Transcript 20050918-africa-kyalo

An Education Network
The Kenya Education Network Experience
(Opportunities, Challenges & Lessons Learned)
Victor Kyalo
Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Nairobi
KENET Coordinator
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Agenda
 Background
 Overview
 Opportunities
 Challenges
 Partnerships
 Conclusions –Lessons learned
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Background
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The KENET initiative emanated from the
Leyland initiative -1999
Local model made up of public & private
institutions
Trust formed in 2001 to oversee and
steer the initiative’s operations:
Members include:
 VC, UoN
 VC, Moi University
 VC, JKUAT
 VC, Daystar
 VC, USIU
 MD, Telkom Kenya
 DG, CCK
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Goal
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Establish sustainable communication and
networking among educational
institutions in Kenya that will facilitate
wide use of ICTs in teaching, learning,
research and sharing of other information
resources to the general populace at
affordable cost.
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Objectives
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To establish a high –speed national IPbased network interconnecting all
learning and educational institutions.
To provide sustainable and permanent
Internet access to all institutions
Create at least one learning center in
each institution to support e-learning
To develop a comprehensive national
education portal with an appropriate elearning platform
To train faculty and ICT support staff
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Digressing –NRENs elsewhere!!!
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JANET –pioneer Research and Educational
Network (NREN), currently operated on
‘private business’ status
CERNET –largest NREN at the moment very
active in research and learning material
production. Funded by the central
government, cost recovery model and
operated by a consortium of universities
TENET –South African tertiary institutions
network. Government funded
Korea, Belgium, Texas Universities, Egypt,
Rwanda, Ukrain, etc., Mixture of govt and
cost recovery models in existence.
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Areas of operation
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Infrastructure
Content
Policy
Capacity
development
Head
Admin//Finance
Infrastructure
Head
Content
Head
R&D
Activities
Systems/Network/
Telecom Engineers
Interns
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Coverage/member institutions
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Overview
 ICTs have impacted all economic sectors
immensely:
 Work environments
 Culture & social interactions
 Etc
 ? Can ICTs influence development & Education
 Competition of scarce resources
 Integration of ICTs into the education system
–teaching & learning processes
 Best fit models & benchmarking
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Opportunities
May be deployed to allow wider access to high
quality learning resources
ICTs offers the opportunity to harnesses the
scattered resources into a single well organized
and easily accessible point
An enabler of sharing the scarce teaching
resources to a wider population
Improving teaching delivery efficiency –by
deploying technology to improve education and
not as an end by itself
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Opportunities cont.
In the quest for empowering learners
independence, a people comfortable with ICTs
develop an information culture that generates
critical thinking and awareness about
knowledge production.
Offers opportunities for collaboration and peer
support
Well articulated and formed communication
channels can be used for other purposes for the
benefit of the communities at large.
Technological advancements
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Challenges
Infrastructure: including
 Hardware
 Software
 Power Supply
 Connectivity
 value
 etc.
Initial and ongoing training:
 untrained staff tend to be weary of
deploying new technology in their work
Running costs and maintenance:
 besides the initial setup, continuity and
sustainability of the system is paramount
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Challenges cont.
 Replacement costs:
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Obsoleteness of systems (equipment and
technologies) is a reality which planners have
to live with in the ICTs arena.
 Relevant Content
 Institutions commitment
 Regulatory & Taxation Regimes
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Interventions
 Partnerships & Resources mobilization (systems &
human capital):
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Different players –government, private &
public sector
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Sharing resources –institutional alliances,
community involvement
 Policy & Strategies:
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An all inclusive approach
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Integrated into the core teaching and learning
approaches
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e-rates
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Open Source encouragement
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Legal implications –IP, Copyright,
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Ethical considerations
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Conclusion & Lessons Learned
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The framework
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allow for the establishment of a highly
decentralized environment that takes
cognizance of various stakeholders
roles.
produce policies that coalesce
fragmented interests in the role of ICTs
into a healthy community of interests and
actions.
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Why Connectivity
ICTs offers the opportunity to harnesses the
scattered resources into a single well organized
and easily accessible point
Three levels of connectivity
 International Connectivity
 National or Local Inter-institutions Connectivity
 Intra-institutional Connectivity
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Connectivity Tiers
Tier1
Tier2
Tier3
KENET Education
x-change node
members
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International Connectivity
ISP3
ISP2
ISP2
ISP1
xchange2
xchange1
ISP1
ISP3
Internet backbone
Backbone
Provider
Other users
ISP2
ISP1
kixp
kenet
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National or Local Interinstitutions Connectivity
Future Uplink
Central Downlink
Remote or Locally Located
KENET Sat Hub.
Initially to be used for Downlink only
Downlinks
Downlink
others
Satellite dish
Access/
Bandwidth Mngr
All Major Institutions
with Downlinks and E1
Backhaul to KENET
Aggregation point
Maseno
Satellite dish
nXE1
mainly in Nairobi
Other
DATA
Networks
GILAT, KENSAT,
etc
KDN
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64k, 128k, 256k, 512k, 1m
Links to KENET institutions
KENSTREAM
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Connectivity Approach
Implementation Approach
Connectivity
Levels
Description
Responsibility
Domain
Investment
International
Gateway
Internet connectivity thro’
JamboNet, Jamii, KDN,
Own Gateway, etc
Users collectively, alliances
with others like AVU,
PAREN, etc
Contributions polled
together
National
Connectivity
PoPs in all regions to
ensure easy distribution,
connection to KIXP for
‘National Internet’
KENET in partnership
with local loop operators,
building of wireless links,
etc
Members through
contributions & support
Computer Labs &
Networks in all institutions
-institutions
-KENET
-partners, etc
By all stakeholders
Institutions
Networks
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Content strategy
Content
Availability
Implementation Approach
Institutional
Level Networks
National
Level
Description
How?
Required
Aim at institutions
accumulating 40% of their
content requirements
internally
Developing and eplatform
with a CMS, elearning
support, MIS module, etc
Collaborations, focused
platforms cutting across
board, e.g ITDawn,
Content Mall, etc
Develop shared content
nationally by hosting
(available content),
harnessing new content –
aim/fill 60% requirements
Extend the pool of
partnerships eg KARI,
AJOL, ICIPE, TTCs,
MOEST Agencies, etc
1. Structured content
developing & hosting
2. Tying up of the content
availability
Others (outside
networks
access)
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Be able to get what one
needs
All collectively
Negotiate with others
(NRENS), mirror servers,
etc
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Institutional Readiness
Labs
MIS
Library
systems
Content
Elearning
Hot spots
Institutional Networks
FIS
Student
enrollment
Intranet
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eReadiness Indication –Kenya 2002
Stage
Indicator
Stage
Indicator
Network Access
1.
Information Infrastructure
2.
Internet Availability
3.
Internet Affordability
4.
Network Speed and Quality
5.
Hardware and Software
6.
Service and Support
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
3.0
2.5
Networked Learning
7.
Schools’ Access to ICTs
8.
Enhancing Education with ICTs
9.
Developing ICT Workforce
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12. ICTs in Everyday Life
13. ICTs in the Workplace
2.0
2.0
2.5
2.0
2.0
2.5
Networked Economy
14. ICT Employment Opportunities
15. B2C Electronic Commerce
16. B2B Electronic Commerce
Networked Society
10. People and Organizations Online
11. Locally Relevant Content
17. E-Government
2.0
1.5
1.5
1.5
Network Policy
18. Telecommunication Regulation
19. ICT Trade Policy
2.0
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2.5
1.5
Score Card
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Connectivity -getting there, though still
constrained by the local loops availability
and capacities
Content issues –generation of usable
content beginning to appear, positive
collaborations emerging
Policy –has improved tremendously from
hostile to very supportive
Future –can only be better
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Thank you
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Head
Admin//Finance
Infrastructure
Head
Content
Head
R&D
Activities
Systems/Network/
Telecom Engineers
Interns
vk-05/2005
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