The 7th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training will take place in Cotonou, Benin, from May 23rd to 25th, 2012. A conference and exhibition covering every facet of Information and Communication Technology for education, eLearning Africa is an annual event not to be missed, an event that has long attracted the who’s who of African academia, business and government. It is a lively forum for participants to share information, insights, and ideas.

Promoting the use of ICTs on mobile phones and computers is a key aim of eLearning Africa. ICTs are useful in all spheres of life, in governance, in education (both formal and informal) and in all sectors of economic development, including business, banking and the health service. The conference gathers stakeholders, from educators and academics, to manufacturers, marketers, service providers, legislators and policymakers.

Preparations for the May 2012 conference are underway, and ICWE is inviting discussion papers from all disciplines of enquiry especially original material which resonates with the conference theme: eLearning and Sustainability. The development of sustainable infrastructure and overall capacity building in Africa will be important focus areas, as will be the promotion of eLearning for sustainability in the community, in change management, in the use of resources, in economic development, and in culture and society at large.

The conference will feature plenary discussions where world-renowned experts will share their research findings on present and future directions in eLearning. There will also be special focus sessions, exhibitions, practical demonstrations, discussions, debates, and many informal networking opportunities. As the conference is held in English, French and Portuguese, it draws visitors from across Africa and, as in past eLearning Africa events, there will be many participants from the rest of the world.

Detailed information on signing up for the May 23rd to 25th, 2012 conference is available here.

The African Virtual University’s (AVU) Open Educational Resources (OER) has won the Best Emerging Initiative Award in Education-Portal.com’s first OpenCourseWare (OCW) People’s Choice Awards.

Developed collaboratively with 12 universities in 10 African countries and launched in January 2011, AVU’s interactive portal OER@AVU is designed to host free content tailored to the needs of African students. Supported by the African Development Bank, this initiative enables institutions and individuals to use, modify and put the materials back to enrich the portal, as well as contributing their own resources. AVU’s OER currently hosts 219 modules divided into several topics, including maths and science, teacher education, basic ICT skills and ICT classroom integration, all of which are freely available in English, French and Portuguese.

AVU has graduated more than 40,000 students across Africa and established the largest distance and eLearning network comprising over 27 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The institution’s greatest asset is its ability to work in all political landscapes and across borders and languages in Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone Africa. The site is also being accessed beyond Africa in 142 countries, with the majority of users from Brazil and the United States.

“From an education perspective, this award shows that Africa is moving from a development model that pulls resources from the international community to one that pushes out relevant and interesting content that is contributing to the international dialogue on education,” commented Dr. Bakary Diallo, AVU’s Head.

For more information on the People’s Choice Awards and a complete list of winners and finalists, visit http://education-portal.com/articles/OCW_Peoples_Choice_Award_Winners_Final_List.html.

The African Virtual University’s (AVU) Open Educational Resources (OER) portal has been nominated under the Best Emerging Initiative category for Education-Portal.com’s OCW People’s Choice Award.

AVU’s OER portal enables academics throughout the African continent and beyond to share, distribute and disseminate their resources globally and contribute to Africa’s economic development through education.

Developed collaboratively with 12 universities in 10 African countries and launched in January 2011, AVU’s interactive OER portal hosts over 200 texbooks and 90 videos. Funded by the African Development Bank, this initiative enables institutions and individuals to use, modify and put the materials back to enrich the portal, as well as contributing their own resources. By June 2011 the resources had been used 200,000 times in 142 countries worldwide, including 41 African countries.

You can support the AVU’s nomination by voting and by asking your friends and network to vote for the AVU. Voting is open to all until August 15 2011.

To vote, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VC9CG5K , under Best Emerging Initiative select the African Virtual University OER, and then click on the Done button at the bottom of the page.

Michael Trucano, Senior ICT in Education Specialist of the World Bank and eLA 2011 keynote speaker, noted a strong interest in education policy issues amongst conference delegates:

“For me, the tone, substance and nature of many of the discussions at this year’s eLearning Africa stood in contrast to past events of this nature in which I have participated - in a good way. What was, only a few years ago, largely a general discussion about ‘promise and potential’, and about small and planned pilot projects, is clearly being transformed and enlarged to one about very practical concerns born of rich experience as well - not to mention the hard choices about policy and funding trade-offs that come into play when considerations are made for related investments at scale. This change can (presumably) be attributed to the fact that many countries now have dedicated professional staff focusing on the use of educational technologies, and have embarked on (or are soon planning to embark on) fairly substantial initiatives in this area, often in partnership with increasingly sophisticated local NGOs.

The high level officials (i.e. ministers and deputy ministers) with whom I spoke all appeared to be quite ICT computer literate themselves - this stands in marked contrast to what I have observed anecdotally over the past decade, and this most likely also helped contribute to the greater fluency with which ICT-related topics were discussed, even at some of the highest levels. (Listening to one deputy minister talk about developing applications for Android, I couldn’t think of a similar conversation I had had with a senior government official *anywhere*.)”

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Michael Gallagher, Marketing Manager at JSTOR, found illustrative examples at eLA to indicate that mobile technology has the power to lead to disruptive change, not only in education but throughout society:

“In my opinion, all too often we overlook the physical/tangible elements of society in terms of the impact mobile technology has on them, but this is a real case of mobile communication/networks placing pressure on existing physical grids and networks. Examples of physical networks in this context are roads and electricity grids, both of which should flow like flight patterns. If not predictably, then certainly consistently. This is more or less what you want, this free flow of human activity.”

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Roos Korste of in2mentalhealth gives a comprehensive summary of the status of mental health care and facilities in Tanzania, asking what mental health in Tanzania can gain from new technologies in education. One of her lessons learnt:

“Waiting until everything and everybody is full online is not necessary and will probably create more delay in the long term. I think by starting with small pilots now, it will be easier to catch up and implement broad national programmes later. And small successes, like a nice operating system, can be demonstrated to all stakeholders, from government leaders to primary care workers, in order to garner enthusiasm and get them on board.”
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giz, the German agency for international cooperation (‘Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit‘) launched its ict@innovation’s “Training Guide on Linux System Administration” at eLA. Its ICT4D blog emphasises the networking potential of the event:

“eLearning Africa provided an important space for extended networking. GIZ, including colleagues from CIM, former InWEnt, former gtz and former DED, were able to get in touch with more than four hundred key African stakeholders, participants and alumni of capacity-building measures, potential partners and existing key partners such as the “Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA)” and the “National eLearning and Support Center Tanzania”.
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Vijana FM (Youth FM in Swahili), a multimedia platform run by youth volunteers, summarises the session of the local Mobile Monday chapter at eLA 2011. There is light at the end of the tunnel for more mobile applications, according to the Vijana bloggers:

“[...] Internet data charges and the cost of phones with web browsers are continually falling, which will allow all web content to be easily accessible on one standard medium and at affordable rates.”

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Mobile applications for learning are highlighted by Alex Little, Director of Digital Campus, UK:
http://alexlittle.net/blog/2011/06/02/elearning-africa-round-up/.

Maureen Agena, a graduate student from Uganda, reports on her blogging activities in a video interview at eLA: http://dignityinpoverty.blogspot.com/2011/06/youth-skills-employability-at-6th.html.

eLA 2011 has been extensively covered by the BBC. You have posted some sound bites here.

The event will provide a forum for USAID Mission staff, international donors, academic researchers, practitioners and other partners to exchange knowledge about lessons learned, best practices, available tools and methodologies as well as research results towards strengthening the education sector, broadly defined, in developing countries through the use of mobile technology. The evidence-based symposium will analyse existing evidence and results; highlight promising practices in current projects, pilots and evaluations and identify knowledge gaps in research.

A selection of 10-15 session proposals will be selected for the programme. Suggestions should be sent by Monday, June 13, to Rebekah Levi (rlevi@jbsinternational.com) and Christy Allison (callison@jbsinternational.com). Please note that participation in the symposium will be by invitation only.

Winning Photo by Ryan Littman-Quinn (Botswana)

View a slide show of the winning photos here.

Go to http://tinyurl.com/3b5y4ag.

eLA is looking for contributions from any sector of life – be it health, agriculture, business, community life or education – innovation is everywhere and it can come from every single one of us!

Participants can win a top-quality digital camera and other useful technical gadgets.

Find out more at http://www.elearning-africa.com/photo_competition_home.php.

Check it out at http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/Homepage.aspx

CREATIC4AFRICA launches a call for ideas in which a product or process based on Information and Communication Technologies will help to address problems that reduce the Social and Economic Development of Ethiopia, Mozambique, Senegal, Cape Verde and Angola.

CTIC Foundation will help the scholars to develop these ideas! They may develop their idea in the CREATIC4AFRICA Innovation Lab in Gijón (Asturias, Spain) for a period of nine months, where a team of professionals will accompany them through a process of individualized coaching and advise them, so that each product or process can contribute to the development of their community as effectively as possible.

The deadline for applications is 30th March.

You will find more information at http://creatic4africa.fundacionctic.org/ or write to creatic4africa@fundacionctic.org.