Gary Brooking

eLearning, although not entirely new, has taken on a renewed form and focus with the advent of new technologies like Web 2.0 which allow for easier collaboration and the growth of social media.  As with any new technology being introduced into a very traditional formal sector like Education, there are a number of barriers to ICT in education and the progress is cautiously slow.  In addition outcomes of eLearning are very different from traditional outcomes and are difficult to measure with the current techniques, which further complicates or distracts from implementation and the evaluation.
Advocates of eLearning need to embrace that this is complimentary to current educational techniques and should be intended to enhance a learners experience and not completely replace it.  Opponents need to appreciate that the new technology is able to assist in producing better equipped students with new 21st Century skills, at the same time opening a learner to a more global perspective.
Developing Economies stand to gain significant benefits in advancing their education sector with the correct and careful implementation of eLearning structures.  Although much of the focus for eLearning implementation is on access to technology, there are a number of other factors that have to be considered to effectively implement an eLearning program; (1) Shared Vision and Policies aligned to social and economic desired impacts; (2) 21st Century Pedagogy requirements (3) Foundational ICT Skills (4) Curriculum Framework (5) Contingency Planning (6) Skilled Personnel and continued professional development (7) Suitable equipment (8) Technical Support (9) Assessment and Evaluation
eLearning is essential for a developing country.  The process requires a long term plan and commitment but the end result could allow us to not only leap-frog but surpass other countries in having adequately prepared graduates for the 21st Century.

"Big data research provides unique means to signal opportunities and address challenges faced by Mobile Network Operators (MNO) in Africa. This paper premises the idea of creating ‘African-Smart’ mobile networks built around value networks and supported by big data technologies. The proposed approach involves a bottom-up avenue, using raw data from mobile operators. Big data technologies augment research data to extract useful insights that could benefit the MNO operations and African users. The paper flags up a lack of sustainable research collaborations and partnerships between academic institutes and MNO in Africa. It also identifies the lack of instrumentation infrastructure in African institutes and communities. Big data research relies on instrumentation of voluminous and varied data at very high speeds. Africa is challenged in collecting data as most processes are still manually based. This paper proposes to establish Public Private Community Partnerships and invest in the col- lection of data. Such data enables the measuring of the ‘pulse’ of African communities and institutes. MNOs can take advantage by developing African-Smart networks that reflect the African pulse."