News Press Release Workshop Feb 08 / 0 Comments

STI Directorate Meets Stakeholders on the Establishment of a National E-Learning Platform, Digital Library

The Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), under the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology is working towards establishing a national digital learning platform and electronic libraries for tertiary and higher education institutions in The Gambia. During a recently conducted meeting with stakeholders, the Director of STI, Mr. Mucktarr MY Darboe, made a presentation on the proposed single e-learning platform and digital library.

According to Mr. Darboe, the proposal is to have a national digital platform that comprises of two maiden foundations. These are the Digital component and administrative component respectively.  

“The digital component is mainly for lecturers, teachers and students, while the administrative component is mainly for administrative use and data analytics,” said Mr. Darboe.

He went on to emphasis the need to integrate a particular work flow of information from tertiary and higher education institutions, likewise access to real time data that could inform policy decisions.

“The Ministry is laying the foundations for integrating what we call the fourth industrial revolution, which is basically, the use of Artificial Intelligence and big data in education. We are trying to make sure we have the right systems in place so that whatever clicks at the universities, echoes at the Ministry,” said Mr. Darboe.

Stakeholders from line institutions under the Ministry welcomed the idea and recommended for there to be uniformed efforts in the implementation of the project.

Meanwhile, the Director of STI is optimistic that the project, which is part of the digital transformation agenda of tertiary and higher education institutions of the Ministry, will go a long way in digitalizing teaching and learning, monitoring and evaluation will also be on real time basis and access to primary data from tertiary and higher education institutions will be a lot easier and faster. Furthermore, the platform is expected to serve as a quick response mechanism to unforeseen hazards and pandemics in the future. 

“When there is another pandemic, it will just be business as usual. Since most students have access to smart phones, that’s all you’ll need,” Mr. Darboe concluded.