E-LEARNING: COLLABORATION, CONTEXTUALISATION AND GLOBALISATION : A HIGHER EDUCATION EXAMPLE FROM AFRICA AND AUSTRALIA(Session 3: International Collaboration in Content Development and Distribution,E-learning beyond Cultural and Linguistic Barriers : Co-existence and Collaboration(NIME 2002 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM))

"The revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs) is resulting in a revolution in education systems around the world. Computers are entering the classrooms, students have access to the Internet, schools are linked together in "learning networks", etc. [...] Some developing countries are also taking important steps to ensure that they, too, are able to take advantage of the ICT revolution and to participate in the information society. Most of the African continent is lagging behind, both in terms of installing the necessary information and communication infrastructure required to participate in the information society, and in terms of integrating ICTs in the education sector to enhance the learning process. Given the recent improvements in Africa\u27s information and communication infrastructure, distance education could significantly contribute to the attainment of educational goals." Fillip, B. 2000 p. 1 However, as with most educational technologies, the technological \u27problems\u27 are usually the most easily fixed. It is inevitably the associated human and systemic issues that take the greatest effort and the most time to address. International education is not new. The mix of ICT and education is more recent. The theme of this Symposium explores "how e-Learning^ should be in this 21^ Century where multi-cultures and polyglot societies are aiming for co-existence". Specifically this paper will investigate strategies for responding sensitively to local and or cultural issue in the development of a collaborative arrangement to provide ICT-based higher education opportunities to developing Sub-Saharan Africa. The process of structuring appropriate partnerships to facilitate international e-Learning activities is critical and will demand increasing attention as e-Learning becomes an even more global enterprise. At one level, because of the global availability of online education, potentially any student could enrol anywhere accepting the expectation that she/he will adapt to the cultural, pedagogical and administrative proclivities of the providing organisation. However, when the process is part of a more structured international initiative, a number of other issues such as collaboration on processes, cultural sensitivity, agreement on outcomes, structuring, initiative design and roles, decision making, ownership of knowledge and project activities, relationship management and ethical action need to be canvassed more formally. This paper takes a current Australian government Aid Agency (AusAID) ICT-based initiative with the African Virtual University (AVU) as a case study and tracks these issues as some of them impact on project development. It will briefly overview the possibilities of ICT-based education particularly in the African context, and using the AusAID funded African Virtual University Initiative as the example, discuss some of the issues arising from its inception to date, including policy implications, management, communications through collaboration and negotiation and the contextualisation of the curriculum and instruction. Finally the paper identifies some lessons learned to date