A Good Farmer Should Not Complain of His/Her Tools: Using A Hybrid E-Learning Approach at The ICT University to Reach

1. A Good Farmer Should Not Complain of His/Her Tools: Using A Hybrid E-Learning Approach at The ICT University to Reach Thousands in Developing Nations Prof. Victor W. A. Mbarika(Ph.D.) ICT Consultant / Endowed Professor, SUBR President, The ICT University Founder: International Center for Information Technology and Development Southern University and The ICT UniversityBaton Rouge, USA Presented at: e/merge 2012(Research/Projects Funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, Microsoft, Louisiana Board of Regents, and other private donors)

2. Global Image vs Reality? HIV/Aids kidnapping starvation dictatorships corruption • Source: Mohoney (Intel, 2009)

3. Population still rising, but reaching<2% growth rates >500M people below 25 years old Source: United Nations. World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision

4. How can people live like this in Africa?

5. Zimbabwe 90.7% Equatorial Guinea 87%South Africa 86%Kenya 85.1%Namibia 85%Congo 83.8%Libya 82.6%Botswana 81.2%Zambia 74.8%Cameroon 71% Literacy. Some progress As a reference:China 90.9%, Brazil 88.6% Turkey 87%,India 60.1%, 200M+ population in countries with 80%+ literary rate Definition: age 15 and over can read and write Source: CIA World Factbook. 2010

6. Democracy: Some progress? But it is important to note that at the time of writing 47 out of the 48 sub-Saharan states are in one stage or another of planning or holding de jure participatory, competitive and legitimate elections Sources: Democracy and Elections in Africa, Lindberg 2007, Pg 144.‘Freedom in the World 2007‘ and Jacob Lundberg

7. Sustained growth during downturn GDP growth in the last 15 years (‘94-’09E): Source: Global Insights. September 15th 2009

8. Accelerated by downturn: ICT as an Economic Engine Broadband. Digital divide Education Healthcare Internet& PC Finance Construction, TransportationIndustry Entertainment/Media Energy Internet for every person

9. First steps on ICT: Mobile phones

10. Ongoing step 2: Africa undersea cables 2011 R 1.8m  R 0.8m Cost of an STM-1 155Mbps circuitLondon-Johannesburg Source: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/9030.html

11. Positive Impacts • African urban elites are the most impacted by the Internet. • E-mail is certainly the most popular used in cyber cafés for communication since international telephone rates are very high. • Telemedicine “…Ever since my eye swelled up, I’ve gone to church three times a week to pray for a cure. As soon as I’m better I’m going back to thank God. I always knew He would send a way to make me better—I just didn’t know that it was going to be from London…but this afternoon I went to London.” • Diagnosis and treatment • Transfer of medical data • Information on disease control • Hence ICT University’s Diploma in Telemedicine and E-Health • Accounting Certifications Exams with a focus on AIS • Association for Chartered Systems Accountants, USA • Association for Chartered Systems Managers, USA • www.acsausa.org

12. Positive Impacts(Cont’d) • Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) • Briefly, FOSS programs are programs whose licenses give users the freedom to run the program for any purpose, to study and modify the program, and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified program free of charge. African Tertiary Education institutes could use and benefit from the FOSS. These software are the most effective learning Management Systems (LMS). • Reduces cost • Improves interactivity between content, students and teachers • Helps to keep records of lecturers and students • Makes module materials available every time students need them • Improves communication between students and lecturer and among the students themselves.

13. Examples of selected FOSS at African Universities Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities(AVCNU 2011)

14. Positive Impacts(Cont’d) • E-facilitated marketing or e-commerce • E-Democracy • E-Agriculture • E-Banking/Money Transfer– M-Pesa • E-Government • E-ATCAM– Digitizing Africa’s Traditional Medicines/Herbs • E-Learning

15. Where do we Go From Here?ICT TRANSFER TO Africa: EMERGING ISSUES FROM CURRENT KNOWLEDGE

16. Issues of ICT Transfer in Resource-Poor Settings

17. Other Issues Specific to Africa’s ICT Academia • Huge Mistake in Perceptions that ICT is a COST and not a PROFIT center. Hence: • ICT Managers are more of SUPPORT and not STRATEGIC staff • Some University Administrators believe ICTs should come cheap • Hence ICT-U’s Strategic ICT Management Certification Course • VCs and top academic leaders must be IT Champions for the others to follow • Hence ICT-U’s Strategic ICT Academic Management Certification Course • Give a chance to the younger generation that are ICT driven– Strategic positions!!! Don’t place people over them that will kill their creativity • Grants, Grants, Grants– Strategize and partner with foreign(trusted) colleagues to co-develop proposals for funding from their countries • Hence ICT-U’s Grant Writing Workshops

18. Other Issues Specific to Africa’s ICT Academia(Cont’d) • Dissertation/Thesis-Only doctoral research in Africa– Does that prepare doctoral students? While this may work in some “western” countries, does it work for our African Universities? • Hence ICT-U’s Masters and Doctoral Degree Programs– Two Academic Paper Submission per year for 3 Years • Balancing doctoral work with full time teaching– A typical trend in our African Universities. • Hence ICT-U’s ICT Research Bootcamp • Watch out for research on “ICT Potentials…”

19. Unique Intensive Training Opportunity The ICT Bootcamp: October 17-November 28, 2011 and May 14 – June 25, 2012 See: www.ictuniversity.org The ICT-U/SUS Boot Camp will:1. Provide trainees with the necessary mentoring to develop their thesis/dissertation and journal articles for publication 2. Provide trainees access to huge online databases of thousands of journals and e-books. 3. Provide intensive training on research methods under the one-on-one guidance of senior professors at ICT-U and The Southern University System (Major Areas of research in, E-health, E-Business, E-commerce  E-Agriculture,  E-democracy, Public Policy, Change Management and  Project Management and Implementation.) 4. Provide hands-on training in the use of statistical applications for research. 5. Provide training in developing grant proposals to sustain the trainee’s personal and institutional research activities. 6. Provide E-Learning course development and implementation training to University lecturers. 7. Organize a three day educational bus tour around the south eastern region of the United States to selected major universities Application deadline is March 15, 2012 for the fall Boot Camp Email: bootcamp@ictuniversity.org

20. Enrolment of over 5,500 in just two years Phone: +1 225 612-4643FAX: +1 225 612-6994Email: admissions@ictuniversity.orgWebsite: http://www.ictuniversity.org

21. Degree Programs and Certification • ICT-U FOCUSES ON LOCALLY RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND NOT JUST KNOWLEDGE CONSUMPTION • Certificate Courses • Diploma in Health Information Technology • Certificate in Executive Leadership in Technology • Certificate in E-learning • Bachelors Degree Program • Top-up BSc. Degree • Masters and Ph.D. Programs • i-MBA (International MBA) • Masters in ICT • Ph.D. in ICT

22. ICT Literacy– A MustExample of ICT University and Southern UniversityPartnership with The Government of India

23. Public – Private Partnership Offering Globally Competitive ICT enabled Educational Courses on a Global Basis using KRPXG™

24. Titanic Personalities of the Twentieth Century Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Dr Martin Luther King Jr With Message for the Entire Humanity Quality Education for Masses is the Key to Development

25. OMKAR Open Matrix Knowledge Advancement Resource OMKAR is humble tribute of the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University Gujarat to these illustrious leaders. Both Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Dr Martin Luther King gave priority to access to quality education as the key to upliftment of the downtrodden and deprived masses OMKAR is a dream to ensure that world class education is available to all: At a time and a place of one own choice In language of one own choice In an easy to understand format OMKAR is a dream to give wings to aspirations of all regardless of class, caste, creed, language or religion Dr Manoj Soni Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University Gujarat

26. ICITD Websites to Visit • www.mbarika.com • www.icitd.com-- Open to short term visits • www.ictuniversity.org-- Open for faculty affiliates • www.ajisonline.com -- Currently receiving applications for service on the editorial board • www.ictforafrica.org --Currently receiving papers for the Harare(Zimbabwe) ICT for Africa conference, 2013 • CONTACT: victor@mbarika.com

27. THANK YOU======COMMENTS &DISCUSSION