Dadamac

PeoplesUni.org enrolling for 2010 Read now

The Peoples Open Access Education Initiative: Peoples-uni continues to go from strength to strength. It is now open for enrollments for the first semester 2010. It is offering 12 courses, including a new one, and one offered in two additional languages. Dadamac is proud to have been associated with People's Uni from its very earliest days. Professor Dick Heller (Coordinator of the Peoples-uni) has asked us to share the following information:

Fola's phone and baby boy Read now

It's almost exactly ten years since I was first involved in communication between UK and Nigeria. In those days my friend, the late Peter Adetunji Oyawale, could only phone one person in his entire Oke-Ogun Community Development network. If we made a phone call it was to the landline of Chief Adetola, in the state capital Ibadan. What a contrast now. Today, from rural Ago-Are i got this text: "Mornin ma, my wiv gave birth 2 a bouncin baby boy yesterday afternoon, thanks Fola." 

Academic-practitioner collaboration Read now

Dadamac actively supports closer collaboration between academics and practitioners. We are  interested in the theory behind the practical work that we do, especially, but not only, related to ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development), ICT4Ed (ICT for Education), eco-technology,health, and design patterns. As an organisation, Dadamac is  reflective, analysing much of what it does, and so we welcome opportunities to work with researchers and teachers.

Examples are:

PeoplesUni.org Proof of Concept Read now

Professor Dick Hellar, Dr John Dada and Pamela McLean collaborated on the foundation work for what subsequently became the Peoples Open Access Education Initiative: Peoples-uni - Building Public Health capacity using Internet-based e-learning.

Dual proof of concept

The project began after Professor Dick Heller ( a specialist in public health) and Pamela McLean met through an online discussion list about ICT4Ed (Information and Communication Technologies for Education).

The result was a successful collaboration which tested two complementary elements:

The Googlenet has you Read now

Hi Vijay

I think that anyone in 21st century who is interested in studying development (as you are) must also be interested in the development of ICT (as you obviously are, given your input to Dadamac.net)

You might like to read The Googlenet has you By Martin J Young published in the online Asia Times.

Education and ICT Read now

Hi Pam, Your chat with me this morning set me thinking about ICT. As I told you, I have been toying with the idea of studying further and adding to my knowledge and skills. But it almost seems impossible for me, since most of the online courses (I am not even thinking of proper, offline courses) seem unaffordable, in term of time and money. Some of the best online courses in UK and US cost a bomb for somebody like me in India. This is where I think ICT can play a crucial role in filling the gap for many like me who want to learn even as they earn. And also, importantly, I want to do a course where learning is constant sharing, fun and enlightenment. Structured courses and manuals are not for me. So do you think ICT can change the way we learn?

Academia Read now

Dadamac believes that researchers and practitioners have much to learn from each other, and we welcome research projects to link with our grass-roots practice. We also look forward to additional academic collaborations, especially ones related to Science and Technology,  once we are free to give further details of Dadamac's involvement with the (soon to be announced) Midlands University of Technology (Midlands UniTech) in Nigeria.