FLOSSWorld Africa regional workshop report appendix 10: FLOSS development projects in Africa

Abstract

Enver from South Africa started by talking about the AVOIR project at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) which involves 12 other African universities tasked with developing a learning management system called KEWL (Knowledge Environment for Web Learning). Although world class software is produced on the project, a central aim of the project is to develop capacity and computer skills, in particular programming skills within the African Diaspora. This development is based on several years research and development of the first generation KEWL, and now incorporates the functionality of KEWL 1.2 and expands on it to create a genuine next-generation LMS that will be known during development as KEWL.NextGen. KEWL.NextGen (KNG) is a next-generation Elearning application built on its own ModelViewController (MVC) extensible framework architecture. Unlike other elearning platforms, KEWL.NextGen moves beyond the sphere of merely being a “web software”. Apart from a web platform, the application also has offline authoring, and active dynamic mirroring (ADM) capabilities to allow improved widearea collaboration activities. Another planned area for KEWL.NextGen is the integration of mobile technology such as SMS and MMS facilities. The Kinky framework has also been used to develop a pharmaceutical dispensing system, at present, we are developing an instructional design support system to help educators in structuring their online courses.