Lusaka, Zambia. This year’s eLearning Africa conference started with a stirring speech on Online Social Education of African Youth delivered by the Rt Rev Dr S. Tilewa Johnson, Bishop of Gambia. The technology-affined Bishop explained, “The Internet flattens hierarchy, reduces social distance, makes me closer to you and, paradoxically, makes all our serious connections more authentic. I witness how this helps the young people in the process of learning values and how to plan positive community actions.” He prompted his audience to “explore how the digital technologies you are developing can also remain in touch with the traditions of learning and encounter of Africa.”
The fifth eLearning Africa conference was opened by the Zambian Vice-President George Kunda. A total of 1778 delegates from 78 countries from Africa and beyond met in Lusaka to scrutinise the state of ICT for education and development on the Continent. Setting a strong focus on community building, eLearning Africa has become Africa’s key event for knowledge exchange, networking and the sharing of ideas on how to enhance education for all through the use of new media and technology.
With a multitude of best-practice examples on display, the conference showed how technology can enable and enhance learning in schools, universities or at the workplace, thus helping to empower the Continent’s economies. The latest technology presented at the event included digital pens for health workers in Tanzania, mobile phones bringing literacy to farmers in Niger and a mobile solar-powered classroom bringing ICT skills to teachers and pupils in Uganda.
Another strong focus was content. To what extend Open Educational Resources can provide a solution to the shortage of up-to-date learning material was discussed by teachers and educators from all over Africa. At the same time, eLearning Africa served as a market place for learning content, covering a wide range of subjects such as health education, security and defence issues, science education, and in-company training for mining industry workers.
Stephen Dukker addressed the topic of cost issues in his keynote speech. The CEO of NComputing, a company that focuses on desktop virtualisation and thin clients, envisions a new era of equality, a “revolution … driven by the convergence of two technologies”. Thanks to virtualisation and cloud computing, the “cost of computing is about to become accessible to multitudes of new users. This will happen over the next ten years”, he said.
The largest pan-African conference on ICTs for education and training is held in English and French.
More information can be found at www.elearning-africa.com
Notes for Editors
eLearning Africa, 5th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training
May 26–28, 2010
Mulungushi International Conference Center, Lusaka, Zambia
Organisers: ICWE GmbH, www.icwe.net
Contact: ICWE GmbH, info@elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-africa.com
Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0
Press Contact
ICWE GmbH
Ms Beate Kleessen & Franziska Steiger
Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0, press-service@icwe.net
Press releases
http://www.elearning-africa.com/press_release.php
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