Overview of DLDC
The site is intended for anyone who is involved or interested in distance learning (distant learning) or distance education in developing countries. It should be useful to students interested in learning by distance, to teachers interested in teaching by distance, or to people interested in research on distance education in developing countries.
It seeks to show how new ICTs - open educational resources, open source, Web 2.0, blogs, wikis, social networking, social bookmarking and other social software - can be used for online education (e-learning) to conduct classes online in distance courses. Or how such ICTs enable collaborative teaching. It also touches on some of the new ICT harware possibilities for online schools, such as wireless communication.
In particular, it is a resource for students wanting to obtain online training and online degrees, providing advice on a range of programmes. It has advice on studying at an online college or online university, e.g., learning styles, and even includes details of how students can obtain free online learning.
Select your particular interest, viz., student, teacher, researcher, using the tabs above the picture header.
You may also like to visit my other website: Online and Distance Learning
African universities 'face Internet challenges'
African universities are facing a new digital challenge - it is no longer access to the Internet that is the problem - it is its use, according to Jonathan Harle, programme officer for the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). In his report "Digital resources for research: a review of access and use in African universities" he explained that "With infrastructure and facilities steadily improving … addressing the use of, rather than access to, electronic resources should perhaps receive greater attention". Users must be given the skills to identify and locate what they need for their work," writes Harle. He says the ability of African scholars to publish and contribute information is critical to redressing the prevailing imbalance, where Africa is a consumer but not a contributor of information and knowledge. The priority is to invest time in training staff, particularly in information and communication technology and web skills.
A Vision of Students Today
Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University - a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. It is about students in the developed world with good connectivity, but the lessons are the same as regards the need to create active learning. And we have to stop using poor connectivity as an excuse for not changing things in the developing world.
Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Music by Try^d: http://tryad.org/listen.html
ICT, Education and Development
Regional economies and communities are facing increasing economic, social and cultural hardship in many parts of the world as economies adjust to the demands of the new orders of the information society.
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