localised Ghanaian version of its worldwide digital education content platform www.skoool.com. The site – www.skoool.com.gh – is being run in collaboration with the Ghanaian Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (MOESS) and the Ministry of Communication (MOC). The interactive teaching platform conforms to the action points taken at the conference. All content developed for the site will be based on identified areas of difficulty in various subjects. The learning resources are similar in each country in which it operates but are populated with local content.

In the course of the official launch ceremony at the Kofi Annan Centre, Accra, Ms. Elizabeth Ohene, Minister for State in charge of Tertiary Education, said that the Ghanaian government was focusing primarily on science and technology to accelerate the pace of technological advancement, with www.skoool.com.gh also complementing the government’s efforts to drive ICT in the country. Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Ghana’s Communication Minister, asked the heads of the schools to encourage their students to use the resource to develop their skills in the areas of mathematics and science.

The platform www.skoool.com.gh aids students with curriculum-focused multi-media learning and research, offers open-ended learning tools to help students explore wider concepts and provides valuable exam focused resources to help students prepare effectively for state exams standards. The parent platform, skoool.com, has been active in Africa since 2006, starting with a platform in South Africa. The first release of skoool Nigeria supported the successful Classmate PC proof of concept and deployment during 2007. The online version of skoool Nigeria will be launched in 2008.

ICT for Social Change

"One laptop per child" - It was the ambition of Kevin Rudd during the last election in Australia and it is the plan being realised by Nicholas Negroponte of MIT. The only way Professor Negroponte can realise his dream is by having cheap laptops, costing $100, or eventually, less. How is this done? And what difference do these computers make in the villages of Africa, South America and Asia? Professor Negroponte, founder of the Media Lab at MIT and author of the bestseller Being Digital, talks to an audience in Boston, Massachusetts in "One laptop per child" on ABC Radio National, presented by Robyn Williams.

ICTs bring Ugandans together

Father Joseph Okumu on the use of Inveneo ICTs and BOSCO systems to bring Ugandans together.

A Portal to Media Literacy

Presented at the University of Manitoba June 17th 2008, by Kansas State University Professor Michael Wesch.
Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4yApagnr0s

Taken from:
http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/...
Recently Dr. Wesch spoke at the University of Manitoba where he explained the the basis of this video in a talk entitled, "Michael Wesch and the Future of Education." I found it fascinating! He describes how he so naturally incorporates emerging technologies into his courses from the smallest seminar type class to the largest lecture theatre filled class.

More importantly he not only talks about the technologies but how he encourages extraordinary participation and collaboration from his students by engaging them in meaningful learning activities.

Although the video is 66 minutes long...pour a coffee, iced tea or glass of wine and enjoy this dynamic presentation from a master teacher."

(You should probably watch A Vision of Students Today first.)



Taken from:
http://umanitoba.ca/ist/production/...
Dubbed “the explainer” by popular geek publication Wired because of his viral YouTube video that summarizes Web 2.0 in under five minutes, cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch brought his Web 2.0 wisdom to the University of Manitoba on June 17 (see video above).

During his presentation, the Kansas State University professor breaks down his attempts to integrate Facebook, Netvibes, Diigo, Google Apps, Jott, Twitter, and other emerging technologies to create an education portal of the future.

“It’s basically an ongoing experiment to create a portal for me and my students to work online,” he explains. “We tried every social media application you can think of. Some worked, some didn’t.”

A Vision of Students Today

Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Created by Kansas State University Professor Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University - a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.

This should probably be viewed before A Portal to Media Literacy.




Music by Try^d: http://tryad.org/listen.html

New UWI Open Campus officially launched

Published on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-9006--41-41--.html

ST JOHNS, Antigua: The official regional launch of the University of the West Indies (UWI) newest campus, the Open Campus, took place during the 29th meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the CARICOM Community (CARICOM) in Antigua and Barbuda.

Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Nigel Harris formally launched the Open Campus during an official news conference with the international, regional and local media on Wednesday, July 2, 2008.

Professor Harris stated that the University deliberately chose this moment to announce this initiative when the Heads of Government of the Caribbean were gathered, to reiterate the University’s continued dynamic response to broaden and enhance the reach of the institution to the people of the Caribbean.

The Vice-Chancellor revealed that the UWI’s Open Campus is an amalgamation of the previous Office of the Board for Non-Campus Countries & Distance Education (BNNCDE), the School of Continuing Studies (SCS), the UWI Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit (TLIU).

“This entity is designed to capitalise on advances in online technologies and on the platform of over 50 sites... to advance a more student-friendly, much broader basket of degree, diploma and certificate programmes for Caribbean people who live beyond the immediate vicinity of our established campuses.. For more than two years, we have been offering nursing degree programmes, bachelors in education programmes and other courses designed to enhance the opportunities of the working public to uplift themselves educationally, without necessarily enrolling on one of the three campuses of the University.”

The Vice-Chancellor also spoke to the development of the Open Campus as an essential strategic element of the University’s ongoing five-year strategic plan to transform its curricula and education systems, as well as to enhance the postgraduate programmes and research productivity. He stated that “the Open Campus will insist on quality education relevant to the region, student-centredness, student- friendly services, and the creation of knowledge and outreach to the Caribbean Community outside the walls of the University, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean, Belize, the Cayman Islands and in rural areas in campus countries.”

Also speaking at the official news conference was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Open Campus, Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald, who referred to the new entity as ‘a campus for the times and a campus for the future.” Professor Simmons-McDonald stated that the Open Campus has the same level of autonomy as other UWI campuses with its own Academic Board, financial management, registry, administrative and student support systems.

She said that “the Open Campus currently utilises a wide variety of distance and mixed-mode delivery methods and has a staff of almost 400 professionals to support its growing student population across the region. We work very closely with faculty on the three other UWI campuses, as well as with other tertiary institutions and development agencies throughout the Caribbean to design, develop and deliver quality programmes by distance to meet the learning needs of the people of the Caribbean.”

The Open Campus will formally begin to offer its services across the region on August 1, 2008 to coincide with the year-long celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the UWI. The Chairman of the Open Campus Council is the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir K. Dwight Venner.

Distance education: Some free COL resources

Foreign Providers in the Caribbean: Pillagers or Preceptors?

Editors:
Stewart Marshall, Ed Brandon, Michael Thomas, Asha Kanwar and Tove Lyngra
Published: 2008

The growing phenomenon of cross-border higher education (CBHE) will not help developing countries unless it is accessible, available, affordable, relevant and of acceptable quality.

"Foreign Providers in the Caribbean: Pillagers or Preceptors?" focusses on the trends of CBHE in the Caribbean, which has its own unique characteristics.


The nine commissioned case studies provide an in-depth analysis and insights into a very complex and dynamic phenomenon. Are the foreign providers in the Caribbean pillagers or preceptors? Do they threaten existing institutions or further the developmental objectives of the countries they operate in? Are they a financial threat or an opportunity? Can the subjects they teach address both global and local concerns? Or is this a new form of cultural imperialism? These are some of the questions that this timely publication invites you to examine.

Free to download from: http://www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/5310

This is a new book in the "Perspectives on Distance Education" series. Other books in the series can be found at: http://www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/4039


Other COL Resources

"Costs and Financing in Open Schools" (Ed Du Vivier, ed.), resource book and CD-Rom
www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/5305

"Education for a Digital World", collaborative resource and course materials, co-published with BCcampus
www.col.org/DigitalWorld

"A Prospective Vision for Universities: The role of the technology transfer units and distance education" (Luis Miguel Romero Fernández, Ph.D., Rector, Universidad Técnica Particular De Loja). Translated from Spanish and published in English by COL.
www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/5313


Updated resource CD-ROM:

COL produces a CD-ROM that contains our most popular resource publications, news, and software. It now contains over 70 publications including training manuals, start-up guides and research, including all 21 titles in COL's popular Knowledge Series, as well as free and open source software. While most of the contents are also available in print or on the COL web site, the CD-ROM provides a convenient, fast-loading compilation of the open and distance learning resources that COL has produced for public distribution and use. It is available upon request.
www.col.org/cdrom

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

A virtual conference on educational technology in Africa

e/merge 2008 - Professionalising Practices (7th - 18th July) is the third virtual conference on educational technology in Africa. e/merge (http://emerge2008.net) is primarily designed to share good practice and knowledge about educational technology innovation within the further and higher education sectors in the region, as well as to strengthen communities of researchers and practitioners. This includes sharing stories, sharing good practices and sharing research. The conversations in e/merge 2008 will engage with our regional context of unequal access to technology and to education within a global context of changes in teaching and learning tools and practices. The range of topics includes infrastructure, learning design, staff development, mobile learning, gendered use of learning technologies, open educational resources, new tools for educators, and learning environments. The interaction will include both asynchronous discussions and live online meetings.

What participants said about e/merge 2004 and 2006:
* "High calibre ... it met if not exceeded the quality of a face to face conference"
* "Thank you for a well organized, professional and thought-provoking experience"
* "technology ... can help make the difference through networking and exchanging of ideas"

The e/merge 2008 keynotes are:
* Dr Bakary Diallo, Rector of the African Virtual University on "Reaching the potential of ICTs in African Higher Education Institutions: Lessons learnt from the AVU Capacity Enhancement Program";
* Irene Karaguilla Ficheman, Researcher at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil on "Digital Learning Ecosystems: Authoring, Collaboration, Immersion and Mobility";
* Dr Ross Perkins, Senior Research Associate at Virginia Tech, United States on "Rethinking e-Learning Strategies in a Web 2.0 World";
* Howard Rheingold Author and Online Community Pioneer, Visiting Professor at Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley, United States on "A Social Media Classroom for Student-Generated Learning"; and
* Dr Sasha Barab, Professor of Learning Sciences, Instructional Systems Technology & Cognitive Science, Indiana University, United States on "The Quest Atlantis Project: A Curriculum for the 21st Century".

Conference Registration is open online at http://emerge2008.net.

The conference fees have been set to encourage participation:
* Participants based in Africa - R200
* Participants from other regions - R780 (approx US$100)
There will be a small number of sponsored places.

Full information is available on the conference website:
Web: http://emerge2008.net
e-mail: info@emerge2008.net
Hosted by the Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Open standards and open source

Harsh words for Microsoft

I see that Microsoft is in the news again. According to James Kanter in the New York Times on June 11, 2008, European Union’s competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, "delivered an unusually blunt rebuke to Microsoft on Tuesday by recommending that businesses and governments use software based on open standards."

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/technology/11soft.html?ref=technology)

"Ms. Kroes has fought bitterly with Microsoft over the last four years, accusing the company of defying her orders and fining it nearly 1.7 billion euros, or $2.7 billion, on the grounds of violating European competition rules. But her comments were the strongest recommendation yet by Ms. Kroes to jettison Microsoft products, which are based on proprietary standards, and to use rival operating systems to run computers."

But Ms Kroes did not explicitly name Microsoft in her address to a conference in Brussels - instead she referred "to the only company in European antitrust enforcement history that has been fined for refusing to comply with orders".

In her speech, she praised the City of Munich for using software based on open standards, along with the German Foreign Ministry and the Gendarmerie Nationale, a department of the French police force. A policy by the European Commission adopted last year to promote the use of software products that support open standards “needs to be implemented with vigor,” she said.

Yochai Benkler: Open-source economics

In this Ted Talk on "Open-source economics" Law professor Yochai Benkler explains how collaborative projects like Wikipedia and Linux represent the next stage of human organization. By disrupting traditional economic production, copyright law and established competition, they're paving the way for a new set of economic laws, where empowered individuals are put on a level playing field with industry giants.

ICT for Social Change and Sustainable Development

Here are a couple of free resources that I recently discovered, one on ICT for social change and one on ICT in education for sustainable development:

Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use

By Sheila Kinkade (ShareIdeas.org) and Katrin Verclas (MobileActive.org).
Commissioned by the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Partnership.
Published: 2008

Mobile technology is transforming the way advocacy, development and relief organizations accomplish their institutional missions. This is nothing new to readers of MobileActive. This recent report Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use, released by the United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation, brings this point home.

The report examines emerging trends in “mobile activism” by looking at 11 case studies of groups active in the areas of public health, humanitarian assistance and environmental conservation.

Among the programs highlighted are two conflict prevention projects, both active in Kenya. Oxfam-Great Britain and the Kenyan umbrella group PeaceNet created a text messaging ‘nerve center’ that collected alerts about violent outbreaks during the recent civil unrest and mobilized local ‘peace committees.’ The project served as a vital tool for conflict management and prevention by providing a hub for real-time information about actual and planned attacks between rival ethnic and political groups.

The GSM Association, together with a handful of non-profit and private sector groups in Kenya, developed another conflict prevention project that allows farmers to preserve their crops while protecting wildlife. The program monitors instances when elephants approach farmed land, and provides an early warning system via mobile that is reducing the incidence of human-elephant conflict in an area where as many as five humans and 10 elephants are killed each year.

The report, the second in the Access to Communications Publication Series, produces studies that give governments, NGOs and the private sector research and recommendations on how to use technology and telecom tools to effectively address some of the world’s toughest challenges.

Please download the entire report here. For individual chapters and more information, please also visit the UN Foundation/Vodafone Group Foundation site.

Full survey results are available here: Executive Summary and Memo and Presentation with highlights.

Courtesy of KatrinVerclas's blog.



How Information and Communications Technologies Can Support Education for Sustainable Development: Current uses and trends

By Leslie Paas and Heather Creech
Published: IISD Publications Centre, 2008. Paper, 38 pages.

As part of IISD's involvement with Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth and the UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, this paper presents a brief history, and identifies current uses and trends for deploying ICTs, primarily in the formal Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system, with a focus on the online environment. It considers three main questions:

1. Why do ICTs need to be considered as a critical tool in education for sustainable development (ESD)?;
2. What ICTs are currently being used by educators and learners?; and
3. What can we expect to see in the near future?

Details and download at: http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?id=956