TAD Consortium January 2000 Information Update 1

ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS
--- 18th International Conference on Technology and Education: ICTE South
Africa 2000
--- Rotterdam Market for Educational Programmes and Multimedia: 16 - 18
April 2000

ONLINE RESOURCES
--- The Reading Village
--- Welcome to the Youth-4-Peace discussion list.
--- Role of Multipurpose Community Telecentres in Accelerating National
Development in Ghana

PRINTED AND OTHER RESOURCES
--- Governance of Higher and Further Education Institutions: A Legal
Handbook

ARTICLES
--- African Web sites need a lift
--- 'Helplessness in Face of Technology's Inexorable March a Familiar
Feeling' by Gary Chapman
--- Role play methods in training and development

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NEWS/TRENDS

Taken from Nua Internet Surveys - January 10, 2000

Wharton School of Business:Consumer Online Spending to Slow Down

Projected growth estimates for the size of the b2c market in the United

States may have to be scaled down, according to researchers in the Wharton

School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Preliminary results of

the Wharton Virtual Test Market study, which has tracked over 23,000

Internet users over the last three years, show that consumer spending on the

Internet could soon reach a plateau.

Although the amount of money spent by Net shoppers has increased constantly,

the increase between 1998 and 1999 was proportionately smaller than the

increase between 1997 and 1998. This trend, combined with the overall

slowing down of user number growth rates, indicates that the b2c market will

not continue its current rapid rate of growth.

Wharton researchers comment that consumers are now beginning to treat online

shopping as "just another way of shopping" and are now less likely to buy

products on the Internet if they do not have to travel too far to buy the

same products in a store. Wharton researchers acknowledge, however, that

experienced Internet users who are frequently online are more likely to buy

from online retailers.

The results of the study indicate that current consumer online spending

amounts to about USD29.2 billion annually and the researchers estimate that

this figure will reach USD133 billion by January 2004.

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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys - January 10, 2000

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Internet Week:Nearly All Companies Escape Y2K Unharmed

Three out of four IT professionals say their companies had no Y2K related

problems, according to the results of a new survey from TechWeb. Of the

companies that did have problems, 80 percent reported that only

insignificant glitches were experienced. Four percent of respondents said

that the Y2K changeover caused significant severe interruption to their

company's business.

Fourteen percent of respondents said Y2K caused minor PC glitches, 6 percent

experienced virus or database error problems, 3 percent suffered telecom or

Internet service interruption and only 2 percent reported problems with

hacking or unauthorised persons entering their systems.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said that Y2K was a positive experience for

their company as it led to the upgrading and modernisation of many systems.

Only four percent viewed it as a negative experience. Although 63 percent

agreed that the Y2K problem was "mainly hype", 75 percent said that the

money and time spent by their company on rectifying Y2K bugs was about

right.

The relatively easy Y2K changeover should free up resources for companies to

spend on Internet development and ecommerce projects. Many organisations had

established a reserve Y2K fund but if no further major problems are

experienced, these funds should become unnecessary and the money could well

be spent on extra ecommerce initiatives.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS

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18th International Conference on Technology and Education: ICTE South

Africa 2000. The main theme will be: Crossing the digital divide:

Improving the quality of life through educational technology, April 16-19,

2000 at Potchefstroom University, South Africa. Calls for papers are still

e-mail; tel 018-299-1465. In terms of the fees special support will be

given to people with limited means.

Lou van Wyk

Chief Director: Telematic Learning systems

Potchefstroom University

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Rotterdam Market for Educational Programmes and Multimedia: 16 - 18 April

2000 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The Rotterdam Market is an international market for educational

broadcasters, independent producers, publishers, the telecom- and

computerindustry, audiovisual institutes, educational organisations,

ministeries of education etc. The decision-makers of all major educational

organisations will attend the market. Hardware and software developers of

new technologies, including learning platforms, will demonstrate their

products.

The aim of the market is to arrange coproductions, buying and selling of

educational programmes, networking and professional development. If you

want to know what is happening in many countries in the field of

educational media, you have to attend this educational market. Not walking

around between thousands of "visitors", but meeting the right people in the

field of education.

For more information, please contact Manon Boomkens, tel. + 31 35.6293105

fax. +31 35 6293495, e-mail: manon.boomkens@teleacnot.nl

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ONLINE RESOURCES

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Distributed by the Network Nugget List

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The Reading Village

This site should have something for reading teachers of all grades. It has

been developed by five University doctoral students - hopefully they're in

the first part of the studies and will be around for some time to support

the site. The Reading Village is a metalist of links to professional

resources for teachers (organized under the categories of K-3, 4-12, and

Special Needs). These link collections include general reading resources,

lesson plans, research articles, listservs, children's books, sites for

authors and illustrators, sources of good books for kids, and assessment

resources. In other sections of the site you'll find other metalists

including collections of links to reading software, professional books, as

well as to research, journals & articles. The Reading Village is not just a

collection of external links. There are good resources on the site itself

too. In the K-3, 4-12 or Special Needs sections you'll find a place to

read/share teaching ideas for that target audience. There's also a

discussion forum as well as an 'auditorium' where special speakers make

presentations and there is opportunity for discussion, questions, and

feedback.

The Reading Village is hosted by Pepperdine University and is suitable for

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Welcome to the Youth-4-Peace discussion list.

INTRODUCTION

This is a discussion exploring the role of youth in peacebuilding and

reconstruction. One of the objectives of this discussion is to develop

project(s) on this theme that can be implemented by school networking

initiatives. The focus is Africa although it does not exclude participation

by other areas of the world.

SCOPE

The forum is intended to be platform of collaboration and action for peace.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared Year 2000 as the

International Year for the Culture of Peace and the Decade 2001-2010 as the

International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the

Children of the World. Our actions need to lead to some peace activity and

or action. There also needs to be alignment of ideas, objectives, agenda,

plans and associations with current programmes if they are within the scope

of our work and be dynamic in the institutionalisation of new ideas /

projects where no precedence or current programme exists.

ENVIRONMENT

* Online discussions, meetings and conferencing.

* Online collaboration of research, databases, projects, activities with

other clearing houses on the continent as bases of body of knowledge.

* Networking action through Peace workshops and conferences.

* Networking action through reconstruction and renaissance (Diaspora)

workshops and conferences.

* Communications through inter-agency directory networks.

* Technical / research / task team collaboration of development / peace

agenda for each subject as projects.

AGENDA

* To PROMOTE peace for the Continent.

* To EDUCATE and INFORM peoples of the Continent.

* To SHARE with each other; creative, dynamic and cultural initiatives for

peace and reconstruction of the Continent.

* To COMMIT resources and expertise on initiatives to enable the peace and

reconstruction agenda towards action.

* To DEVELOP relationships with all global social networks; youth, learners,

educators, specialists, women, aged, schools, churches and private / public

enterprise into peace action.

BRIEF

A panellist will review all issues and develop briefs on all activities and

projects that the group has identified to require action.

I look forward to a year of transformation of the cry for peace to action

for peace. Upon your subscription, kindly indicate your strengths, passion

or area of concern and participation so that we can include your membership

on the various activities / projects.

I would like to open this debate on the issue of Angola and the prolonged

suffering of the youth in that country. How can we make a difference?

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Role of Multipurpose Community Telecentres in Accelerating National

Development in Ghana

by Wilfred Owen, Jr. and Osei Darkwa

"This paper examines the development, growth and potential sustainability of

small business communication centres in cities in Ghana. It investigates

the extent to which these enterprises are using modem communication tools to

provide services and its impact on rural development. It describes the type

of technologies available at these centres and demonstrates how these

centres could be used to provide services to urban, rural and other

underserved populations. Additionally, it draws attention to how information

technology could be used to alleviate the information needs of Ghanaians.

Lastly, it provides a comprehensive listing of the major

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PRINTED AND OTHER RESOURCES

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Governance of Higher and Further Education Institutions: A Legal Handbook

Higher and Further Education in South Africa is about to experience radical

change and transformation. The year 2000 marks the moment when both these

education systems are to be directed and regulated so that they serve our

new social order and national economic needs. Legislation is now in a form

which provides for each system to be separate yet parallel and co-ordinated

with the other. All institutions from universities to technical and other

colleges, both public and private, which provide tuition, and/or offer

educational qualifications beyond or outside normal school education fall

within the aegis of this legislation - notwithstanding any other law by

which they may have been established or operate. These laws have set into

motion a process which will restructure and transform these institutions so

that they respond to the educational, training and economic needs of the

country. A programmed approach to both the higher and further educational

systems has resulted in the establishment of a National Qualifications

Framework which, together with National Standards and Quality Assurance

bodies, interlink and co-ordinate learning programmes and qualifications

ranging from in-house industrial training schemes to university degrees.

All qualifications offered by higher and further education institutions are

required to comply and fall within this framework. Proper and informed

governance of universities and other education institutions is a vital

concern of this legislation. Minimum requirements have been prescribed as

well as the assignment of specific legal obligations, public accountability

and other responsibilities within the governance and management structure of

such institutions. Strict registration, monitoring, reporting and inspection

processes have been put in place. Compiled under the guidance of an

editorial board drawn from the legal fraternity, universities and both

public and private college principals, this publication includes all the

relevant national Acts and regulations together with peripheral employment

and subordinate SAQA legislation. Commentary is provided for each Act,

explaining its purpose, objectives and implications.

The publication is available on CD-Rom (R300.00 per copy) and updated

regularly. Further information can be obtained from METIS Publications Law

Service (Mr Fred Jenkin) - tel: (031)462-5659; fax: (031)462-7664; email:

metis@iafrica.com.

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ARTICLES

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Below is an article by Gumisai Mutume that sheds more light about Africa's

need to be more vigilant with the new technologies and one hopes it will put

our discussions into perspective.

"TECHNOLOGY: African Web sites need a lift

HARARE Dec 20 (IPS) - The internet has provided a lifeline for thousands of

Africans seeking to join the "information age" by providing distance

learning facilities, remote health centres and an international market for

craftsmen.

Africa, however, remains the region with the least number of Internet hosts

and users and a radical new approach is needed if the continent is to attain

its goal of attaining a sustainable information society by the year 2010,

technology experts agree.

Still there is cause for hope. Programmes such as the African Virtual

University, begun in 1997, are in full swing; Women'sNet in South Africa is

giving a voice to the continent's marginalized women while Zimbabwe's

Learning Networks for Teachers links teacher training colleges and other

educational institutions.

All these programmes demonstrate the power of new technology to support

development in Africa.

But experts, monitoring the development of the World Wide Web (WWW), say

what is missing on the majority of African-based web sites is relevant,

easily accessible, interactive and home-grown content.

"Web content should be seen to be meeting the information needs of local

people where traditional information sources are failing to do so," notes

Mike Chivhanga of an Internet studies research group at Britain's City

University.

"The value of information is seen in its use. If people can't have access to

essential information for decision-making then we have serious problems,"

says Chivhanga, on a discussion forum he is convening to promote the

development of Africa's Web resources.

As information consumers become more selective and demand quality and

reliability they do not want to loose time on sites offering incomplete,

inaccurate, outdated, or difficult to access content.

Therefore, Africa's slowly growing Internet sector needs to become fiercely

competitive, experts say.

However, a study by Internet group Wo Yaa www.woyaa.com and the UN

Educational and Cultural Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) titled 'Top50

Survey' says that content on African sites is relatively poor, with the

exception of public information sites.

Education, sciences and community development sites have the lowest content

notes the report released this month.

"Despite a very strong growth in the number of Web sites and with the

exception of South Africa, the number of Web sites is still low," according

to the UNESCO report.

"This primarily is due to the lack of appropriate Internet/computers/telecom

infrastructures, the lack of national regulations, the lack of expertise in

the area of Web design, content production and management and the low

awareness of the benefits that the Internet can bring,"

The report notes that the content of African Web sites is focussed largely

on the presentation of an organization and its activities. "Maintenance of

web sites is often poorly managed due to the lack of resources, expertise

and adequate processes. The interactivity between visitors and owners of the

sites is often limited to e- mail with limited use of Web interactivity," it

says.

Limited content is partly explained by the lack of copyright ownership of

African material a big chunk of which belongs to Western publishers and

universities.

Most African Web sites do not use digital content, relying mainly on

paper-based information production processes such as scanning.

"Africans must participate in the production of information because their

contribution is critical to maintaining the quality and relevance of

information from the region," declares the UN Economic Commission for Africa

(ECA) in a document titled Globalization and the Information Economy:

Challenges and Opportunities for Africa.

"For example, Ghanaians world-wide have established marketable websites

selling a variety of products and promoting their culture in the process and

indirectly contributing to their tourist industry.

"Another area in which Africa can excel is the commercial exploitation of

its rich traditional or tacit knowledge...The fact that in most cases this

knowledge has not been codified, and is largely informal and regional in its

application has undermined its perceived value and legitimacy."

Africa's 780 million people share 152,000 Internet hosts or 0.3 percent of

the world's total according to the Internet Software Consortium. The next

least served region is Latin America with 1.3 percent of the world's 56

million hosts.

Another factor harming Africa's quest for an information society is a severe

brain drain that begins with inadequate national universities. According to

ECA estimates, more than 30,000 Africans with doctorate degrees now live

outside the continent.

While the continent has perennially complained of biased, negative and

uneven portrayal in the international media, analysts say these same

complaints will persist in cyberspace if Africa fails to develop a powerful

Web presence.

At Women'sNet, "one of the first steps identified to build women's capacity

to use information communication technologies was to develop a practical

framework for sourcing, organising and making information available

centrally from a website in a friendly and accessible way," notes Sonja

Boezak in a contribution to the Africa web page design discussion forum.

"As a result a four-day interactive WWW-skills development workshop was held

with gender information resource people from a range of organisations inside

as well as outside South Africa," says Boezak, Women'sNet Information

Co-ordinator.

an information need around advocating and lobbying for women's equality."

Under the African Information Society Initiative adopted at an ECA

Conference of Ministers of Development and Planning in 1996, Africa seeks to

have built its information and communication network by 2010.

Several - mainly donor-funded - programmes have brought full Internet

connectivity to all 54 countries in Africa, with the exception of Eritrea.

In 1994 there were only four African nations with Internet access.

But, according to the Top50 Survey, access to Web sites remains slow with a

relatively high rate of unavailability. African sites also lack Web-based

revenue such as advertising and they are forced to rely on subsidies, which

are not sustainable. (END/IPS/gm/mk/99)"

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DIGITAL NATION

January 3, 2000

Helplessness in Face of Technology's Inexorable March a Familiar Feeling

By Gary Chapman

Copyright 2000, The Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved

Well, here we are on the other side, so to speak -- the other side of the

1900s, of the Y2K problem, of a century that appears, in retrospect,

turbulent and violent like no other. Perhaps we're on the other side of

reflection about what the 20th century meant for humankind and now we face

our hopes and fears about what the future holds.

The news media have been filled with both retrospective ruminations and bold

predictions, and nearly all of these have been about technology, the

defining force of our time. We live in an age of innovation, which stretches

back to the 19th century and will doubtlessly continue for as long as we

live. We nearly always contemplate the future in terms of what technological

innovations we can expect, hope for or dread.

Writing about technology in this era is difficult, especially when one's

feelings are . . . profoundly ambivalent. Such ambivalence may be a feature

of middle age, when experience has worn away youth's certainty. But it's

also likely to be a product of technology's very mixed blessings.

I am admittedly fascinated with technology -- especially as it deals with

information. I constantly tinker with my several computers and push myself

to learn new techniques in programming and Internet use. I have used the

Internet every day, with enthusiasm, for 15 years. I have mild withdrawal

symptoms when I can't get to my e-mail. I have strong opinions, bordering on

the obnoxious, about which software programs and hardware are superior.

But like many people I know, I am past the point of saturation with topics

such as e-commerce, Internet start-ups, rocketing stock options, computer

games, special effects, rich and young digital yuppies and, most certainly,

the gleeful wonder of technophiles who sing in their choirs about the

glories of the information revolution.

My annoyance with these ubiquitous and by now tiresome topics leads to some

mild feelings of guilt. Am I just too jaded or cranky to appreciate a really

good time to be alive?

But most people I know seem to feel the same way. Yes, we love our gadgets,

couldn't live without them. But we feel there's something vaguely wrong,

something missing, something even surreal about the incredible volume of

Panglossian techno-hype we hear every day.

It's even more vexing when the talk only about what the next millennium will

look like is about what technologies might appear. Aren't there other ways

we can improve the human condition in the next thousand years?

These kinds of doubts have, in fact, been a common critique of technology in

the U.S., particularly in the 19th century. It was more than 100 years ago

that Henry David Thoreau wrote, "All our inventions are but improved means

to an unimproved end." The people who wrote eloquently over the last 200

years about their ambivalence toward technology, such as Thoreau, Hawthorne,

Melville, Conrad, Samuel Butler and others, typically admired craft and

expertise, but felt skeptical or even contemptuous about technologies that

fostered decadence, arrogance and relations of dependence and superiority.

Thomas Jefferson molded the original American myth of the self-sufficient

"yeoman" democrat, a man so omnicompetent and independent that he could

speak his own mind and live with the consequences. But technology killed

this ideal, first by concentrating people and production in industries and

cities, then by making farmers dependent on machines, chemicals and urban

markets.

By the end of the 19th century, Theodore Roosevelt and his Progressive Party

openly questioned whether American democracy could coexist with a modern

economy of unaccountable corporate trusts, dirty urban industry with its

nearly enslaved workers, and a powerful class of idle and haughty rich.

Public debate a hundred years ago was about whether technological progress

had led to an economy incompatible with traditional republican values, such

as equality and independence.

Now, a hundred years later, this kind of public debate is not only dead,

it's perhaps even unthinkable. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has said, "This

rate of change is scary, but it's not something we can vote on to stop."

It's not the rate that is scary -- the current rate of technological change

was matched during the 19th century. Instead it's the fact that few people

today believe that there is anything we can do about technological change

except enjoy the ride -- even when we know there will be some big potholes

in the road ahead.

This may be the source of our modern uneasiness and ambivalence. We can't

imagine a world without advancing technology. We know we aren't likely to

control it to any great degree, yet we also feel that "technology out of

control" is deeply at odds with our ideal of democratic citizenship.

Technology makes us more comfortable, wealthier and healthier. It can also

make us presumptuous, dependent, sedentary, stratified and, most of all,

continuously covetous of more technology. Such vices erode our ability to

think clearly. Being hooked on something has debilitating effects, even when

the addiction is what makes life tolerable. We are hooked on technology, for

better or for worse.

A historian of technology, Melvin Kranzberg, has wisely observed,

"Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral."

This Zen-like aphorism comes from the realization that technology is

inextricably bound to human virtues and defects, to aspirations for power

and control both noble and base.

The danger of our time is that we may come to regard technology as an end in

itself, rather than as a means to an end. Our best safeguard against this

danger is constant skepticism, ambivalence, critique and democratic

dialogue. That's what needs more attention these days, and the beginning of

a new millennium seems like a good time to start paying attention.

Gary Chapman is director of The 21st Century Project at the University of

Texas at Austin. He can be reached at gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu.

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Taken from the LearningWire #83

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Special feature: Role play methods in training and development

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Why are so many participants resistant to using role play methods in their

learning? We know from the work of Dale and others that role plays and

simulations can be incredibly helpful ways of experiencing behaviour and

skills and of learning from the insights derived. As a method, role play

draws on at least three of our human senses - seeing, hearing, touching -

and uses a fourth quality - doing - to engage us at many levels. With this

level of engagement, it is no surprise that the resulting experiences offer

powerful rehearsal and learning. And yet, when asked to use the method, so

many participants still say 'I'd rather watch' or 'I'll do anything except

role play'.

The reasons for this resistance include not wanting to 'perform' in front of

others, fear of 'getting it wrong' and 'not being able to find the right

words'. The vast majority of reluctant participants whom I have encountered

have had bad experiences of role play methods in practice and more than

anything else, this has contributed to their fear and avoidance.

So, how should trainers use role play techniques in a way which is

acceptable, fun, engaging and full of learning? Most trainers have their own

ideas, but here are a selection to get you going.

Generating the script:- Not understanding the context, being unfamiliar with

the roles, not identifying with the situation are all factors which limit

the value of a role play. These factors are most likely to occur where the

role play situation is created or pre-prepared by the trainer and given to

the participants. It's more engaging to work with the participants in

creating the role play situation and script. Ask for typical situation which

they have encountered or visualise occurring. Ask them to define the main

characters and their personalities. Invite them to suggest some of the

events likely to be happening. By working as a large group together in this

way, and brainstorming their ideas for the situation, everyone is able to

generate an identify for the role play whilst thinking their way into it.

Drawing out the role play as a story board using a series of simple cartoons

can be a further way of developing the storyline, particularly with less

confident players.

Volunteer participants, don't coerce them:- People need to choose their

level of engagement. If they are forced to take on a role, the activity is

unlikely to go well. Many trainers find it helpful not to schedule a role

play type activity until the second half of an event. This gives them time

to assess whether the activity is likely to work with the group, and if it's

not, to substitute it with something else. When asking for volunteers to

take on roles, always recruit people to the most difficult role(s) first,

then work backwards to the less threatening roles. If you fill the easy

roles first, the most assertive people quickly occupy the least difficult

roles, leaving the least confident to take on the most difficult.

Using multiple people in each role:- Instead of recruiting just one person

for each role, why not recruit two or three who can then 'shadow' each

other: one person takes on the role until they become stuck, at which point

another person from their shadow team takes over. This reduces the sense of

being 'stuck in the hot seat'. It also ensures that more people are involved

in the role play and actively learning.

Let participants have time-outs:- Stopping the action - pausing it for a few

minutes - allows people to return to a support group and decide what to do

next. It's possible to break up a role play into several short episodes,

each of which will have many learning points. Rarely does a role play lead

to a successful outcome to the event under observation; rather, there are a

series of micro-level behaviours and actions which influence the course of

events. Spotting and understanding these individual contributing factors is

the key to learning from the role play.

Allow plenty of time:- A good role play or simulation takes a lot of time. A

rule of thumb created by one group of trainers recently suggested the

following division of time: setting up, scene setting, preparation (35%

time); running the role play itself (20% time); de-roling and de-briefing

the whole event (45% time). They suggested a minimum time allowance for any

good role play of 150 minutes which equates to half a day. How often have

you witnessed (or tutored?) a role play where far too little time was

allowed for de-briefing - even though this is the key to unlocking insights

and learning from the event.

Done well, role plays and simulations can be a great way to learn. It's a

shame that so many participants have had bad experiences, and too many

trainers are unwilling to use the techniques. These ideas are developed from

the extensive practical chapter on using role play methods in the

best-selling 'Toolkit for Trainers' which is available from the Pavilion

Searching the Internet for other helpful resource material on role play

methods is a somewhat frustrating experience. All too often you end up at

one of the myriad of sites devoted to games playing of a fantasy kind, or

alternatively to a site about better dog training. Here are a few of the

more relevant ones if you want to follow up on this topic:

BV Marten at Syracuse University offers a simple taxonomy of different games

and role plays with straightforward instructions for running them. Called

'From Role Play to Intelligent Agents', he explores four different uses of

role play.http://web.syr.edu/~bvmarten/games.html

This site offers various papers and resource publications on the use of role

The TrainingZone Toolkit offers an introduction to the use of role plays and

simulations, particularly within youth programmes and other gaming contexts,

but with some thoughts about wider usage. It's drawn from 'The New Youth

Steve Finkel has an excellent online guide entitled 'From Knowing to Doing'

Thanks to Don Clark for pointing out several web resources; if you've not

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