3 Project outline

3.1 Brief description

Despite considerable effort at educational reform, Africa, seen at a large scale, has been unable to adequately meet the essential learning needs of its communities. Compounding immense problems of infrastructure, human and financial resources and organisation, and perhaps even more important for the fundamental basis of education in Africa are: i) lack of access to needed information and learning resources to enhance Africa's capacity to improve existing formal education systems, and ii) lack of communication among key players in the learning process: students and their parents, educators, researchers and education officials (planners, policy makers and curriculum developers) which has often resulted in a bureaucratic and top-down approach to the provision of learning opportunities.

In many African countries, teacher training colleges (TTCs) are instrumental in the implementation of educational changes through pre- and in-service training programmes. However, they could play a much more prominent role in creating learning environments that are responsive to the specific needs of communities through: i) establishing communication among teacher educators and teachers and, through them students, parents, and also Ministries of Education to interact with policy makers and central support services on actual learning needs and limitations of current educational directions, and ii) creating learning resource centres to support both professional capacity building of teacher educators and (trainee) teachers and the development of relevant learning activities. This project aims to enhance this potential of teacher training colleges, using the emerging powers of the Internet characterised by its flexibility, interactivity and accessibility.

As part of the National Information and Communication Infrastructures (NICI), being prepared in the framework of the larger: "Harnessing Information Technology for Development in Africa" project, a maximum of four (4) teacher training colleges (TTCs) in each of the twenty (20) African countries will be provided with full access to the Internet.

The teacher training colleges will be encouraged through this access to:

1. establish dialogue with educational planners and policy makers, researchers and practising teachers to ensure a more meaningful development and implementation of directives and regulations;
2. exploit information on latest concepts, developments and experiments to support professional development;
3. develop relevant curricula through groupwork and groupware, in close collaboration with the relevant national education authorities;
4. develop appropriate teaching and learning materials, using locally relevant images and sounds (including otherwise inaccessible "artefacts");
5. apply the Internet as a tool to address the needs of different learner groups.

The participating countries will be selected on the basis of national commitment and availability of sufficient infrastructure and connectivity to support the proposed learning networks.

The implementation of the different project activities in the twenty participating countries will be monitored, evaluated and assessed through discussions and exchange of experience at the regional and international levels.

3.2 Project objectives

The specific objectives of the project are to:

• sensitise educators, researchers, policy makers and communities on the need to change existing concepts of education and learning in view of today's requirements for lifelong learning and, in particular, the potential role teacher training colleges can play in this context;
• stimulate the enhancement of teacher training colleges to become information, communication and learning resource centres for educational planners and researchers, for teacher educators, for their students and, through the latter, for specific learning communities;
• provide training opportunities for teacher educators and their students, researchers and policy makers on effective use of Internet applications in the context of improving teaching and learning;
• promote the use of the Internet by teacher training colleges and their students and other relevant partners for:
  • professional development of teacher educators and teachers;
  • collaborative research and learning activities;
  • participatory policy development and implementation;
  • development of locally adapted and produced learning materials and curricula;
  • community-based learning activities;
• promote the exchange of experiences within the project across national boarders.

3.3 Expected outcomes

The following outcomes are expected at the end of the project:

• establishment of 20 national task forces, responsible for the use of Internet in teacher training colleges;
• creation of 80 local learning networks, 20 national electronic discussion groups and 3 regional list servers for discussion among, and training of, communities, teachers, researchers and educational planners;
• production and dissemination of training courses for using the Internet for teaching and learning in hard copy form and on the Internet;
• enrichment of local resource centres (libraries or documentation centres) at the participating 80 teacher training colleges with full access to the Internet;
• training of at least 7200 educators, education officers and other interested parties on the potential and the use of the Internet for teaching and learning;
• creation of 20 national educational WWW sites, updated on a regular basis;
• network facilitated co-operative development of national and sub-regional curricula for the training of teachers in identified priority areas;
• implementation of learning activities, using the Internet as a learning tool, for at least 80 different learner groups from schools served by the participating teacher training colleges;
• exchange of experiences of all of the participating countries among themselves and with other interested parties via the Internet;
• preparation and wide dissemination of a report on project implementation, evaluation and follow-up.

3.4 Implementation arrangements

International level

UNESCO will take the overall responsibility for the execution of the sub-project: "Creating Learning Networks for African Teachers" in context of the "Harnessing Information Technology for Development in Africa" project, and the "Basic Education for All African Children" component of the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa, in close collaboration with an international Steering Committee composed of the funding agencies and other international partners (for example, DAE, ECA, IDRC, ITU, TFA, UNDP, UNICEF, UNITAR and the World Bank).

An International Advisory Team of African and international specialists in the areas of teacher training and information and communication technologies will be established. This team will evaluate and finalise the project methodology, and reflect on the project implementation in light of the latest technological developments and international perspectives.

An international project co-ordinator will be appointed to co-ordinate the project implementation, and facilitate and monitor the communication and collaboration among the 20 participating countries, with the back-up of the Steering Committee.

National level

Each participating teacher training college will appoint one local project co-ordinator, who will be responsible for the co-ordination of the activities at the college.

In each of the 20 participating countries, a national task force will be established, comprising representatives of national telecommunication operators, Internet providers, experienced Internet users, education officers and representatives of the teacher training colleges. The task force will be responsible for project implementation at the national level, and the co-ordination among the participating teacher training colleges.

For countries to participate in the project, an agreement between the Government (Ministry of Education) and UNESCO should be signed as the basis of a national project plan, stipulating the national contribution and responsibilities, and specifying the required international support.

3.5 Evaluation and follow-up

The International Advisory Team will evaluate the products of the project at different stages. It will provide feedback to the international project co-ordinator, who in turn will consult electronically and through the regional workshops with the national task forces at a regular basis.

During the second series of regional workshops, the progress at national level will be evaluated, and through the yearly national workshops, the national task forces will evaluate the project's implementation.

In the last year of the project, an external evaluation team will evaluate the project, and present final report that addresses both project results and modalities for future expansion of the use of the Internet for educational purposes.

3.6 Duration

The project is planned for a period of three years, from 1 January 1997 until 31 December 1999. It is expected that, after the three years, the project activities will be taken over and expanded at both the national and regional levels. Preparatory project activities, planned to assess the feasibility of the proposed project, have started as from November 1996.

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