By Wallace Mawire
Dookun-Luchoomun
The organisers of eLearning Africa, the continent’s leading conference
on technology assisted learning and training, announced that the
Government of Mauritius has agreed to host this year’s conference in
September.
It is reported that the conference will be held under the patronage
of the Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Hon. Mr
Yogida Sawmynaden and the Minister of Education, Human Resources,
Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, Hon. Mrs Leela Devi
Dookun-Luchoomun. It will take place in Port Louis, the capital of
Mauritius, from the 27th to the 29th of September.
eLearning Africa, which this year is being co-organised by ICWE GmbH,
the German company which originally created the event, and the
Mauritian Government, has played a major role in promoting technology
assisted learning in Africa. Rebecca Stromeyer, CEO of ICWE, said:
“This year will mark the twelfth anniversary of eLearning Africa. The
conference has been remarkably successful. It doesn’t just bring
people from all over Africa together to discuss, share experience and
learn. It also brings experts, entrepreneurs and investors in
education from all over the world to Africa. In doing so, it has
helped to create a host of new partnerships, to bring about some major
investment deals and to inform political decision-making in all sorts
of ways.
“I am delighted that this year the event will take place in Mauritius.
The Government of Mauritius is committed to using technology to open
up a range of new opportunities in education. It is investing heavily
in technology-assisted learning and training. Mauritius is a wealthy
and stable country with highly developed tourism and financial
sectors. The Government is keen to encourage innovation and promote
tech start-ups. So, it’s an exciting time to be coming to this
beautiful African island and I’m sure that everyone who attends
eLearning Africa 2017 will really profit from the experience.”
Ms Stromeyer added that the theme of this year’s conference –
‘Learning in Context’ – is a very important one for African educators.
“Too often in the past, people from outside have ignored the local
context in Africa. But anyone who understands Africa knows how
important context is. There are around 3,000 languages spoken across
the continent and there is a vast amount of traditional knowledge,
which we need to preserve. Technology offers us the opportunity to
overcome obstacles and to make the most of diversity. Africa is going
to be one of the most successful and prosperous places on the planet,
so all of us – Africans and non-Africans – need to understand context
and how it shapes education.
“We need to ask how we can localise content to maximise opportunity
and how we can apply or adapt technology to meet local conditions and
needs.”
In recent years, eLearning Africa has been attended by over 1500
participants from more than 80 different countries. It is accompanied
by a ministerial round table, which is attended by Ministers of
Education, Science, Technology, Information and Communications from
all over Africa and beyond.
Every year eLearning Africa brings together over 1,500 eLearning
experts, high-level decision makers, practitioners, researchers,
entrepreneurs and stakeholders from over 90 countries, and from across
the education, business and public sectors. They discuss, debate,
inform, share experience and plan action.
As the largest conference of its kind, the three-day event has become
widely recognised as an unmissable occasion for anyone with an
interest in education in Africa. It provides outstanding opportunities
to learn, understand, present, promote, exhibit, connect and develop
new partnerships.
