UNIVERSITY OF GHANA BEGINS DISTANCE EDUCATION

More than 1,000 students have been admitted into the University of Ghana, Legon's first Distance Learning programme in Bachelor of Arts and Science degrees. The programme, which is run by the university's Institute of Adult Education, costs about half of what on-campus students pay. Students can attend tutorials and interact with lecturers from time to time at study centres across the country.

 

For the first year, the university is offering Faculty of Arts and Social Studies courses with initial programmes in geography, resource development, economics, sociology, psychology and linguistics. The plan is to develop and add more courses in coming years.

FREE ONLINE LEARNING FROM U.K. OPEN UNIVERSITY

OpenLearn is an online learning environment that uses materials taken from U.K. Open University courses. The courses are available for free to anyone, anywhere in the world. Learners can choose from more than 5,000 hours of learning content in subject areas including art, business, education, science and technology. Using materials designed especially for distance learning, learners can also participate in online discussions and video conferences. Educators are also invited to reuse and remix open educational resources.

 

Launched in October 2006, OpenLearn is a pilot project funded by a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

 

COMMONWEALTH CONNECTS LAUNCHES "HOLE-IN-THE-WALL" IN UGANDA

 

COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY-GENERAL DON MCKINNON WITH YOUNG LEARNERS AT A SOLAR-POWERED COMPUTER STATION IN UGANDA

 

A new community-based computer learning station has been introduced to provide Internet access to a community in Kampala, Uganda. The $US 100,000 "Hole-in-the-Wall" project launched in conjunction with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2007 by Commonwealth Connects in collaboration with the Government of India is aimed at enhancing access to information and communication technology (ICT) through solar-powered computer terminals.

 

The Hole-in-the-Wall project, which features four computer terminals installed at a solar-powered learning station in the community at Kiswa, located just east of Kampala, is designed to address the development needs of the young people. The original Hole-in-the-Wall was developed by Dr. Sugata Mitra who placed a computer in a slum near his office in India and monitored how it was used. Dr. Mitra was a keynote speaker at COL's Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in 2006. The goal is to provide young people with access to the Internet for information-gathering, knowledge acquisition and skills development, which will enable them to compete on a level playing field in the face of globalisation.

 

In launching the Hole-in-the-Wall project in Kampala, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said ICT access is critical in changing the lives of young people.

 

"If kids do not participate in ICT, they're marginalised," said Mr McKinnon. "If millions of kids lose out on ICT, we'll pay for it in the end as these children will be left out of the opportunities that ICT can bring to them. Hopefully we can see this project multiplied many times all over the developing world because we must make available this kind of information to kids by educating them through technology." 

 

 

MOBILE PHONES FOR AFRICA

A United Nations programme that is combating poverty in rural Africa is putting mobile phones in the hands of nearly half a million people by hooking up 79 villages in 10 African countries to cellular networks.

 

The UN Millennium Villages programme, a collaboration between the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York and the UN, aims to improve healthcare, education and local economies by providing access to mobile phones. An increase of 10 mobile phones per 100 people could increase GDP growth by 0.6 percent, according to a 2005 study.

The infrastructure, as well as solar chargers for phones, are provided free of charge by mobile firm Ericsson. Services are run and charged for by local operators. In most countries, Ericsson will install a "2G network" (second generation technology) that can handle voice calls as well as data downloads of around 200 kilobits per second (ps). The first village to receive the telecom services was Mayange, Rwanda in October 2007.

 

The Millennium Villages are located in hunger "hotspots" characterised by chronic hunger, a high prevalence of disease, limited medical care and a severe lack of infrastructure. By extending the mobile network to people who would not normally be a priority for mobile phone firms, this project has the potential to empower marginalised populations. The arrival of mobile phones can also stimulate entrepreneurship as people discover how the new technology can lead to new services and solutions.