OpenAfrica: Educational Technology in sub-Saharan Africa

Dates

January — December 2006

Principal Investigator

Mohamed Haji

Problem

Education is vital to Africa's economic growth and lasting democracy, but there are many challenges facing education in Africa today. Lack of learning materials, few qualified teachers, and financial constraints are just but a few of the challenges. The AIDS Epidemics and famine have placed further limitations on what governments can spend on education. Given these challenges, the educational institutions in sub-Saharan Africa are not able to meet the needs of those seeking higher education. Therefore, we see a profound need to adopt innovative technologies to deliver content to those seeking higher education. The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) will overcome the space, time and money constraints that institutions are currently facing. At the same time, ICTs will provide African students with interactive educational content that is flexible and responsive to the needs of the individual student. Our three-pronged project promises to break down traditional barriers to higher education in sub-Saharan Africa by delivering educational content to those who need it when they need it.

Goal

The goal of this project is to introduce, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and iLabs (remote access to some MIT laboratories) in sub-Saharan Africa. The project aims to establish a sustainable model for sharing and disseminating educational content to universities in this developing region of the world.

Overview

OpenAfrica project will be carried out in three countries: Cameroon, Zambia, and Kenya.

The Cameroon project (OpenCameroon) will focus on training top high school students in Limbe, Cameroon on how to apply to college and how to use the Internet as a resource for education. OpenCameroon will introduce both OCW and iLabs as examples of tools that can immediately be leveraged by the students through a computer terminal.

The Zambia program (OpenZambia) will focus on implementing enhancements for two programs: installing an OCW mirror site and configuring an iLabs service broker at the University of Zambia. OpenZambia will expand upon work completed by other MIT students to facilitate easier access to these educational technologies.

The Kenya program (OpenKenya) will focus on evaluating the effectiveness of OCW at two universities and a high school. OCW mirror sites were installed at these locations several months ago, and the OpenKenya team will investigate metrics (i.e. access, use, and impact statistics) for these mirror sites to date. In addition, the OpenKenya team will explore the educational landscape in Nairobi, Kenya in order to determine the most effective way to introduce iLabs into the Kenyan curriculum.

Project Output

• Install a mirror site of the MIT OCW web site and run seminars on the mission, goals, impact, and use of OCW in universities in Cameroon, Kenya and Zambia.
• Configure an iLabs service broker and run seminars on the mission, goals, impact, and use of iLabs at the University of Zambia and the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
• Draft a report on the activities of OpenAfrica including a description of what was done, the challenges that were faced, and recommendations for the future.
• A “How to Guide” on configuring and installing MIT OCW mirror sites in Africa (with Zambia and Kenya as case studies).
• A “How to Guide” on configuring iLabs in Africa (with Zambia and Kenya as case studies).

Publications

Coming soon!

Pictures

Cameroon:

• 3 students doing research on colleges online
  
• Fawah helps a student
  
• helping students during an internet workshop
  
• Students ask questions
  
• students follow lecture
  
• students listen to Jamira and Fawah
  
• the high school block of GHS LImbe
  

Zambia:

• Victoria falls 2
  
• Marta at the falls in Zambia
  
• Marta giving OCW presentation in Univ of Zambia faculty
  
• Marta presenting on OCW in Zambia
  
• Victoria falls
  

Links