GriotNet and Kaleidoscope

Introduction

Background

• Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, UK
• Centre Interdisciplinaire sur les Valeurs, les Idées, les Identités et les Compétences en éducation et en formation, France
• InWEnt – Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung GmbH, Germany
• CIBIT Consultants/Educators, The Netherlands
• Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble 1, France
• Centre for Social Innovation, Austria
• Universität Hannover, Germany
• Co-ordination partner: Audiovisual Technologies, Informatics and Telecommunications bvba

The rational for our efforts was that to date we assess the links between the development community and ICT in general and the European R&D in this field in particular to be weak and at best ad hoc. The consequences are manifold:

• Lack of information on European R&D developments that could impact the development sector, and subsequently, unawareness of potential collaborating partners
• Loss of opportunities for European businesses and organisations specialising in the field of technology enhanced learning
• Lack of cohesion resulting in a duplication of efforts
• Lack of understanding of the specific needs of the end-users in Sub-Saharan Africa by the European R&D community.

• Promote the exchange of information about the appropriate use of innovative technologies and methods in learning
• Integrate European R&D efforts in the domain of education, into the international arena
• Use European expertise to build capacity in the appropriate use of information technologies for enhanced learning and e-learning in developing countries, particularly in Sub Saharan Africa, where ICT can be an important lever to help the continent leapfrog in the 21st Century, to help these counties meet the Millenium Development Goals, and fight against poverty and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria.

• The establishment of a network of partners who support the objectives of the initiative
• Integration with existing conferences and workshops
• Setting up an Information Exchange mechanism
• Creation of a Technology Opportunity Watch team

Current plan of action

• the community of European researchers active in the area of TEL as represented by Kaleidoscope
• the community of researchers in (sub-Saharan) Africa active in the area of TEL
• the community of organisations including NGOs, funding agencies, and donor organisations in (sub-Saharan) Africa and in Europe who are keen to exploit developments in the area of ICT as a means to combat poverty with a particular focus on the area of education and training.

We participate in networks and dissemination events linked to ICT in Development and at the same time try to keep a close watch on European R&D activities in this area in an effort to bring together like-minded people interested in this topic. One such event will be the ICT4D workshop being organised with InWEnt, GTZ and DED – essentially the "ICT for Development" community in Germany – immediately before Online Educa in Berlin on November 30 this year.

Another such event is certainly the Kaleidoscope symposium taking place in July which offers an important opportunity to identify the level of interest in this topic within the European R&D Community, accordingly an afternoon session has been created within the symposium seminar on July 6 entitled "Kaleidoscope meets Africa" Workshop to see how the objectives of the Griotnet network might be realised through a close co-operation with Kaleidoscope.

What we have agreed is that Mathy Vanbuel gives an opening presentation in this session at the Oberhausen Symposium. Mathy has experience both of the European TEL R&D Community and a broad overview of current developments as well as experience in the ICT for Development sector being actively engaged in projects in this area in (Sub-Saharan) Africa. Broadly speaking his presentation will cover the following topics:

• What is the current level of take-up of ICT in Education and Training in Africa?
• What are generally the issues met in implementation of technology to enhance education and learning?
• Where can ICT be helpful in providing support to the education and training effort in Sub-Saharan Africa? Good examples of direct take up of research outcomes.
• What developments taking place in Europe could have particular resonance in the development community? Where are the main interests?

Session outcomes

First of all, we in ATiT would commit to circulating a report about the session, the ensuing discussion and possible actions to the full list of GriotNet partners and supporting organisations. This will be in the form of a short notice addressed directly to the GriotNet contact person with a request for further dissemination within their organisations. It will also be circulated to those attending the Oberhausen session who have expressed an interest in being included. It will provide specific details where appropriate of European R&D activities in which the participation of those active in ICT4D are invited to join by providing, for example, user feedback, possible test-beds and piloting experience input, etc. for European R&D activities in this field.

Secondly, we will launch during the session the idea of doing a small study into how European research in the field of TEL might be applied in Africa. Such a study would aim to identify a number of specific European developments in this field which could be successfully applied in (sub-Saharan) Africa and would identify those organisations interested in collaborating to exploit such opportunities in both Africa and Europe. This study would take the form of a six-month investigation by a small team of researchers who would carry out largely desk-based research informed by European developments potentially of value largely proposed by the Kaleidoscope community and by ICT4D agencies and organisations working closely with education and trianing communities in (sub-Saharan) Africa. Part of the study would be to carry out a form of 'reality check' with both communities, is what is required and requested by the (sub-Saharan) African Education and Training community feasible within given economic and other restraints? And at the same time to check whether those developments thought to be of value by the European R&D community are really worthwhile in the (sub-Sahara) African context. A particular aspect of the study would be to find common interests amongst the European TEL research community and similar organisations in (sub-Sahara) Africa. Discussion about this study and its terms of reference will include a discussion on potential funding support.