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eLearning Africa Conference in Senegal

The 4th eLearning Africa Conference was held in Dakar, Senegal under the Patronage of the Senegalese Republic. The Conference was officially opened by the President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade. A total of 1315 participants from 85 countries, including ministers, officials, academics and business people from all over Africa and beyond, gathered in Dakar for the conference under the President's patronage to exchange ideas about expanding educational technologies in their communities. The Zambian delegation was led by then Minister of Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Hon. Gabriel Namulambe, who also presented a paper at a plenary session on 29th May. Participants were drawn from government ministries (Education; Science, Technology and Vocational Training; and Communications and Transport; ZESCO and eLearning Zambia

The programme had 60 parallel sessions, 4 plenary sessions, 20 best practice demonstrations, 19 pre-conference events, 336 speakers and chairpersons from approximately 50 countries. The conference was held in both English and French.
eLearning Africa is a comprehensive conference on ICT for development, education and training in Africa. Its mission is to bring people together who are actively engaged in education and in the implementation of learning technologies in schools, universities and other higher institutions of learning, corporate training as well as in education in the public sector. Participants are high-level decision-makers such as Ministers of Education and Training, representatives from government agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), development agencies and international organisations, senior executives from businesses, as well as practitioners from all fields of education. Participant figures for the annual event have grown significantly – from 832 at the debut event in 2006 in Addis Ababa to 1315 delegates at the fourth conference in Dakar, Senegal in May 2009. Attendees come from more than 80 countries in Africa and the wider globe. A total of 80 percent of the delegates come from the Africa. Each year a different African country serve as the venue. Past conferences have been held in Ethiopia (2006), Kenya (2007) and Ghana (2008).

The eLearning Africa Conference was officially opened by The President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade on 28th May 2009. President Wade outlined his vision for radical change in African education. He also stated that technology now allowed African students unlimited access to the best universities in the world. The President outlined his plans for technological advances, particularly in higher education, and emphasised that information and communication technologies (ICTs) could speed up the learning process. He also spoke of his determination to improve standards by ensuring that African universities obtain internationally recognised accreditation.

On 27th May 2009, pre-conference events were held. These events comprised a full-day programme of workshops conducted by leading eLearning practitioners precedes the eLearning Africa Conference. These small, intensive sessions offer attendees a unique opportunity to fine-tune their skills and acquire new ones. Among the events held was the third UNESCO-UNEVOC TVET Summit on “Access and Inclusion: Improving TVET through ICT-Based Information and Learning Solutions” and the African Virtual University (AVU) eLearning Day. Other workshops and seminars were “Storytelling @ eLearning Africa” hosted by Tim Unwin of the Royal Holloway University of London, UK; “Universities 2.0: Global Learning Organisations?,” a half-day workshop held jointly by several African universities and leading distance-learning centres.

UNESCO-UNEVOC TVET Summit

The UNESCO Summit, held on 28th May, brought together 100 education experts from various countries in Africa and around the world, including TVET policy makers, researchers and practitioners, to share experiences and discuss strategies and implementation mechanisms for the integration and sustainable use of ICTs in TVET.
It featured a variety of innovative TVET initiatives and projects, including
• Open and distance learning (ODL) / ICT to expand and improve the teaching and learning in community health nursing (CHN);
• Radio for development;
• Mobile learning;
• Quality certification for e-learning in capacity building; and
• Online knowledge sharing in the area of education for the world of work.
The Summit addressed the following questions, among others:
• What are the benefits of using ICTs in TVET?
• What is the current status of e-learning and ICTs in African TVET? Who is active in the field? Who are the pioneers on the ground?
• What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of ICTs in TVET in Africa?
• What are the lessons learnt in developed countries and how can they be applied to Africa?

A number of papers were made addressing the above issues and questions. The author, a Senior TEVET Officer at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training, presented a paper on Distance Learning and e-Learning in TVET in Zambia. In addition to examining and promoting the use of ICTs in TVET in Africa, the TVET Summit also initiated the creation of a community of practitioners that will foster the strengthening of TVET through the integration of ICTs.

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