A two-day workshop on Socially Relevant Computing Education organized by Howard University and AUCC aimed at building a stronger partnership between USA and Africa has been organized at the Discovery House Campus of AUCC in Accra, Ghana from November 23 - November 24, 2010.
Participants of the workshop were drawn from an interdisciplinary group of over twenty faculties, information technology practitioners and students from across Africa and the USA. These included Howard University (Lead Institution), Humboldt State University, The University of the District of Columbia, Jackson State University, Elizabeth City State University and The New Jersey Institute of Technology, all in USA. The African participants were drawn from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Swaziland, Sudan and Burkina Faso. Kudakwashe Madzima from Swaziland, Talnan Jean Honore Coulibaly from Cote d’ Ivoire, Maiga Abdou from Burkina Faso, Aboubakary Diakhaby from Senegal, Ibrahim Lokpo from Cote d’ Ivoire, Gada Kadoda from Sudan Prince Deh from African University College of Communications, Ogochuku Nweke from African University of Communications, Joseph Oclu from University of Ghana.
The first session on the first day of the workshop was used to highlight specific areas of socially relevant computing education and the contributions and efforts that were needed in order to produce content in the subject area. The second session on the first day was the match making session which witnessed participants organizing themselves into discussion groups based on interests.
On the second day of the workshop, the three interest areas that had been identified by the participants were consolidated into the following three projects:
1. A project on knowledge management systems to support the production, sharing and delivery of timely information and knowledge to the different stakeholders.
2. A project to develop a system to determine patterns and help prevent and mitigate cyber crimes and attacks. The focus of the project would be on tracking patterns.
3. A project to develop systems to deliver reliable academic content over non-reliable networks to support teaching and learning irrespective of bandwidth challenges.
Other issues discussed at the workshop included curriculum development as well as the infrastructural and resource requirements needed to sustain African and global dimensions for a socially relevant computing education program.
The workshop ended with the following resolutions:
1. To develop a proposal on the knowledge management system project to support the production, sharing and delivery of timely information and knowledge to the different stakeholders.
2. To develop a proposal for a project to develop a system to determine patterns and help prevent and mitigate cyber crimes and attacks. The focus of the project would be on tracking patterns.
3. To develop a proposal for the establishment of systems to deliver reliable academic content over non-reliable networks to support teaching and learning irrespective of bandwidth challenges.
4. The need to continue the dialogue on curriculum development especially with regards to the setting up of the Communication Technology Department at the African University College of Communications.
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