Information Society Watch

September 2007

In the last decade, the Internet has become the ubiquitious repository of human knowledge. Harnessed properly, the net can provide a huge impetus to the world of education by providing access to this vast knowledge store.

December 2007, Glen Farrell et al., InfoDev

These reports provide snapshots of the current state of activities and issues related to ICT use in individual African countries. As ICT use in education is rapidly evolving in Africa with new developments happening daily somewhere on the continent, the reports are not exhaustive and some of the information they present may become out-dated very quickly.

2001, Ann Travers, Radical Pedagogy

In keeping with the typical pattern associated with the introduction of new technologies, many promises have been made about the positive benefits of new information technologies to society. This article focuses on such promises as they relate to the expansion of public space in western society.

December 26, 2007, The Hindu

This article examines the successes and failures of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme as mass production of the laptops has finally gotten underway and countries are beginning to place their orders. In one Peruvian village, 50 primary school children who received laptops 6 months ago are demonstrating the OLPC's potential.

July 2007, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Bertram C. Bruce, Richard Andrews, Michelle M. Kazmer, Rae–Anne Montague, Christina Preston, First Monday

The authors see the need for, and the emergence of, new theories and models of and for the online learning environment, addressing learning in its ICT context, considering both formal and informal learning, individual and community learning, and new practices arising from technology use in the service of learning. This paper presents six theoretical perspectives on learning in ICT contexts, and is an invitation to others to bring theoretical models to the fore to enhance people's understanding of new learning contexts.

Anita Dighe & Usha Vyasulu Reddi, CEMCA    

This paper highlights why women's illiteracy needs to be addressed, and outlines documented experiences in using ICTs to address illiteracy. After reviewing some of the salient experiences of running literacy programmes for women in developing countries, the authors discuss the support needed from a broad array of sources and areas for meaningful use of ICT interventions in women's literacy.

May 15, 2007, Tectonic

A new project titled 'EduWiki' aims at having a wide range of information relevant to modern South African families especially focusing on their community needs. The creator of the project, Shaugn Vorster explains that modern South African families do not have the old community frameworks and this project aims to plug this gap by providing community level information.

May 4, 2007, The New York Times

A decade after laptops were promoted as a means to enhance academic performance amongst students, educational institutions across the US are discovering that there has been no significant improvement and are doing away with 'one-to-one' computing. This measure by authorities comes in the wake of increasing reports of students using their laptops for hacking, downloading porn and cheating during exams.

August 14, 2006, Economic Times

A recent collaboration between India and the African Union under the aegis of the Pan-African E-network Project aimed at developing ICT infrastructure across the African continent holds significant promise. Under the initiative, India will donate $1bn to connect 53 African countries through a satellite and fibre optic network to promote tele-medicine and tele-education programmes.

Lyndsay Green, UNESCO

One of the strongest messages that emerges from research on the effective use of ICTs in the education of women is the need to use appropriate technology. The examples in this paper look at the newer ICTs, computers and related services such as e-mail and the web, and also include the use of broadcast technologies, such as radio and television, as well as audio and videotapes.