ICT and Technology in Africa

The world economic forum, published report they named "ICT in Africa: A status report". I quote from the report: "The “digital divide” however, is still at its most extreme in Africa. In absolute terms, networked readiness is still at a very early stage of development compared to other regions of the world. Of the approximately 816 million people in Africa in 2001, it is estimated1 that only:

• one in four have a radio (200 million);
• one in 13 have a television (62 million);
• one in 35 have a mobile telephone (24 million);
• one in 39 have a fixed line (21 million);
• one in 130 have a personal computer (PC) (5.9 million);
• one in 160 use the Internet (5 million);
• one in 400 have pay-television (2 million)."
  

If you compare these figures to the around 800 million people in Africa, it is clear that the use of technology in itself poses a threat for implementation ICT. Looking at all these issues we would need to overcome these structural barriers before effective ICT usage throughout Africa. The challenge does not only lie in overcoming these issues but to do it sustainable.

Facebook is detrimental to studies.

CCN.com reported: "A study, carried out in America by Professor Paul Kirschner from the Netherlands Open University, found that students who used Facebook whilst studying achieved on average 20 per cent lower marks in tests. Of the 219 American students studied for the report, the percentage deficit remained the same even if they only used the website sporadically."

This almost contradicts some of the suggested methods of learning we have discussed during this course over the last 18 months.

This highlights that although learners are convinced that they have the ability to multi-task, this multi-tasking needs to be considered during the educational process.

Does ICT in the open university conform to the need the african women

In a lecture presented by Sir John Daniel, Assistant Director-General for EducationUNESCO, Paris, France, he referred to research done in Tanzania. During this research the question was posed to a woman if she uses the information available in the so called Open University.
Her answer was simple: " My most pressing need is not for learning thourgh technology but to find out how other technologies such as washing machines, cookers and vacuum cleaners, could help shorten the time I need to spent on housework. Only then would I have time to spend on studying"

It is clear from this that the content we post and use in ICT should be focused, especially in the African context, on wider variety of topics. The focus should not purely be on academic content, but also on social upliftment.

In order for ICT to work in Africa the cultural differences between Africa and the developed world will have to be taken into account. We in South Africa have the opportunity to facilitate this and take initiative.

ICT in darkest Africa?

My husband is in Nigeria for four days. In the Sunday news paper he read a very disheartening fact. The pass rate for metric is a mere 24%. In his conversations with his colleagues in Lagos, it was clear that very little to no ICT is available in schools. This applies to mainly government schools.
A further revelation that shocked us was the amount of manual work that is still done. Big business like national airlines, shipping lines and even some corporate companies still use manual paper based processes to process daily transactions.
I need to add that the situation is getting better than what it was 5 years ago, but he pace at which it is happening will not help to close the gap between "Haves" and "Have nots".
One of the managers is originally from Amsterdam and said that this is sharp contrast of what they experienced in The Netherlands. There ICT is a norm and very little classes and schools work without it.
The Global village might be growing but so does the gap between Africa and the rest of the world.

My message on this topic is purely just this: We need to get the use of ICT in South Africa online, active and alive before we end up somewhere in darkest Africa.......

What is the current status of government support for ICT in schools

In June 2007 a report, ICT in Education in South Africa was published by Shafika Isaacs. In this report he refers to a budget amount for education of R105.5 billion for education of which majority will be used for teacher's salaries.

On Thursday's news a government official announced that all departments need to seriously look at cost cutting to cover the increase the labour force request to end the strike.

I have one serious question: "How will this cost cutting exercise influence the planned expenditure for the increase in ICT usage in schools?"

Does learners benfit in the use of ICT?

I sat yesterday watching my two nephews in front of my sister’s, a remedial education therapist, computer. Neither can read nor write, yet they were debating whether the game they were playing requires them to read.

The one stated emphatically that it is his opinion that they can get to the stage 10 without reading one word: “We just have to click on the correct places and perform each activity as required by the computer program.”

Although this was the opinion of a five year old, he proofed in his innocence that user friendly software can support learning without having all the ability to read.

ICT - achieving more than just learning outcomes

Today my four year old downloaded and installed an educational game from the intenet without any assistance.

This once again supports the theory that ICT natives do not have a fear of ICT. They do not hesitate to use ICT to satisfy their curiosity. It is almost as if ICT and the acceptance thereof is not an option for natives. They have a built-in urge to use ICT in obtaining knowledge and life skills.

I learnt once again today that exposure to ICT is the only way digital immigrants would be able to understand the need that exists in digital natives to use ICT instead of traditional teaching methods to reach learning outcomes.

Suzette