Teachers, through their pedagogical appropriation of information and communication technology (ICT) are sometimes bewildered – as if in the middle of a new ocean. Behind them is all they have learned, and before them lies so much they do not know and that invites exploration. They accompany their students and invite others to join them in this journey. They do their best to learn, deepen their teaching, and perhaps also, through their example and their actions, encourage the revitalization of the school system.

A recent New York Times article “Lecture Me. Really.” makes the case for good and great lectures by excellent lecturers combined with active and analytical listening and synthesizing note taking by students, as well as small weekly discussion sections, as a way to teach and learn the humanities at colleges and universities [in the USA] in this day and age. But lectures alone seem to be insufficient.

Knowing that the quality of university research impacts the quality of education at all levels, as well as shapes the overall landscape in which research happens, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), through its West and Central Africa Regional Office (WARO), initiated a process to better understand what is actually happening when it comes to [...]

Obanya, P., & Toure, K. (2003). Emerging Trends in Research on the Quality of Education: A Synthesis of Educational Research Reviews from 1992-2002 in eleven countries of West and Central Africa. Bamako, Mali: ERNWACA. [Download the paper]