Technology Developments

The Ulwazi E-Learning Partnership, created in 2003, is a partnership among five Tshwane-based high schools – four of which are in Mamelodi, a historically disadvantaged township. These schools have an interest in promoting dynamic real-time interactive learning and the electronic sharing of knowledge and cultural experiences. The Partnership embarked on a pilot project to deploy a broadband network and to use wireless broadband communication technologies and other state-of the art hardware and software tools and learning methods to explore, in practical terms, the learning opportunities that these offer. The purpose was to create a living experimental laboratory for eLearning. It was envisaged that the pilot could lead to the development of new methods of learning, and the hope was that such methods could eventually also be of use for education in South Africa at large, a country where there is a great backlog in education. SMART Technologies, who supplied the project with interactive whiteboards from its inception, is now about to expand on this innovative programme.
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Following the Oracle Consortiums success in the NEPAD eSchools Demonstration Project where 21 schools in seven African countries were turned into eSchools, Oracle has led the way by tackling the challenge of student administration, a common issue faced by educators across the continent.
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e-Waste is a serious problem in many African countries. Many worn-out PCs are delivered to the Continent every day, which, for various reasons, is not always appreciated by the addressees. Sending old computers to developing countries can be seen as a solidarity solution, but – in terms of sustainable development – the consequences must also be taken into account. As some participants of eLearning Africa have to deal with this subject, eLA news want to put e-waste recycling forward for discussion, putting a special focus on education projects.
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Thinking about the hardships many African PC users have to face, Uganda’s ICT State Minister John Nsambu and his partners have been seeking inventive and sustainable solutions that go beyond merely buying expensive equipment. eLA editor Nina Wittrock asked him about his activities in the fields of cheap and energy saving PCs, as well as his ideas concerning Uganda’s overall access to ICT technology.
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In the Kenyan Village of Mbita, sixty fifth graders of Point Primary School and their three teachers have helped Eduvision, an eLearning solution company situated in Switzerland, to develop an innovative ICT platform and corresponding software for handheld computers. The company’s applications are mainly designed to deliver curriculum content instead of using “oldish” textbooks to enrich the learning experience and to add locally relevant information more easily. At eLearning Africa 2007, Karim Toledano, CEO of Eduvision, will give closer insights into his African project.
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Since 1998, Computer Aid International has been collecting, testing, refurbishing, and sending computers to educational and community organisations in developing countries. The computers go to schools, universities, medical training centres or meteorological stations. By its tenth anniversary - in October 2007 - the organisation wants to have shipped the 100,000^th PC. Gladys Muhunyo, who manages the Africa Programme, spoke to eLA about Computer Aid’s work.
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