Browsing by Author "Greenop, Kirston"

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    An Evaluation of HIV and AIDS digital content for HCPs and the Public
    (2008-09) Greenop, Kirston
    PCF5 Sub-theme: Health // Child mortality in South Africa is rising, gender violence is rife and the HIV infections in the country are estimated to be at 11% of the population. 11% of the HIV infected population is estimated to have AIDS. While the National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS and STIs (2007-2011) has been presented, implementing the specifics of the plan prove a challenge to everyone working in the area of HIV and AIDS, and thus the Millennium Development Goals or reduction and reversal of infection. // The government of South Africa has identified ICT as a vehicle to address health challenges in the country. This mirrors the call by the WHO for member countries to put strategic plans and partnerships in place to create and sustain ICT in health projects. // Mindset Health is an organisation partnered with the South African Department of Health which provides specific and directed HIV and AIDS open content for distance learning to Health Care Professionals (HCPs) on site, on a voluntary, flexible and dynamic platform. Educational and awareness content is also broadcast into public health facilities for the public. This innovative ICT practice has provided a wide range of content in the area of HIV and AIDS to an audience that is distant, works diverse shifts and requires a flexible, open and accessible approach to learning. This paper presents a needs analysis of the HCPs and subsequent evaluations of the innovative technology used in the presentation of this free content as a means of communication and education for both the public and HCPs. This discussion provides a vehicle for providing lessons learnt in content development for open and distance learning. // Paper ID 86
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    Capacity Building in ICT Across Nine Developing Countries
    (2008) Greenop, Kirston
    PCF5: Cross-Cutting Themes // Mindset Network is a non government organisation (NGO) which creates open digital educational content that is aligned to national policies and curricula. The digital format of this content includes multi-media, video and print and is made available via satellite technology. The quality assured content is made available to Health education sites and Schools through a website, satellite broadcasts and DVDs. Mindset is partnered with the South African government departments of Health and Educational and provides leadership and innovation in the arena of ICT. // In September 2004, the Department of Education, South Africa, published the white paper on e-Education. The aim of this paper is and was to accelerate learning and teaching within the developing world. The challenge that the developing world faces is to build capacity among educators and educational policy makers in order to implement and utilize the opportunities that ICTs present. To this end, Mindset Network, in collaboration with an educational specialist from the Commonwealth of Learning, designed and developed a two-week capacity building workshop focusing on developing digital educational materials for distance and open learning. Educational representatives from various developing countries in Africa and Asia attended. // The workshop was participatory in nature with Mindset facilitating the learning and production of digital content in print, video and multi-media. The project was evaluated consistently and in a triangulated manner, across all levels, for efficiency, effectiveness, impact, sustainability and relevance. Results demonstrated that positive features of such a capacity building workshop rested on key areas: participation with ones peers, sharing knowledge and experiences, being able to implement new lessons, consistent feedback and evaluation. The format and lessons learnt form this workshop are presented. // Paper ID 84
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    Developing Games for Use on Mobile Phones and Using Games for Education
    (2008) Greenop, Kirston; Busa, Dylan
    PCF5: Cross-Cutting Theme // Gaming developments and advancements are becoming increasingly pervasive and utilized. Over 30 million people have access to mobile phones in South Africa. In general, in 2004 in sub-Saharan Africa 52 million people had access to mobile phones, while only 5-8 million had access to the internet. In terms of the three screens of technology (television, internet and mobile phones), people living in Africa may have access to television and mobile phones, or only mobile phones. In addition, mobile phone usage is growing the most rapidly in the developing world, where the technology does not depend on existing landlines. This level of ‘reach’ rivals only the radio. // As a model of education support, games on mobile phones are being investigated. In this vein, three questions are pertinent: what happens while the learner plays the game that is of use to educational methodology and learning, can existing gaming platforms be used to deliver educational curricula, and what aspects of existing games need to be replicated in ‘educational’ games? In essence, what can educators learn from gaming? Are there existing games that have educational value and if so, what is this? How can we replicate traditional gaming’s success and position gaming within an educational setting? It is important to clarify that gaming in this context is gaming in a technological format, as games have been used in education for countless years. // The current research project developed two innovative educational games for use on mobile phones and positioned these within the context of Mindset Learn’s educational content platform. Mindset is a not for profit organisation that provides ICT educational, curriculum aligned content free of charge to learners and teachers. // Paper ID 81
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    Girl Learners Using Mobile Phones in the Classroom for Mathematical Education
    (2008) Greenop, Kirston; Busa, Dylan
    The UN defines South Africa as a middle-income country, yet there are concerns about quality of education, especially in poorer areas. This concern, linked with unemployment figures of between 27 and 40% (over 5 million people) makes quality access and engagement with education a priority so that women may benefit from full access to employment. The South African National Department of Education published the e-Education white paper in 2004, but the challenge remains in the implementation of these strategies. The main question revolves around the value of ICTs demonstrated through teacher and learner improvements.// Mobile phones as an ICT tool are becoming more frequent and pervasive. While there is gender parity in education in South Africa, this is skewed by subject matter, with the gender ratio of girls accessing mathematics and science at higher education levels becoming progressively lower than boys. This impacts on later employment positions, status and achievement. In addition, performance in mathematics and science at the secondary level are poor and has been prioritized by government. This situation is compounded by a lack of qualified mathematics and science teachers. // Twenty girl learners were selected to participate in this project: a partnership between Nokia Mobile and Mindset Learn. This pilot project has provided each girl with a Mobile phone with Mindset mathematics content loaded on. This content is freely accessible and is curriculum aligned. The project has analysed how the phones are used in relation to both content and technology in general and has measured the impact these phones have had on girl learners’ educational attainment, perceptions of technology and new learning that has taken place. Implications for mobile phones in the classroom are discussed. // Paper ID 83
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    ICT in South Africa: Opportunities and Challenges from a NGO Perspective
    (2008) Greenop, Kirston; Naidoo, Vis
    The area of ICT, health and education were identified as priority areas by the South African government (for example, the e-Education white paper of 2004, and the e-Health policy of 2006). The e-readiness ranking of the Economist Intelligence Unit (2007) places South Africa 35 out of 69 countries. However, the Unit makes the observation that the divide between the most developed countries and the developing world is shrinking due to innovation and technological advances in mobile phones and online services. Mindset Network is positioned in this environment and aims to develop, produce and provide relevant digital educational content to as wide an audience as possible. // Mindset Network, an NPO, was established four years ago to deliver educational content to the schooling and health settings. Mindset aims to provide ubiquitous access, anywhere, anytime and through a variety of platforms (internet, print, satellite broadcasts, multimedia and mobile technology). During this stage of development, each facet of the programme has been evaluated. This paper provides a review of the research findings of Mindset’s Health and Schooling programmes. The challenges of setting up an ICT organisation within the developing world, the value that this has added to the educational and health arenas, the importance of partnerships, the lessons learned and the strategy on the way forward are emphasised. The paper discusses the findings of a large scale metaanalysis and provides a contextualization of Mindset’s position in ICT in a developing country, the challenges and opportunities for leadership.// Paper ID 82
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    Using ICT to Learn at Work: An Evaluation of a Pilot Professional Development System for Health Care Professionals
    (2008-09) Greenop, Kirston
    PCF5 Sub-theme: Health // In South Africa, the National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS and STIs (2007-2011) was presented in 2007. It is essential to implement this plan to address the Millenium Development Goals and to halt and reverse the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. This task is made difficult by severe shortages of Health Care Professionals (with estimates of over 30% of nursing posts being vacant). In addition, skills development for HCPs has been made a government priority, but time and logistical issues often make this difficult for HCPs. Mindset Health uses ICTs to reach this diverse and widely spread population with HIV and AIDS educational content and the potential for up-skilling. // Mindset Network is an NPO which creates open digital educational content that is aligned to national policies. The digital format of this content includes interactive lessons, video and print and is made freely available via satellite technology. A recent development is the initiation of an innovative professional development component to the content in order to enable HCPs to up-skill using this appropriate technology located on site. The Centre for Rural Health (CRH) argues that most nurses cite the lack of opportunity for further education and training as the main reason they leave their place of employment. They require access to information via various sources, including computers, the internet and satellite technology. The Mindset Health project enables the HCP to be assessed and potentially accredited on the content wherever they are located. This presentation provides a discussion on the merits and necessity of providing on-the-job training using national accreditation structures, the process of implementing this project, and the results of an initial evaluation of the project. // Paper ID 87