R&D Projects

EG_NET: Ethiopian-German e-Learning NETwork for ECE and CE at FOT's as part of ECBP

PI: Möller, Dietmar, Prof. Dr.-Ing., University of Hamburg, Germany; Reik, Gerhard, Technical University of Clausthal, Germany; Granow, Rolf, Prof. Dr., on campus Lübeck, Germany

Co-PI: Assamnew, Fitsum, Dr., Addis Ababa University, FOT, ECE, Ethiopia; Hailu, Zelalem, Dr., Addis Ababa University, FOT, CE, Ethiopia

Project Duration

10/2007 - 09/2009

Funding Body:

Ministry of Engineering Capacity Buildung, Ethiopia

Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in conjunction with the federal enterprise GTZ, Germany

Project Description:

In seeking to overcome poverty by 2015 the “Ethiopian Industrial Development Strategy” (August 2003) stresses the need for industrial development oriented towards agriculture-led growth, export-led industrialization, and strengthening labour-intensive industries [1]. Capacity building has been identified as the key factor in achieving this goal. Consequently a strategy for a comprehensive “Engineering Capacity Building Program” (ECBP) in Ethiopia has been developed by the Ethiopian government, represented by the Ministry of Capacity Building (MoCB). This ECBP formulates a mission and corresponding objectives, and identifies four strategic areas of intervention, so called components, and lists key issues for each of these components. 

One of the four strategic areas of this ECBP, that has been developed and approved by the respective stakeholders, focus on the University Reform Component, as shown in Table 1. Background for this component is a fundamental rethinking on all levels of higher education with the result that radical redesign of studies are necessary to achieve significant improvements in professional performance of university graduates.

Table 1: University Reform Component

Academic studies and research, orientated towards the needs of the society and the demands of the market through building-up close linkages and cooperation between industries and universities, have given highest priority in this ECBP strategic component. Innovation and appropriate technology development by generating new knowledge will be promoted as well as access and adoption of global knowledge to be used locally through studies and research. Henceforth, highly qualified academic graduates are wanted to lead this development, whereas engineering was top-ranked. Hence the Faculty of Technology (FOT) of Addis Ababa University (AAU) has set up a comprehensive reform of its study programs. A shift in academic education has been decided towards cooperative education, demand orientation, applied research activities and international competitiveness. The reform of AAU FOT is supported by this ECBP strategic component launched by the Ethiopian MoCB in order to boost the industrial development of the country. Because University reform intends to radically overhaul the higher education system equipping students with skills and competencies to ensure Ethiopia’s continuous com­petitiveness and sustainable development. That is why academic studies and research will be orientated towards the needs of the society and the demands of the market through building-up of close linkages and co­ope­ra­tion between industries and universities. Innovation and appropriate technology develop­ment by generating new knowledge will be promoted as well as access and adoption of global knowledge to be used locally through studies and research. Based on the professional profile of the Bologna Declaration [2] as guideline for revision of curricula, AAU FOT has accomplished a curriculum reform in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Civil Engineering (CE), published by the Departments for B.Sc. and M.Sc. levels that are currently pre-accredited. Final accre­di­ta­tion depend on the availability of sustainable established high quality eligible curricula and the respective number of staff personal necessary to implement the curriculum. Another part of the ECBP University Reform Component deals with performance-en­han­cing the teaching methods and the necessary requirements for human resource development, as well as infra­struc­tural investments and organizational changes that has to developed and implemented in close partnership with the relevant authorities and stakeholders.

As a result of several discussions of this ECBP University Reform Component on how to improve the nation­wide education situation in a short time scale, it was decided to adopt the e-learning concept. But e-Learning as pure e-Learning has come out of age. The strategy advocated nowadays is Blended Learning (BL). But what, however, does blended actually mean? and What is blended with what

• BL is agreed as net-based learning arrangement accompanied – or enriched – by face-to-face (F2F) learning arrangements
• BL using online technology versus using pure F2F learning
• BL using different didactic approaches for presenting learning content online
• BL using different approaches to support the collaboration of learners
• BL using different approaches to support communication between tutors and learners and among learners
• BL has many possibilities to achieve blend of learning arrangements
• BL content delivery system ® blend of different technologies 

Henceforth, a project was started with the target searching for e-learning content and courses available on the web which fulfils the pre-accredited ECE and CE curri­cu­la at AAU FOT in order to identify interna­tio­nal available e-learning course­ware that can possibly be used for adaptation and reuse at the Departments of ECE and CE at AAU FOT with the constraint of accreditation. Adaptation and reuse of OCW is part of customization based on a so called customization workflow.