Why are there so few examples of successful ICT initiatives in education?
There is little doubt that ICT offers great opportunity to improve the quality and access to education. Advancement in technologies especially the Internet and mobile telephony has the potential of connecting people and resources(or linking knowledge in educational terms). New software and hardware is also making it possible for people with elementary skills to create, adapt and present content in a variety of ways. The combined capabilities and flexibility of today's technology therefore means that educational processes, content and access can be improved at low cost. Yet despite the ever increasing investments in education in form of ICT initiatives we still struggle to find good examples of where such technologies have been used successfully.
The myriad of educational technologies on the market is mind boggling. During the last e-learning Africa conference that took place in Lusaka Zambia, one could see the stretch of these solutions from sleek to plain simple solutions. But as one participant, a head teacher, remarked "ICT in education wont come soon enough as long as 'wrong' people remain in the drivers seat. The suggestion is that we have people who do not, or least understand the educational process, peddling technology solutions for a sector in way that clearly ignores the opinion of educators. But that is not the only problem. A lot of educators are strongly against commercialization of education and seeing commercial people or indeed technical in the fore front of educational solutions, however good, simply doesn't help. Indeed talking to heads of schools in many of my workshops, its clear that the missing link is having educators taking a leading role in promoting educational solutions.
Then there is question that another ICT in Education advocate posed to me during the same conference "...why has technology failed deliver the same results it delivered to the media?". I will attempt to answer this after my next workshop with heads of schools scheduled to take place this month.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Using ICT to support children with Special Educational Needs.
In recent past I have been investigating and exploring was in which mordern technology can be used in supporting pupils with special educational Needs. My motivation came from the fact that in the last 10 years, I have been working in the Edication sector developing and implementing innovative ICT projects aimed at improving the standards of teaching and learning in schools. I have seen from these projects the potentail ICT has in increasing learning opportunities for maginalised and poorly resourced schools.
It is because of this experience that when a friend narrated the difficulties pupils with special educational needs face in Zambia,I decided to investigate further the nature and scope of these problems and whether opportunities exist for using ICT to address them. The result of my investigations; chatting with practitioners, visiting institutions dealing with disabilities, educationist, reading books,is that opportuinties indeed exist to support such groups. I was particularly encouraged by similar initiatives in other parts of the world. I therefore decided that I should use my previous experience in ICT in Education projects to initiate a foundation to try and assist such groups. The name of the foundation is Special Educational Needs Sopport and Engagement (SENSE ICT Initiative). The primary aim is to incraese learning opportunities for children with special needs by engaging stakeholders in innovative ICT initiatives while supporting those working with such groups with appropriate ICT knowledge. This is a new initiative and I am inviting all those with ideas and experience working in such projects to please come forward, to be part of this noble effort to give these pupils the same learning opportunities as their peers in mainstream schools.
Should you be interested please contact me on the email below and I will be pleased tosend you a detailed project description and other programme activities.
'The next generation of leaders will be judged not on how they lead others but on how they empower others'Bill Gates.
yesebill@yahoo.com
It is because of this experience that when a friend narrated the difficulties pupils with special educational needs face in Zambia,I decided to investigate further the nature and scope of these problems and whether opportunities exist for using ICT to address them. The result of my investigations; chatting with practitioners, visiting institutions dealing with disabilities, educationist, reading books,is that opportuinties indeed exist to support such groups. I was particularly encouraged by similar initiatives in other parts of the world. I therefore decided that I should use my previous experience in ICT in Education projects to initiate a foundation to try and assist such groups. The name of the foundation is Special Educational Needs Sopport and Engagement (SENSE ICT Initiative). The primary aim is to incraese learning opportunities for children with special needs by engaging stakeholders in innovative ICT initiatives while supporting those working with such groups with appropriate ICT knowledge. This is a new initiative and I am inviting all those with ideas and experience working in such projects to please come forward, to be part of this noble effort to give these pupils the same learning opportunities as their peers in mainstream schools.
Should you be interested please contact me on the email below and I will be pleased tosend you a detailed project description and other programme activities.
'The next generation of leaders will be judged not on how they lead others but on how they empower others'Bill Gates.
yesebill@yahoo.com
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Spread FOSS; Pass the Ball
This picture taken by an undercover armature photographer, Jawahar Manickam of Rwanda University, show members of the FOSS team trying out football tricks on the shores of Lake Victoria, Uganda.
In many ways, FOSS like football has a universal appear. In Africa particularly where the sense of communal good is congenital, the desire to delight others by freely showing off individual creativity/innovation is refreshing and unique. Africans by nature take pleasure in service to others often expecting nothing more than an applause.
Like a game of football, you pass on the ball to allow your friend not just to exploit his skills but keep the watching crowd up and cheer. We do this everywhere. With everyone. In the picture, we have three FOSS guys, part of large group of FOSS enthusiast that met in Uganda. The three people in the picture from left is Yese from Zambia, George from Zimbabwe and Asrat from Ethiopia show how its done. Behind is a delighted group of delighted young locals.
Spread FOSS- Pass the Ball.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Community Priorities
Failure to understand community priorities is often blamed for failure of most development programmes. Development agents often insist on sustainability of programme which by implication means securing the long term benefits of programme. Yet communities, often ravaged and helpless, are more concerned with immediate benefits.
Development to be meaningful must be sustainable; so we agree. But what do people for whom we act have to say? read my next detailed article.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Piloting Development- Ethical Issues
Is piloting development project ethical?
In my first year at school studying science and technology the concept of piloting was extensively applied to the point of abuse. A good number of development project in Africa, particularly Zambia, emerged from pilot initiatives, many have remained pilots while numerous simply ended as pilots. But when so much money is expended on testing development theories on real and desperate people, those most affected begin to whisper...
Look out for the whispers on this blog
In my first year at school studying science and technology the concept of piloting was extensively applied to the point of abuse. A good number of development project in Africa, particularly Zambia, emerged from pilot initiatives, many have remained pilots while numerous simply ended as pilots. But when so much money is expended on testing development theories on real and desperate people, those most affected begin to whisper...
Look out for the whispers on this blog
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Development for Who
Some time back I wrote and shared a small article entitled "The donor's foot print" with one of my oldest and most active online community in Zambia, the ebrain forum of Zambia. this article was inspired by my own personal experiences working in development programmes all over Africa. The main objective of the article was to try and highlight how glossy and misplaced most donor supported development solution are. I attempted to do this by painting a somewhat graphics reality of the trails left behind by donor programmes. It seems at that time my audience who are mainly local friends, colleagues enjoyed the article because they could very well relate to it.
In my later years working with same programmes but more and more with outsiders, I have found my ideas more and more challenged; and that is not very surprising at all! The development field is a battle ground for both ideas and resources. As the gap between the rich and poor widens, the space for genuine dialogue between those with resources (especially financial resources) and those without, shrinking. Desperation and punishing circumstances forces disadvataged communities into submission while those with resources continue defining and refining terms. With so many in poverty, so are are appeals for help. And frankly only those with appealing cases get the help. The tragedy is that out of desperation, people tend to doctor facts- this is the greatest tragedy in the development field. having worked as media, ICT4D, and more recently in Human development, I have a unique insight into the realm of communication for development. The article I referred to earlier is a clear indictment for development actors and one which many a development agent would rather ignore.
I live and work in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Like many cities, Lusaka is fairly well organised and developed. People here are educated, they work, own decent homes and have access to some modern social services. But Lusaka is also home to many development agencies. While most development work takes place away from Lusaka, you don't have to travel far to get a sense of who is who in development. Development agencies love visibility and are certainly obsessed with extravagance. Their choice of vehicles, offices and technology is impressive and quite characteristic. Away in rural areas, and in contrast, people are less educated, no income, poor infrastructure and virtually no social services- here development agencies thrive! They are territorial and strictly focused on their mission. Driving to one of these remote areas, one rainy season, the sight of 4x4 tyre marks on the rugged roads is all one needed to confirm the presence of development agents. The roads are small, actually footpaths, and as you approach the main residential areas, grass has overgrown and partially covered the roads. I am on evaluation mission, and my first task was to locate the project. After a lot of help I finally manage to locate their offices or should I say what used to be their offices. It is a dilapidated council building bearing all signs of neglect. However two rooms appeared intact and large donor logos posted on doors and broken window panes are unmistakable. The surrounding is littered with empty plastic bags of donated foods and several empty boxes bearing logos and names of the donors. Inside one of the rooms two personal computers covered in dusty plastic protectors have remained unused two years after programme ended. The inside walls are decorated with calendars, work flow charts and timeline schedules. Stacks of reports, manuals and reference materials have been piled away to make room for seating. Here locals including children recognise and associate the logos more to help than anything else. Such is the extent of the impression that some families even named their children after the development agency. None in the community can operate the computer nor interpret the many maps and reports left behind. This is a typical development trail.
In my later years working with same programmes but more and more with outsiders, I have found my ideas more and more challenged; and that is not very surprising at all! The development field is a battle ground for both ideas and resources. As the gap between the rich and poor widens, the space for genuine dialogue between those with resources (especially financial resources) and those without, shrinking. Desperation and punishing circumstances forces disadvataged communities into submission while those with resources continue defining and refining terms. With so many in poverty, so are are appeals for help. And frankly only those with appealing cases get the help. The tragedy is that out of desperation, people tend to doctor facts- this is the greatest tragedy in the development field. having worked as media, ICT4D, and more recently in Human development, I have a unique insight into the realm of communication for development. The article I referred to earlier is a clear indictment for development actors and one which many a development agent would rather ignore.
I live and work in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Like many cities, Lusaka is fairly well organised and developed. People here are educated, they work, own decent homes and have access to some modern social services. But Lusaka is also home to many development agencies. While most development work takes place away from Lusaka, you don't have to travel far to get a sense of who is who in development. Development agencies love visibility and are certainly obsessed with extravagance. Their choice of vehicles, offices and technology is impressive and quite characteristic. Away in rural areas, and in contrast, people are less educated, no income, poor infrastructure and virtually no social services- here development agencies thrive! They are territorial and strictly focused on their mission. Driving to one of these remote areas, one rainy season, the sight of 4x4 tyre marks on the rugged roads is all one needed to confirm the presence of development agents. The roads are small, actually footpaths, and as you approach the main residential areas, grass has overgrown and partially covered the roads. I am on evaluation mission, and my first task was to locate the project. After a lot of help I finally manage to locate their offices or should I say what used to be their offices. It is a dilapidated council building bearing all signs of neglect. However two rooms appeared intact and large donor logos posted on doors and broken window panes are unmistakable. The surrounding is littered with empty plastic bags of donated foods and several empty boxes bearing logos and names of the donors. Inside one of the rooms two personal computers covered in dusty plastic protectors have remained unused two years after programme ended. The inside walls are decorated with calendars, work flow charts and timeline schedules. Stacks of reports, manuals and reference materials have been piled away to make room for seating. Here locals including children recognise and associate the logos more to help than anything else. Such is the extent of the impression that some families even named their children after the development agency. None in the community can operate the computer nor interpret the many maps and reports left behind. This is a typical development trail.
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