The organizers of the eLearning Africa conference have announced a call for proposals. The deadline to submit is December 14, 2009.
The 5th eLearning Africa conference will take place May 26 to 28, 2010, in Lusaka, Zambia. The pan-African conference, organised by ICWE GmbH, focuses on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development, education and training in Africa.
The eLearning Africa 2010 program will embrace four main topics:
- conceptual frameworks
- e-learning in different sectors
- policy, planning, and design
- solutions and technical innovation.
Suggestions for sessions, presentations, workshops, and discussions will be accepted until December 14 via an online form. Anyone engaged in education, training, and development for or in African countries are encouraged to sumit.
Detailed information on the topics and information on how to submit a proposal can be found at elearning-africa.com.
Serving as a pan-African platform, eLearning Africa links a network of decision-makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental, and private training providers, industry and important partners in development cooperation. The 2009 event saw about 1,350 educational professionals in attendance from 83 countries.
Happy Thanksgiving! If you want to learn about the day that later became known as the First Thanksgiving, see Plimoth Plantation’s Online Learning Center. Lynne Spichiger and I wrote Back to the Future: Multiple Perspectives on Historical Exhibits which includes a discussion of the Plimoth site.
We at eLearn Magazine give thanks for our writers and readers every day (much like the Wampanoag gave thanks every time they caught a fish). Sometimes we also hear from our readers; a few examples:
“I do love your magazine though. I am impressed by the library of information you provide on current, pressing issues in E Learning.” – James McPherson, Union Sanitary District
“eLearn Magazine is very interesting and useful, especially your interviews of the famous. Keep up the great work!” – Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
I asked Allan Collins, who wrote Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology with Richard Halverson, what he thought of Jenna McWilliams’ review. He responded,
What a curious reading of our book! Most people come away from the book and our talks about the book with the impression we are technology enthusiasts. Jenna McWilliams sees us as technology pessimists. We were striving in the book to be neither, but rather to make sense of the effects that technology is having on education broadly speaking.
We do talk about the losses that are occurring for education with the digital revolution, but we also talk about the gains. We give them equal space — if anything the technology enthusiasts ideas get more space. We certainly don’t depict enthusiasts in the way she describes as “overwhelmingly optimistic, Utopian idealists.”
McWilliams focuses only on the losses we describe, not on the gains. We also attempt to say how schools and society can act to mitigate the losses and exploit the possibilities. The book argues that technology is changing education in many and subtle ways, and that society and its leaders need to understand these changes if they are to make wise policy decisions.
If you’ve read Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology please let us know what you thought of it.
Cypriot Teachers Use Technology for Jobs, but Not in the Classroom
The Center for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology (CARDET) release results of a survey recently about information communication technologies (ICT) in Cypriot classrooms.
The main objective was to analyze how teachers use technology in the classroom and what challenges they face.
What the nonprofit organization found is that although ICT is available in most schools and classrooms throughout Cyprus, teachers use it mainly for preparing educational material and planning instruction—not as an integrated piece of their curricula.
More than 64 percent of teachers said they use the internet almost daily for preparing educational material, but only about 28 percent of the teachers and 13 percent of students use the go online in the classroom every day.
According to a press release, teachers who participated in the survey say the most significant barriers to the integration of ICT are curriculum requirements and the amount of time required for the design and implementation of ICT-based educational activities.
The findings come from a survey of 1,051 primary school teachers in the Republic of Cyprus and are based on 12 months of work. The results are part of a project supported by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, the Republic of Cyprus and the European Structural Funds. The project’s main goal is to develop a framework for ICT teacher professional development in Cyprus. CARDET completed the survey in partnership with the Open University of Cyprus and INNOVADE L.I., Ltd. The results of the survey are in alignment with international studies conducted by CARDET and its partners in more than 20 countries.
CARDET presented its preliminary findings on 7 October 2009 at the International Council for Educational Media (ICEM) conference in Abu Dhabi. ICEM, a UNESCO-affiliated organization, provides a channel for the international exchange and evaluation of educational media information, as well as a forum for organizations focused on the development and application of educational technology.
CARDET is currently developing programs that will be offered by CARDET Academy, in response to gaps identified in the field of ICT-related education. CARDET will announce further details about CARDET Academy and about recently awarded projects prior to the end of the year.
In May 2008, a report was published about e-learning in Africa based on results of a survey sent to people in the e-Learning Africa (conference) database. 307 people completed the survey, so the sample size is somewhat small.
I’ve been keen to learn more about what’s happening in Africa, particularly in regards to how different countries deal with infrastructure problems as they integrate technology into education, industry, and life in general. Here are some details from the survey:
ABOUT THE RESPONDENTS
Countries Represented
- Kenya (15%)
- South Africa (12%)
- Nigeria (11%)
- Ethiopia (9%)
- Uganda (8%)
Gender of Respondents
Respondents’ Area of Work
- Higher education (37%)
- Primary or secondary education (5%)
- NGOs (5%)
- Vocational and technical institutions (3%)
MAJOR FINDINGS
Key Constraints to Seeking, Implementing, and Developing e-Learning
- Lack of infrastructure, particularly connectivity in rural areas
- Lack of appropriate training
- Lack of relevant digital content
- Cost of implementation
Types of Courses Addressed by the e-Learning (able to select more than one)
- Higher education (53%)
- Continuing education (37%)
- Vocational (23%)
- Secondary school (22%)
LMS Used
- A majority did not name a system, but said “internet” or similar
- Moodle (13%)
- WebCT (7%)
- KEWL.NextGen (6%)
- Blackboard (6 %)
- Sakai/Vula (4%)
Availability of Electricity
- Regular supply (37%)
- Irregular supply (39%)
- No supply (2.6%)
Availability of Computers and Internet
- More than one computer lab at place of business (30%)
- One laptop available per person (9%)
- No computers available (6%)
- One computer per class/lab (4%)
- Excellent internet connectivity (13%)
- Adequate internet connectivity (66%)
- Poor or non-existent internet connectivity (27%)