eReadiness: Making the Most of ICT for Educational Development in Africa

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Meeting of Specialized Committeeon ICT
Education in East Africa
e-Readiness Making the Most of ICT for
Educational Development in Africa (ICT
Education Policy)
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ICT Change Agent for Education

• ICT as object. It refers to learning about ICT
• ICT as an assisting tool making assignments,
  collecting data and documentation, communicating
  and conducting research
• ICT as a medium for teaching and learning
• ICT as a tool for organization and management in
  schools

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ICT in Higher Education

• ICT Impact on What is learned
• Competency and performance-based curricula
• Information literacy
• ICT Impact on How Student Learn
• Student-centered learning
• Supporting Knowledge development
• ICT Impact on When and Where Students learn
• Any place
• Any time

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ICT EducationChallenges Opportunities

• Lack of sound national ICT Education Policy
• Africa has the Worlds Highest illiteracy rate
• High-skill Employment Needed by Growing
  Knowledge Economy Become Less and Less
  Insufficient
• Persistent Brain Drain, Under-funding, Lack of
  Basic Academic Infrastructure, Researchers and
  Research Facilities!

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ICT EducationChallenges Opportunities

• e-literacy level vary immensely from country to
  country as there is no systematic mechanism to
  share the best practices and lessons learned
• Teachers institutes are not fully equipped to
  train teachers in ICT and Information Society
  issues
• Disconnect between ICT policy makers and the
  education sector, as the translation of the
  national ICT vision should take place in the
  education sector
• Lack of adequate Bandwidth

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Education and the Information Society

• Technology cannot be a sufficient pre-requisite
  for promoting gains ICTs promise
• Lack of human capital and appropriate training
  programs could hamper the development of an
  inclusive and effective Information Society when
  the infrastructure is put in place
• A country's ability to fully develop an
  Information Society depends on the capacity of
  society to be educated, to assimilate, and to
  process complex information.

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Education and the Information Society
Today, more than ever before in human history
the wealth or poverty of nations depend on the
quality of higher education. Those with more
skills and a greater capacity for learning can
look forward to lifetimes of economic fulfilment
, Prof Malcom Gilles, President Rice
University Theres a need to develop a critical
mass of highly skilled human capital if we want
to be part and efficiently contribute to the
21st century Knowledge economy
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High Education and the Knowledge Economy

David Bloom
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AISI ICT Education Policy

• African Information- Society Initiative,
  first regional framework for ICT development
  adopted in 1996
• Objective Every man and woman, school child,
  village, government office and business can
  access information and knowledge by 2010
• Strategy Foster a new generation of men and
  women in Africa able to use ICTs to leverage the
  development of their nations
• Provide equitable remote access in resources for
  distance education and local educational capacity
• Connecting schools, universities and research
  centers to national and international distance
  education facilities, databases, libraries by
  2010

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WSIS ICT Education Policy

• ICTs can contribute to achieving universal
  education worldwide, through delivery of
  education and training of teachers, and offering
  improved conditions for lifelong learning,
  encompassing people that are outside the formal
  education process, and improving professional
  skills.
• Develop domestic policies to ensure that ICTs are
  fully integrated in education and training at all
  levels,
• Develop and promote programmes to eradicate
  illiteracy using ICTs at national, regional and
  international levels.

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ECA WORKS

• ICT Education policy and strategies
  mainstreamed in many NICI on the Continent
• ICT Education evaluation through SCAN-ICT
• Launching of ALN during ADF99
• SchoolNet Africa National and Regional schools
  Networking (31 Countries-300 schools)
• OOSYNET Out-Of-School-Youth (Imfudo)
• VarsityNet Connectivity-Learning-RD-Localization
  (AAUIUCEA)

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ECA WORKS

• Under VarsityNet
• AAU Multi-lingual E-government on-line document
  management platform development based on Ahmaric
  and OSS
• AAU Phase II Mobil Medical Information System,
  Ethiopia , ePayment, SMS
• IUCEA A pilot application, based on Open Source
  Software (OSS), that supports the International
  Fellowships Programme (IFP) and the
  Inter-University Students Exchange Programme for
  East Africa
• IUCEA Phase II Inter-University Information
  System based on Open Source Software (OSS) to
  manage students academic records

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ECA WORKS

• WSIS Academia Research Networks (ARN) More than
  40 Academics from 20 Universities in Africa
• Visioning Retreat
• Discussion List
• Launch during WSIS I in Geneva
• Launch of Four Academia Research Network
• Creating an enabling environment
• African languages and content development in
  the cyberspace
• Information Society Indicators
• Industrialisation of ICTs in Africa
•  

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ACADEMIA RESEARCH NETWORK ACTIVITIES

• ARN1 African languages and content development
  in the cyberspace
• National Application Computer linguistic
  program in Cameroon schools in Local language
• ARN2 Measuring the impact of the African
  Information Society
• National application measuring the
  socio-economic impact of the Information Society
  in Tunisia

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ACADEMIA RESEARCH NETWORK

• ARN3 The Industrialization of ICTs in Africa
• National Application Establishing an excellence
  Center in Mozambique
• ARN4 Creating Enabling environment in the
  Information society

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Way Forward

• Ensure the HEI intellectual leadership input in
  national, sectorial and global e-strategies
• Support sectorial and sub-sectorial ICT
  Education policy linked to the labor market
  requirement and integrated into the whole
  Educational system reform
• Continue support to RD activities, RD
  institutions and networks
• Promote innovation by supporting the development
  of excellence centers and their networks
• Support in short-term the developpement of
  Standards and guidelines for teachers,
  educational leaders and policy makers
• Establish a sustainable financing mechanism
• Promote broadband infrastructure and access in
  all African universities and HEI
• Promote ICT4D network of Academic in each
  University as ICT development watchdogs
  mechanism , this can be extextended at
  sub-regional levels

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Thank You !
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