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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
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January 2007 |
Africa University develops e-learning plans, officials say
E-learning will enable the university to reach out to several African countries. |
MAPUTO, Mozambique (UMNS) - United Methodist-related Africa University is on an e-learning threshold to become the pan-African institution it was created to be, school officials told United Methodist bishops.
Throughout the United Methodist Council of Bishops' Nov. 1-6 meeting, information technologists from Africa University provided a glimpse of how distance education would work to reach and provide learning opportunities to areas of the continent.
The bishops saw how the university will use electronic learning methods as well as establish a virtual university on campus. E-learning will enable the university to reach out to several African countries in its initial phases, including Mozambique, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, according to Nodumo Dhlamini, the university's director of communication technology.
Dhlamini said electronic learning, which is the use of current information technologies in the delivery of teaching and learning, has always been at the heart of the information and technology strategy at Africa University.
"We face the usual challenges of lack of requisite infrastructure, access to computers and connectivity," she added. "This cannot deter us from our goal of setting up distance learning."
Connectivity, however, remains a major challenge in Africa, with governments giving their major priorities to basic provision of health care, water and sanitation and education. Information technologies also are facing strict regulatory controls, she said.
Representatives from the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry canvassed areas of Maputo and outlying environs to find a location for a satellite link or campus that would enable distance education to begin in Mozambique. The search is still under way.
For more information, log on to www.africau.edu.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008