Ghana would host this year’s International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training dubbed; “e-Learning Africa 2008” from May 28 to 30.

The conference scheduled for Accra is an annual event for developing e-Learning capacities in Africa.

It would attract over 1,500 participants across the globe and more than 300 expert speakers from 51 countries in workshops, plenary and presentation sessions on how to apply best advanced learning and teaching technologies to African educational systems.

The conference would be held under the auspices of the Ministries of Education, Science and Sports; Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD and Communications.

Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Education, Science and Sports (MOESS), said the magnitude of the event and its features would provide an opportunity for hosting the country’s professionals and stakeholders for benchmarking, learning, sharing and networking.

This would strengthen the numerous education technology initiatives and projects already initiated by government.

He said aside that the conference would also serve as a capacity building event for partners and projects in the field of technology-based learning and as a platform for the promotion and support of e-Learning programmes.

It would also provide national capacities to access European Union funded Research and Development programmes.

Prof. Fobih said prior to the conference the organizers would support the mobilization for the event within the country by building awareness and capacity through nation-wide lectures in some of the country’s universities and polytechnics.

One of such lectures is on-going at the University of Development Studies in Tamale.

Ms Dorothy Gordon, Director General, Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT, said the conference sought to demystify the concept of e-Learning while sharing country, regional and continental experiences in building capacity.

It would also assist Ghanaians to gain additional insights that would take them further on the path towards innovation and true technology ownership as opposed to mere consumption of technology.

She said the conference agenda was divided into optional pre-conference workshops, seminars and meetings, which would take place on Wednesday, May 28.

The main conference on May 29-30 composed of plenary, presentations, debates and discussions, special focus, demonstration, best practice showcase, and Nnoboa sessions.

She said to facilitate additional networking opportunities at e-Learning Africa this year, the organizers had made space available during the conference for participants to set up Networking sessions of their own on a specific topic named Nnoboa.

The Reverend Emmanuel K. Dadebo, National eLA 2008 Coordinator, urged the public to visit the conference website at www.elearning-africa.com for more information and the agenda.

Source: GNA