eLearning Africa was launched five years ago in Addis Ababa in 2006. Successive conferences took place in Nairobi (2007), Accra (2008), and Dakar (2009).
eLearning Africa 2010, the Fifth International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, was held in Lusaka, Zambia from 26 to 28 May 2010 under the patronage of the Zambian Minister of Education, the Honorable Ms Dora Siliya.
With nearly 350 speakers from approximately 48 countries, 4 plenary sessions, 60 sessions in 10 parallel conference strands, 17 demonstrations and best practice examples, 10 Insaka sessions, 21 pre-conference events and a number of exciting features, eLearning Africa proved to be once again a landmark in pan-African capacity building for ICT-enhanced education and training.
eLearning Africa 2010 was actively supported by the Zambia National eLA Committee, which brought together a broad range of public, private and community based groupings in the preparation and organisation of the event. The opening ceremony was chaired by Hon. Dora Siliya, MP, Minister of Education, Zambia and was expected to be officially opened by President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency
Rupiah Bwezani Banda. Due to a family bereavement HE Mr. Banda was unable to be present but was well represented by his Vice-President, Hon. George Kunda.
Before HE Vice-President of Zambia made his welcome speech, three speakers made plenary presentations. These were:
1) The Rt Rev Dr Solomon. Tilewa Johnson, Anglican Bishop of Gambia on the topic “The
Online Social Education of Youth and the Digital Challenge to African Values”.
2) Stephen Dukker, CEO, NComputing, USA, on Desktop Virtualization: Bringing Green
Computing and eInclusion to Africa”.
3) Shafika Isaacs, Independent ICT4D Consultant, South Africa, on Failure, Ignorance and
Education System Transformation: Towards an Attitude of Wisdom”.
The keynote speakers attempted to relate how technology is changing the lives of millions of African citizens. Both on an educational and a social level, growing expectations and smarter technology call for an attitude shift. Inspiring keynote speakers from all levels of society shared their experiences with green computing, eInclusion and educational transformation, moving "towards an attitude of wisdom".
This session was concluded by the welcome speech of the Vice-President of Zambia who
highlighted his countries engagement on ICTs for development and welcomed all participants.
The conference consisted of 10 parallel sessions within a block of time such as before and after coffee and lunch break. As such only lectures/demonstrations can be attended sometimes by running from one session to another depending on the topical interest of the participant. So Mr. Engida, the author of this article, had the opportunity to attend and learn for the following sessions:
a) Policy Development
This session was exploring effective institutional policies on the nature and use of ICTs in schools and municipalities, as well as policies on open and distance eLearning across the Africancontinent. In particular, Gabriel S. Konayuma’s presentation on “Analysis of eLearning and Distance Learning Policies in Zambia” was worth-mentioning. The study employed the tool of 6 C’s of policy options (Concentration, Clarity, Changeability, Challenge, Coordination, and Consistency) to analyze the policy making process and content of distance Learning and eLearning policies in Zambia. It was emphasized that having a good policy is not the end of the
road in policy making. It’s just the beginning. The real work starts once the policy is launched. That is where consultation and collaboration become a key issue. African nations have a lot to learn from each other and outside Africa on how to implement good and effective ODL and eLearning policies.
b) Showcasing Mobile Learning in Africa
This session highlighted a range of inspiring projects and showcases how mobile learning is moving forward in Africa. The presenters from Kenya and South Africa illustrated how mobile phones have become a successful tool in the battle against illiteracy, and how health workers, medical students and teachers have come to depend on the benefits of mobile learning. They all illustrated how the mobile phone has become useful particularly in areas where Internet access is absent or limited. They all used the mobile phone in connection with the opensource software Moodle.
c) Capacity Development
The presentation in this session focused on how to leverage ICTs for capacity development in Africa? How can African academic institutions take full advantage of Open and Distance Learning? How do you weave the fabric of a successful capacity development program in eLearning? There were five presentations in this sessions dealing with ICT for capacity development issues in Zambia, Senegal, the SADC region, Zimbabwe, and the University of South Africa (UNISA). Of particular interest was the presentation by Mr. Richard Siaciwena, Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, Botswana. He pointed out that as a means of achieving its objectives SADC has committed itself to, among other things, promoting the development of human resources. Education and skills development has therefore been identified as an area of cooperation necessary for developing knowledge, attitudes, appropriate and relevant skills and human capacities necessary to promote investment, efficiency and competitiveness. In this context, Mr. Siaciwena added, the SADC Secretariat is implementing a Capacity Building in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Project, with financial support from the African Development Bank. It is a five year project whose main purpose is to contribute to the development and deployment of effective, harmonized ODL, to increase access to quality education and training and support regional integration across SADC (African Development Fund 2006). The project was launched in June 2007 and implementation commenced in April 2008.
d) Evening Plenary
This plenary session was chaired by Hon.Dr. Kapembwa Simbao, MP, Minister of Health,
Zambia. The plenary speakers were:
• Hon. Prof Geoffrey Lungwangwa, MP, Minister of Communication and Transport/ Zambia on “Importance of ICTs for Socioeconomic Development in Africa”
• Tarkan Maner, Wyse Technology/ USA on “The Impact of IT and Communication Trends on
Education and Social Change”
• Astrid Dufborg, SPIDER/ Sweden on “A Nationwide eHealth System with an In-Built eLearning Approach”
• Thabani Tonny Khupe, Intel Corporation/ South Africa on “Implementing Successful eLearning Programmes and Policies”
All speakers underlined, from different perspectives, the importance of technology and communication for social change. Discussing the latest technological developments and eLearning programs, the keynotes highlighted the opportunities that sustainable ICTs bring to education and eLearning in Africa.
Temechegn Engida
Programme Officer, ICT in Education
UNESCO-IICBA, Addis Ababa
eLearning Africa 2010, the Fifth International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, was held in Lusaka, Zambia from 26 to 28 May 2010 under the patronage of the Zambian Minister of Education, the Honorable Ms Dora Siliya.
With nearly 350 speakers from approximately 48 countries, 4 plenary sessions, 60 sessions in 10 parallel conference strands, 17 demonstrations and best practice examples, 10 Insaka sessions, 21 pre-conference events and a number of exciting features, eLearning Africa proved to be once again a landmark in pan-African capacity building for ICT-enhanced education and training.
eLearning Africa 2010 was actively supported by the Zambia National eLA Committee, which brought together a broad range of public, private and community based groupings in the preparation and organisation of the event. The opening ceremony was chaired by Hon. Dora Siliya, MP, Minister of Education, Zambia and was expected to be officially opened by President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency
Rupiah Bwezani Banda. Due to a family bereavement HE Mr. Banda was unable to be present but was well represented by his Vice-President, Hon. George Kunda.
Before HE Vice-President of Zambia made his welcome speech, three speakers made plenary presentations. These were:
1) The Rt Rev Dr Solomon. Tilewa Johnson, Anglican Bishop of Gambia on the topic “The
Online Social Education of Youth and the Digital Challenge to African Values”.
2) Stephen Dukker, CEO, NComputing, USA, on Desktop Virtualization: Bringing Green
Computing and eInclusion to Africa”.
3) Shafika Isaacs, Independent ICT4D Consultant, South Africa, on Failure, Ignorance and
Education System Transformation: Towards an Attitude of Wisdom”.
The keynote speakers attempted to relate how technology is changing the lives of millions of African citizens. Both on an educational and a social level, growing expectations and smarter technology call for an attitude shift. Inspiring keynote speakers from all levels of society shared their experiences with green computing, eInclusion and educational transformation, moving "towards an attitude of wisdom".
This session was concluded by the welcome speech of the Vice-President of Zambia who
highlighted his countries engagement on ICTs for development and welcomed all participants.
The conference consisted of 10 parallel sessions within a block of time such as before and after coffee and lunch break. As such only lectures/demonstrations can be attended sometimes by running from one session to another depending on the topical interest of the participant. So Mr. Engida, the author of this article, had the opportunity to attend and learn for the following sessions:
a) Policy Development
This session was exploring effective institutional policies on the nature and use of ICTs in schools and municipalities, as well as policies on open and distance eLearning across the Africancontinent. In particular, Gabriel S. Konayuma’s presentation on “Analysis of eLearning and Distance Learning Policies in Zambia” was worth-mentioning. The study employed the tool of 6 C’s of policy options (Concentration, Clarity, Changeability, Challenge, Coordination, and Consistency) to analyze the policy making process and content of distance Learning and eLearning policies in Zambia. It was emphasized that having a good policy is not the end of the
road in policy making. It’s just the beginning. The real work starts once the policy is launched. That is where consultation and collaboration become a key issue. African nations have a lot to learn from each other and outside Africa on how to implement good and effective ODL and eLearning policies.
b) Showcasing Mobile Learning in Africa
This session highlighted a range of inspiring projects and showcases how mobile learning is moving forward in Africa. The presenters from Kenya and South Africa illustrated how mobile phones have become a successful tool in the battle against illiteracy, and how health workers, medical students and teachers have come to depend on the benefits of mobile learning. They all illustrated how the mobile phone has become useful particularly in areas where Internet access is absent or limited. They all used the mobile phone in connection with the opensource software Moodle.
c) Capacity Development
The presentation in this session focused on how to leverage ICTs for capacity development in Africa? How can African academic institutions take full advantage of Open and Distance Learning? How do you weave the fabric of a successful capacity development program in eLearning? There were five presentations in this sessions dealing with ICT for capacity development issues in Zambia, Senegal, the SADC region, Zimbabwe, and the University of South Africa (UNISA). Of particular interest was the presentation by Mr. Richard Siaciwena, Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, Botswana. He pointed out that as a means of achieving its objectives SADC has committed itself to, among other things, promoting the development of human resources. Education and skills development has therefore been identified as an area of cooperation necessary for developing knowledge, attitudes, appropriate and relevant skills and human capacities necessary to promote investment, efficiency and competitiveness. In this context, Mr. Siaciwena added, the SADC Secretariat is implementing a Capacity Building in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Project, with financial support from the African Development Bank. It is a five year project whose main purpose is to contribute to the development and deployment of effective, harmonized ODL, to increase access to quality education and training and support regional integration across SADC (African Development Fund 2006). The project was launched in June 2007 and implementation commenced in April 2008.
d) Evening Plenary
This plenary session was chaired by Hon.Dr. Kapembwa Simbao, MP, Minister of Health,
Zambia. The plenary speakers were:
• Hon. Prof Geoffrey Lungwangwa, MP, Minister of Communication and Transport/ Zambia on “Importance of ICTs for Socioeconomic Development in Africa”
• Tarkan Maner, Wyse Technology/ USA on “The Impact of IT and Communication Trends on
Education and Social Change”
• Astrid Dufborg, SPIDER/ Sweden on “A Nationwide eHealth System with an In-Built eLearning Approach”
• Thabani Tonny Khupe, Intel Corporation/ South Africa on “Implementing Successful eLearning Programmes and Policies”
All speakers underlined, from different perspectives, the importance of technology and communication for social change. Discussing the latest technological developments and eLearning programs, the keynotes highlighted the opportunities that sustainable ICTs bring to education and eLearning in Africa.
Temechegn Engida
Programme Officer, ICT in Education
UNESCO-IICBA, Addis Ababa
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