::eLearning Fundi::

James

Reading a commentary by Mamphela Ramphele on "Destroying seeds of our future" in last weekend's Sunday Times, leaves me worried about the future of a nation because of the dumbing down of education. This phenomenon of dumbing down education was reported in the US - that to some commentators started in the 1960s, it has hit most other countries. It leaves me worried not because it started in a far of continent and it reached the shores of Africa, but because of the rates and levels it has hit us. Worried because there does not seem to be any concerted effort to immediately rectify the problem. Worried because, even when the problem is known, there is a person, a legacy or an ideology to blame instead of facing the beast head on. Worried because tomorrow, the "dumbened" generation will soon be making decisions on how to dumb down the education system even further (because the benchmark is shifting, always lower that it was after a very short time).

I am sure no one would like to be treated by a doctor who was taught by a quake (some of the teachers who taught Matriculants in 2008 in South Africa claimed they would have failed the mathematics paper themselves), or a doctor who failed a subject and got 10 free marks to make him pass (like the marks adjustments done by the Exams body in South Africa). Equally, I would hate to be the unfortunate resident of a house whose architect, engineer, and quantity surveyor arbitrarily added some 10 points to the building to make sure that the measures subscribed to are met without considering the consequences of that action.

For once, I fail to understand what is the obsession with the a "pass rate". What is it anyway if a young person who has been "passed" cannot demonstrate the minimum characteristics set for the pass? What happens when such young persons go out there, based on their pass rates, and end up being more frustrated because life does not always add you 10 free points to succeed?

History be our judge.

Tags: South Africa | Matric | dumbing down | young people | Africa | US | Education

James

This week there are two articles on the funding of Higher Education (HE) that have caught my attention. One of the articles talk of a professor who has just discovered a “Better way to cut up of the pie” in South Africa, while the other one talks of a noble way of “Paying universities to lower their standards” in Italy. What is particularly interesting, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, the Vice Chancellor of one University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa considers it pretence in the government approach of seeing the 23 universities in South Africa as the same and using the same blurred vision to dictate their kind of funding. He advocates for the recognition of the “different histories, different capacities, different resources, and different visions and missions” each of the 23 universities in funding them.

What is intriguing is his argument for more funding for Humanities than science in South African universities. (This is not only a surprise because he is of a medical background, but also for the prominence science is being given for the economic development in Africa. I would argue also, given the AIDS scourge a person of his background would advocate for more funding for medical research especially in HIV/AIDS and TB). That is not to say that humanities (or social sciences) are lesser than the natural sciences. Indeed his proposal looks more proactive than reactive on one angle – that we need to first deal with our social and individual needs before we turn onto other areas like science. That is not to say I agree with his point of view. I would add that South Africa as a country as without doubt the rest of Africa need a proactive approach to the funding of projects and by extension higher education. That is, our reason for funding more humanities projects than science and technology projects in higher education should not be based on factors like the number of Nobel prizes we have in humanities as compared to sciences. Neither should it be pegged on the areas that we are good at, we need to explore new and diverse galaxies to find if there can be better life.

Just because South Africa is good in “international mediation, non-racism, reconciliation, justice, equity and even xenophobia” we should focus all our funding there. In fact, we can use that as a step towards exploring other areas like sciences or even medical research that is of betterment of the citizenry of this country and Africa as a whole. What the old professor seemed to ignore is that, despite what we can achieve in humanities, at the end of the day the “hungry child is going to aim to become a great scientist” not because there is lots of humanities in universities, but because there is food. In a time like his where everyone in the world has been alerted of a looming food shortage (although some are saying is artificial and speculative while others attribute it to the use of foodstuff in fuel/power generation), I would have expected the professor to advocate for some funding in food and agricultural research to feed the “hungry child”. Humanities won’t feed the child. In addition, it is time we changed the meaning of struggle from the mere creation of “a humane and just society... largely [based] on humanities”. Rather, we should transform the struggle to creating opportunities for the populace. I am yet to see a humane and just society where a section of it is destitute and hungry. While the iconography, native knowledge (and I may add wisdom), and unique history should be explored further, wide and deep, it should not be at the expense of science and technology. Well maybe I did miss a point.

In Italy, the economics are working. Universities (just like in SA incidentally) get subsidies from government based on number of graduates who “pass” through a university system. In this system, government “funds allocated to a university increase with the total number of full-time equivalent students (FTE), which is defined as the ratio between the number of exams passed and the number of exams that students should have taken.” The major concern of this approach is the allure of making more money by lowering academic standards. This especially becomes a problem because all universities are meant to be autonomous and offering their own examinations. In fact, as Professors Manuel F. Bagues and Mauro Sylos Labini and Ms Natalia Zinovyeva report, “graduates from universities with a high relative number of FTE students tend to do significantly worse in the labour market.” While this might be attributed to the high number of graduates the mills are producing (as compared to those graduating from high-grading university), there should be mechanisms of regulating the quality of academic offerings and standards at universities. Perhaps such mechanisms are favouring universities that “produce higher value added”, using “system based on external examiners” and “foster[ing] reputation effects in the market for higher education”. The latter could be done by “publicising data about how graduates of different universities and disciplines perform in the labour market.”

Let us see which university publishes data on employability of its graduates first!

Tags: funding | government | Higher education | Italy | South Africa | UKZN | university

James

Day 3: (14 responses received).
Are you an academic in higher education? Are you from or working in any of the following countries (Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe)? If so, you are invited to participate on an eLearning adoption survey. Click here to participate. A guide on how to go about filling in the questionnaire is available here.

Day 28@1203 28 June 2008

Number of responses: 74

Number of valid responses: 38

Number of saved responses: 6

Countries represented: 11

Universities represented: 20

Day 13@1505 13 June 2008

Number of responses: 59

Number of valid responses: 30

Number of saved responses: 5

Countries represented: 8

Universities represented: 11

Day 9@1525 09 June 2008

Number of responses: 29

Number of valid responses: 16

Number of saved responses: 1

Countries represented: 6


Day 3@2017 03 June 2008

Number of responses: 14

Number of valid responses: 6

Number of saved responses: 1

Countries represented: 5 (Kenya (2), Mozambique (1), Rwanda (1), South Africa (1) , Zimbabwe (1)).

Universities presented: 6 (University of Nairobi (1), Africa Nazarene University (1), National University of Rwanda (1), Stellenbosch University (1), Catholic University of Mozambique (1), National University of Science and Technology (1)).

Gender representation (6 Male, 0 Female).

More information also available on my homepage.

Tags: Angola | Botswana | Burundi | Higher education | Kenya | Lesotho | Malawi | Mozambique | Namibia | Rwanda | South Africa | Swaziland | Tanzania | Uganda | university | Zambia | Zimbabwe

James

Today I had a very interesting conversation with my friend from Sokoine University of Agriculture. The talk was about using just-in-time and and what I would adaptive technology for learning. He had ideas of how to use hand-held devices in elearning - especially because the people who own cellphones in Tanzania has increased tremendously over the last few years. This according to him would extend the reach of education to people who are diversely located. One of my reservations though on the use of hand-held devices for learning is the type and size of content. Can the cellphones be used to convey meaningful - and I mean significant content that can be used as learning material? In as much as every technology would bring along its limitations and challenges, I do not think the cellphones are yet evolved for the level of interactivity in content, that I would say can facilitate learning. That is not to say that they can not be used in learning. I believe they can, for example in sending out notices, reminders and any information that can be sent in short messages, urgently.

Tags: Digial Publications | digital | handhelds | eduvision | Computer for Schools | Kenya | South Africa | Sokoine University

James

Today I attended a function to launch the IADP International Association for Digital Publications' (IADP) Affordable Access Program for South Africa. The special guest at the function was the South African Minister for Education Naledi Pandor. Her speech touched on various issues of importance to education. However, she is like my dad who is neither a digital immigrant nor a digital native, maybe more advanced than my dad because she can use a computer. She said that earlier in parliament, the Minister for Finance had sent a missive to her asking her "Now that you are rolling out computers in schools, are you using Ubuntu?". She did not know what Ubuntu is, despite it being a household name here in South Africa. Luckily she had the local daily which, while she was scanning through she had seen Ubuntu being mentioned. She quickly opened it and read through and discovered that Ubuntu is a computer 'system'. With this vital knowledge, she sends a reply back to Trevor "Yes, my department is looking of ways of rolling out computers with Ubuntu". She say she thinks that the Finance Minister went home thinking that she knows what Ubuntu really was.

For my readers who are like the minister, Ubuntu is a linux-based operating system that is available as a free and open source software.

Do you use Ubuntu or any other free and open source software?

Tags: Digital Immigrant | Parliament | South Africa | Linux | Computer for Schools | Computers in Schools | Basic Education | Education | IADP | Minister of Education | Ubuntu | Digital Native

James

There is an anonymous comment on my blog "eLearning in Kenya Universities" to the effect "e-courses on CD courseware because we first got to resolve the big issue of content ownership. Lecturers seem to believe only in selling their courses and feel that they are not being paid for putting their course lectures in public domain". I agree with the author of the comment that Intellectual Property (IP) is a big issue especially when it comes to digital publishing. However, I do not agree with the notion that knowledge is a commodity that should be out there for auction to the highest bidder. In my earlier post, I mentioned that knowledge becomes power when its transferable, and can be used to improve and enrich lives. You are not powerful if you have the knowledge that you have intentionally hoarded. To put it into context, I will copy-n-paste blog I had done elsewhere on open access. Here it goes.

Open Access (OA) is resources or allowing resources to be openly (as opposed to closed, clandestinely held, or shut) available to users without restrictions or requirements for authentication or payment. OA initiatives ensure that any information that is deemed helpful to the society is opened up to the community.

From the scholarship point of view, the focus for the OA drive would be to have the all the academic articles published from renowned journals, and that researchers and scholars in the institutions need, be made openly accessible. There would be an incredible cost saving from the exorbitant prices imposed on the purchase or subscription to such journals. The money saved can be channeled to other uses. This can be made possible especially because most of the research publications are from research that has already been funded by other agencies. Achieving the OA from the scholarship point of view can be done by negotiating with the academics and researchers who publish those journals to openly avail them (divide and rule), or by negotiating with the publishers to publish the journals in OA.

What are the advantages that you gain as an individual by availing your materials for Open Access? I will give three reasons. One, you will be fulfilling your moral duty and obligation to the society for giving back to them. Recognising that the research that you undertook would not have been possible were it not of the society that was there. This is in the premise that there is no research that is done in a ‘vacuum’ or on an ‘island’ without people. Secondly, you are empowering others, who would otherwise not be. This in a way will create a fertile ground for you to do further research, and also get some feedback from more people who might have been looked out by lack of access to your research. Thirdly, you are fulfilling the very reason of your research – solving problems for humanity. By locking your research finding to the few who can afford the prices, you are propagating human problems that you claim to solve in your research. People who can not afford to get your solutions will seek solutions using other means thereby allowing unnecessary duplication of efforts and costs.

I maintain that providing open or free access to your course content empowers you, as you will get feedback, and it does not in anyway debar you. There are examples of Open Courseware Initiatives (OCI) that one can emulate. The widely refereed is the MIT. There is also a host of other organisations that have availed their materials openly and freely. Others have chosen to use the less restrictive licenses like the Creative Commons.

So do you have the knowledge power?

Tags: free courseware | Open Courseware | Coursware | Open Content | Free | South Africa | Africa | Kenya | MIT | OA | Open Access | OER | Open Educational Repositories | university | Universities

James

Why the name Fundi?

Fundi is a Zulu and Swahili word for an expert or specialist or a skilled craftsman. I have been in eLearning, in the context of Higher Educaiton both in the Kenya and South Africa. I have worked in many eLearning projects, and being a strong believer in my potential, I thing I rightly deserver the title eLearning Fundi. I believe that eLearning specifically in Higher Education in Africa is a reality that has come, that cannot be lightly wished off, that will test a Universities future success in terms of reaching out wider and newer markets. The sooner the Higher Learning institutions adopt and implement eLearning the better their chances for the future.

So what do the Higher Education institutions need to do? Lets engage in a creative discussion that would answer this question or more.

Tags: Teaching and Learning | Teaching | scholarship | learning materials | learning | colloquim | Africa | eLearning | Fundi | Higher education | Kenya | South Africa