Samson O. Gunga

Facing the challenges of e-learning initiatives in African universities

This paper explores the possibility of bringing e-learning to African universities through collaborative networks of public–private partnerships. It is envisaged that this approach will solve the dual problem of infrastructural barriers and weak ICT policies. As technology is used more in education, the teachers’ roles are increasingly integrated with those of support staff, administrators and technical staff. The needs of e-learning environments suggest the viability of multistakeholder networks to share expertise and resolve issues related to training needs. The paper concludes that collaboration networks that include e-learning sponsors, policy makers, telecommunication network service providers and educators are required to solve the problems of online education in Africa.

The Prospects for E-Learning Revolution in Education: A philosophical analysis

If I lose my key in Canada, for instance, and I search for it in the United Kingdom, how long will I take to find it?  This paper argues that problems in education are caused by non‐professional teachers who are employed when trained teachers move in search of promotion friendly activities or financially rewarding duties. This shift of focus means that policy makers in education act without adequate professional guidance. The problems in education, therefore, result from demands made on mainstream education based on misconceptions about what education can offer.  It is argued that the implementation of e‐learning in education faces the risk of developing on the basis of unproven theories. This scenario increasingly sees the replacement of formal education activities in institutions of learning with non‐formal and informal education practices. Given that the contents and influences of non‐formal and informal education are not under the control of the teacher, the experiences that learners bring to education settings are increasingly difficult to manage. The paper proposes that by integrating e‐learning in teacher education and rewarding ‘good teaching’, there is a potential for a successful e‐learning revolution in education.

Challenges of Implementation of e learning in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (MSTE) in African schools: A Critical Review

This paper discusses the general ICT challenges in education and poses questions, the attempt of whose answers establish the manner in which e-learning technology could be appropriate for understanding and communicating the structures of mathematics and science. Challenges in understanding mathematics and science arise out of the interaction between these two intertwined yet disparate disciplines. While mathematical proof is established deductively and hence conclusive and not amenable to confutation in a logically possible world, scientific truth is established inductively on probable yet utilitarian grounds in the actual world. While challenges in implementation of the understanding of mathematics and science through technology arise from social and infrastructural issues related to ICT in African environment, the difficulty posed by challenges of communicating the principles of understanding the structure of mathematics and science are not yet insurmountable. An attempt to bring into coherence the mathematical and scientific understanding through e-learning instructional paradigm in quasi-philosophic terms is the main subject of this paper.

Book Review: Reginald M.J. Oduor’s Introduction to Ethics

TITLE OF BOOK: Introduction to Ethics AUTHOR: Reginald M.J. Oduor Nairobi: Sophia Publications Ltd., 2009, 116 pages COVER: Paperback ISBN: 9966-7457-0-X This book is a product of more than a decade of Oduor’s experience in teaching ethics (moral philosophy) at the University of Nairobi. In the course of this introduction, the reader gets to see the techniques of philosophic reflection in action, as they are employed to scrutinise various pertinent moral questions.