Contributing to the Spread of Relevant and High-quality Content
(eLA 2007)

By Matthew Herren, Chief Technology Officer of Eduvision

Similar to telephone networks, the “fuel” of education is information and knowledge, sent from those who have it and delivered to those who need it. However, the aging education information infrastructure in Africa, a legacy from the past, is failing its customers in ways similar to wires and cables: Educational materials, including textbooks, are expensive to manufacture, do not hold up well under tropical climates, use scarce resources that impact the environment, are often not written nor relevant for specifically African conditions, and become outmoded quickly.

Eduvision has developed a solution that addresses these issues. Our satellite radio distribution system sends textbooks and other education material out to the most remote of schools – spread anywhere across the African or Asian continents – and the software allows students and teachers to access and manipulate this content with ease. The Eduvision system is portable and can be deployed on low-cost handheld computers, One Laptop Per Child XO laptops, Intel’s ClassMate PC platform, and many more.

In 2005, we implemented one such solution in a school in rural Kenya. For nine months, the textbooks of Class 5 of the Mbita Point Primary School were successfully replaced with eSlates – small handheld computers – connected to a wide-area, low-cost content distribution network powered by digital satellite radio. When the pilot project came to a close, the result was an efficient prototype eLearning solution for developing countries. One should not fail to mention here that none of this would have been possible without the patience, enthusiasm, and dedication of the Class 5 boys and girls of Mbita Primary, and particularly their teacher. Let me just give one example of a student’s reaction. “The eSlates,” he said, “allow me to find information better. If I remember a picture, I can find the text that goes with the picture without having to flip trough the whole book”.

The system as currently designed can deliver textbook information and other books - think of libraries of books relevant to the needs and interests of schoolchildren and their parents in Africa- readily, quickly, and at low cost. Yet the potential of such a system is much more. Modern pedagogical thinking places a higher emphasis on skills such as research, collaboration, and creation than on memorization and recollection. Such educational concepts find resonance with the notion of user-generated content – basically, the foundation of the whole Web 2.0 movement.

The integration of ICT into education can do more than just lower the cost of education while augmenting the quality. It is the beachhead for a revolution in education, where the top-down model of facts being placed into books and then transmitted to students is replaced with one where the ideas, experiences, and knowledge of teachers and students becomes the core body of knowledge, supplemented by the interaction and sharing of ideas amongst people. The revolution is founded upon - and expands - the canon of knowledge conveyed by textbooks. Perhaps the most significant aspect of this is that ICT can bring out these benefits, while simultaneously lowering the costs vis a vis purchasing paper textbooks year after year.

In many African villages, often lacking even roads, all paths lead to schools. With ICT technology integrated into education, these paths will connect local schools with faraway institutions of learning; students and teachers locally with counterparts at a distance; and knowledge-holders with those in need of information.

In the course of eLearning Africa 2007, Karim Toldedano, CEO Eduvision, and Milton Lore, Bridgeworks, Kenya, will give a presentation:

Wednesday, May 30, 9.00 – 10.45
African Showcase: Creating Online Learning Opportunities in Africa
ICT & Community Solutions for School Systems

Link
http://www.eduvision.ch

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