ICT lessons from Rwanda

MK254 · 2014-10-07T17:18:26+00:00

Belinda Japhet When it comes to the effective use of information technologies in education in Africa, Rwanda has been silently and stealthily leading the way over the past two/three years. My opinion still holds, a green laptop in the hands of every African child does not make an educated continent. But there's just something more grounded and determined about the amalgamation of education and ICTs in Rwanda. A recent partnership between the country's development board and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has brought about what seems to be a trigger switch in the country-digital library plan. It's nothing out of the ordinary really these are just learning centres where people, especially students, are able to gain access to information through internet-based platforms. The centres are equipped with the latest miniaturised computer laptop tablets. The period between 2011 and 2012 saw the opening of 30 digital villages which allow students and general online users to access uninterrupted flow of information, through open source libraries around the world. For example, a little school by the name of Sonrise has been equipped with 300 state-of-the-art computer tablets and 400 Nook tablets were distributed in 2012. A renowned computer celebrity Mr Gaylord Layton, who is the founder of Rwanda Leadership Foundation is the main donor of the digital reader Nooks. With slightly over 1,200 students, 50 per cent of the student population are orphaned survivors of the 1994 Genocide. Computer lessons at the school run right from lower primary to senior high school. Mr Gaylord intends to propel Sonrise School to become the best ICT model in Africa. So what exactly are these schools and their students doing with all this information, how are they using ICTs to improve the standard of their education and making their learning process more fun and effective? This is really a difficult question to answer, and not only for developing countries, America (let's call it a 1st world country for the sake of argument), is itself just grappling with the initial, shaky steps of marring technology and education. But there are results all over the world; Rwanda's Code.rw is the perfect example of the successful use of ICT based learning. The project was developed by the Young ICT Entrepreneurs in the ICT Chamber with a sole aim of getting students to integrate technology across the curriculum to fully engage them and improve academic outcomes. An article on newtimes.co states that the initiator of the project and top developer, Ildephonse Mungwarakarama, says using technology in learning projects helps students learn how to express themselves and actively participate in their own development. "These tech clubs are helping to attract tomorrow's talents, prepare the future workforce, develop students' ability to work in teams, communicate and present ideas in a formal setting," he says. Basically the project involves a number of students who come together, form a club and then sign up on code.rw. The students must have a project and their activities registered on the site. Time after time, students get training on how to develop viable products, clearly understand the market and their clients as well as connect with experienced companies and clients they couldn't have otherwise reached. Through code.rw and Klab community, the tech clubs receive professional guidance, coaching and tools to use in all completion (CD of video covering all technology used in Rwanda, mentors in analyses, support online and phone). According to Mungwarakarama, the second phase of the project will be attracting investment for the projects on the site, where investors will be looking at the details of the projects uploaded and seeing which of them progresses well or which of them is giving quick return on investment. Source: The Citizen TECH THOUGHTS: ICT lessons from Rwanda - Success - thecitizen.co.tz

Thread starter MK254
Start date Oct 7, 2014

MK254

JF-Expert Member

Oct 7, 2014

jMali

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