African Virtual Learning Centre in Science
This site is about content on an e-learning environment. Instructors now have the opportunity to utilise the e-learning technology to upload courses on the Internet. Students on the other hand will access these courseware and enjoy a flexible learning experience.
Research has shown that:
• E-learning is a viable mode of delivery in African Universities.
• E-learning is well accepted by students and staff.
• Well designed e-learning content enhances learning.
• Content development - needs commitment from instructors.
• Instructor availability to deal with student queries is crucial
This site is dedicated to the advancement of education on the contenent of Africa. We believe that by embracing new technologies and E-learning, the education system in Africa can be drastically improved. We are not alone in this belief. Our site is but a small part of a growing network of organizations with the same goal; improving education.
Among all these organizations, there are three that deserve special recognition. one is UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a great organization that relizes the capcity for science and education to bring peace to the world. One of UNESCO's ongoing projects in Africa is The African Virtual Campus. The African Virtual Campus is developing a network of fully operational E-learning national centres across Africa – one per country – by 2012. This Internet-based network will be used for large-scale student and teacher training. To learn more about UNESCO and what they are doing in Africa, please visit our UNESCO page or follow the above links to their official site.
The other is eLearning Afrrica. It is an annual conference about Elearning In Africa. It is dedicated to providing better education through out Africa. These conferences are attended by E-earning manufacturers, suppliers and service providers, development agencies, NGOs, IGOs, governement institutions, as well as Ministries of education from various countries.
And, last but not least is ANSTI, the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions. ANSTI is an organ of cooperation that embraces African institutions engaged in University level training and research in the fields of science and technology. Founded in January 1980, through the financial support of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Germany, the network has grown over the years to become an effective institution for the development of human resource capacity in the fields of Basic and Engineering Sciences.
To-date it has 109 member institutions in thirty five (35) countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This puts ANSTI in a powerful position to advertise, coordinate and implement various programme activities for various international agencies.
The original aim of ANSTI which has remained unchanged over the years, was to develop active collaboration among African scientific institutions so as to promote research and development in areas of relevance to the development of the region. ANSTI emphasizes the pooling of resources available in the region so as to provide quality training and research in various scientific disciplines.
We believe that this pooling of resoufces can be best achived through E-learning.