A Good Farmer Should Not Complain of His/Her Tools: Using A Hybrid E-Learning Approach at The ICT University to Reach Thousands in Developing

Nations

Prof. Victor W. A. Mbarika(Ph.D.)ICT Consultant / Endowed Professor, SUBR

President, The ICT UniversityFounder: International Center for Information Technology and Development

Southern University and The ICT UniversityBaton Rouge, USA

Presented at: e/merge 2012(Research/Projects Funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA,

Microsoft, Louisiana Board of Regents, and other private donors)

Global Image vs Reality?

HIV/Aids

starvation

dictatorships corruption

kidnapping

► Source: Mohoney (Intel, 2009)

Population still rising, but reaching<2% growth rates

0.0

500000.0

1000000.0

1500000.0

2000000.0

2500000.0

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

3.0%

3.5%

popannualized growth

>500M people below 25 years old

Source: United Nations. World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision

How can people live like this in Africa?

Zimbabwe 90.7% Equatorial Guinea 87%South Africa 86%Kenya 85.1%Namibia 85%Congo 83.8%Libya 82.6%Botswana 81.2%Zambia74.8%Cameroon 71%

Source: CIA World Factbook. 2010

As a reference:China 90.9%, Brazil 88.6%Turkey 87%,India 60.1%,

Literacy. Some progress

200M+ population in countries with 80%+ literary rateDefinition: age 15 and over can read and write

Democracy: Some progress?

Sources: Democracy and Elections in Africa, Lindberg 2007, Pg 144.‘Freedom in the World 2007‘ and Jacob Lundberg

But it is important to note that at the time of writing 47 out of the 48 sub-Saharan states are in one stage or another of planning or holding de jure participatory, competitive and legitimate elections

Sustained growth during downturn

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

-2.0

-1.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

Africa GDP growth history and forecast

Source: Global Insights. September 15th 2009

US Western Europe

LatinAmerica

Asia Africa India China

46% 31% 50% 71% 79% 168% 293%

GDP growth in the last 15 years (‘94-’09E):

Internet&PC

Digital divide

Broadband.

HealthcareEducation

Construction, Transportation

Industry

EnergyEntertainment/

Media

Internet for every person

Accelerated by downturn: ICT as an Economic Engine

Finance

First steps on ICT: Mobile phones

Ongoing step 2: Africa undersea cables 2011

Seacom EASSyTEAMs

WACSMainOne

GLO1 ACE

Cost (USDmillion)

650 265 130 600 240 150 ???

Length (km)

13,700 10,000 4,500 14,000 7,000 9,500 14,000

Capacity Tb/s

1.28 1.4 0.120 -1.28

3.84 1.92 640 1.92

Completion

July 2009

June 2010

Sept 2009

Q2 2011

Q4 2010

Nov 2009

2011

R 1.8m R 0.8mCost of an STM-1 155Mbps circuitLondon-Johannesburg

Source: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/9030.html

Positive Impacts► African urban elites are the most impacted by the Internet.

► E-mail is certainly the most popular used in cyber cafés for communication since international telephone rates are very high.

► Telemedicine“…Ever since my eye swelled up, I’ve gone to church three times a week to pray for a cure. As soon as I’m better I’m going back to thank God. I always knew He would send a way to make me better—I just didn’t know that it was going to be from London…but this afternoon I went to London.” Diagnosis and treatment Transfer of medical data Information on disease control

► Hence ICT University’s Diploma in Telemedicine and E-Health► Accounting Certifications Exams with a focus on AIS

Association for Chartered Systems Accountants, USA Association for Chartered Systems Managers, USA

► www.acsausa.org

Positive Impacts(Cont’d)

►Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Briefly, FOSS programs are programs whose licenses give

users the freedom to run the program for any purpose, to study and modify the program, and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified program free of charge. African Tertiary Education institutes could use and benefit from the FOSS. These software are the most effective learning Management Systems (LMS).

Reduces cost Improves interactivity between content, students and

teachers Helps to keep records of lecturers and students Makes module materials available every time students need

them Improves communication between students and lecturer

and among the students themselves.

Examples of selected FOSS at African Universities

Example of FOSS

Selected African Universities Implementing FOSS

Moodle (www.moodle.com) The ICT University, Mozambican UniversityRhodes University

Sakai (www.sakaiproject.org) University of Cape Town University of South Africa

Atutor (www.atutor.ca) Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,

Claroline (www.claroline.net) Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU)

Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities(AVCNU 2011)

Positive Impacts(Cont’d)► E-facilitated marketing or e-commerce

► E-Democracy

► E-Agriculture

► E-Banking/Money Transfer– M-Pesa

► E-Government

► E-ATCAM– Digitizing Africa’s Traditional Medicines/Herbs

► E-Learning

Where do we Go From Here?

ICT TRANSFER TO Africa: EMERGING ISSUES FROM CURRENT KNOWLEDGE

Issues of ICT Transfer in Resource-Poor Settings

Other Issues Specific to Africa’s ICT Academia

► Huge Mistake in Perceptions that ICT is a COST and not a PROFIT center. Hence: ICT Managers are more of SUPPORT and not STRATEGIC staff Some University Administrators believe ICTs should come cheap

► Hence ICT-U’s Strategic ICT Management Certification Course

► VCs and top academic leaders must be IT Champions for the others to follow

Hence ICT-U’s Strategic ICT Academic Management Certification Course

► Give a chance to the younger generation that are ICT driven– Strategic positions!!! Don’t place people over them that will kill their creativity

► Grants, Grants, Grants– Strategize and partner with foreign(trusted) colleagues to co-develop proposals for funding from their countries

Hence ICT-U’s Grant Writing Workshops

Other Issues Specific to Africa’s ICT Academia(Cont’d)

• Dissertation/Thesis-Only doctoral research in Africa– Does that prepare doctoral students? While this may work in some “western” countries, does it work for our African Universities?

• Hence ICT-U’s Masters and Doctoral Degree Programs– Two Academic Paper Submission per year for 3 Years

• Balancing doctoral work with full time teaching– A typical trend in our African Universities.

• Hence ICT-U’s ICT Research Bootcamp

• Watch out for research on “ICT Potentials…”

Unique Intensive Training Opportunity

► The ICT Bootcamp: October 17-November 28, 2011 and May 14 – June 25, 2012

► See: www.ictuniversity.org► The ICT-U/SUS Boot Camp will:

1. Provide trainees with the necessary mentoring to develop their thesis/dissertation and journal

articles for publication 2. Provide trainees access to huge online databases of thousands of journals and e-books. 3. Provide intensive training on research methods under the one-on-one guidance of senior professors at ICT-U and The Southern University System (Major Areas of research in, E-health, E-Business, E-commerce  E-Agriculture,  E-democracy, Public Policy, Change Management and  Project Management and Implementation.) 4. Provide hands-on training in the use of statistical applications for research. 5. Provide training in developing grant proposals to sustain the trainee’s personal and institutional

research activities. 6. Provide E-Learning course development and implementation training to University lecturers. 7. Organize a three day educational bus tour around the south eastern region of the United States

to selected major universities► Application deadline is March 15, 2012 for the fall Boot Camp► Email: bootcamp@ictuniversity.org

Enrolment of over 5,500 in just two years Phone: +1 225 612-4643

FAX: +1 225 612-6994 Email: admissions@ictuniversity.org Website: http://www.ictuniversity.org

Degree Programs and Certification

ICT-U FOCUSES ON LOCALLY RELEVANT

KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND NOT JUST KNOWLEDGE CONSUMPTION

Certificate Courses Diploma in Health Information Technology Certificate in Executive Leadership in Technology Certificate in E-learning

Bachelors Degree Program Top-up BSc. Degree

Masters and Ph.D. Programs i-MBA (International MBA) Masters in ICT Ph.D. in ICT

ICT Literacy– A MustExample of ICT University and Southern University

Partnership with The Government of India

Public – Private Partnership

Offering Globally Competitive ICT enabled Educational Courses on a Global Basis using KRPXG™

 

Titanic Personalities of the Twentieth Century

With Message for the Entire HumanityQuality Education for Masses is the Key to Development

Dr Martin Luther King JrDr Babasaheb Ambedkar

OMKAR

Open Matrix Knowledge Advancement Resource

Dr Manoj SoniHon’ble Vice ChancellorDr Babasaheb AmbedkarOpen UniversityGujarat

OMKAR is humble tribute of the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University Gujarat to these illustrious leaders. Both Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Dr Martin Luther King gave priority to access to quality education as the key to upliftment of the downtrodden and deprived masses OMKAR is a dream to ensure that world class education is available to all:

At a time and a place of one own choiceIn language of one own choiceIn an easy to understand format OMKAR is a dream to give wings to aspirations of all regardless of class, caste, creed, language or religion

ICITD Websites to Visit► www.mbarika.com► www.icitd.com-- Open to short term visits► www.ictuniversity.org-- Open for faculty

affiliates► www.ajisonline.com -- Currently receiving

applications for service on the editorial board

► www.ictforafrica.org --Currently receiving papers for the Harare(Zimbabwe) ICT for Africa conference, 2013

► CONTACT: victor@mbarika.com

THANK YOU

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