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Call for Submissions: Special Issue on M-Learning in Africa

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The International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL) is devoting a special edition to mobile learning in Africa and contributions are warmly invited.

The International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL) is devoting a special edition to mobile learning in Africa and contributions are warmly invited.

INTRODUCTION:
Recognition, and indeed promotion and funding, for academics and researchers everywhere, including Africa, depends on publication, specifically publication of research papers in recognized peer-reviewed journals. There is considerable research activity in mobile learning in Africa and this deserves greater visibility and recognition. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning is devoting a special edition to mobile learning in Africa and contributions are warmly invited that report, explore, discuss and analyze the theory, practice and context of mobile learning in Africa, of learning with mobile devices on the African continent.

OBJECTIVE OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE:
In the last five or six years we have seen a rapid apparent growth of mobile learning across Africa. Sometimes this replicates the experiences and challenges elsewhere, sometimes it responds to challenges of local infrastructure or the specifics of local culture; sometimes it represents the 'localized' version of global and corporate training accessing the international knowledge economy, other times it represents the work of social entrepreneurs, not-for-profits and m4d activists supporting indigenous languages, traditional pedagogy and informal knowledge.

All of this work has been sadly under-documented and under-reported and deserves a wider global audience.
The International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning is the recognized academic peer-reviewed journal of the world's mobile learning research community and works closely with the International Association of Mobile Learning.

This call is intended to encourage the publication of high-quality mobile learning research papers from or about Africa in a respected academic journal with a global readership. Authors considering attending or presenting at the coming eLearning Africa conference in Dar-es-Salaam in May 2011 will be interested to know that there will be a half-day workshop with individual sessions to support and mentor would-be authors and that one of the guest editors will be available to give guidance and feedback.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS:
Topics to be discussed in this special issue include (but are not limited to) the following:
• Theories of mobile learning in Africa
• Practical experiences of mobile learning in Africa
• The African mobile learning context
• Characteristics and challenges of infrastructure and culture
• Local interpretations of mobile learning
• Supporting indigenous languages and local cultures
• The role of traditional pedagogy and informal knowledge
• Understanding mobile learning in an African context
• The relevance of the African experience to other challenging environments and societies
• Building a greater understanding of ‘African-ness’ and how this relates to accounts of mobile learning

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers for this special theme issue on M-Learning in Africa on or before July 1st 2011. All submissions must be original and may not be under review by another publication.

INTERESTED AUTHORS SHOULD CONSULT THE JOURNAL’S GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS at http://www.igi-global.com/Files/AuthorEditor/guidelinessubmission.pdf. All submitted papers will be reviewed on a double-blind, peer review basis. Papers must follow APA style for reference citations.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOBILE AND BLENDED LEARNING (IJMBL)
The International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL) provides a forum for researchers in this field to share their knowledge and experience of combining e-learning and m-learning with other educational resources. Providing researchers, practitioners, and academicians with insight into a wide range of topics such as knowledge sharing, mobile games for learning, collaborative learning, and e-learning, this journal contains useful articles for those seeking to learn, analyze, improve, and apply technologies in mobile and blended learning.
This journal is an official publication of the Information Resources Management Association
www.igi-global.com/ijmbl
Editor-in-Chief: Dr. David Parsons
Published: Quarterly (both in Print and Electronic form)

PUBLISHER:
The International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning is published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference”, “Business Science Reference”, and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.
All submissions should be should be directed to the attention of:
Dr Dick Ng'ambi, Associate Professor, Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town, South Africa
E-mail: Dick.Ngambi@uct.ac.za
Or
John Traxler, Professor of Mobile Learning and Director Learning Lab, University of Wolverhampton, U.K.
E-mail: john.traxler@wlv.ac.uk
Guest Editors
International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning

 

Denis Wamala

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Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

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The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.

Mak Editor

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Mature Age Scheme Exam Results for 2025/2026

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The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released full results for the Mature Age Entry Scheme Examinations for the Academic Year 2025/2026 held on Saturday 14th December, 2024.

The Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the examination and have been recommended by the Pre-Entry & Mature Age Committee to the University’s Admissions Board for Consideration.

The Aptitude Exam  Results for 2025/2026 Academic Year released in February 2025 can be found here.

Mak Editor

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Call for Application: 2025 SNRM session 4 Summer School

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Participants in focused group discussions. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus East Africa Research Network (LEARN) in collaboration with the Urban Action Lab at Makerere University a workshop to deliberate strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change in urban centres in the East African Region, Theme: “Resilient Urban Futures: Adapting Livelihoods to Climate Change”, 4th-5th September 2024, School of Public Health Auditorium, Kampala Uganda.

Context:
Natural resources in Africa are being depleted at an alarming rate due to several factors, including unsustainable human activities, climate change, and population growth. A primary condition of sustainable development is to ensure that the pressures do not exceed the environmental limits, and that demand for the resources does not exceed levels that can be sustainably provided by nature. Therefore, there is a pressing need for transformative, systems-thinking approaches and tools that can tackle the diverse challenges facing these systems. In Africa, this need is compounded by a lack of data and monitoring, which significantly hinders sustainable decision-making.

Investing in young scientists who are committed to take lead in sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources is very important. Capacity building of young scientists will enhance their knowledge and skill on sustainable natural resources and their involvement for implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Africa. To this effect, SNRM summer schools have been implemented in three sessions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 with support from Volkswagen Foundation; to build a critical mass of skilled and competent young natural resource scientists in Africa through training, capacity building and mentorship. Session 4 (2025) will target competent young scientists (MSc and PhD students) in Africa and Germany to further develop their knowledge and skills in systems thinking, advanced data collection and analysis, and application of emerging digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), and embracing transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, we include an ideation workshop where students can work on real problems to come up with solutions for sustainable transformations in natural resource use.

Organizers: Leibniz Universität – Hannover (Germany), University of Antananarivo, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana (Ghana), University of Parakou (Benin), The Technical University of Kenya, with financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).

Venue and dates: Nairobi, Kenya, 16-28 November 2025

Target: MSc and PhD students, early in the program of less than 35 years of age from any university/research institution in either sub-Saharan Africa or Germany with an interest in natural resources management.

Participants and Scholarships: The course is fully funded and open to 20 MSc and PhD students from Africa, and 5 from Germany. Funding will cover the costs of air ticket, accommodation, meals, visa, and transportation. However, participants will cover the cost of their travel health insurance.

Topics

SNRM Summer School Session 4: Transformative pathways in biodiversity management and conservation.
This summer school is designed to deliver four modules over a two-week period. The modules are designed to enable the students to acquire new ways of designing data collection protocols and analysis for transformative sustainable natural resources management.

Module 4.1: Data collection I
Skills in data collection for a transformative and sustainable management of natural resources (water, wildlife, forest, land, livestock, crops) monitoring and data collection techniques; remote monitoring tools, earth observation system data, e.g. satellite data sources, LIDAR, and UAV aerial images. Collect and analyse In-situ data on biotic and abiotic parameters, map and analyse data using R or Google Earth Engine, field data collection and retrieving data from online databases.

Module 4.2 Data management and processing
Introduction to tools and methods of managing large and diverse data sets of natural resources such as time series, spatial, directional, and multivariate data. Practicals will include data storage, organization and conversion into various formats using databases such as PostgreSQL and statistical programming software such as R and Python; scripts.

Module 4.3 Ecological monitoring, modelling and management
This module aims to teach participants how to anticipate and validate trends that can be observed in various ecosystems. Lectures include ecological monitoring and its design; population monitoring studies; metrics in population monitoring; methods for monitoring and assessing marine ecosystems; human ecology to socio-ecological systems; climate change impact of ecosystems; suitability assessments; overview of the principles underlying wildlife monitoring and prediction systems for climate change adaptation. Practicals will include field data collection (individual and group); ecological data analysis using R or PAST; modelling and experiencing the behaviour of complex systems using Vensim.

Module 4.4 Natural habitat restoration ideation lab
This module is designed to spur students’ innovation and creativity, and to help students comprehensively identify interdependencies across the 17 SDG goals. Participants will be trained on ideation processes for solutions and intervention for transformative natural resource management. They will work collaboratively in small groups on case studies and develop pathways of transformative sustainable natural resource management. Examples of projects include forest (mangrove) ecosystem and habitat restoration, improved technologies for agricultural production, nature-based solutions for improving water quality, and reversing land degradation.

Language: The course will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to be fluent in writing and speaking the English language.

How to apply

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from https://snrmafrica.com/ and submit the following documents in English through the system.

  • a curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
  • a letter of motivation (maximum 1 page)
  • a confirmation of university enrolment
  • a reference letter from the academic supervisor
  • project summary of MSc/ PhD project (1 page including objectives, methodology
    and key findings or expected outcomes).

Important dates
Application deadline: 30th June 2025.
Announcement of accepted applicants: 15th August 2025.
Confirmation of attendance by selected participants: 12th Sept 2025.
Summer school held: 16 – 28 Nov 2025.

Further information is available from

The secretariat info@snrmafrica.com
Dr Lydia Olaka lydiaolaka@tukenya.ac.ke
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stuetzel stuetzel@gem.uni-hannover.de

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