Mobile Learning for young entrepreneurs

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The mobile learning story is continuously evolving at ITC-ILO and we are now ready to share the Mobile Learning Toolkit which will be used in the framework of the “Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB)” training package, currently activated in the Youth Entrepreneurship Facility in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The toolkit mainly considers low-end mobiles rather than smartphones and relies on text based communication such as SMS to support learning, as it has been more popular in previous African mobile projects. Inspired by the MyCoop Mobile Learning Toolkit launched in 2011, the SIYB toolkit includes custom-made scenarios of use, instructional videos, downloadable step-by-step guides and a list of additional resources.

With adding a mobile component, SIYB trainers will be able to choose out of 14 different mobile methodologies and among a list of free tools to be used in order to apply the methods..

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The world of webinars

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Webinars (or web-conferences) are in nowadays. It’s a good and cost-effective alternative when face-to-face meetings are just not possible. The amount of webinar software hence is also growing. Who of you had not the possibility to try one of the following technologies (Web-Ex, Adobe Connect, Wiziq, Go-to-Meeting, Elluminate, . They all share a common set of features that enrich the entire on-line presentation and knowledge sharing experience. The presenter shares the slideshow, streams video’s, engages with participants through live text chat, sets up polls, invites the participants to discuss through raising hands and asks them to take note on the shared whiteboard, uploads documents that support the lecture or discussion and finally records the entire meeting to be shared for those who could not make it. If the technology is out there, including a diverse set of interesting functionalities to interact with your audience, why are there still so many webinars out there that are not engaging enough?

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Linking with Learning Professionals. Article one: Linkedin

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Social networks are growing and the labyrinth of social media tools and networks is not always easy to oversee, let be the added value what you can get out of these networks. Therefore we will on a regular base zoom in on some of the specific tools and reflect together with you what the added value could be for learning and training professionals. The first one to kick of the series is Linkedin.  For those who want a simple explanation about the tool we refer to the In Plain English series
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzT3JVUGUzM&feature=player_embedded]

What would be the real added value of Linkedin for learning professionals and institutions? To kickstart this brainstorming session we would like to invite you to read two articles and extract there all possible tips for learning professionals.
10 ways to use Linkedin
Smart ways to use Linkedin
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Introduction to E-learning Methodologies

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FAO recently published it’s “E-Learning Methodologies” publication which serves as a guide for designing and developing e-learning courses. More and more it becomes important to focus beyond the mere technological side and understand the importance of instructional design and related processes that are crucial when you want to start with e-learning. The current e-learning debate is still heavily dominated by the choice of tools and technologies.This guide is a good counter recipe that shows you from the methodological side how to go about designing an e-learning course, how to create interactive content and how to manage and evaluate your e-learning activities. Recommended for everybody who is about to start with e-learning in his or her institution. Not only a good overview of the entire instructional cycle but also practical models for content creation, delivery and evaluation. One remaining question: “When is FAO launching an interactive e-learning module about the content which is available in this guide”?


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Social media revolution

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The importance of social media is a returning element in a lot of interesting video’s that appear on the internet. It all started with the first version of ‘Did you Know‘ and every now and than we see new inspiring video’s (like the one below) to highlight that social media is becoming very important in our daily life and work. To explore the potential of social media in a learning and training the ITC-ILO organises a knowledge lab where different learning professionals will exchange their international experiences. A very rich domain containing a lot of challenging questions: “How are wiki’s changing the way we work and write together? What’s the pedagogical added value of using blogs in learning? How we can manage better our information through using web2.0 tools? How can we support communities of practices with networked technologies? How do we use these tools in low-resource settings?”  For more information surf to the promotion blog: http://webfordev.wordpress.com/

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo]

 

Mobile learning toolkit launched

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A while ago we have mentioned our mobile learning plans at ITC-ILO. We are now happy to share some of the results of the ongoing mobile learning pilots. First of all Jennifer Parker finished her internship at ITC-ILO successfully and published her master thesis on ‘mobile learning for Africa‘. Part of this project included also the development of a mobile learning toolkit which we will use in the framework of the MyCOOP training package (“How to set up and run agricultural cooperatives“). With adding a mobile component to this training package, MyCOOP trainers will be able to choose out of 15 different methodologies where a mobile device can add value to the learning and training process. Feel free to contact us in case you are interested to pilot some of these mobile learning methods.

Mobile Learning Toolkit A5 by jenniparker

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E-Learning Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

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ITC-ILO will be represented through DELTA in the upcoming E-Learning Africa conference, held in Dar es Salaam this year. DELTA will host an interactive knowledge sharing session which focuses on the rapid growth of Web2.0 technologies within the context of different projects in developing countries (with cases from World Bank Institute, International Training Centre of the ILO, UNHCR and FAO). The session will highlight how these types of technologies can become an important driver of innovation in learning and knowledge sharing from different perspectives.
E-learning Africa is the biggest network event in Africa for developing e-learning capacities in Africa.  Feel free to consult the entire conference programme.



Mobile learning (2)

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After introducing the mobile learning theme in this blog, DELTA started to explore how mobile learning could create an added value for learning at the Centre. Therefore we will update you in the upcoming months of the MyCOOP mobile project. The MyCOOP training package is about the management of agricultural cooperatives for cooperative managers and trainers. DELTA is exploring where mobile technologies could enrich the current existing training material. Mobile phones are widely used withing this target group and learning and training could be made more accessible by exploring this mobile track.

The exploration will tackle different important dimensions. What about the technology and infrastructure we can use for this? In this context it is interesting to refer to  new mobile for development report of UNICEF. Not only technological insights will be needed, more and more the pedagogical and didactical strategies that are needed to launch successful mobile learning are important. A good opportunity to explore these dimensions together with a range of mobile learning experts is to participate in the Massive Online Course on Mobile Learning. Click here if you want to learn more about this initiative.

Collaborative writing. The world of wiki’s.

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Writing together in team on an article, a publication, a project or a toolkit, it more and more happens in the wiki way. If wiki still sounds chinese for you have first a look at wiki’s in plain English.  Almost ten  years ago the wiki way of building collaboratively knowledge started to grow slowly with Wikipedia as it’s most successful example. Now more and more organisations rely on wiki’s to support the collaborative writing process. Avoiding endless e-mail-conversations with word-documents that lost track of versions, the wiki-approach allows groups easily to work together in one document just by clicking the edit-button and start the writing process.

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International Certification for the Lifelong E-Learning course

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The Lifelong E-Learning course received its first international quality label for e-learning for capacity building. An intense review of the entire programme through peer review of international experts took place before granting this quality label. The ITC-ILO has proven its excellence in delivering e-learning supported capacity development together with other international institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research,  the World Bank Institute and InWEnt – Capacity Building International.

The sixth edition of Lifelong E-Learning is planned in June 2011 and registration are currently open. A community of international professionals from developing countries will work, communicate and collaborate together during five weeks in a community of practice to improve technology enhanced learning within their institutions and organisations.

The international certificate can be found here.
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