A group of US researchers has found that an automated computer-based reading tutor can improve the reading skills of children in developing countries, even if they are not used to working with a computer. For a proof-of-concept study they provided school children from low-income families in Accra, Ghana and Monu, Zambia, with computers equipped with a programme called “Reading Tutor”. The software analysed the children’s reading abilities using speech recognition, prompting them whenever they encountered problems or missed a word.

The researchers state that for the average child from a rural or low-income urban background in Africa, reading is not part of daily family life, and sometimes, parents are not themselves literate. In Ghana and Zambia specially, most children speak one of a number of local languages at home, but they attend school classes taught in English, the official language for both countries. Typically, under-resourced schools with overcrowded classrooms offer few opportunities for individual attention while students are developing reading skills, and many areas have the additional challenge of inadequately trained teachers.

Their recently published research paper presents findings, observations and lessons learned from the field studies with the “Reading Tutor”. The document can be accessed here.

Source: ICT in Education Newsletter, UNESCO

Opening Plenary eLA 2010

Celebrating the 5th anniversary of eLearning Africa, this year’s conference saw a record number of 1778 participants - more than twice as many as at the inaugural conference in 2006. Delegates from all over the world came to Lusaka, Zambia, to attend workshops, sessions and best practice demonstrations which provided fresh stimuli and new ideas.

Find out more about the facts and figures and who was involved - the post-conference report is now online.

eLA participants answered the call for personal conference stories and shared what they had experienced, learnt and observed in Lusaka. Read their stories here

Find more reports and background information on this year’s conference on the eLA 2010 News Portal.

The Learning Master is a web blog focusing on providing readers with useful information about lifelong learning. Recently, the blog posted a list of top 50 education technology blogs: http://bestonlinemastersdegrees.com/2010/top-50-education-technology-blogs/.

These blogs include writers, technicians and social media experts, all of them being teachers.
The list of the top 50 blogs is divided into three categories according to the “type of teacher”:
- the “movers” are teachers who facilitate learning among other teachers and in the classroom
- the “shakers” teach new philosophies and innovations, and
- the folks “on the ground” offer news, tools and methods of using those tools in the classroom.

Among the top 50 blogs are:

http://creatinglifelonglearners.com/
http://hickstro.org/
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/index.html
http://strengthofweakties.org/
http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/

BBC News recently reported on an interesting study about the positive links between access to technology and feelings of well-being. According to the study, women in developing countries and people of both sexes who had low incomes or poor education were most emotionally influenced by access to technology. These findings also contradict other scientists’ views, which point to negative impacts of technology on people’s well-being due to the blurring of professional and personal time.

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10108551.stm

Jenny Sanborn from the HITIP Project (Hope International for Tikar People) won the 2nd prize in the eLearning Africa photo competition.

Jenny Sanborn with her certificate and the camcorder she won

This is the photo she submitted to the contest

“Winning the second prize means a lot to HITIP. And the camcorder will be an important way to record all our projects on the ground to show to our donors and supporters.” says Jenny Sanborn from HITIP.

The organisation supports people with immediate and critical health care needs in Cameroon’s Tikar region. Their projects span from education, health, cartoons for illiteracy, agriculture, art and culture and more.

One of HITIPs initiatives even involves cameras: HITIP provided recycled cameras and tape recorders to Tikar school children and youth so that they could interview villagers and document their most pressing needs and the challenges that they face. Villagers were deeply engaged in these interviews and were eager to share their perspectives and ideas on how to improve their own communities.
For more information on the assessment of communities, click here

The mobile phone is Africa’s great success story. The incredible uptake of mobile phones, and the innovative uses of them, have created many opportunities for learning. It’s time to share the successes and lessons learnt amongst researchers, practitioners, teachers and youth to fully exploit the affordances - and manage the risks - of mobile learning in Africa.

The website mLearning Africa is about the news, projects and research related to mobile learning on the Continent - by Africans, for Africans. Sponsored by the Shuttleworth Foundation and the Meraka Institute, it covers mlearning as well as mobile usage and adoption, especially by youth. Efforts from related sectors, such as mhealth projects that involve mlearning, are also described.

http://mlearningafrica.net

The eLA photo competition winner Natasha Bomba from Canada received her prize, a digital camera, at the conference in Lusaka. Kennedy Sinkali, the Zambian teacher from Natasha’s winning photo, followed the organiser’s invitation and travelled to eLA.

Kennedy Sinkali, Natasha Bomba & Astrid Jaeger from eLearning Africa in front of the winning photo at the eLA photo exhibition in Lusaka.

Natasha’s photo “One to Many” shows teacher Kennedy Sinkali and his class in Ndola, Zambia. In the school, there is only one computer to share among four classes and 300 children.

For more information on this photo and the other ten winners, please click here.

To view the entire gallery with more than 100 submitted images, please click here.

Zambian Dancers and Musicians

Zambian Dancers and Musicians

Zambian Dancers and Musicians

Zambian Dancers and Musicians

eLA Opening Plenary

eLA Opening Plenary

eLA Opening Plenary

eLA Opening Plenary

eLA Opening Plenary

eLA networking events

eLA networking events

eLA networking events

eLA networking events