Group items tagged

# The greatest need related to this topic is for existing knowledge and information to be delivered to the relevant people in charge of ICT in education initiatives in LDCs, as well as those (in donor agencies, NGOs and the private sector) who advise or contribute to such initiatives. Short workshops could be delivered to target countries preparing to scale up ICT in education initiatives to transmit such lesson learned. # What are successful examples of how ICTs have been introduced and maintained in schools? # What types of information must be provided to schools to aid in the introduction and maintenance of ICT-related equipment and to promote ICT-related instruction?

This handbook helps decision makers improve their abilities to: * Understand the complex relationships between ICT use, professional learning, the change process, types of TPD and classroom implementation so as to aid the development of requests for proposals (RFPs) that address these issues Recognize best practices and essential supports in the use of ICTs for TPD in order to evaluate proposals of national, regional, and local scale * Propose types of TPD and ICT implementations that can achieve specific objectives in relation to educational improvement * Identify cost considerations, potential partnerships, evaluation requirements and other factors essential to the planning of effective ICT-enabled TPD * Communicate effectively with researchers, representatives of NGOs, policymakers, donor-agency personnel, and others about the roles played by TPD and ICTs in educational reform

Villagers in the rural areas of Uganda that have no direct access to telecommunications have relied on village phone operators for their communications needs. Bringing information and communication technology (ICT) to rural and isolated communities in Uganda has been made possible through an MTN and Grameen Foundation project established in 2003. This project facilitates the purchase of specialised mobile phones by rural entrepreneurs through microfinance loans to enable them to serve as village phone operators in areas with no telecommunication infrastructure. The Grameen Foundation acts as a facilitator between the telecom and microfinance sectors. To date, close to 7,000 new village phone operators have set up business in Uganda.

# At first glance, content issues related to ICT use in education might seem to some to be of minor importance. After all, access to the Internet (to cite one example) means access to an entire world of educational resources. Access to the Internet provides access to seemingly endless sets of educational resources -- and indeed it does. However, experience shows that there is a dearth of educational resources in a format that makes them easily accessible and relevant to most teachers and learners in LDCs, especially as they relate to a given country's current curriculum. # Experience tells us that, unless electronic educational resources are directly related to the curriculum, and to the assessment methods used to evaluate educational outcomes (especially standardized testing), lack of appropriate and relevant educational content is actually an important barrier to ICT use in schools.

Key questions: * How are ICTs currently being used in the education sector in Africa, and what are the strategies and policies related to this use? * What are the common challenges and constraints faced by African countries in this area? * What is actually happening on the ground, and to what extent are donors involved?

ICT knowledge should be targeted to the poor