The OLE team is working closely with Ministry officials to develop a pilot project for introducing the Shuttleworth  k-12 open source courseware to Rwanda.   This will include adapting the Shuttleworth curriculum content for local Rwandan conditions and standards, preparing teachers to use the courseware effectively, providing ongoing in-service support for the teachers in their schools and assessing the effectiveness of this approach in improving the quality of basic education in Rwanda.

Rwanda is deeply committed to employing Information and Communications Technologies (ICT’s) in virtually every aspect of their society and economy.  The long awaited SeaCom undersea fiber optic cable was placed into operation in Kenya this past week.  It connects East and South Africa to the rest of the world by a huge highspeed Internet link.  In Rwanda the SeaCom cable will be connected to a fiber optic network that is being laid throughout the country.   The government has announced that it will provide every school in the country with a broadband connection in the next two years.   They have said they intend to become “the Singapore” of Africa.

“I am extraordinarily impressed with the strength of the commitment in Rwanda to major improvements in basic education,” said Dr. Rowe.  “It is impressive how much the country has changed in the past few years, especially given the violence that ravaged the country just a few years ago.  The mood here combines a sense optimism with a determination to implement their ideas quickly and effectively.  Nearly half of the population is under 20 years of age, making their education a cruciald part of Rwanda’s future.”

OLE Rwanda is seeking the support of the government for this project with the understanding that they will expand it significantly if there is evidence that it is a cost-effective approach.  The OLE International team will return later this week, via Dubai, to North America.

The first workshop was organized for participants from Kigali and neighboring districts and took place on 19^th and 20^th of March 2009; the second workshop was at the National University of Rwanda (UNR) in Butare on 31^st March, 2009.

These capacity building workshops were organized by Open Learning Exchange Rwanda in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP PERI).

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education (Dr Mathias) made official opening remarks during the Kigali workshop. A total number of 45 people attended both workshops exciding 40 participants initially planned for. Participants came from the Ministry of Education, 10 different High Education Institutions across the country (Universities, Colleges) and 10 organizations promoting ICTs in Education and libraries such as One Laptop per Child (OLPC), National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC), Global e-schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), INASP,National Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR) , Center for Geographic Information System (CGIS), AVU e-learning Center, Center for Conflict Management (CMG), Institute of Scientific and Technological Research(IRST) and the National University of Rwanda Research commission. Representatives from these organizations were Head of Departments of Computer Science, Lecturers and Researchers, Librarians and Coordinators of Organizations promoting ICTs in Education and few students.

Participants leant different tools and techniques to access e-resources (INASP PERI and others) in order to increase the understanding (access and use of e-resources) and to boost applied ICTs in education research. The workshops also provided an overview of Open Education Resources (OER) and opened up the debate and research perspective on the potential of OER in the Education system in Rwanda; more importantly raising the need for a collaborative approach between Universities, Research Centers, Open Learning Exchanges Centers and Schools in ensuring that Rwanda benefit from Open Education resources for quality universal basic education in the future.

Group works suggested ways forward to strengthen ties between partners to vulgarize access and use of INASP PERI resources and to engage University communities in research supporting access and use of Open Education Resources in Rwanda (full report and recommendation shall be available soon).

Modeled after Consumer Reports, each innovation in the Review will include a narrative report describing the innovation, its demonstrations and the outcomes from those demonstrations.  Each review will highlight the evidence that a given innovation is effective for a given purpose in a given setting.  Reviews will include overall approaches to learning, specific subject matter course materials and information and computer technologies that are appropriate for basic learning.

A key feature will be a summary template with standardized ratings covering several dimensions of the innovation including results related to students, teachers, parents, community and the nation. This will enable users to compare the relative effectiveness of different innovations.   Each review will also provide an estimate of the total cost per student and the scalability of the innovation.

The Honorable Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, Minister of state in charge of Primary  and Secondary Education in the government of the Republic of Rwanda, wrote to the registering agency to express his support. He said, in part, “OLE Rwanda’s projects are aligned with the country’s Vision 2020 and add value to the achievement of universal basic education in Rwanda.” He noted that OLE Rwanda is cooperating with the Ministry of Education in “two important projects,

• Contextualization and localization of content for basic education,
• Digitization of the content to support and avail teaching and learning materials through the development of a Billion Kids’ National Digital Library.”

The Minister visited the OLE offices in Cambridge, MA this summer and tried out an early version of the Course Development Studio. He noted with interest that the software could be localized for Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda, and said that this would vastly increase its importance for teachers throughout the country.