Africa



Welcome to 

which anyone can add to or edit.

The Global, Virtual/Digital, Open, Free, {potentially Degree- and Credit-Granting},

Multilingual University & School

where anyone can teach or take a class or course


 * Add or take a free, open Africa course.

Select Courses

 * Add free, open Africa courses below.

Ideas
Fascinating overview of Africa from Google's Chairman Eric Schmidt - Jan 22, 2013 - https://plus.google.com/u/0/+EricSchmidt/posts -

"A Week of Africa

After a week of business meetings in the cities of sub-saharan africa, we can surely say three things are new for the continent:

a) the despotic leadership in Africa from the 1970s and 1980 is in decline, replaced by younger and more democratic leaders b) a huge youth demographic boom is underway, with a majority of the population of 25, or even under 20 c) mobile phones are everywhere, and the Internet in Africa will be primarily a mobile one

Many of the older problems are still severe, including a lack of electric power, the general trend of rural to urban migration, and pervasive corruption. Every country we visited had an internal security problem, or a significant border problem, and the elites are sheltered from this pervasive concern behind guarded walls, hotels and restaurants with gates and security checks, and ubiquitous guards. I try to imagine what the US would be if we had the types of security problems in Africa.. how would WE deal with such threats?

Connectivity is much more important for security than many analysts think. Societies who are not connected lack opposing viewpoints and are much more subject to easy radicalization. The virtue of having more connectivity is that people will have more choices, and more choices lead a better understanding of the value to go to school, the need to treat women equally, the choice to not demonize others, etc.

Nairobi has emerged as a serious tech hub and may become the African leader. A combination of relatively stable politics, the British legal system, and a benign climate seem to attract a significant share of foreign investment. Incubators are hosting potential solutions to many problems, including connecting M-Pesa (their mobile money solution on simple phones using SMS) with payment systems for local stores. If they manage to get through the upcoming March elections without significant conflict, they will grow quickly.

Rwanda is a jewel with a terrible past. High economic growth and the development of a significant middle class is threatened by the withdrawal of aid due to UN complaints over the Congo. Rwanda feels like Singapore, an island inside of Africa whose small size allows great focus and a dynamic, stable government. A visit to the Genocide Museum in Kigali, and a trip to the Volcanic National Park where eight groups of eight can trek to see the gorillas made famous by Diana Fossey, are well worth it. Gorilla treks are also available through Uganda and the Congo, over the same mountains.

After fifty years of war, South Sudan is the worlds newest country. In a country where every issue is an urgent one, mobile networks can unify a poor country with isolated villages, significant flooding in the rainy season, and the constant threat of attacks from rebels from the north. A courageous group, the Satellite Sentinel project. uses satellite data and other sources to document ethnic cleansing in remote areas of Sudan (the northern Sudan) and serve as a record of the terrible ongoing violence against innocents.

Chad is a poor petro-state, with a long history of conflict and one pipeline and one fiber link. Africa has submarine fiber cables on the west and eastern side. Landlocked countries are at the mercy of their neighbors, and all have learned that competition with multiple fiber connections from differing borders dramatically reduces costs. Chad like some others, has determined that future spectrum should not be auctioned as that only increases the eventual mobile costs and are simply allocating it to a set of competitive carriers. Less than 1% of Chad has electricity.

Nigeria, known as a land of oil corruption and the ubiquitous 419 email scams, is the biggest surprise to a first time visitor. Nigerians are entrepreneurial, stylish, educated, and have the belief that their country can emerge as the next Brazil. With 170 million citizens, and a record breaking eleven years of civilian elected government, the compound growth and the shared memory of real internal conflict almost guarantees their short term success. Future growth of Nigeria should help with its international image problem, as the real story of its success gets out.

The emergent model of the African internet is a set of competitive fiber suppliers to the capital, a set of fiber rings owned by local telco's, and 3G and 4G networks. Some of the countries are late with licensing plans for 3G and 4G, a costly delay for countries that have very little residential broadband. Solar charging can help with the power needs of handsets, but the electricity needs to be more reliable or costly backup systems will be built at each tower. Many of these countries have telecommunications as a major contributor to their GPD (Cote d'Ivory is about 12%) and even Somalia, which we did not visit this time, has a profitable competitive telecommunications industry.. the most profitable legal industry in that country. Some countries are reluctant to turn on the data portion of their telecommunications industry, another costly delay to their future digital commerce, education and entertainment industries.

Many Africans will be last, unfortunately, to be connected to the rest of us. For them, the best short term outcome will be feature phones (inexpensive voice and SMS phones) and a private network of microSD cards that can be traded behind oppressive authorities to get information in and out of trapped, occupied and remote locations. Information is power, and more information means more choices. Documenting abuses, getting pressure from outside to fix real problems, and solving illiteracy are just a few functions of even the most limited of feature phones.

The demographic dividend in Africa of young people is their greatest hope, in my opinion. Today high rates of unemployment show an economy underperforming to its true potential. This new generation expects more, and will use mobile computing to get it. Optimism is appropriate for Africa, as the people we met will do much more with less than we can imagine, and the devices and systems built in the first world will be used in the most creative ways in the emerging new world of Africa."

Publish my article in a WUaS academic journal in this subject
Open Journal Systems. 2012. Open Journal Systems. Public Knowledge Project.

(WUaS's wiki, information technologies and criteria for this - informed by the WUaS academic journal subject matter - are developing, since you can already publish your article at http://www.academia.edu).

Select Blogs
African Arguments Online. 2013. African Arguments Online. (African Arguments Online is a multi-blogging site that covers both contemporary African events as they unfold, and develops debates on themes we believe are centrally important to an ever changing continent). africanarguments.org.

Select Book Groups, Study Groups, Musical Groups, etc.
Begin a Google + Hangout: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108179352492243955816/posts

Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/

Select Communities, Email lists, etc.
(See also editable World University and School's 'You at World University' page: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/You_at_World_University).

Select Funding Sources
Reporting grants for China-Africa stories. 2012. Reporting grants for China-Africa stories: Wits Journalism is offering reporting grants to African journalists interested in unpacking the China-Africa relationship. South Africa: www.journalism.co.za.

Select Libraries, Archives, Collections, Repositories, etc.
(See also editable World University and School's Library Resources' page: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources).

Select Museums
(See also editable World University and School's Museums' page: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Museums).

Select References
Anthropological Quarterly. 2005. West African Warscapes. 78:2 Spring. Washington DC: George Washington University - Institute for Ethnographic Research.

Blodgett, Leslie. 2012. Budding Geothermal Markets Light Up East Africa. Sep 9. Think Progress.

Following Africa’s Lead conversation. 2012. Following Africa’s Lead: Opportunities and Threats of the Mobile Internet Revolution. October 11. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.

Hodson, Hal. 2013. Wi-Fi-hopping brings phone signal to remote villages. June 28. New Scientist.

Reporting grants for China-Africa stories. 2012. Reporting grants for China-Africa stories: Wits Journalism is offering reporting grants to African journalists interested in unpacking the China-Africa relationship. South Africa: www.journalism.co.za.

Sengeh, David. 2013. Transforming 'Aid to Africa' into 'Made in Africa'. January 23. linkedin.com.

timothy. 2013. How Mobile Operators Are Caught In the Middle In the Middle East and Africa. politics.slashdot.org.

Verbelen, Filip. 2012. Herakles Farms and how a US agri-corporation sparked anger in Africa. July 6. San Francisco, CA: Greenpeace International.

Zuckerman, Ethan. 2012. Ethan Zuckerman: 'Africa's hackers are today's world-class tech innovators'. November 26. www.wired.co.uk.

Select Video and Audio
Contee, Cheryl. 2013. The Innovation Intermission. Cambridge, MA: Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Doe, Kelvin. 2012. Self-taught African Teen Wows M.I.T.. Sierra Leone: MIT.

Select Websites
African Virtual University. 2012. African Virtual University. Senegal and Kenya, Africa: www.avu.org/

AgShare. 2013. AgShare. (The aim of the AgShare project is to create a scalable and sustainable method of filling critical gaps in agriculture related curriculum through a redesigned MSc process). Michigan: OER Africa is an initiative of the South African Institute for Distance Education (Saide).

World University and School Links
Africa: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Africa

African languages: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/African_languages

Americas: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Americas

Asia: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Asia

Cameroon: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Cameroon

Central African Republic: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Central_African_Republic

China: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/China

Congo, Democratic Republic of the : http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

Egypt: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Egypt

Ethiopia: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Ethiopia

Foreign Policy: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Foreign_Policy

Gambia: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Gambia

Ghana: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Ghana

India: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/India

Kenya: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Kenya

Mali: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Mali

Middle East: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Middle_East

Namibia: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Namibia

One Laptop per Child - XO Laptop - MIT: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child_-_XO_Laptop_-_$100_Laptop_-_MIT

Rwanda: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Rwanda

Sierra Leone: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Sierra_Leone

Somalia: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Somalia

Southeast Asia: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Southeast_Asia

Academic Press at World University and School
Academic Press at World University and School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Academic_Press_at_World_University_and_School

Access to Live, or Email, University Technical Expertise
Ask a question in a specific discipline, or find, for example, a Robotics' or Computer programmer, or Translator, easily and freely.

Admissions at World University and School
Admissions' Department: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Admissions_at_World_University_and_School

Flyer seeking degree-oriented, WUaS students: 'Quaker-informed World University & School seeks friendly, undergraduate students for free, online, Greatest Universities-centric, bachelor’s degrees to apply in the autumn of 2013, for matriculation in autumn 2014' - http://scottmacleod.com/WUaSFriendsFlyerforProspectiveStudentApplicants.pdf - and accessible here, also - http://scottmacleod.com/WUaSNoticeArchive.html. WUaS holds open, electronically-mediated, hour-long, monthly business meeting on the second Saturdays at 9 am Pacific Time, in the manner of Quakers - email worlduniversityandschool@gmail.com if you'd like to participate.

Blog at World University and School
http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/

Bookstore / Computer Store (New & Used) at World University and School
Bookstore / Computer Store (New & Used) at WUaS: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Bookstore_/_Computer_Store_%28New_%26_Used%29_at_WUaS

with educational electronics, as well; with musical instruments; value pricing ... 2% below market, consistently; available via mail and electronically;

Calendar (Schedule what you'd like to teach)
Join the World University and School Google + Group to add to its wiki-like calendar to teach an open, free class or course, converse about ideas, and jam (e.g. musically or theater improvisation): https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/108179352492243955816/.

Careers
Career counseling: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Career_counseling

Finding / creating a job you really love: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Finding_/_creating_a_job_you_really_love

WUaS Job hunting: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/WUaS_Job_hunting

Counseling
Counseling: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Counseling

Coordinates
... in a virtual world

Credits
Many thanks to each of you!

Please feel free to hyperlink your name to a location of your choice (or tell WUaS where to link to - worlduniversityandschool@gmail.com). Please do not hesitate to let WUaS know if you think that somebody (including yourself) has been forgotten, now or in the future; please include a URL, which is, of course, one main way identity created on the internet.

Digital To Do
Android

Brainwave device / Headset

Broadcast to radio frequency

Broadcast to TV

Create EMail group for page

Digital Text to Audio file format (Browse Aloud / Read Aloud?)

MIT OCW Mirror Site Instructions: http://ocw.mit.edu/about/mirror-site-program/mirror-site-instructions/

Print

Publish to DVD

Recommend

Send to phone

Tablets

Translate

Videophone

Free Degrees / Credit
MIT OCW Audio Video Courses: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/audio-video-courses/

Admissions at World University and School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Admissions_at_World_University_and_School

Conference Method of Teaching and Learning: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_Method_of_Teaching_and_Learning

The College at World University and School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/The_College_at_World_University_and_School

Ph.D. Degrees at World University and School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Ph.D._Degrees_at_World_University_and_School

World University Law School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Law_School

World University Medical School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Medical_School

World University Music School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Music_School

WUaS International Baccalaureate Diploma and Programme: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/WUaS_International_Baccalaureate_Diploma_and_Programme (beginning with United Nations' languages - Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, Spanish)

In Google Earth
Google Earth.

In Virtual World
3D Learn. 2013. http://www.learningin3d.info/

Active Worlds Educational Universe (AWEDU). 2012. http://www.activeworlds.com/edu/

Alice. 2012. http://www.alice.org/

Minecraft. 2012. www.minecraft.net

Edusim. 2013. http://edusim3d.com/

Gifted Kids.ie. 2013. http://www.giftedkids.ie/daynuv.html

ISTE – SIGMS. 2013. http://sigms.iste.wikispaces.net/secondlifeplayground2010

Open Cobalt. 2013. http://www.opencobalt.org/

OpenSim. 2012. http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page (http://www.scribd.com/doc/57959626/OpenSimulator-School-Quick-Start-Guide)

Open Croquet. 2012. http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?OpenCroquet and http://www.opencroquet.org/

Open Wonderland. 2012. http://openwonderland.org/

Primary Games. 2013. http://www.primarygames.com/arcade/virtualworlds.php

Quest Atlantis. 2012. http://atlantisremixed.org/ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZoT3pilNPI).

SimScience. 2012. http://simscience.org/

Second Life - Harvard's virtual island. 2012. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Berkman/115/53/25 - and teach, learn and share ideas - in group voice chat, or in group type chat, and via building.

Unity3D. 2012. http://unity3d.com/

WiloStar3D. 2013. https://www.wilostar3d.com/

Add a learning-oriented virtual world here:

Travel to this virtual island to learn building:

Item Number
Global ID and Multiple IDs - see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/New_sites_system

Bar code

Learning Networking
Teach and Learn using free Social Networking software to share what courses, etc., you find edifying, what you enjoy learning ....

Academia.edu's World University and School - http://worlduniversityandschool.academia.edu/

Delicious.com's World University and School - http://www.delicious.com/WorldUniversityandSchool

Facebook.com's World University and School - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141 ('This group may be archived').

Good Reads - http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/99021-worlduniversityandschool

Google + Profiles - worlduniversityandschool@gmail.com - Scott MacLeod - https://plus.google.com/115890623333932577910/

Google + Profiles Company page - worlduniversityandschool@gmail.com - World University and School - https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/108179352492243955816/108179352492243955816/posts

Google Groups' World University and School - http://groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School

Like

LinkedIn's World University and School - http://www.linkedin.com/groups/World-University-School-4024337

Quora - http://www.quora.com/

Research Gate - http://www.researchgate.net/

Redditt.com's World University and School - http://www.reddit.com/user/WorldUnivandSch/

Tribe.net's World University and School - http://tribes.tribe.net/worlduniversityandschool

Twitter.com's World University and School - http://twitter.com/WorldUnivandSch

World University & School 'subject page' group

World University & School Share This

Yahoo Groups' World University and School: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worlduniversityandschool/

TV-Live Broadcasting
Broadcast to television

Teach and learn using free TV-Live Broadcasting software to the web:

Google + Hangouts - https://plus.google.com/hangouts

Justin TV - http://www.justin.tv

Livestream TV - http://www.livestream.com

Ustream TV - http://ustream.tv

Video Communication
Teach and learn using free TV-Live Broadcasting software

Free video conferencing

iChat - http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/ichat.html

Skype - http://www.skype.com/

Free, group video conferencing

AnyMeeting - http://anymeeting.com/homepage/

Google + Hangout - https://tools.google.com/dlpage/hangoutplugin

Zoom.us - Cloud HD Video Meetings - http://zoom.us/

Universal Translator at WUaS
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/WUaS_Universal_Translator

Google Translate language:

Sugar Labs: Translation System language:

Region:

The "Universitian" Newspaper at World University and School
The "Universitian" Newspaper at World University and School

Wiki Software for Courses
Media Wiki - http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

PB Works - http://pbworks.com/

Wet Paint - http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/

Wikia - http://www.wikia.com/Wikia

Wikispaces - http://www.wikispaces.com/

Wikidata / Bots
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikidata/Bots

World University and School Licensing
World University and School - like Wikipedia with Greatest Universities' OpenCourseWare (not endorsed by MIT OCW) - incorporated as a nonprofit effective April 2010 and has been a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, educational organization charity through November 12, 2012, and is re-applying for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, as of August 2013.

World University & School is a community of learners and teachers who value — and are themselves strengthened by — the rich diversity of its participants. In order to cultivate a flourishing teaching, learning and creating conversation in a diverse and complex world, WUaS welcomes all languages, students, families, faculty, board members, and staff with differences based on (but not limited to) race, color, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, family structure, and economic background.

All content on this site is freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/.

The World University and School program is not endorsed by MIT or MIT OpenCourseWare.

WUaS: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University

Courses: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses

Subjects: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects

Languages: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Languages

Library Resources: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources

Nation States: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Nation_States

You at World University: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/You_at_World_University

Educational Software: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software

Museums: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Museums

Research: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Research

Hardware Resource Possibilities: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Hardware_Resource_Possibilities

Frequently Asked Questions at World University & School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions

World University Foundation: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Foundation

SUBJECT TEMPLATE: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/SUBJECT_TEMPLATE

Volunteers at World University and School: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Volunteers

Home: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University

For questions, or help editing a page, email: worlduniversityandschool@gmail.com

Please donate through PayPal to tax-exempt - 501 (c) (3) - World University and School at

http://scottmacleod.com/worlduniversityandschool.htm

Thank you!