Technology Developments

Imagine a classroom packed with the latest educational technology, such as high-end networked computers, projectors and digital whiteboards. And then imagine what happens when the lights go out and the screens go blank. In fact, power cuts are still a common problem on the African content. eLearning Africa addressed this issue and presented some impressive ideas regarding alternative energy sources. Presentations covered the potential of the abundant source of sunlight as a source of energy and also turned to a little-known plant called Jatropha, which could play an important role in the future energy mix of the Continent.
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eLearning Africa has once more proved to be a hub for information on how innovative technology can advance the cause of education for all. This year's conference in Lusaka, Zambia, saw the launch of a new rugged "classmate PC" for school children, featured cost-effective, multi-user computing models and showed how hospitals in Tanzania are using “digital pens” capable of automatically converting handwriting into patient files.
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Two Nigerian teenagers had never touched a computer keyboard before they joined a learning programme known as the Ajegunle.org Capacity Building Exercise. Nwanyiego Ijeh, a girl known as Ego, and a young man, James O. Raphael, lived and worked in Ajegunle, a dangerous part of Lagos, populated by three million people from all the tribes of West Africa. This year, former Ajegunle trainees will be coming to eLA to tell their own story about the revolutionary success of a project that has changed their lives and given them ICT and entrepreneurial skills. Their programme manager Ugochukwu Nwosu first presented the scheme at eLA 2008. He returns this year to let the personal success stories speak for the project.
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Rural Internet Kiosks are currently mushrooming throughout rural areas in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zambia, providing Africans who were previously cut-off from the digital world with Internet connections. These movable, cost-effective and recyclable kiosks, which operate with satellite connectivity provided by Intersat Africa and use solar energy, along with a highly energy efficient personal computer, allow rural communities to participate in the digital world. In this way they are able to obtain and share information crucial for education, agriculture and food security, health and environment, communications and e-governance.
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Nestling in the beautiful Ezulwini Valley in Swaziland, St. Mary’s High School educates over 500 students. The majority are from “child-headed” families, in which one or more children have taken over as the head of their household and fend for themselves without any adults to look after them. In view of its tight budget for acquiring technology, the school was looking for an affordable and efficient solution to provide internet access and PCs to its students. With the NComputing X-series solution, St. Mary’s 500+ pupils now enjoy an up-to-date computer lab that bears comparison with schools in industrialised countries.
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How to optimally market honey, to cultivate a field or to avoid soil erosion is what small-holding farmers can learn – among many other topics – from innovative three-dimensional learning visualisations, which are now available in Zimbabwe. At eLearning Africa 2009, Justin Mupinda, Country Programme Coordinator at World Links Zimbabwe, explained how the so-called “interactive 3d learning objects” (i3dlos) tools make use of the power of virtual reality (VR) and a person’s visual strengths to “grow” the human mind. The initiators are the Naledi3D Factory, a South African company situated near Pretoria, which is a UNESCO partner, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, Eskom and regional initiatives such as World Links Zimbabwe.
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The so-called cantenna is a cheap and efficient tool to help access Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The best cans are those used for seed oil and have a screw-on antenna and a short brass wire. Working like regular antennas, cantennas only cost around $2.50 to build. Rachel Chavula learned about them during an internship at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Italy. Since then, the 22-year-old has been trying out cantennas on her Mzuzu University Campus in Malawi. She will present the “making of” in a hands-on demo session.
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Mark Beckford spent 11 years at Intel, where he ran the Emerging Markets Platform Group and served as architect for Intel’s World Ahead programme, which he personally launched in Africa in 2006. Recently, he joined NComputing as VP of Global Business Development. In his new role he is responsible for bringing NComputing’s ultra low-cost computing solutions to Africa.
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Focusing attentively on durable green-white machines with thick antennas, several Ghanaian school kids are currently taking the first steps in the One Laptop per Child project (OLPC). In spring 2008, the OLPC started its initiative in West Africa. Experts say that Ghana is in many ways exactly the country for which OLPC was developed. At eLearning Africa 2008, Kwesi Smith from the Kofi Annan Centre/the Ghanaian OLPC Implementation Team will share his early findings and thoughts in the session “Introducing eLearning into the School System” on Friday, May 30th. eLA asked him to give a taste.
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The Ulwazi E-Learning Partnership, created in 2003, is a partnership among five Tshwane-based high schools – four of which are in Mamelodi, a historically disadvantaged township. These schools have an interest in promoting dynamic real-time interactive learning and the electronic sharing of knowledge and cultural experiences. The Partnership embarked on a pilot project to deploy a broadband network and to use wireless broadband communication technologies and other state-of the art hardware and software tools and learning methods to explore, in practical terms, the learning opportunities that these offer. The purpose was to create a living experimental laboratory for eLearning. It was envisaged that the pilot could lead to the development of new methods of learning, and the hope was that such methods could eventually also be of use for education in South Africa at large, a country where there is a great backlog in education. SMART Technologies, who supplied the project with interactive whiteboards from its inception, is now about to expand on this innovative programme.
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Following the Oracle Consortiums success in the NEPAD eSchools Demonstration Project where 21 schools in seven African countries were turned into eSchools, Oracle has led the way by tackling the challenge of student administration, a common issue faced by educators across the continent.
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e-Waste is a serious problem in many African countries. Many worn-out PCs are delivered to the Continent every day, which, for various reasons, is not always appreciated by the addressees. Sending old computers to developing countries can be seen as a solidarity solution, but – in terms of sustainable development – the consequences must also be taken into account. As some participants of eLearning Africa have to deal with this subject, eLA news want to put e-waste recycling forward for discussion, putting a special focus on education projects.
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Thinking about the hardships many African PC users have to face, Uganda’s ICT State Minister John Nsambu and his partners have been seeking inventive and sustainable solutions that go beyond merely buying expensive equipment. eLA editor Nina Wittrock asked him about his activities in the fields of cheap and energy saving PCs, as well as his ideas concerning Uganda’s overall access to ICT technology.
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In the Kenyan Village of Mbita, sixty fifth graders of Point Primary School and their three teachers have helped Eduvision, an eLearning solution company situated in Switzerland, to develop an innovative ICT platform and corresponding software for handheld computers. The company’s applications are mainly designed to deliver curriculum content instead of using “oldish” textbooks to enrich the learning experience and to add locally relevant information more easily. At eLearning Africa 2007, Karim Toledano, CEO of Eduvision, will give closer insights into his African project.
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Since 1998, Computer Aid International has been collecting, testing, refurbishing, and sending computers to educational and community organisations in developing countries. The computers go to schools, universities, medical training centres or meteorological stations. By its tenth anniversary - in October 2007 - the organisation wants to have shipped the 100,000^th PC. Gladys Muhunyo, who manages the Africa Programme, spoke to eLA about Computer Aid’s work.
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