Egerton and Kenyatta universities have endorsed a multinational project with the African Virtual University (AVU) to provide ICT supported education. The five year project is a collaborative initiative that drew attention and endorsement from 26 universities across Africa. It was launched by the AVU at the Intercontinental hotel.
AVU will assist universities in dealing with a growing population of students through an Open Education Resource or OER.
“The OER is a free portal where people can visit online and learn for free,” said Dr. Bakari Diallo, the AVU rector. “Instead of text books being in the pockets of lectures and professors, the OER now allow students to access consume and share these materials”.
Egerton’s Professor Ndirangu, expressed confidence in the AVU-led Elearning initiative. “The Open Education Resource will enable universities to share expertise. This is because, you can now download material, modify and post them back”, he said.
Some of the programs that will be provided through the Open Education Resource are teacher education, computer science, and peace and conflict resolution.
AVU is a Pan African intergovernmental organization that has partnered with over 53 institutions of higher learning in 27 countries in Africa to create a common E- learning platform across the continent. “All of these institutions have OERs, but their way of offering it is unique. Therefore we have agreed to collaborate and develop it”, said Dr. Diallo.
“That is why participating universities held a 4 -day policy harmonization and curriculum conceptualization workshop in Nairobi,” said Mumbi Karanja, a PR officer with the SilverBullet, a media organization working with AVU.
Since its inception in 1997, AVU has graduated 43,000 students and has grown to become the largest network of open distance and E- learning in Africa.
