Vision
The vision of NextEd is to facilitate the development a worldwide virtual collaborative educational network for the benefit of students and faculty. Our focus on enabling pedagogies and facilitating technological platforms is underpinned by an ubuntu philosophy of collaboration and a functionally scaffolded model of engagement.
NOTE: The AAU funded NextEd Africa project has been completed. Policy briefs can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
About the NextEd Project
The NextEd project creates the first and most critical link in the NextEd chain of events, by enabling the gathering of academics and students, into a shared educational space: A fulcrum around which global initiatives can then be leveraged. By leveraging Web 2.0 technologies, universities across Africa and the world will work together on courses and research. This collaboration will result in the development of the academics, the enrichment of the courses, and the equipping of the students to participate in the opportunities presented by a Web-connected world.
The methodology that is being followed is the use of various Web 2.0 learning platforms (such as Second Life, Social Learning Networks, Microblogs) to facilitate the collaboration of multiple universities and Industry partners on various courses. This will involve shared assessments and shared teaching. Students and lecturers from multiple universities will participate in a single virtual course and/or assessments as part of their actual registered course requirement.
The main activities will involve lecturers from the participating universities contributing to some part of the teaching, mentoring and assessment of the student work in a collaborative immersive environment, such as Second Life. The students will be required to attend online lectures and discussion forums. Furthermore they will be expected to then join, and engage in projects with team members composed from students from multiple universities. Ideally projects will be linked to industry through the development of industry-academia partnerships. Furthermore the nature of the course will also see the projects focusing on empowering development.
While this is talking about a technological environment (Web 2.0), the language of Social Computing is much akin to the African concept of Ubuntu: A concept pervasive, if not in name at least in spirit, in most of Africa. This is the concept of sharing, where the mutual contribution, sharing, and engagement of individuals results in the greater good of all. This project is essentially the fusion of an appropriate philosophy with an enabling technology, in what we call Ubun2.0
The methodology that is being followed is the use of various Web 2.0 learning platforms (such as Second Life, Social Learning Networks, Microblogs) to facilitate the collaboration of multiple universities and Industry partners on various courses. This will involve shared assessments and shared teaching. Students and lecturers from multiple universities will participate in a single virtual course and/or assessments as part of their actual registered course requirement.
The main activities will involve lecturers from the participating universities contributing to some part of the teaching, mentoring and assessment of the student work in a collaborative immersive environment, such as Second Life. The students will be required to attend online lectures and discussion forums. Furthermore they will be expected to then join, and engage in projects with team members composed from students from multiple universities. Ideally projects will be linked to industry through the development of industry-academia partnerships. Furthermore the nature of the course will also see the projects focusing on empowering development.
While this is talking about a technological environment (Web 2.0), the language of Social Computing is much akin to the African concept of Ubuntu: A concept pervasive, if not in name at least in spirit, in most of Africa. This is the concept of sharing, where the mutual contribution, sharing, and engagement of individuals results in the greater good of all. This project is essentially the fusion of an appropriate philosophy with an enabling technology, in what we call Ubun2.0
Goals
This project is investigating "how Web 2.0 Social Computing communities, spanning multiple universities can be used to support learning and equip students to engage in economically viable business opportunities both locally and internationally.”
As such the following Millennium Development Goals (MDG) have been set for the project;
As such the following Millennium Development Goals (MDG) have been set for the project;
- Effectively employ Information and Communication Technology, specifically Web 2.0 platforms, to both support education and empower participants to bridge the digital divide.
- Positively address the need for academics to grow and lead their respective institutes into new ways of teaching and learning.
- Improving the quality of courses by allowing academics to participate in a forum to discuss course issues and to teach and assess on shared courses.
- Matching the pedagogical practices and curricula of African universities to international standards to develop academic and business leaders
- Undertaking collaborative projects between industry partners and universities to ensure that the learning experience of students is both relevant and attractive to industry.
6C Engagement Model
The Engagement model that has been developed and refined through the project adopts a 6-part approach. The model is outlined below.
Step 1 – Come – This is the invitation process whereby communication and discussion is engaged with potentially interested parties.
Step 2 – Connect – The potential partner will receive basic training and orientation in the technology platforms and proposed educational paradigm. They will be required to involve themselves as a spectator in an existing collaboration in order to better appreciate the role of both student and faculty in NextEd collaborations.
Step 3- Consume – Should both parties agree that the platform and approach would be beneficial and workable then the new partner would then become a consumer. This means that they will be able to participate in a course with little or no contribution required from them.
Step 4 – Collaborate - The next step is for the consumer to develop into a collaborator. This means that they will not only receive but also offer contribute to the courses they are involved in.
Step 5 – Create – At this stage the participant is enabled to create their own courses and hence are initiating the cycle with others (Come) by inviting their networks into NextEd so that their network will be able to consume the material that they are now creating.
Step 6 – Contribute – Finally the participant will be a contributor not only in terms of created courses, but in terms of the Body of Knowledge, artifacts, etc that constitute the greater NextEd project.
Step 1 – Come – This is the invitation process whereby communication and discussion is engaged with potentially interested parties.
Step 2 – Connect – The potential partner will receive basic training and orientation in the technology platforms and proposed educational paradigm. They will be required to involve themselves as a spectator in an existing collaboration in order to better appreciate the role of both student and faculty in NextEd collaborations.
Step 3- Consume – Should both parties agree that the platform and approach would be beneficial and workable then the new partner would then become a consumer. This means that they will be able to participate in a course with little or no contribution required from them.
Step 4 – Collaborate - The next step is for the consumer to develop into a collaborator. This means that they will not only receive but also offer contribute to the courses they are involved in.
Step 5 – Create – At this stage the participant is enabled to create their own courses and hence are initiating the cycle with others (Come) by inviting their networks into NextEd so that their network will be able to consume the material that they are now creating.
Step 6 – Contribute – Finally the participant will be a contributor not only in terms of created courses, but in terms of the Body of Knowledge, artifacts, etc that constitute the greater NextEd project.
Useful Documents
| nexted_vision.pdf |
| nexted_africa_proposal_to_aau.pdf |
| a_policy_brief_for_universities_to_enable_effective_use_of_virtual_platforms_for_teaching__learning.pdf |
| a_policy_framework_for_collaborative_engagement_in_virtual_environments.pdf |
