E-LEARNING AS A MEANS FOR OPENING ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN

AFRICA Keynote

4th E-Learning Innovations Conference & Expo (ELICE), 2016

Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD)12 – 16 September 2016

Prof. Rose A. MwonyaVice-Chancellor, Egerton Universityvc@egerton.ac.ke

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Presentation Overview• Who is Prof. Mwonya?• Advances in world technology• Kenya Local Technology initiatives• Massive Open Online Courses [MOOCs]• Higher education in Africa • E-learning in African Universities• The increasing demand for higher education in

Africa: is e-learning the solution? • Quality in e-learning • University Webometrics: Can we trust them? • Questions/comments

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Prof. Rose Mwonya

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Advances in world technologyThe Air-bus testing (London)

The self-driving car testing (Singapore)

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Local Technology initiatives

• iHuB (Nairobi) – mobile apps• MPESA (safaricom – money transfer)• UBER (taxi service)• Jijipay (Nairobi city county parking fee

payment)• Egerton University e-learning platform• Whoova conference appNext we need to solve our traffic problems now!

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The UBER mobile app (https://www.uber.com/cities/nairobi/)

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Massive Open Online Courses [MOOCs]

Open courses offered through 2 main platforms:

– www.coursera.org– Edx

How do you teach 10,000 students in a class?This is the rationale for MOOCs

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Higher education in Africa

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What about us in Africa? • Gender disparities in Higher ed. In favour

of male especially in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics).

• Gender stereotyping in education. • Synergies lacking between African

universities in the development of Open, Distance and e-learning

• Are African universities living up to ODEL dream?

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To sum up…• “…technology and schools have not

always been the best friends. History is littered with failed attempts to “revolutionize” learning through innovative technology. Fortunately, these struggles have taught us one very important lesson: In order for technology to improve learning, it must “fit” into students’ lives…not the other way round…” Clarke (2002, pg.1)

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E-learning in African Universities

• African Virtual University (the First attempt at e-learning)

• University of South Africa (UNISA) – Has one-third of all learners in South Africa

• All universities are making an attempt at ODEL (open Distance & e-Learning)

• ODEL features in most strategic plans of Higher Ed. Institutions (HEIs)

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The state of ICT infrastructure in African universities is:

"too little, too expensive, and poorly managed … the average African university has bandwidth capacity equivalent to a broadband residential connection available in Europe, [and] pays 50 times more for their bandwidth than their educational counterparts in the rest of the world.(Farel, G. 2007) •  

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The increasing demand for higher education in Africa: is e-learning the

solution?

Characterized by large numbers seeking admission. Who is demanding education? (Military, police, teachers, returning learners, Why? (Personal fulfilment, promotion at work, increased earnings, employer requirement).The answer is YES!

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Quality in e-learning • Nobody wants mediocre education for

their children or themselves. • The user measures quality and doesn’t

use any tools to do so. • When you eat in a restaurant you don’t go

there with a questionnaire! • Someone else cannot tell you about the

quality of service/food. Same with education.

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University Webometrics: Can we trust them?

Web address Rank in 2016https://www.4icu.org/top-universities-africa/

Top ten from South Africa; UoN – 14, Makerere – 18, Egerton – 22, KU – 30, Moi – 35, JKUAT - 48

http://webometrics.info/en/Africa

Top Univ. of Cape Town; UoN – 8, Makerere – 11, Egerton – 871, KU – 29, Moi – 52, JKUAT - 64

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/best-universities-in-africa-2016

UoN – 8, Makerere – 4, Egerton – , KU – , Moi – , JKUAT -

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Which way for e-learning?The choice is yours

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Thank you!

Questions/Comments?

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