Search

Sub-Saharan African societies had contacts with China that stretch back to the early days of the Silk Road where the two regions facilitated trade relations and exchanged technology and ideas. Beginning in the 1950s China formalized relations with SSA based on South-South cooperation. At the end of the Cold War, China intensified its relations with SSA within the frameworks of "One Belt one Road" in Africa and the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The China-Africa relations have scored benefits in the areas of promoting infrastructural development, strong investments in SSA, trade links between the two regions, less expensive technical assistance for nations in SSA, cultural exchanges, and student scholarships. Nonetheless, the relations raise complicated issues around trade where China is flooding markets in SSA with inferior goods, acquisition of resources, Chinese mining companies causing environmental destruction in many countries in SSA, and the Chinese government's debt trapping of many sub-Saharan African nations. Many suspect that China is surreptitiously forging a relationship with SSA that may help it assert its "trusteeship" over sub-Saharan Africa's political, economic, and development processes. The paper is developed within these broader contexts to examine the paradoxes and contradictions of the China-sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relations and their potential impacts on education policy and practice in the region. The paper focuses on SSA, a region that constitutes forty-eight of the fifty-four countries of the African continent. This sociohistorical paper is part of my ongoing study to examine the impacts of external forces' economic and political relations on education policy and practice in the SSA and the potential of the relations to destabilize the epistemological processes of sub-Saharan African societies. [For the complete Volume 22 proceedings, see ED656158.]

In alignment with the theme of the conference "Education in Developing, Emerging, and Developed Countries: Different Worlds, Common Challenges," this paper brings attention to the challenges associated with the implementation of sustainable research capacity building (SRCB) in the context of BRICS nations and African countries. Employing a comparative document analysis method to explore the unique contexts of developing nations, this research provides insights and recommendations to strengthen research capacity in academia, address shared challenges and promote national prosperity. The scholarly literature revealed that higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries have intensified their efforts in building the research capacity of their academics and institutions. Regardless of their commitment, HEIs face challenges such as gender inequalities, teaching workloads, doctoral program deficiencies, lack of multidisciplinary research approaches and funding constraints. Addressing the challenges will require improved funding for research training and research productivity. One of the main concerns is that instead of advancing knowledge and being producers thereof, most developing countries remain knowledge consumers. The findings revealed that developing the next generation of academics plays a critical role in the sustainability of an emerging country's research system. [For the complete Volume 22 proceedings, see ED656158.]

There exists a power asymmetry between instructors and students in the physical classroom and other learning spaces which symbolizes the distribution of power in social spaces. Because of the structured power asymmetry in most learning spaces, promoting effective classroom teaching sometimes requires instructors to replace existing hierarchical power relations and with fluid, organic, and transgressive classroom dynamics in their relationships with their students. This approach has the potential to empower students to become their own agency for interrogating the assumptions and ideologies that they bring to the classroom. This paper outlines the instructional strategies that I incorporate in my "nonwestern" course that aims to introduce students in my university to the sub-Saharan African region. The course uses the interdisciplinary approach to explore the complicated ways history and social changes (including globalization) intersect to shape education reforms, and economic and social development in sub-Saharan Africa. Students bring a plethora of assumptions about sub-Saharan "Africa" to this course and my goal as an instructor is to help students interrogate their own assumptions and deconstruct the myths and distortions about the "Africa" in a broader term. The paper outlines the way I deliberately select course materials, and sequence course contents and themes to scaffold and promote incremental knowledge about the region for students during the semester. Furthermore, the paper outlines the strategies that help nudge students' critical thinking and restructure the power relations in the classroom. While these strategies may not automatically change students' assumptions about sub-Saharan "Africa", they nonetheless become opportunities for my students and I to reposition for effective discussions about the region with the goal to interrogating students' prior assumptions and views about the region. [For the complete Volume 21 proceedings, see ED629259.]

The HERO project aims to develop a training program for caregivers to be working in the elderly care sector. The program is particularly addressed to caregivers from Middle Eastern and African countries as refugees and intends to help them integrate into European society. This paper seeks to offer an overview of the project, including its objectives, underlying principles, and deliverables. The paper particularly portrays the second intellectual output (O2) of the project, namely the 'On the job' training in language and terminology curriculum, which has been developed as the end product of O2. Initially, the methodology adopted to create learning material for language learning in a specific-purpose context is analyzed. Based on this, the paper provides a description of the content development by justifying and showcasing the learning material and laying out the logic behind this, through the trainers' guide. E-learning tools have been integrated in the course material, which also justifies the methodology applied for the purpose of this project. [For the complete volume, "CALL and Professionalisation: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2021 (29th, Online, August 26-27, 2021)," see ED616972.]

Physical distancing, isolation and an absence of face-to-face meetings with participants and respondents, as ramifications of the current COVID-19 pandemic, have an adverse effect on research projects, research processes and data generation. Furthermore, researchers' professional development and career prospects are seriously hampered, most notably those of early career academics. These predicaments considerably outweigh the admitted positive effects of the pandemic on research endeavours. The literature sources consulted were published in 2020 and 2021. This paper therefore can merely claim to reflect an early 2021 cross-cut of the rapidly developing pandemic and its influence on higher education, and specifically research. This paper represents a scenario where the focus has shifted from the 2020 lockdowns and travel restrictions to the 2021 vaccination period. It explores the implications of physical distancing -- the relative absence of unhindered personal contact -- in the sphere of research in general, and especially research in education contexts. A literature survey generated several insights from scholars worldwide, while personal experience also forms part of the discussion. As indicated by the literature, researchers have to make the most of the current virtual communication during data generation, conferences and interaction with colleagues and fellow project participants. I trust that vaccination will soon ensure that physical distancing will become unnecessary during research and on the campus. [For the complete Volume 19 proceedings, see ED613922.]

Virtual universities have developed considerably over the past decade, particularly on the African continent. They provide a way to deal with the considerable need to educate a large young population, but the lack of physical space can be a drawback that prevents students from succeeding and increasing dropout compared to a more traditional face-to-face university. To limit these issues, some virtual universities have been opening Open Digital Spaces (ODS) to complement the virtual space and offer students a place where to work and solve pedagogical, technical or administrative issues. However, it is unclear how students actually make use of these ODS and which uses can be beneficial or detrimental to their success and limit dropout. In this paper we lead an exploratory study of the results of a large-scale digital survey in a major African Virtual University (N=2392 answers) to identify factors in the use of Open Digital Spaces (ODS) that have an impact on students' success and dropout. We analyzed the data using multiple Chi-Square tests of independence. Results indicate that students who visit ODSs more during the 2 weeks before an exam or only when it is mandatory are statistically less likely to succeed, contrary to students who come to work in groups or for the internet access who are more likely to succeed. Conversely, students who do not see the value of ODSs for learning and who visit only when mandatory are more likely to dropout, contrary to students who come when they have a pedagogical need or to work in groups who are less likely to dropout. Some factors particularly impact first year university students, highlighting the need to make them understand which use of the ODS are relevant to increase their chances to graduate.

According to the human capital theory variations in economic growth are explained by differences in the influence of education on human capital formation within countries. Despite huge government investment in education aimed at building human capital countries within the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region continues to face low economic growth. This conceptual paper thus investigates the relationship between education, human capital formation and economic growth in SSA. Findings from the theoretical and empirical analysis reveal that education in SSA countries seems to make an insignificant contribution to human capital formation and economic growth jointly. In conclusion, the economic development variations observed across countries might be an indication of the need for a context-based human capital-based education approaches to strengthen economic growth within SSA countries. The study recommends that educational approaches that strengthen human capital creation should be adopted to promote economic growth in SSA countries. [For the complete Volume 20 proceedings, see ED622631.]

Transnational policy borrowing and lending of ideas is mostly from the global North to the global South. In sub-Saharan Africa, transnational policy borrowing and lending is complicated by western "dirty gossips" (distortions and stereotypes) about African societies. While works by Steiner-Khamsi, Quist and Kendall outline the complexities of transnational resource flows to sub-Saharan Africa, analysis of how western distortions about Africa shape transnational policy transfer is lacking. This paper employs symbolic violence and postcolonial frameworks to outline how Europeans and Americans' "dirty gossips" about Africa have influenced external transfer and flow of educational ideas and practices to sub-Saharan Africa since the colonial era. It also delineates the complicated ways western distortions and stereotypes about sub-Saharan Africa is a strategy by western partners in the global transnational policy borrowing and lending processes to position themselves in trusteeship roles while infantilizing education policy makers in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper argues that western education partners, particularly, western Africanist scholars, employ distortions and stereotypes as important components of their transnational policy borrowing and lending frameworks with the objective to present education in sub-Saharan Africa as a "crisis" and a new frontier, and their resolve to confront, explore and tame the crisis.

The quality of teachers is an important factor in the achievement of educational goals, and this is why Wokocha (2013) asserts that the quality of the teacher could be determined through intellectual competence, mastery of content, teaching experience, skills and dissemination of knowledge. Thus, one of the best ways to raise the quality of teachers is by building their capacity through Mandatory Continuous Professional Development Programmes, (MCPD). Social engagement through teacher education and training has been one of the areas of emphasis of the Teacher Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN). This paper uses secondary data analysis to discuss the activities of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria. It examines how social dynamism and globalization demand emerging skills from education and educators. It argues that the new reality requires the need to incorporate new skills into teaching including social issues to encourage deeper connection to social engagement issues. It concludes that teacher education and training is one of the effective ways of ensuring social engagements. Using the experience of the TRCN, the paper shares some strategies and skills that can be employed to inculcate social engagement in teacher training and education. [For the full proceedings, see ED613257.]

Beginning in the nineteenth century, a plethora of western Christian and secular philanthropies introduced "top-down" philanthropic initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa to promote education and "development". There seems to be a complex link between the agendas of international philanthropies and their home governments' broader foreign policy frameworks. This paper discusses American philanthropies' educational initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from the 1920s to the end of the twentieth century. The paper focuses on four American philanthropies namely, Phelps-Stokes Fund, Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. It argues that American philanthropies' education initiatives helped to push the United States foreign policy agenda of transplanting adapted education in SSA, extending the social stratification of Black Africans in the global geopolitical processes, and promoting race relations. The agenda was promoted within the framework of White racial superiority and American "idealism" which the philanthropies presented as "development" after nations in SSA attained independence. [For the complete Volume 17 proceedings, see ED596826.]

With COVID-19 continuing to make meeting face-to-face impossible, the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group/Groupe Canadien d'Étude en Didactique des Mathématiques (CMESG/GCEDM) executive decided that, for the first time, the CMESG/GCEDM meeting would be held virtually. By necessity, the program had to be much compressed with no topic sessions and no gallery walk. The 44th annual meeting took place June 11-13, 2021. These proceedings contain one plenary lecture, five working groups, one panel, 13 new PhD reports, and two ad hoc sessions. Twenty-two papers are included in these proceedings--three papers are written in both French and English; one paper is written in French; and the remainder are written in English. [For the 2019 proceedings, see ED610111.]

This presentation is a roadmap with a one-mode transition and subsequent application of selected higher education classroom materials to field research for learning, which has been a challenge for college faculty members for ages. The essential components of such a process are delineated, using the field experience gained by the authors with catastrophic events, covering the 2010 Haitian Earthquake, 2014-2015 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, and the 2021-2022 Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic in Illinois. Priority is given to bridging learning gaps. The prime takeaway for college faculties is reinventing rewarding student R&D field projects. An added benefit is the capacity to create new, unique, or novel case studies to promote expanded and challenging student learning experiences. Such R&D case studies have market potential.

This research evaluates the psychometric properties of short-answer response items under a variety of grading rules in the context of a mobile learning platform in Africa. This work has three main findings. First, we introduce the concept of a differential device function (DDF), a type of differential item function that stems from the device a student uses to take an assessment. Second, we identify a plausible mechanism for this DDF by examining the keystroke requirements of smartphone and basic mobile phone users. We identify a set of platform design rules to mitigates this bias. Lastly, we suggest that the edit distance of student responses can be used as a tuning parameter to optimize the Cronbach's alpha of the assessment. We find that literal string evaluation performs poorly compared to other grading rules. Partial string matching with an edit distance of two provides the highest reliability across exams. This is a simple yet effective rule, which performs well across a variety of assessments. [This paper is published in: "Proceedings of American Educational Research Association (AERA 2019)." ACM, New York, NY.]

The field of higher education studies has expanded dramatically in recent years. Notably, research centers/institutes and academic programs devoted to the field of higher education (tertiary education) has increased worldwide to now include peer-reviewed journals, books, reports and publications. Utilizing secondary data from 277 higher education programs, 217 research centers/institutes, and 280 journals and publications from "Higher Education: A Worldwide Inventory of Research Centers, Academic Programs, and Journals and Publications" (2014), this paper examines the policy actors and scholars engaged in higher education studies across 48 countries. The finding of this study suggests that people living the world's wealthiest countries occupies a position of significant privilege and power with regards to access to higher education research, analysis, and trained human capital. As higher education research centers, programs, and journals around the world expand their understanding of their place in a wider global network of similar entities, supporting one another and particularly under-resourced colleagues around the world deserves increasing attention. [For the complete Volume 17 proceedings, see ED596826.]

This paper is a review of eLearning using Blackboard as a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to identify the future development of the VLE within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Fort Hare. The paper uses a case study approach to identify problems associated with the implementation of VLE's in Sub-Saharan Africa. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Case-Based Learning (CBL) are both based on a constructivist learning model that is used in many Health Faculties to underpin undergraduate and postgraduate education. All over the developed world, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have introduced online learning systems, and this has been repeated in Sub-Saharan Africa during the last decade alongside student-focused curriculum designs. The challenges of producing harmony between the classroom and electronic learning environments are discussed within the case study. The paper concludes that there is a need to explore the tools and applications available to enable student focused and initiated interfaces with "Blackboard Learn" to support the implementation of an environment suitable for PBL and CBL. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579335.]

This paper employs postcolonial framework to discuss the contradictions of promoting western education in Islamic communities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Prior to colonization, Islamic education was an important socializing process that instilled strong Islamic identity in Islamic communities in SSA. European encounters in SSA and the introduction of western education shifted the socializing process and reconfigured SSA societies and dislocated Islamic communities in the region. I argue that Islamic communities' marginalization educationally since the colonial era is partly the result of their resistance to western colonization and all its forms. In the first part of the paper I discuss postcolonial discourse and education. The second part discusses education and religion nexus in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses recent Pew Research for example as evidence to delineate the Muslim-Christian gaps in education by age categories and gender. The third part outlines ways western education became a tool for reconfiguring Islamic communities and the rationales behind Islamic communities' resistance to this form of education. The concluding section discusses contemporary efforts to promote education in Islamic communities in SSA within the rubric of Education for All (EFA). [For the complete Volume 15 proceedings, see ED574185.]