Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Tue, 4 Sep
09:0009:30
09.3010:00
10:0010:30
10:3011:00
11:0011:30
11:3012:00
12:0012:30
12:3013:00
13:0013:30
13:3014:00
14:0014:30
14:3015:00
15:0015:30
15:3016:00
16:0016:30
16:3017:00
17:0017:30
17:3018:00
18:0018:30
18:3019:00
19:00-
Thu, 6 Sep
Plenary
Fri, 7 Sep
Coffee Break
Coffee Break
Panels
Panels
Lunch Break
Lunch Break
Lunch Break
Plenary
Plenary
Plenary
Coffee Break
Coffee Break
Workshops
Panels
Wed, 5 Sep
Plenary
Coffee Break
Plenary
Plenary
Registration*
Cocktail
Gala Diner
Enhance Learning
through Technology
Rwanda International Conference on Technology in Education
2012
SERENA Hotel Kigali, 5-7 September 2012
Program and Abstracts
Program and Abstracts of the Rwanda International Conference on Technology in Education 2012
Copyright 2012 by the Rwanda Education Board. All rights reserved.
Copyright and Reprint Permission
Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Libraries are permitted to photocopy beyond
the limit of national copyright law. Other copying, reprint, or reproduction request should be
addressed to Rwanda Education Board, - ICT in Education and ODeL Department P O Box: 3817
Kigali, Rwanda. Email: ricte2012@reb.rw
RICTE Logo by Brian Vanderpol (whiteoutdesign@gmail.com)
Conference Proceedings Editors: Norman Schrpel and Evode Mukama
Cover Art Emmanuel Bikorimana
-2-
Table of contents
Table of Contents
RICTE 2012 Organizing Committee
About RICTE
Practical information
10
12
14
Panel Abstracts
Wed, 5 Sep 2012, 15:30-17:00 Panel VI Technology in
education policy - (Plenary Room)
Thu, 6 Sep 2012, 11.00-12.30 Panel I Access and
accessibility (Meeting Room)
Thu, 6 Sep 2012, 11.00-12.30 Panel II Curriculum and
content (Auditorium)
Thu, 6 Sep 2012, 11.00-12.30 Panel III Innovation and
development (Delegate Room)
Thu, 6 Sep 2012, 11.00-12.30 Panel IV Professional
development for educators (Salon Priv)
Thu, 6 Sep 2012, 11.00-12.30 Panel V Monitoring and
evaluation (Muhazi)
Thu, 6 Sep 2012, 11.00-12.30 Panel VI Technology in
education policy (Plenary Room)
Thu, 6 Sep 2012, 11.00-12.30 Panel VII Access and
accessibility 2 (Imbehe)
16
-3-
16
20
24
27
30
34
37
41
43
46
50
55
59
63
65
69
72
75
77
81
83
-4-
-5-
In the Call for Papers of the 2012 themes we asked contributions to be guided
by the following questions:
What are the responsibilities of the private and the public sector?
-6-
About RICTE
The Rwanda International Conference on Technology in Education is an
international conference with the aim to provide a large number of leading
experts, from both the region and overseas, a forum for discussion and exchange
of information on research and development related to policy implementation,
access and accessibility, curriculum and content, professional development of
educators and monitoring and evaluation in the field of educational technology.
This will, in turn, provide valuable information to be translated into tangible
outcomes and/or collaboration initiatives for current technology in education
policies and programs especially in Rwanda and in Africa. The conference is the
first of its kind for Rwanda and is organized by the Ministry of Education of
Rwanda under the Rwanda Education Board (REB) with support of Higher
Learning Institutions.
Enhancing education quality and accessibility is one of the key strategies to
develop Rwanda from a subsistence farming economy to a middle-income
knowledge and skill-based society. As one of its main components of this
strategy, Rwanda is putting extensive efforts in the early stages of education,
especially in projects that use technology in order to guarantee that new
generations of Rwandans are prepared for 21st century challenges. Under the
leadership of H.E. the President Paul Kagame, Rwanda has developed "Vision
2020," a strategy to guide Rwandas development plans, along with the
Economic Development Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS), and in conjunction
with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and Education for All,
to reach this milestone. It is within this framework that Rwanda Education Board
has initiated RICTE as a forum for researchers, professionals, and other specialists
in the field of ICT in education to share ideas, strategies and views towards the
creation of a knowledge-based and technology-led society. The conference will
focus on research findings and projects, ideas, initiatives, policies, and in the
perspective that shared work, dialogue and experience from experienced
academics, policymakers and practitioners and those new to this forum and
community, will lead to further development and support for technology in
education. Convinced that education and Rwandan community integration into a
new social, economic and education dynamics is the key to progress, the people
of Rwanda, and the region at large, are being led to a promising stage of
development. For a more detailed background, please see: ricte.reb.rw
-7-
HP Inspiring Education
With 65 years' experience in education, HP is perfectly positioned to offer the
most innovative and accessible range of technological solutions for the
educational sector. HP Extended Offering provides educational institutions and
school systems with unique, total-value IT proposition that is specifically
designed to support and enhance learning, while keeping maintenance costs
low. We can help your clients find solutions and give them advice as to what best
fits their needs, with flexible and scalable solutions that fit their budget.
HP Classroom Manager
Versatile and easy-to-use software across multiple platforms for interactive
learning with advanced monitoring features.
HP Multi Seat Computing
Reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO) and power consumption with Multi
Seat computing. The HP Multi Seat Thin Client provides an interactive classroom
learning experience with a single PC for up to ten students and deployment is
plug-and play, for fast, easy setup.
-8-
HP Client Virtualization
This scalable, server-based educational solution allows a flexible yet complete
PC-like experience for students using HP Thin Clients. Content can be accessed
from anywhere, anytime, while your data stays securely on the server, reducing
exposure to threats. Help the environment with energy-efficient systems, and
reduce your TCO with simpler setup and maintenance.
Plan International
Plan International is a child-centered community development organization
working in 50 countries globally. The foundation of our organization is
sponsorship whereby individuals around the world sponsor children through a
monthly financial contribution. With their support, we work in communities to
improve on the livelihoods of youth and children through sponsoring their
education, infrastructure development, empowerment through income
generating activities, etc.
Plan international has been active in Rwanda since 2007; we operate in Eastern
and Southern province in Bugesera, Gatsibo and Nyaruguru Districts. We also
support national events that, in line with our vision and mission help reach youth
and children realize their full potential.
We believe that Education is the basis to break the cycle of poverty and Plan
International Rwanda has concentrated in that field. We work on issues related to
girls education to ensure transitioning to secondary education, retention,
completion of primary and secondary education. Innovation and technology in
education can help to promote not only access, but also quality of education as a
way of shaping a brighter future for Rwandan children.
Activities within Plan international Rwanda turn around four country programmes
namely Girls education, Early childhood care and development, Advocacy and
child rights and Youth empowerment. As the chair of the Rwanda Education
NGO coordination platform, Plan international Rwanda as an expanding
International NGO believes in partnership for greater impact in improving the
livelihoods of Rwandan children.
-9-
Practical information
Format of the conference
The conference is mixture of plenary sessions, panels, workshops and an
exhibition room:
Plenary: Plenary sessions are non-parallel sessions. The roundtable discussion
and the keynote addresses will be hosted within the plenaries.
Panels: The scientific committee of the conference clustered all presentations
into seven different panels, corresponding with the subthemes of the
RICTE2012.
Workshops: The conference hosts 6 workshops. The organizers expect to give
the conference a practical aspect and also attract other participants who might
be interested in attending one or more workshops. Invited experts from the
respected fields will organize the workshops. The maximum number of
participants is 25 in order to assure the interactivity and an atmosphere of
exchange and learning.
Exhibition room: The exhibition provides space for industry, developers and
programmers to present their products and solutions.
Registration and Reception desk
Registration takes place at Conference venue, at the entrance of the conference
center. All conference materials are handed out upon registration at the
registration desk. Registration to social activities also takes place at the
registration desk. Registration times are as follows:
Tuesday, 4th September 2012
14:00-17:30
Wednesday, 5th September 2012
07:00-19:00
Thursday, 6th September 2012
07:00-19:00
th
Friday, 7 September 2012
07:00-19:00
Upon registration you will get your conference badge and the conference
materials. Please wear the badge visibly at all times during the conference, entry
to the sessions is only possible with your badge. Please also ensure that all
invoices with regard to your conference participation are settled prior to the
beginning of the conference. If your invoice is marked as unpaid, the registration
process will take longer since we will request payment on-site.
-10-
Venue
RICTE will be held at the Kigali Serena Hotel located in the heart of Kigali just 10
kilometers from Kigali International Airport. The five-star Kigali Serena Hotel is
built around a polished granite atrium, which showcases the very best of
Rwandese cultural art. The hotel has one big conference hall and about other 6
small sized rooms reserved for sessions presentations.
-11-
you are very interested to hear a particular paper but do not wish to sit through
the whole workshop, we recommend you check with the session chair at the start
of the workshop to find out when the paper will actually be presented.
Let other know: post and tweet!
If you use a phone, tablet or laptop you can always check updates on the
program on the conference website ricte.reb.rw. But more than that you can
spread the word on what is happening at the conference by giving status
updates on your Facebook Page or by tweeting short information about the
session you are attending. The Twitter hashtag for the conference will be
#RICTE12. You can find the RICTE Facebook and Twitter page on the sites
/RwandaICTE.
Conference Team
There is a team of helpful staff, familiar with the program, the venue and
surrounding area, to which you can turn when in need of assistance. Conference
team members can be identified by their traditional clothes and t-shirts and by
their badges. If you cannot see a team member, please ask for help at the
reception desk in the foyer. In emergencies you can call the team leader Alexis
Nkurunziza on +250 78 636 2004.
-12-
Please be in the room at least 20 minutes before the session and check that all
the people you are expecting have arrived and uploaded their presentation
material on the computer connected to the projector. Every room has a roomminder, a member of the RICTE organizing team. Their job is to ensure the
session runs smoothly from a logistical point of view. Please contact them for any
kind of problem. At the start of the session, please make sure to introduce
everyone presenting in the session. How and where everyone sits is up to you. If
a speaker runs over the agreed time, please make sure to stop him/her after
giving sufficient warning. It is important to follow the speaking order given in the
conference program. If one or more of your speakers do not turn up before the
session please alert the room-minder. The conference program team is
constantly checking who has arrived and who has not. In the cases of last-minute
cancellation, you will be contacted by the conference program manager and
either a replacement speaker will have been found or you will have extra time for
discussions.
Please remember that the audience is a very mixed, all with different levels of
experience. Many will be attending the session to gather information on a
specific topic, while others may be truly experts in the area. Please encourage all
speakers and panelists to stay till the end. Very often members of the audience
are interested in speaking privately to those presenting and their only
opportunity is once the session is over. If you finish early, and there is no more
interaction forthcoming from the audience, then you might finish the session.
We have provided all speakers with clear instructions about what is available in
the room where audiovisual support is being used and it is up to every presenter
to ensure they bring their own support materials with them and put them on the
computer provided. We do warn everyone, that although wireless Internet is
available, we know from experience that the sheer weight of traffic generated by
RICTE can cause delays so they should not make any presentation dependent on
Internet access. There is an increasing tendency for participants to come up to
the conference room laptop once the session is over and try to copy the
presentations onto a USB memory stick from the laptop for their reference. This
is only allowed once the individual speaker concerned has agreed. At the end of
the session, please encourage people to leave the room and continue their
conversations in the open area.
Many thanks for your support in chairing this session, do not let us know if you
have any suggestions for improving the format and management of the agenda.
-13-
Electricity
Electrical supply is 230/240 volts at 50 Hz.
In Rwanda the round 2-pronged and the British flat 3-pronged plus plug are
mainly used. We recommend to bring with you all of the said electrical travel
adapters.
Security
Rwanda is as safer than most other countries, but some common sense
precautions should be taken: Do not flaunt your wealth by wearing expensive
jeweler or carrying large wads of money openly. Avoid changing money in the
streets. Likewise avoid overcrowded streets and do not leave your baggage
unattended. It is recommended to leave your valuables in the hotel safe.
-14-
Currency
The currency of Rwanda is Franc (F), sometimes noted as RWF (Rwandan Franc).
The inflation is modest in Rwanda. Approximate exchange rates are 1USD605RWF and for 1EUR-750RWF.
Health & Medical Care
Yellow fever certificate is required if you have transmitted through infected areas.
Malaria prophylaxis is recommended. It is not recommended to drink tap water.
Boil it or buy mineral water from the shops. The equatorial sun can be
unexpectedly hot, even on overcast days.
Tourism in Rwanda
Rwanda has many interesting sites to visits, offering many guided tours to
choose from. There are expeditions to volcanoes, waterfalls and rainforests,
which are home to many different animals. Rwanda is home to a huge diverse
population of animals including gorillas and the largest natural park of Hippos.
Places to visit:
-15-
Panel Abstracts
Wed, 5 Sep 2012, 15:30-17:00 Panel VI Technology in education
policy - (Plenary Room)
Chair: Felix K. Akorli (National University of Rwanda)
Expanding Educational Reach and Increasing Informational Exchanges
Melanie Sany
The Rwandan Youth Work Readiness Curriculum designed by the AkaziKanoze
program of the Education Development Center (EDC) provides youth with the
foundational skills and knowledge to become healthy, productive workers and
participants in civic and community affairs. Participants in the program are
educated on themes such as leadership, communication, financial literacy,
workers rights, and health and safety in the workplace. The program uses a
variety of technology to improve monitoring and evaluation, increase
communication, and reinforce program content. SMS systems have been
developed to facilitate the exchange of information between Rwandan youth the
AkaziKanoze team and an AkaziKanoze Facebook page is used as an
educational mechanism, encouraging youth to practice English skills.
The AkaziKanoze team is using an SMS youth tracking system as a monitoring
and evaluation tool, disseminating and collecting important information to and
from Rwandan youth. Surveys programed into the system are designed to obtain
data on program indicators with the survey results automatically updating the
main database. This data can then be used to assess youth progress and
evaluate program impact. To ensure comprehension and increase participation
rates, surveys are available in English, French, or Kinyarwanda. New surveys can
be easily created in the system and informational alerts can be sent to targeted
groups of youth. The SMS youth tracking system is proving to be valuable
monitoring and evaluation tool and communication asset. The use of different
technology by the AkaziKanoze program has increased access to information,
encouraged continued learning, and improved the efficiency of the project.
-16-
-17-
in school and other areas of their life, and how these impact the ICT capabilities
developed in and through education.
The Transformational Potential of Technology-enhanced, Open-access
Education on Faculty Development
Nancy B. Mock1, Laura J. Haas1, Adam Papendieck1, Mike B. Ndimurukundo1;
Patrick Kyamanywa2, Jeanine Condo2, Joseph L. Ngenzi3 (1Tulane University;
2
National University of Rwanda; 3Kigali Health Institute)
The transformational potential of ICT on the learning process is only in its infancy
around the world and especially in Africa, due to the severe limitations in human,
and until recently, bandwidth capacity. These limitations hamper the potential
impact of such powerful ICT tools as the archived on-line courses (iTunes
University, Earth Education, YouTube Education, etc.) and the new movement
towards Massive Open, On-Line Courses (MOOCS). In Rwanda, higher education
is trying to rapidly ramp up faculty capacity to teach more effectively and to
incorporate these important learning assets to improve learning outcomes and
produce a qualified workforce. Tulane University has been engaged
collaboratively with the National University of Rwanda and the Kigali Health
Institute to strengthen faculty teaching and mentoring competencies since 2000.
The experience points to the importance of individual study plans combined with
clear competency specification, and assumes a foundation of basic ICT
infrastructure and bandwidth.
Tulane uses a modified Kirkpatrick framework to evaluate the behavioral
outcomes of certificate programs emphasizing modern pedagogy and the
application of ICT tools in support of tertiary education. The evaluation strategy
involves the use of quantitative and qualitative assessment methods and
captures change at the levels of student appreciation, knowledge and behavior
as well as organizational change as a function of combined teaching and
mentoring behaviors. The approach also includes individual and organizational
assessments of barriers to change.
Tulane has found that the diversity of content knowledge and ICT skills among
Rwandan faculty members is a great constraint to traditional training delivery
methods as well as to the introduction of new methods such as MOOCs.
Especially important is individually tailored faculty development programs based
on competency acquisition; the establishment of strong peer networks; and
-18-
-19-
-20-
in Health Informatics. The content of this program is very new on the African
continent, and while the Centers local faculty provide the majority of the lecture
support for the new program, visiting lecturers from outside of Rwanda must
sometimes be leveraged to provide support where specialist knowledge is
difficult to harness locally. One such area is Medical Imaging and telemedicine
Module, where lecturers from outside Rwanda are teaching this module courses
via videoconference. The objective of this case study is to assess student
satisfaction with a tele-education approach in combination with learning
management system.
The teaching was done via videoconference and teaching materials were posted
on Kigali Health Institute learning management system for student access.
Among 22 students requested to fill the questionnaire 17 filled the
questionnaire. Students were requested to provide their views at the end of their
teaching and learning process.
88 % participants agreed that teaching via videoconference was comparable to
face-to-face with regard to quality of learning experience. 82 % agreed that they
would wish to follow another module teaching delivery methods. 94 % of the
respondents agreed that the technical support and tutorial assistant are needed
in remote training site. 88 % agreed that videoconference system should be
integrated in normal teaching and learning activities.100 % of participants have
agreed that the quality of audio and audio was good .100 % participant have
internet access at their workplace. 100 % participants have their personal laptops
and their own modem.
Tele-education is an appropriate teaching methodology and use of technology.
In comparison to face-to-face teaching, students are similarly satisfied with the
use of a high definition room-based videoconference in combination with a
learning management system. It is recommended that institutions of higher
education consider including provisions for the sharing of expert lecturers via
tele-education in routine memorandums of understanding they hold with other
institutions. This would be particularly helpful for institutions developing new
programs where specialist knowledge is difficult to access locally.
-21-
The benefits and challenges associated with e-learning: A case study of Pan
African Tele-education under Kigali Institute of Education Learning Center
Sadate Murekezi (Kigali Institute of Education)
The paper investigates the use e-learning by students and staff members of the
Kigali Institute of Education (KIE). Empirical data was conducted by mixing
qualitative and quantitative methods, including questionnaires, interviews and
observations.
The main objectives were: To identify the benefits of an e-learning program in a
higher learning institution KIE. In addition the paper investigates the
challenges that students under e-learning program are facing. Possible solutions
will be proposed to overcome the challenges encountered by students under elearning program in KIE learning center. In order to achieve the objectives
above, the following questions were formulated:
-22-
-23-
-24-
and later in various professions. With the growing number of Secondary Schools
in Rwanda connected to the internet and the evolving GIS internet tools will
enable students and teachers to be connected, to learn from each other and to
share their GIS knowledge.
Connecting classrooms: an online school linking progamme
Nyree Pinder & Libby Karangwa-Miles (The British Council)
Connecting Classrooms is a British Council managed programme working in over
50 countries that offers school partnerships, professional development courses,
accreditation and the chance to share best practice with international
counterparts. Links through Connecting Classrooms to schools in the developing
world are funded in partnership with the UK Government through the
Department for International Development.
Vision Ahazaza: Internet
Raina Luff (Ahazaza)
Ahazaza is an independent school situated in Muhanga. The children of the
school are educated in three languages: English, French and Kinyarwanda. All
courses are organized in an interactive way in classes of a maximum 25 pupils.
The school focuses on all varieties of the Rwandan population and in particular
one fourth of the children of Ahazaza benefit from a scholarship. Ahazaza wants
to bring all its pupils to the maximum of their capacity.
The main objective of the school is to form intelligent and competent Rwandan
citizens able to help to build the future of this nation. Seeing every situation as a
possibility to learn and getting good training for its teachers are the main
conditions to achieve these objectives. Last year, Ahazaza participated for the
first time in the national exams and ranked the 13th place in the national exams.
In the Southern Province, the school ranks first. Taking into account the present
influence of internet in the society, Ahazaza is looking for an advantageous way
to enhance the possibility for its pupils to learn with the internet. The school
being a private institution doesn't get any help from the government.
Due to the present crises in the international finance, the help it used to get from
the developed countries has become more and more exceptional. That is why, in
order to become sustainable and not to have to depend anymore from the
-25-
-26-
-27-
to study Astronomy and Physics, and also identification of goals and student
outcomes, process and attitudinal goals, are a key steps. Principles of the
systems approach are a basis for labs content and structure design. We apply
structure content around core concepts to provide cohesion and facilitate
knowledge transfer. Absence of the laboratory equipment is our basic problem.
We have only one small telescope refractor. Therefore we use Web-based
astronomy resources, modeling and active learning exercises to more effectively
teach astronomy to Physics students at NUR. A lab course offers the opportunity
to build student conceptual knowledge and intuition through direct interaction
with basic physical phenomena. In addition, the lab setting takes advantage of
the strong social aspects of human learning via peer interaction.
Faible representation, filles, sciences exactes, mathemathiques, physiques,
chimie, biologie
Joseph Shyirambere & Venant Ntagara (Institut Polytechnique de Byumba)
The Government of Rwanda, aware of its duty to ensure national development,
launched a long term policy: Vision 2020. As it needed to succeed that process,
the Government of Rwanda identifies some cross-cutting areas such as gender.
The latter was identified as a crucial issue in economic growth, notably in relation
with science and technology. However, an obstacle is to be taken into account.
Womens subordination towards men, which was inherited from tradition, led
girls to being quite few, in comparison with boys, in faculties of science such as
mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology.
Specifically, three theses to verify during the research were formulated: science
studies could be feared by girls, because they are said to be tough; girls do not
see enough women who are successfully involved in science so as to be models
within the community; and a stereotype within the community spreads the idea
that women are not, naturally, able to learn science.
In this research, the following objectives were focused on: identification of
structural causes of the situation described above, and specifically, root causes
and mechanisms which lead girls to social science more than math and other
scientific areas, and roadblocks which discourage them when they think of
choosing a faculty of science. During the data collection process, the following
techniques were used: documents review, interviews and a questionnaire. For
data processing the following methods were used: comparison, analysis and
-28-
-29-
-30-
that the concept of the TwIK is an innovative approach to providing support for
teacher professional development which might also be appropriate in other
African contexts.
Improving collaboration and networking among teacher technology
champions using an information training system
Diane Sengati & Evode Mukama (Rwanda Education Board)
In order to integrate new ICTs in teaching and learning ICT regarded here as a
pedagogical tool some higher learning institutions prefer to work with
university students. These students are commonly called Student Technology
Assistants (STA) in that they are hired and trained to assist faculty members to
implement instructional technologies and/or audiovisual and multimedia-based
education projects. At the NUR, STAs provide support in running ICT4Kids
Program and in the production of instructional technology and video learning
materials.
Teachers need support for sustainable and enjoyable development skills. In this
regards, Rwanda Education Board has trained teachers and student technology
champions, who will act as trainers to train teachers in their respective districts.
Along with acquiring skills and knowledge, technology champions need to form
ICT clubs to not only support teachers but also encourage the community to
embrace new technologies. This will help trainers to keep themselves updated as
technology is a wide and continuously changing environment. ICT clubs will help
members on improving skills as they will have facilities to visit training centers
and will allow them having a hands-on experience. This will help them
understand technology faster to allow them train and support others, be more
productive, and more innovative.
Together, members of the clubs can develop projects and present them to their
respective communities. They can frequently visit the training center to access
internet where they will have opportunities to work independently of their core
trainers and will be able to try online activities.
Teachers will help their colleagues from either the same school or different
schools, using either the internet face to face or. Teachers, during their training,
are exposed to useful teaching/learning resources and they can share the
knowledge with other teachers.
-31-
So far 16 ICT clubs are created in 11 districts in the country, 12 for student
technology champions and 4 for teacher technology champions. The ICT clubs
were created from the 11 Teacher Training Colleges where there was
opportunity to use them as training centres as they had well equipped computer
labs and an internet connection adding on being Teacher Resource Centres.
Online In-Service Teacher Training in Teacher Training Colleges
Kalle Hedlund (Education Finder, Sweden)
MKFC Stockholm College and Kigali Institute of Education has done an elearning project that MKFC has done together with Kigali Institute of Education
and with the three Teacher Training Colleges SAVE, Rubenga and Matimba. The
capacity building program support involved teachers and TTCs to use ICT tools
and social media in their own learning. They will also build competence to create
Online e-learning courses, and this way decrease costs for both institutions and
students, increase the accessibility of learning and improve the education
quality.
Some of the teachers from the program are invited to present who to get further
training in schools by using international e-learning communities. There has been
30 teachers, one online tutor from MKFC, one workshop at KIE and many online
communities has been used during the education for example wikis
http://www.stockholmcollege.se/about-wiki-for-teachers-and-students/
professional teacher communities TES http://rwanda.mkfc.se/83/. It is true ICT is
large and it there to facilitate our daily activities. Many people, we affirm, use ICT
for few purposes and trivial things while they could benefit more from it. For
instance sharing resources on TES Lesson plans and discussing on Wiki space
with all teachers in the world help the teachers to open their horizons and
exchange knowledge and experiences as well as getting solutions to their daily
problems related to their profession. The presentation is done from Rwandan
teachers and Swedish teachers perspective and the experiences to collaborate in
a e-learning program.
-32-
-33-
-34-
house past exams, practice exams, education materials to assist students not
only in the national exam preparation process, but also in their entire learning
experience. Doing so will allow us to join hands with the government initiatives in
not only improving the quality education, but also contributing in the
achievement of our vision 2020.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Examinations in Prevention of Cheating &
Plagiarism: Technology in Education and Quality Assurance
Philippe Mporebucye & Gaurav Bajpai (Kigali Institute of Science and
Technology)
In this paper we shall suggest three different methods to Monitor and evaluate
examination in preventing cheating and plagiarism at specific levels. This shall
also be integrated into a single system to avoid any delay of information
delivery. In phase I we shall discuss about cheating in examination. Each year,
about 2 students are being indefinitely expelled from KIST due to cheating in
examinations. These are only those who are caught with tangible evidences. This
is a loss for the Institute and for the Country as well. We propose to install
surveillance cameras in examination rooms, as the devices that are an important
way not only to collect evidence if cheating is suspected but also to prevent
most of examination malpractices. The new practice will also contribute in
implementing a merit-based system in education.
In Phase II this paper shall discuss cheating or mishandling of students
attendance records. Here we suggest using fingerprint Recognition system to
avoid lecturer wasting lecture time and energy on this purpose of recording
attendance. This shall also avoid proxy attendance with resolving the problem of
any manual error done by lecturer as well. As the system shall be integrated with
students examination and registration system. It shall provide identification of
such low attendance students automatically without delay too.
In phase III this paper shall elaborate to submit all assignments and presentation
like projects, seminars etc. into a database system this shall be cross referenced
to all material submitted by students as continuous assessment. This shall avoid
plagiarism and help identify all such examinations malpractices.
Lastly all phases shall be integrated on real time to provide best suited, fair and
quality assured results on time.
-35-
-36-
-37-
through ICT workshops within the Rwanda District ICT Champions Project. The
motivation to design and develop special educational materials was to promote
reading culture, the research spirit and intellectual and scientific curiosity for
young Rwandans by utilizing ICTs. We consider this as a strategy to empower
youth with skills, motivation, ownership and application of knowledge they
experience in concrete realities. ICTs are tools to help achieving these goals. We
used Microsoft Windows and Internet to design and develop group based
projects for students and teachers. We designed and developed booklets and
short movies on different projects chosen by trainees. We also used debates,
plays, songs, graphic arts, photography, filming and traditional poetry of
Imivugo and Ibisingizo in project development processes. We developed
110 booklets projects from 600 trainees, with 55 booklets from students. In 11
groups of trainees, we selected two best projects from each group, to be fully
developed and published by Rwanda Education Board. We found that from
students projects, 64% reported on science and technologies, among them with
62.6% of agriculture related projects; 22% were related to civic education and
14% on culture. The present paper provides a start-up for further research and
activities in educational materials manufacturing. The students and teachers
projects approached grass roots to exploit indigenous knowledge by integrating
new technologies. The project also set the cornerstone for the formation of ICT
Clubs, which will continue to develop and extend their activities through writing,
filming, blogging, podcasts and other ICT learning tools. Trainees underlined the
importance of the use of constructivist learning tools and science and
technology information sharing as the best way to deepen learning processes.
The project shows new opportunities for science and technology being used as a
new asset for social entrepreneurship in education, where traditional prose
meets modernity, adapts science and technology to local needs in Kinyarwanda
and English, and also to upgrade new approaches to bring science and
technology to the general public.
The global organization of knowledge and learning in CERN experiments
Hans Hoffmann (CERN, Switzerland)
-38-
-39-
-40-
-41-
guidance to the students from their teaching control center. They have the ability
to get analytical insight around an individual students progress in various course
elements. Teachers may initiate review sessions, focused tutorials, and
interactions with a specific segment of students based on the needs that they
identify using modern analytics and reporting capabilities. This technology works
best for standard 8th up to the university level.
Reduced cost datacenter resources provision using a private cloud
computing technology
Eze Herbert Onyebuchi (Tumba College of Technology)
Datacenter services need to support IT networks and systems and proof to be
inefficiently utilized under traditional systems that normally utilize multiple
datacenters in separate facilities of a multi-center institution. A computing
resource provision technology would efficiently and centrally support data
storage needs of a multi-campus educational institution and reduce costs,
increases resource utilization and apt to the surge needs. Use of virtualization
technology, that can provide automatic allocation and management of capacities
based on statistical multiplexing, dual set of datacenter hardware, very high
bandwidth Optical Fibre VPN, and Virtual Machines migration were made to
achieve the utility computing aspect of a private cloud. VLANs and Firewalls
were used for data security. Web applications integrated in Intranet portals were
used to provide application services.
The result is that the Institution (TCT) is able to provide application services,
network services, and utility cloud computing services, to every of its campuses
from one private cloud in an ultimately cost efficient manner, with benefits
including quick following on load surge, and fast provisioning.
The private cloud is of benefit to institutions with intention to operate sizeable
and between geographically separated multiple campuses. This could easily be
transferred to other large and decentralized organizations using IT networks and
that are in need for reasonable data storage. Yet high bandwidth network
interconnection is a precondition for such a system.
-42-
-43-
-44-
-45-
What are the barriers for KIE students to master basic ICT skills?
-46-
In total, 148 people formed the sample to the present study. These included 120
students, 28 academic staffs. Data were collected using questionnaires, field
observation and interviews guide. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses
were done depending of the character of the data collected. Through this
scientific research the following hypothesis were verified:
The acknowledged poor ICT skills for the student, is due to limited
practice and access to ICT facilities.
The overall findings of this research show that there exists a crucial impact of
basic ICT skills on effective learning process. However, there exist some barriers
for KIE students hampering the mastery of basic ICT skills to enhance effective
learning process. The researcher grouped those barriers into three broad
categories; barriers related to KIE computer/internet laboratories equipment and
management, barriers related to ICT skills level of KIE lecturers and barriers
related to ICT skills level and personal motivation of KIE students.
The present study recommends that KIE puts much more effort in improving the
basic ICT skills of KIE students by all means for effective learning. It suggests
mobilizing ICT related equipment especially enough computers and appropriate
software/programs. It proposes also the reinforcement of teaching of computer
basic skills in KIE. Lastly, it encourages further researches in the area of ICT in
higher education.
Enforcing Pedagogy for Active Learning in Rwandan Higher Education
through Web-Based Instruction
Irne Ndayambaje (Kigali Institute of Education)
From the near past, there have been an exponential increase of the number of
enrollments in Rwandan Higher Education and the tendency keeps rising up
faster. However, the reality is that, such accelerated figures of students in higher
education cannot go with the one of required teaching staff, physical educational
resources and infrastructure. As a consequence teaching is becoming hectic and
active learning becoming much limited if not impossible. Therefore, as learners
become more and more passive, interactions lecturers-students gradually
-47-
limited, effective learning can hardly be assured. In front of such realities and
educational challenges, there is need to think of new strategies for an effective
higher education. Based on the acquired experience as the Coordinator of eLearning Programmes started in September 2009 at KIE and having gone
through the existing review literature, the researcher explores the benefits of
using Web based Instruction (WBI) to address the issue of handling big classes of
students, applying active learning principles and modernizing teaching-learning
process.
Moreover, the researcher foresees the existing opportunities and strengths to
improve the teaching-learning process considering much Governmental and
institutional efforts to invest in purchase, installation, maintenance, training
related to ICTs.
Open Source Content Management Systems (CMSs) and Education in
Rwanda
Emile Abayisenga (Tumba College of Technology)
Nowadays, many companies, associations, NGOs, Individuals, build their
websites using content management systems. The goal of CMS is twofold; the
first is to facilitate the creation of content, including by people with no
knowledge in web development. The second goal is to reduce development
costs of complex sites, including the management of user accounts, forms, photo
galleries, catalogs, etc. But some people will just pick one of the CMSs without
any study to determine which one suits their businesses in terms of response
time, security, variability, etc. This result into temporal breakdowns of websites
often related to poor choice of CMS. Most websites in Rwanda are customized
for Joomla or Drupal both PHP open sources. TUMBA COLLEGE OF
TECHNOLOGY will contribute to compare them in terms of performance and
response time in different environment (Windows and Linux servers).
Furthermore we want to encourage our students to reach the level of
contributing to Open Source CMSs. People who use Open Source CMSs are
categorized in four levels:
Level one: People use what other people have prepared for them. They only
change text, format and pictures on existing templates. You dont need to be a
Programmer or IT Professional or Computer engineer to do that.
-48-
Level two: People can create their own modules depending on how they want
their websites to look like. This level is a little more advanced than the first but
still does not need more expertise of Programmers. Everybody can reach this
level easily.
Level three: Programmers can add modules to the open source CMSs and
publish the modules for others to use.
Level four: Experienced Programmers check modules published by others and
assess them in term of security and performance and suggest solutions when
they notice drawback.
In Rwanda we are at door one, few are on level two, we enter, we use templates
others have provided us, change some text, format, and maybe add some few
things of our own and get out. Yet we call ourselves Programmers, Computers
engineers, Computer Scientists and IT Professionals. TUMBA COLLEGE OF
TECHNOLOGY being and academic Institution need to produce qualified
people both in skills and behavior that can go further and reach levels three and
four so that we can contribute to the society in many areas, website
development using open sources CMSs included.
-49-
E-library Project
Eden Shami Benimana (Isaro foundation)
An e-library or electronic library is a library in which books are stored as files
online or on a computer. In our case the books are online or on a computer,
accessible through an application. The books provider will be the website
www.amazon.com, the same provider will also have devices called Kindles that
can access books from the website and save the books for further use.
This project is among the first three e-library projects in Africa and it is the first
in Rwanda. In order to have more like this one in Rwanda, the public needs to be
informed about the importance of an e-library in education. The advantages and
disadvantages it has for schools, students, teachers; the costs to get it running
and to maintain it; the necessary conditions to ensure that whoever is using this
system respects the rules set by amazon.com which is the main provider.
E-Health Mobile Apps the Age of Innovations, Innovations
development: Mobile Apps
Gaurav Bajpai1 & Jaya Shukla2 (1Kigali Institute of Science and Technology;
2
Kigali Institute of Management)
and
Health care is primarily the most important asset in the world today. The
electronic developments shall help medical science to a great extent. e-Health
and m-Health apps are unique ways to provide quick medical help to patient
through the nearest doctors, hospitals for efficient medical facilities. Not only
shall this provide medical help but also be used in monitoring of patients records
and evaluating their physical health even remotely. The service of e-Health and
m-Health apps shall also be restored to CRM (customer relation management)
services for better SCM (supply chain management) of medicines and other
medical supplies on including vaccines, medical products etc. Technological
developments and mobile banking facilities aim to easy banking and financial
transactions through e-commerce at door steps. The collaboration of all units
-50-
with health insurance, banking, CRM, SCM, e-commerce shall lead to quick
continuous effective medical services and supplies overall improving time
efficiency and services.
These system can be installed at village level co-ordinating through districts and
with national statistics institutes based on cloud computing provide medical
practitioners, hospitals, suppliers, consumers, distributors and patients in coordinated manner as national IDs provide unique identifications. All relevant
private and public stakeholders shall collaborate to provide financial support and
business intensive models for improvement. The care and treatment in such a
way shall re-organise and structure the old system of delays and non-availability
of medical supplies or even non-availability of medical doctors on time. These
Mobile apps shall provide BPO services as well as employment opportunities for
the community as a whole with effective medical care as basic intention with
technological development.
Clinical Skills Laboratory Methodology as an Innovative Approach of
Teaching in Health Institutions, Case Study of KHI
Olive Bazirete (Kigali Health Institute)
This paper presents the case study on the use of skills lab methodology at Kigali
Health Institute as an innovative approach for teaching in health institutions.
According to Stark and Fortune (2003) Curricula revolution and challenges in the
clinical settings have popularized the use of alternative clinical settings, such as
the clinical skills laboratories. Before the adoption of this self-directed clinical
Skills Laboratory, KHI was using a demonstration room, which was teacher
directed. Although practical training was conducted before 2003, it was
inadequate in terms of resources (space, staff, equipment and management).
The primary role of clinical skills training is that it offers an innovative learning
method that efficiently fills the gap between theoretical knowledge and clinical
practice. The importance of clinical skills is derived from the fact that they are the
cornerstone of the daily work of all health professionals. In this way, students
learn in a safe, non-threatening and realistic environment. Facilities of clinical
skills laboratory enable teachers to use teaching tools amenable to structure and
restructure to provide standardized and reproducible experiences.
-51-
-52-
-53-
in teaching and learning in Rwandan schools, where ICT tools are used for
development and personal use. Teachers used ICT in a wide range for teaching,
professional development and personal use. However, teachers did not use ICT
to radically change their Pedagogical practices, but rather to sustain their
traditional practices.
Design of an information management system of research projects writing
at AUCA
Antoinette Dorikirezi (Adventist University of Central Africa)
Presentation of a software that assist the Adventist University of Central Africa to
monitor how students choose their research topics and to be sure that students
do not write on the same topic. The software also helps to avoid plagiarism
among students.
Teacher Development and Management Systems (TDMS) in Uganda
Annet Mugisha Kajura (Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda)
The Teacher Development and Management System (TDMS) in Uganda was
designed as a strategy to implement the Education Reform Programme aimed at
improving the quality and equity of Primary Education. Consequently, this
innovative programme was intended to practically change the focus and function
of Primary Teacher Education from not only providing Pre-service teacher
training but also In-service teacher training programme
The overall goals of TDMS are to increase access to quality learning
opportunities and to improve school management and instructional quality.
-54-
-55-
KCE has also target of training other secondary teachers graduated from other
higher learning Institutions on the ICT integration in teaching and learning. Even
though KCE has integrated the ICT in teaching and learning vis--vis its mission
is still facing some challenges: lack of trained Tutors and Assistant Tutors in ICT;
and lack of enough adequate and effective software for all subjects contents.
Understanding the notion of quality in e-learning in higher education
Liliane Umutesi (Kigali Independent University)
Nichols (2008) defined e-learning as pedagogy empowered by digital
technology. According to Roseberg (2001), e-learning refers to the use of
internet technology to deliver a broad array of solution that enhances knowledge
and performance. Since the 1990s e-learning has gained much popularity both in
business and non-business environments such as education institutions. There
has been a rapid expansion of e-learning technology; the increase number of
computers in homes, workplaces and in many places has tremendously
enhanced e-leaning (Cunnigham et Al., 2004). Higher educational institutional
seems to be the highest adopters of e-learning, because of their major drivers
such as reducing the cost of learning, quality in teaching and learning, widening
participation and student expectations (Littlejohn and Pegler, 2007).
As in many other field, the term quality promotes many discussion; quality in elearning has been discussed by different researchers such as Selim (2007),
Holsapple and Lee-Post (2006), Usoro and Abiagam (2009) and Usoro and Abid
(2008). Nonetheless, research into issue of quality in e-learning seems to be
lacking in fullness. The main objective of this study is to help lecturers and
students to understand the notion of e-learning(definition, tools, advantaged and
disadvantages) and of investigate the factors that are relevant to quality in elearning in higher education.
The methodology to be used in this study is qualitative research where
Appreciative Inquiry Method (AIM) and system map will be used to collect
primary data from experts in the field of e-learning. AIM refers to a facility that
tries to provide information system developers a method that allows them to
make critical analysis on what was done by others in a particular area/filed of
interest West (1995). While a system map is described as a diagram that can be
used to help record a domain of interest and its context (West and Stansfield
(1999).
-56-
The research aimed at providing factors that are relevant to the quality of elearning in higher institution from lecturer perspective compared to factors
founds in literature review.
Appointment scheduling using smartphone apps
Jean Pierre Muganga (Tumba College of Technology)
The increasing popularity of smartphones in developing countries and in Rwanda
in particular, lead to the assumption that mobile phone applications can facilitate
lifestyle changes. The use of mobile phone to manage appointment schedules
and appointment reminders can allow people to more easily arrange for events
in their calendars.
This paper describes the design and development of a mobile application that
includes scheduling functions using mobile phones. The application facilitates to
add, update and modify meetings, appointments and events and stores the
information on a mobile phone that runs Android OS. The application would also
serve alerting/notifying user for the upcoming events and corresponding location
(avenue). The application supports the local language (Kinyarwanda) in addition
to English with flexibility to incorporate more languages. The application is
implemented in java platform. Intended audience/users are mainly TCT HODs to
keep track of all meetings and managing appointments with students and/or
TCT staff.
Home/Office Lighting Control Using Smart Phone
Jean Pierre Musabyimana (Tumba College of Technology)
The advent of smart phones has inspired a lot of research recently, geared
towards developing customized software tools widely known as Mobile Apps.
Today, mobile phones are not only essential tools for facilitating communication
but also slowly becoming a preferred platform for running cross-cutting
applications due to their portability and mobility. In this paper, we propose an
intelligent system, aimed at controlling home/office lightings using a smart
phone. In a country like Rwanda, where energy is a scarce resource, our system
will go a long way in helping people to control their lightings with much more
mobility, thus curbing unnecessary energy consumption. In comparison with the
conventional system, which covers only 10 meters, experiments carried out show
-57-
-58-
-59-
-60-
The paper will try to provide and expose salient guidelines that are pre-requisites
to setting up a delivery mode of distance learning, by considering seriously the
following: Mission, commitment, environment, stakeholders involvement,
student support infrastructure, information systems and reliability of delivery
channels, timing, design, methods of learning, instructional resource,
assessment, relations and touch on frequently asked questions by students just
to mention but a few.
Rwanda Virtual Training Center (RVTC)
Gloria Ingabire, Alain Murara & Pauline Ingabire (National University of Rwanda)
The Rwanda Virtual Training Center was developed as a tool for all people who
are interested in training but especially by Rwandans. The benefits of these forms
of training are numerous: increased productivity, higher job satisfaction, greater
leadership ability, regular training and learning opportunities are an investment
that will allow employees to prosper and develop their careers while giving your
business a highly skilled workforce and a competitive advantage in the market.
Training can save the organization money if the training helps the employee to
become more efficient.
The scope of the project is to develop and implement a web based application
to support individuals through entrepreneurial and career specific training and to
transform and grow local communities. The user will access the information via a
single Web-based interface. The system provides the following solutions:
-61-
-62-
-63-
customized to suit the pedagogies and learning opportunities necessary for each
category of learners in their respective contexts. For internal learners, negotiated
use of mobile devices in the classroom is required to avert possible rejection by
faculty who might sight the disruptive nature of these devices to classroom
learning. Our study can be extended to establish the significance of mobile
devices, cost, government and institutional policy, public and learners opinions,
age and societal ethics on mLearning amongst internal and distance learners.
English online resources
Libby Karangwa-Miles
-64-
-65-
computation of the FFT of the PDE solution has produced complex wavelet too.
The FFT provides analysis of the PDE solution in frequency domain. This idea can
be extended further to other types of PDEs such as Elliptic type and parabolic
type of equations. Hence, Matlab tools allow a better understanding of partial
differential equations and increases teaching efficiency and it would help
students to assimilate some applications of PDEs in signal processing and image
compression.
Exploring the peer assessment in university mathematics learning using
media tablets
Ghislain Maurice Norbert Isabwe & Frank Reichert (University of Agder, Norway)
Higher education is facing unprecedented challenges with the increasing
demand of high quality education, which is driven by tougher global competition
in terms of the human capital. The student populations are fast growing in most
universities whereas the sources of funding are not increasing in the same
proportions. Subsequently, the teaching staffs workload gets higher and higher
hence putting the quality standards of education at risk. As the class size
increases, it becomes more difficult to learn in a highly teacher-controlled
environment, since the teacher cannot address individual students needs.
Therefore, a teacher should be conceptually seen as a facilitator for the students
to learn as s/he provides them with guidance and opportunities to explore and
make sense of the subject of study. A sustainable quality education requires
novel approaches to teaching and learning, to provide the best education with a
minimum of resources. For instance, the students should be encouraged to be
more active in their learning rather than being the passive receivers of the
instruction. This study calls for a fundamental shift from instructionism (a teacher
focused educational practice) towards constructivism (a student focused
educational practice); but keeping in mind that a combination of both practices
may be the best in certain cases. In addition to adopting the appropriate
educational praxis, the innovations in educational technology can further
enhance the learning experience.
Media tablets are gaining popularity in university students communities as the
technology matures. Besides communications and digital media consumption as
their primary functions, the latest media tablets can also be used for data
production and processing in teaching and learning contexts. This work revisits
-66-
-67-
This research was undertaken at the National University of Rwanda. Its grandoverarching aim was to assess translation technology and its teaching in
comparison to the demand of current translation labor market. It was aimed at
investigating about the package of Computer-Assisted Translation tools skills
offered to the NUR student translators.
Computer-aided instruction technology to improve presentation skills for
teaching and learning
Muthiah Sankaranarayan & Laetitia Nyinawamwiza (ISAE)
This paper deals with the Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) Technology to
improve the quality of teaching and learning. This paper discusses many issues in
preparation of slides and improves the presentation skill of the teachers using
power point and other presentation tools. The slides have to be designed with
certain regulations for heading, body and conclusions. The data presentation skill
is achieved by confidence and competence to engage an audience by means of
well prepared verbal, visual and/or written material slides. This paper discusses
the ways of addressing the audience for successful presentation and how to
make speech without boring by including flavor, humor, personal connection,
evidence and appeal to logic. This paper supports ideas of how to target the
audience with general and specific purposes and target the multiple audiences.
There are different types of presentations like presentation for a particular
purpose, presentation to inform, presentation to persuade, inspire, etc. This
paper discusses different types of speaking to the audiences. It includes
speaking from points, speaking by memorizing, speaking by reading and
speaking off the cuff etc. It explains the structure of presentations, transitions in
presentations, depth of presentations and emphasis of presentations. It also
warns the critical errors in presentations like leaving the audience at the dock,
losing the audience at sea, projecting the slides that no one reads, presentations
made by ignoring Murphys law, presentations without enough preparations and
loosing composure. The ideas to prepare good quality slides and presentation
skills are incorporated into the paper.
-68-
-69-
sustainable development, then empowered with skills and using indigenous and
grass roots solutions enhanced to modern and global thinking, will own
knowledge management and will be more perfectly set to solve problems they
encounter in their everyday life, channelling their knowledge into concrete
sustainable solutions.
Kinyarwanda.net
Fiacre Mushimire (Carnegie Mellon University Rwanda)
Kinyarwanda.net is a Kinyarwanda - English dictionary created to help people
who are learning either language. What makes it different to other dictionaries is
that the software has been designed for a Bantu language. Words are stored
with prefixes, stems and modifiers, so it allows you to search for different forms
of the same word. You can search for singular forms and plural forms of nouns,
and present tense or past tense forms of verbs. The dictionary content and
reference materials are released under a Creative Commons license which
permits you to share, modify, reproduce it in any form, provided that it is not
used for commercial purposes, and that you give credit to this project. The site
code is released under a GNU General Public License and is available for
download from Github.
Blogging and schools tech magazine, the e-learning assistants
Dioscore Shikama (GO Ltd)
To implement innovative ways of learning in the educational system of Rwanda
requires a change of mindset. e-Learning is an Internet based and thus for both
students and teachers the use of Internet in Education is a new lifestyle. To
improve and speed up the change of mindset so that people can accept and
understand the use of e-Learning, the provision of information on technology is
an obligation. We found that the combination of blogging in schools and the
development of a School Tech Magazine is a powerful tool to enhance
information provision. This combination of different online publication formats
will assist the successful implementation of e-Learning. Moreover, it will help
students and teachers having access on various information and government
policies on the.
-70-
-71-
-72-
-73-
I was found that regardless of all the limitations and challenges characterizing the
ICT, benefits or advantages of use of computers, internet and projector in
modular system are so huge to provide the quality education in alignment with
constructivism, self teacher training, open educational resources, immense
library, distance learning possibilities, wonderful curriculum and content
development, easier access to fresh and relevant teaching material leading to
contemporary accepted paradigm of modern easy learning method with
perceptiveness towards the brighter future of INES.
Teacher professional development on integrating ICT in the teaching and
learning process
Alphonse Uworwabayeho (Kigali Institute of Education)
University teachers reflections on the use of ICT in Physics teaching,
success and challenges: the case of Higher Education in Rwanda
Joseph Rusanganwa (National University of Rwanda & Linkoping University,
Sweden)
Aiming to understand the use and impact of ICT on university physics teaching in
Rwanda, a survey through interviews was conducted to gather teachers
reflections. These interviews were conducted for twelve physics teachers from
three major universities in the country in 2011. The survey elicits accounts on the
integration of ICT in the work of teachers, access to ICTs and the challenges
teacher face. Employing social constructivist perspective to illuminate on their
experience, the study revealed teachers eagerness to guide learning of physics
using ICT in a number of ways but also indicated practical problems in the
regular use of it. Based on a modelling approach, it was found that the use of
ICT in Rwanda is at the embryonic stage type I where it is applied to enhance
traditional way of teaching while transitioning to professional improvement. The
study proposes that ICT should move to the stage where it should guide learners
through complex problem solving and managing dynamic learning environment
to transformative stage where teachers are involved in knowledge production,
experimentation and innovation. Finally, it proposes how training in the use of
ICT tools may transform the learning of physics to the required level where
student-centred learning is prioritised.
-74-
-75-
-76-
-77-
conclusions will identify the key innovations and opportunities presented by the
adoption of ICT in education and the important policy challenges and
approaches. By focusing on the most promising opportunities and developing
forward-thinking policy approaches, developing countries can position
themselves to take advantage of technology solutions more quickly and
effectively. This will accelerate access to education while minimizing potential
disruptions to the education sector.
ICT in Education: The Net class ahead
Jean Claude Bakurikiza (Rwanda Innovative Teacher Forum)
Within a classroom, learning process should be live, the teacher has to let
learners practice and use their creativity to learn from their discovery and
originality. S/he has to give examples, explanations and demonstrations as well
as corrections where /when necessary. Question: Is it easy to find time for all
these activities and cover the whole program to use. Answer: Yes, it become
easy by using ICT tools. Teachers as well as learners may practice and follow
every ones screen using Net meeting. With this powerful software, both sides
will gain time.
Imagine the time spent by teachers if they must check every learners screen for
any exercise given, to answer every ones question. The net meeting my help
and it becomes the net-class
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in enhancing Access to
Higher Education
John Manzi (Umutara Polytechnic)
Governments strategic Intervention in Bridging the
Communication Technology (ICT) Divide through Training
-78-
Information
and
The gap between those who have access to or use digital technologies and
those who do not is wide across the globe. The digital haves and have-nots
live tens of years apart in terms of technological advancement. Many countries
have recognised Information and Communication Technology as a critical sector
for achieving national development objectives. For example Rwanda aims to
transform itself into a knowledge-based, highly competitive, industrialized econfriendly nation with sustainable economic growth and high quality of life. The
government envisages that by embracing the development of ICT, Rwandans will
benefit through Access and availability of information that assists them in their
daily lives; Increased competitiveness of business and commerce in the global
market place; Establishment of an environment conducive to the development of
Rwanda-based ICT providers that are competitive internationally, and create
opportunities for employment and economic diversification.
In order to achieve ICT development goals, governments in this part of the world
have come up with a variety of interventions. This paper explores some critical
interventions that can facilitate the bridging of the ICT divide through training.
The use of ICT in Education and research KHI experience
Joseph L. Ngenzi (Kigali Health Institute)
In 2002 Kigali Health Institute (KHI) was having only 10 computers and one
computer lab for the entire students body. Today KHI has more than 150
computers and 4 computers labs for students, as well as additional computers in
the KHI Library and skills lab. A number of students have started to have their
own personal laptops. The connectivity has been gradually increasing from 512
kbps in 2004 to 30 MB nowadays. At KHI all graduates have undergone a
computer literacy module, which covers (introduction to computer, Microsoft
word, excel, PowerPoint, and how to use internet to access trusted health
databases). ICT skills have been integrated in other modules or unit:
Research modules
Nursing informatics
Skills lab methodology where students practice before real hand touch
on patients.
-79-
Blended learning project capacity building has been initiated with Tulane
University partner institutions. Up to now several short courses have been
conducted since 2008. Lecturers have been trained on how to use the learning
management systems, innovative Libraries and evidence based medicine.
KHI in collaboration with NUR Faculty of Medicine and School of Public Health
have initiated the Rwanda Health Sciences Network with a mission of sharing
resources and promoting innovation in four project areas: Pedagogy, Curriculum,
Research and professional development and Policy and strategy,
Several desktop videoconference and room based video conference have been
tested, evaluated and used ranged from skype, dim dim, wimba, polycom
pvx,and recently KHI have acquired high definition videoconference system.
Lecturers in South Africa have participated in KHI teaching and learning by
teaching the module Telemedicine and Medical imaging. More than 10 sessions
have been conducted between Rwanda-KHI and UVA in America. Several
videoconference tests have been conducted in country between KHI and other
Rwanda different sites. The use of ICT offers to KHI much more possibilities.
High caliber Lecturers all of the world can participate in our basic education and
research without the cost of transport and accommodation. our student and
Lecturers can teach more students and attract abroad students with appropriate
use of technology. KHI via the Regional Health E-Health Center of Excellence will
engage with faculty members, hospitals and communities via advanced high tech
appropriate use of technology in Rwanda and abroad.
-80-
-81-
-82-
Notes
-83-
-84-
Sponsors
Other Sponsors
85