LearnLink Projects: UGANDA

UGANDA: Connect-ED
Training Uganda's Teachers with Technology (2000 - 2003)
URL: http://www.connected.ac.ug

Within Uganda's aim to improve telecommunication services and education, the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Connect-ED is supporting activities to improve the quality of education. In close cooperation with Uganda's Ministry of Education (UMOE) and within the framework of the U.S. Education for Development and Democracy Initiative (EDDI), this Academy for Educational Development/LearnLink implemented project is increasing computer literacy among teachers and equipping 9 educational centers. In addition, Connect-ED is preparing a multimedia, online teacher training curriculum based on a student-centered learning approach and the Ugandan core curriculum; it is enabling teachers and student teachers to integrate information and communication technologies (ICTs) into the classroom.

All Connect-ED activities encourage the increased use of information technology for education as a means of promoting democracy and increasing access to economic opportunities. Moreover, the activities are delivering urban and rural equipment, training, and resources as a means of enhancing the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy in Uganda. Specifically, the educational improvements are expected to increase rural students' literacy, reduce inequities among children, and advance school administration and the professional development of primary level educators.

Connect-ED is helping ITEK to advance its core curriculum with the creation of a series of Digital Resource Library CD-ROMs and an Online Multimedia Curriculum to assist and enable adult learners to use ICTs and integrate computers into student learning and to gain expertise in subjects taught in the classroom. Online curriculum access will offer timely skills and new approaches to teaching and learning and facilitate outreach to teachers in rural and urban areas. These online resources enrich the learning environment and supplement traditional classroom materials. Revising the curriculum, making it accessible via computer, and training teachers in ICT use is expected to begin the process of improving educational quality.

Computer-assisted, multimedia resources will be used and teacher training will be conducted at Primary Teacher Colleges (PTCs) in Bushenyi, Ndegeya, Shimoni, Kibuli, Mukujju, Soroti, Gulu, and perhaps Lira. In addition, pre-and in-service teachers now have access to two new labs- multimedia and computer-training laboratories-offering approximately 20 workstations at the Institute of Teacher Education, Kyambogo (ITEK), where educational research and testing of curriculum is ongoing. ITEK facilities have been used already for training, but eventually Internet connectivity will be established and multimedia computer equipment installed at all eight PTCs. Furthermore, the CD-ROMs and other resource materials (ITEK website with multimedia curriculum : www.itek.ac.ug ) are almost ready as training and information tools.

Partnering with the Government of Uganda, USAID, and the private sector, Connect-ED is training PTC tutors, students, and ITEK faculty and students and building on the country's IT capacity-11.82 Internet users per 10,000 persons, 10 Internet service providers, and a liberalized telecom sector allowing competition for services. Thus, the Leland Initiative's aim is being realized in Connect-ED's expansion of Uganda's Internet connectivity and access to global communications, and the satisfaction of universal goals of education for all is emerging.

The Connect-ED staff include the following persons:

Ms. Stacy Cummings, Project Manager, Washington, DC, USA
Mr. Frederick Wamala, Local Coordinator, Kampala, Uganda
Ms. Hawa Nyende, Assistant Coordinator, Kampala, Uganda
Ms. Cissy Segujji, Assistant Coordinator, Kampala, Uganda
Mr. Enos Ssemenda, Creative Materials Design Specialist, Kampala, Uganda
Ms. Phoebe Kyomukama, Creative Materials Design Specialist, Kampala, Uganda
Mr. David Kawumi, Creative Materials Design Specialist, Kampala, Uganda.

Other key ITEK staff as Connect-ED counterparts include the lecturers with expertise in specific subjects Mr. Emmanuel Kamuli, Ms. Julie Namulindwa, and Mr. Raymond Okumu.

For more information, contact ict@aed.org