agenda design

1449 Participants from 83 countries – almost 80% of whom were African - took part in the 3rd eLearning Africa Conference which took place in the Accra International Conference Centre from 28-30 May. Wednesday 28th of May saw a well attended pre-conference programme with many workshops and sessions, the conference exhibition also opened on Wednesday and attracted lots of visitors.

On Thursday, May 29th the event was officially opened by His Excellency Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. Speakers in the Opening Plenary included The Hon Prof Dominic K. Fobih, Minister for Education, Science and Sports, Ghana and Prof Osei Darkwa, Ghana Telecom University College, Ghana, who talked about “eLearning, the New Educational Paradigm, and the Promise of Open and Distance Learning”. George Siemens, Lecturer at University of Manitoba Learning Technologies Centre, Canada, who is one of the most innovative thinkers in the field of eLearning presented his thoughts on “A Narrative of Learning for a World Without Boundaries”; Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director ICT, Science and Technology Division with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia, gave a very interesting presentation about the UN-led practical strategies and programmes that will help lead Africa towards the realisation of digital inclusion: “Creating the Enabling Environment for eLearning in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities”; finally Kuno Jung, CEO of the Swiss eLearning technology provider Eduvision, outlined the educational vision of his company: “The Lost Footage of Back to the Future Part II: The Classrooms in 2015”.

Thursday's Opening Plenary marked the kick-off for two more days of sessions, discussions and debates around ICT-supported education and training in Africa. 315 speakers and chairpersons from 54 countries offered an abundance of opportunities for participants to learn, share and network with colleagues from all over the world. With 4 plenary sessions, 66 sessions in 11 parallel conference strands, 48 demonstrations and best practice examples, 15 Nnobia networking sessions, 14 pre-conference events and a number of exciting new features, eLearning Africa 2008 was an important landmark in pan-African capacity building for ICT-enhanced education and training.

See the conference website for more information: www.elearning-africa.com

ATiT staff recently supported the 2nd African ICT Best Practices Forum held in Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso from 21-23 April. The objective of the event, which took place over 3 days, was to provide a practical way for government officials from across Africa to share their own specific experiences and demonstrate practical examples of successful technology solutions in their respective countries, ultimately to replicate them elsewhere. This Forum attracted about 320 delegates from 39 countries represented, for more information, visit the Forum web site at http://www.africanictbestpractices.net

One of the highlights of Online Educa Berlin this year was the lively and somewhat controversial discussion that took place on Thursday 29th November between Andrew Keen and Prof. Sugata Mitra, chaired by Harold Elletson. Sugata's belief borne out through his extensive and very moving experiments in India that children with absolutely no prior knowledge of computers can make terrific strides in a short time with no support sent a very positive message to the more than 2100 people attending OEB this year. Meanwhile, Andrew set a lively debate in motion about a variety of ethical issues related to Web 2.0 and generated significant discussion and often very heated opposition.

On 27 November 2007, over 240 delegates gathered at Berlin's Technische Universitat (Technical University) for a an awards ceremony preceded by a keynote speech from Kaleidoscope's Scientific Manager, Sten Ludvigsen. The awards ceremony concluded the first day of the Kaleidoscope Symposium, a two day celebration, reflection and exploration of the major achievements of the Kaleidoscope project over four years.

All roads lead to Berlin on Wednesday 28th November for the annual Online Educa Berlin conference. With a packed agenda including several new elements, OEB07 looks set to break all previous records in terms of quality and participation. Poised to attract more than 2000 participants from 92 countries, its a good opportunity for us in ATiT to get togeher with old friends as well as meeting new people. Looking forward to seeing you there!

eLearning Africa 2008, takes place from May 28 to 30, 2008 in Accra, Ghana. This will be the 3rd International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, following highly successful conferences in Ethiopia (2006) and Kenya (2007). The deadline for receipt of proposals to actively play a role in the conference agenda is Friday, December 7, 2007. For more information, visit the conference web site http://www.elearning-africa.com/index.php

Synergy, Excellence, Value, Impact and Continuity…
Kaleidoscope, the EU Network of Excellence which brings together European teams in technology-enhanced learning, is organising a symposium on November 26 – 27, 2007 in the InterContinental in Berlin.
The registration for this high profile event is now open for non-Kaleidoscope members.

Online Educa Berlin, which will be held this year from the 29th of November to the 1st of December welcomes all proposals, suggestions and ideas for the conference agenda which are related to the main conference themes. The closing date for submission is the 29th of April 2006. Please check the Online Educa website for the submission guidelines and conference themes.

The 11th Online Educa Berlin Conference closed its doors on Friday 2 December after 4 days of workshops and presentations, attended by more than 1800 delegates from 73 countries. Visit the Online Educa Berlin 2005 website for more impressions and information.

The 10th edition of Online Educa Berlin, which took place from 1-3 December 2004, was a success: over 1700 registered participants from over 66 different countries representing all continents visited the conference. ATiT is responsible for putting together the programme of the conference.