eLearning Africa has established itself as the Continent’s premier annual conference on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for development, education and training.
Moving to a different country each year, we link a variety of stakeholders, experts and practitioners from all backgrounds and levels – from ministers to researchers, teachers to students, business people to training and development specialists, government officials and technology providers.
Richly diverse, our workshops, sessions and best-practice demonstrations cover all aspects of ICT-enhanced learning in English and French. Stimulating debates, speed networking sessions, special interest learning cafés and various receptions provide plenty of opportunities to expand knowledge, make new contacts and conduct business.
Since eLearning Africa’s inception in 2006, participant figures have more than doubled, from 832 delegates at the debut event, to 1778 delegates in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2010. With 70 to 80 per cent of the participants coming from Africa, the conference is a true pan-African event. Previous conferences were held in Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and Zambia. The upcoming eLearning Africa will take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from May 25 - 27, 2011.
eLearning Africa is developed and organized by ICWE, a leading specialist in international events and projects in education and training, in conjunction with the ministries of education and infrastructure in the respective countries, as well as international and African partners.
The main aim of eLearning Africa is to learn, share and network, as well as raise awareness in the field of ICT-enhanced learning in Africa.
We aspire to develop the growing community of practice in this field, to share resources and support African specialised research. Providing a stimulating platform, eLA aims to spark innovative ideas, initiate new collaborations and support partnerships across both public and private sectors.
The ultimate aim of eLearning Africa is to facilitate and support sustainable development.
There are many ICT initiatives underway in Africa as well as in other developing regions of the world, and they all face similar challenges. By bringing these initiatives together, eLearning Africa aims to create synergies for self-development.
For the hosting countries, the conference offers unequalled opportunities to raise awareness about the educational potential of ICTs amongst political decision-makers, education practitioners and learning providers. Often the conference marks the culmination of a national campaign to promote the country’s “ICT in education“ policy.
eLearning Africa provides a significant platform for an “all-African agenda” to meet the needs and challenges for ICT implementation in education, bringing a multitude of stakeholders together at one table.
Rotating across Africa, we link decision-makers from governments and industry with experts and practitioners from universities, schools and training providers, as well as partners in development cooperation.
eLA proactively seeks the cooperation of African governments that are willing and capable of supporting the event by acting as a hosting country.
Furthermore, we cooperate with a considerable number of development agencies, international organisations and educational foundations, all involved in one way or another with Africa. eLA is constantly building up its network to support the event and to ensure sustainability.
eLearning Africa encourages diverse participation. We involve top government officials, as well as experts and practitioners from the frontline of education and training. We do not aspire to be an exclusive gathering for high class experts only.
Delegates represent governments and government agencies, global players in the education industry, as well as SMEs. They come from schools, universities, scientific and higher education institutions, as well as from associations and organisations in the field of development and education.
Although the majority of participants are able to attend the event at their own expense, eLA continues its successful strategy of donor-sponsored participation for African delegates through the eLearning Africa Scholarship Trust EAST (www.easttrust.org), ensuring an equitable balance among members of the conference audience, as the financial capacities of African countries are hugely diverse.
Since 2006, eLearning Africa scholars have been supported by various institutions and foundations such as SPIDER (The Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions), African Development Bank, Aide et Action, CTA, ECOWAS and many others.
eLearning Africa 2011 will mark the sixth anniversary of the event. Many people tell us that during this relatively short period of time, the conference has made a huge difference.
We have helped to create a new pan-African community of practice by introducing and supporting new collaborations, networks and partnerships.
At the first conference in 2006, a lot of the discussion focused on the fact that Africa had long been disadvantaged by the lack of fast and affordable connectivity with the rest of the globe. In the meantime, the focus has changed. Now many discussions evolve around content, pedagogy and assessment. There is a desire to ‘measure’ the learning advantages technology has on offer, and the individual topics have become more and more specialised and local.
This change is due to the fact that connectivity and accessibility have gradually been improving, mobile phones are ubiquitous in almost every African country, and people are now more ‘techno savvy’, in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
With extensive knowledge sharing onsite and a series of collaborations that eLearning Africa has been able to ignite, our conference has played an important role in this development.
In addition, we have made information and resources available ourselves. Since 2006, we have constantly monitored the African eLearning scene and published hundreds of reference stories on how technology is used in education in Africa on the eLearning Africa news portal. Stories cover all sectors of technology-supported education, ranging from major education campaigns to clever grass-root initiatives, new technological trends, infrastructure issues as well as topics related to lifelong learning on the Continent. To find out more, please visit www.ela-newsportal.com.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have brought a true revolution to mankind, comparable only to the industrial revolution, which brought mechanical power generation and mass production to the nineteenth century. A whole new range of communication technologies including, above all, the Internet, have provided the global citizen of the twenty-first century with tools to create, transmit and consume information regardless of format or location.
People now talk with one another at a distance using wireless technologies; documents, sounds and images are created digitally. eCommerce allows for worldwide transactions; products, flights and hotels can be booked and ordered from anywhere. eGovernment makes communication between the state and the citizen easier and more efficient. Health care and telemedicine rely increasingly on ICTs for better quality and speedier intervention.
The educational community worldwide cannot and will not lag behind the adoption of ICTs. Governments and administrations are enthusiastically adopting ICT to efficiently survey, administer, manage and support education at all levels. Research and education in universities would simply come to a standstill if the ICT plug was pulled. Computers for young people are appearing in primary and secondary school classrooms and in homes. There is also a marked increase in the take-up of technology-supported learning in corporate training and lifelong learning initiatives.
ICTs are not a goal in themselves, but they are the means with which human beings can manage all aspects of their lives in a better way.
Africa cannot afford to miss the knowledge revolution.
On the African continent, the process of adoption and diffusion of ICT in education has also moved on from projects to integration, often supported by national policies and large-scale implementation actions, with the potential to provide a basis for sustainable change. There are a number of successful Private Public Partnerships (PPPs) in evidence involving private companies, government bodies or ministries, educational and research institutions, donor and development agencies, and lastly but importantly, civil society organisations.
The need for locally created (digital) content is driving local and regional initiatives, bringing together communities of educators often in combination with businesses, NGOs and government bodies.
Africa is leading the world in finding ways to utilise mobile phones, wireless networking, solar energy and reusable energy sources, and this leadership is inspiring others beyond Africa. But it is important to be realistic - there is still a long way to go and a lot to learn.
eLearning Africa provides a timely platform to enable Africa’s experts and policy makers to learn from one another and exchange experiences with the rest of the world about where best to invest limited resources wisely.
Required is investment in the educators and researchers of tomorrow, in the leaders and planners, the administrators and managers, in the physicians and engineers who will help construct a better future, in better farmers and responsible business people. The challenge is known.
eLearning Africa, 6th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training
May 25–27, 2011
Mlimani City Conference Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Organisers: ICWE GmbH, www.icwe.net, Government of the Republic of Tanzania
Contact: ICWE GmbH, Ms Katharina Goetze,
info@elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-africa.com
Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0
Press Contact
ICWE GmbH
Ms Beate Timmer
Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0, press-service@icwe.net
Press releases
www.elearning-africa.com/press_release.php
Photographs
www.elearning-africa.com/media_library_galleries.php
News Portal
www.elearning-africa.com/eLA_Newsportal
www.ela-newsportal.com