Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 1 © VCILT 16/8/05 Alain Senteni, VCILT University of Mauritius co-chair of witfor education commission Innovative Learning & Knowledge Communities for the integration of ICTs in enhancing education a comprehensive analysis of some training initiatives in Mauritius

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 2 What are Innovative Learning & Knowledge Communities ? {{ learning, competencies, skills, knowledge creation, tools, innovation activity systems Education Commission Best Practices Case Study What are we becoming ? What is our experience, our culture ? Where do we belong ? community What are we doing ? practice meaning identity Learning (freely inspired from Wenger, 2004)

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 3 * knowledge is a process, rather than a product * knowledge forms part of dynamic processes of innovation embedded in skills, emotions, and hunches of the people involved. * knowledge creation is mediated by tools (mainly ICTs, in our case) knowledge What are Innovative Learning & Knowledge Communities ? {{ learning, competencies, skills, knowledge creation, tools, innovation activity systems Education Commission Best Practices Case Study

4 consider learning as indissociable of community, practice, meaning and culture consider learning and knowledge advancement as a knowledge-creation process and emphasise the importance of going beyond information given. criticise the classical conception of knowledge, as propositional knowledge only. analyze how individuals act as participants in innovative processes of knowledge creation. create a context in which members engage in a dynamic process of knowledge transformation Education Commission Best Practices Case Study {{ learning, competencies, skills, knowledge creation, tools, innovation activity systems Innovative Learning & Knowledge Communities

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 5 The Virtual Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies is an example of innovative learning & knowledge community Education Commission Best Practices Case Study

6 The Virtual Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies was created in April 2001 by the University of Mauritius, to face the increasing number of students. Today, the centre counts about twenty permanent staff, blend of instructional designers, multimedia, web and infrastructure developers. The VCILT implements new technologies and new methods closely related with the use of such tools. The VCILT aims at transforming mindset & pedagogical practices through the introduction of new working methods using ICT. The implicit assumption is that there exists a continuity between technology and society. In 2003, the VCILT initiated the creation of the University of Mauritus Lifelong Learning Cluster (UoM-LLC) to answer emerging needs of the ITES/BPO sector.

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8 The VCILT provides professional & academic training for the incubation of other similar communities

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 9 The VCILT produces & maintains platforms & tools, whether conceptual or ICT based

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 10 The VCILT has produced & maintains a digital library platform (LOR) allowing the contextualisation of Open Educational Resources (OER)

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 11 The VCILT supports the collaborative development of resource bases, in domains considered as priorities for the development of the country (e.g. Science & technology in Schools)

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 12 The VCILT supports & monitor similar communities in the region (e.g. network & professional development for social workers in the indian ocean region)

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 13 The VCILT develops meaningful contents supporting the formation of identity (e.g. mauritian history at Std 5 & 6 level)

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 14 e.g. Aapravasi GhatAapravasi Ghat The VCILT develops meaningful contents supporting the formation of identity

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 15 Computer-Mediated Communication & Pedagogies (CMCP) Effective Use, Clustering and Interoperability of Open Educational Ressources (OER) Innovative Learning & Knowledge Communities linking Work, Training and Innovation Spaces Developmental intervention and Scaling up Initiatives (from Pilot to Scale: How to Scale Up?) to maintain and strengthen an international network of partners, the VCILT organises every two years the International Conference on Open & Online Learning (ICOOL), focusing on themes such as: VCILT networking initiatives : International Conference on Open & Online Learning etc...

Education Commission Project & Research Proposal ICOOL 2003 in Mauritius [Community Development & Networking for Capacity Building ] ICOOL 2005 in South Africa [Learning, Information Technology & Communication Hub of the Indian Ocean] in the context of WCCE 2005, the 8 th IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education ICOOL 2007 in Penang, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) networking is also human ! VCILT networking initiatives : International Conference on Open & Online Learning

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 17 e.g. the Computer Proficiency Programme (CPP) In the year 2000, the government of Mauritius formulated the vision of transforming the country into a cyberisland. One of the projects that was implemented as from late 2001 in an attempt to translate this vision into concrete action was the Computer Proficiency Project (CPP). This project has resulted in the mass training in two and a half years of more than 36,000 people up to proficiency level which in the Mauritian context was defined as the last stage to be attained before one actually becomes a producer of software products. This paper examines the CPP from a management perspective. engages in meaningful national or regional projects for community development and capacity building

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 18 The CPP consists in offering mass IT training to the population The CPP uses existing resources (30 computer labs in state secondary schools = 600 PCs), 2-3 hour sessions The CPP offers a 48 hours hands-on training on PCs at affordable price of Rs 700 (P100) The CPP targets teachers, secondary school students, unemployed, working population (factory workers, hotel and service industry, civil servants, housewives and the retired people). After 30 months of operation, the CPP has reached persons, including some 6000 primary and secondary school teachers. ©VCILT (3/5/2005) the Computer Proficiency Programme (CPP) delivery

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 19 - Mgt, Empowerment & Collegial Support - Academic Training & Professional devt - Infrastructure & Delivery - Contents & Pedagogy (VCILT) - Follow up, assesment, QA (VCILT) the Computer Proficiency Programme (CPP) components & organisational strategy

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 20 ©VCILT (3/5/2005) the Computer Proficiency Programme (CPP) standard contents, empowered trainers, open pedagogy

Education Commission Best Practices Case Study 21 ©VCILT (3/5/2005) the Computer Proficiency Programme (CPP) online evaluation, cumulative tokens

ICTs is usually considered as a priviledged entry point for innovation and development in developing countries. However, the integration of ICT as an engine of innovation and development in organisations requires effective sociocentric methodologies, particularly in the context of developping countries. Developmental Work Research (Engeström, 1987)has been defined as an effective intervention methodology to help work transformation in organisations. So far, DWR has been applied in several large scale projects, but mainly in the context of developed countries. Ongoing Developmental intervention for the integration of ICT, enabling innovation, capacity building & knowledge creation in developing countries’ organizations

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