Boosting mobile learning potential for women and girls in Africa: lingering considerations

During the past five years at least five major mobile learning initiatives have been implemented in Africa that sought to directly benefit women and girls, or which included women and girls and provided some evidence of benefits to them. The Jokko Initiative (Senegal), Project ABC (Niger), the Somali Youth Livelihoods Project (Somalia), Nokia Life Tools (Nigeria), and M4Girls (South Africa) are interventions that used mobile devices to teach literacy, numeracy, maths, and/or employability skills and provide learning opportunities for people (often primarily of the female gender) who may not otherwise receive this instruction. While the potential for women and girls in Africa to leverage mobile phones for educational purposes has been demonstrated in these cases, there remain challenges to making these opportunities sustainable.

Details at: http://www.elearning-africa.com/eLA_Newsportal/boosting-mobile-learning-potential-for-women-and-girls-in-africa-lingering-considerations/

Open Source

Find out more about open source software and open educational resources (OER), so that you can use them in your teaching and learning.

OSS and OER both share the same benefits:
- Low or no cost to users, as products are generally free to access and download;
- Shorter development cycle due to the collaborative, parallel efforts of developers;
- Adaptability to suit own conditions.

Read more at: http://onlineanddistancelearning.com/open-source

New versus old media: how best to get information to smallholder farmers

For smallholders in developing countries, information on weather, markets and agricultural techniques is key to improving productivity. But what is the best way of delivering that information? Here, three projects based on radio, mobile technology and social networking give an insight into what can work.

More details at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development-professionals-network/2013/feb/07/smallholder-farmers-radio-mobile-social-networking

Introducing Microsoft's 4Afrika Initiative

The Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is a new effort through which the company will actively engage in Africa's economic development to improve its global competitiveness.

More details at:  http://microsoft4afrika.com/english

IJEDICT Weekly News

Open Access Library

Good news for Scholars! Open Access Library is working on a new scholar search engine for all scholars worldwide. Without any registration, Open Access Library allows you free access to a database of 125.546 openly accessible academicarticles. The ultimate goal of Open Access Library is to promote academic exchange and advancement.

For more information and details, please go to the website:http://www.oalib.net

Social Network LinkedIn has 200 milion members – infographic

LinkedIn Corporation is a social networking website for people in professional occupations. Founded in December 2002 and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of January 2013, LinkedIn reports more than 200 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories.

More details: http://hosting.ber-art.nl/social-network-linkedin-200-miljoen-members-infographic/

REPORT: Real-time Reactions to 2013 State of the Union Visualized

Every year millions of Americans gather around to listen to the President's State of the Union speech, and the opposition response that directly follows it. The State of the Union is a catalyst that ignites a national conversation online about the issues facing America today. The 2013 #SOTU address and response drew over 1.36 million tweets from the time of the President's entrance to the conclusion of the Republican rebuttal (9:10 pm to 10:44 pm).

More details: http://dashburst.com/report/real-time-reactions-to-2013-state-of-the-union/

February 12, 2013: Online And Distance Learning Weekly is out

Online And Distance Learning Weekly, by Natalie Stewart: A free online newspaper with a curated selection of articles, blog posts, videos and photos about online and distance learning, for teachers and students.

Read and subscribe free at: http://paper.li/NattyStewart24/1325359513

Tacit knowledge in intercultural collaborations and the workplace: A survey

Professor Neil Anderson of James Cook University, Australia is currently leading a study that aims to increase the understanding of the processes involved in intercultural collaborations. In particular, the study focuses on the role of tacit (hidden) knowledge in international collaborative work. If you have been involved in intercultural collaborations, it would be greatly appreciated if you could complete the online survey at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6XD95XM

Your support in completing the survey will be greatly appreciated. It would also be appreciated if you could send this link to others in your area.