Increasing Need for Distance Learning in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo, a country with 60 million people, has 450 institutes of higher education and universities; however, it only has 1500 university professors.The need for distance learning is constantly increasing for many reasons, such as the exigency of the evolution of the work market, new content of learning requested by the population who are not currently in the Congolese educational system, the advantages of distance learning seen by busy workers in the way to learn at a convenient time, pressure created by the economic situation and social need, and the quick evolution of information and communication technologies. In a way to satisfy the population in need of learning, the Democratic Republic of Congo is experimenting with its first experiences in organizing distance learning. From our experience, we agree with all of those arguing that the training of information and communication technology (ICT) users is one of the important points of departure.The Democratic Republic of Congo is in its first step in the area of using the new information and communication technologies. To enable people in the good use of ICT, there have been some seminars in ICT training.Organized by CNF (francophone Digital Campus) of Kinshasa, in this module attention was focused on the conception, development, and use of distance and open teaching. As a result, 78 professors were trained and ready to use the ICT in distance education.Seven Congolese were admitted to this program on the pedagogical integration of ICT with the University of Montreal. At the end, all seven students were assessed and obtained their diploma.Two Congolese students were candidates for this distance learning in the use of ICT for teaching and training with the University of Strasbourg. At the end of this program, both students were assessed and attained the degree of Professional Master from the University of Strasbourg.The project Learn nett is a European framework of teachers and future teachers training in the pedagogical use of ICT. The main focus of this project was to allow teachers and students to know how to learn by collaborating from a distance with other future teachers, trainers, etc.For the period of 2006–2007, two professors and four students from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of Kinshasa University, Democratic Republic of Congo, participated in this experience with eight other European universities (Universite Haute-Alsace Mulhouse (France), Universite Louis Pasteur Strasbourg (France), Université de Franche Comte-Besancon (France), Université de Geneve (Switzerland), Université de Fribourg (Switzerland), Université de Liege (Belgium), Université Catholique de Louvain-Lauvain la neuve (Belgium), and Université de Mons Hainaut- Mons (Belgium).With funding from VLIR and CUD (Belgian NGO) the French digital campus of Kinshasa organized a training session of future informatics responsible from nine Congolese universities. This training session was also extended to another country (Burundi) for the participants to learn something on the conception and the location of intranet, the configuration and management of the Internet connection, the design of computer pools, administrative management of the computer center, how to repair and maintain the equipment, and how to offer technical assistance to the ICT project.As a result, 19 technicians were trained and ready to help.Three Congolese universities became members of the French International network of training of trainers institutions from this project; the aim was to train Congolese professors in the use of ICT, resulting in 150 Congolese professors being trained in the pedagogical integration of ICT by the end of 2008.This project has the aim of interconnecting the universities of the Democratic Republic of Congo for education and research (RENATER, Belnet, or Geant2).This network will allow national universities to cooperate and collaborate between themselves, and also with international universities and institutions. It will allow online publication, communication between actors and partners, to allow reports of universities, annuaries of researchers on line.We started with only 106 students in 2004; in 2005, we had 184; in 2006, we had 127; in 2007, the campus numbered 246 students; and in 2008, enrollment reached 236 (see Table 1). In terms of the need for distance learning, we believe that it is growing step by step.The number of students in law has fluctuated—from 49 in 2004 to 80 in 2007 (see Table 2).The number of students enrolled in life and ground sciences has grown year by year, from no students in 2004 to 85 students in 2008 (see Table 3).However, the number of students admitted in fundamental sciences has remained small, from 6 students in 2004 to no students in 2005, with no 6 students in 2008. This situation may be connected to the lack of interest in this area or may be the lack of distance teachers (see Table 4).The number of students admitted in engineering sciences and ICT has increased year by year—from 25 students in 2004 to 59 in 2008. This may be because students really need to learn something connected to their jobs (see Table 5).The number of admitted students in sciences and ICT has fluctuated, beginning with 15 students in 2004 and ending with 14 students in 2008. However, there were 30 students in 2005 and 22 students in 2006 and 2007. This fluctuation of student numbers should be connected to the need of learners (see Table 6).From 11 students in 2004, the number of admitted students in teaching and training increased in to 28 in 2006 dropped to 0 in 2007, and rebounded to 14 students in 2008. The number of students admitted in this area expresses in some ways the need of people to learn by distance (see Table 7).The discovery is that from the Congolese experience in distance education, we learned a lot of new things we hope to share with others in developing countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Taking into account the realities of each developing country, we think that for the good success of distance learning, the distance education designer has to think firstly about the plan of integration of ICT in distance learning, secondly the diffusion of information about ICT, thirdly about equipment and software, fourthly training of ICT users. In the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, we still face the huge problem of user ICT literacy.We are really convinced today that the equipment is not the first point of distance learning, because we currently have some machines not yet used and still in boxes, but the users suffer 'technophobia' with regards to the use of ICT in distance learning.Also, for the good success of distance learning, we believe that the instructional designer of distance education should be qualified in the area. The design curriculum for distance education should be also interesting, functional and responding to the needs of the learners. That is why we believe that the training of users is one of the key points for the use of distance learning in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The Democratic Republic of Congo is in its first step on the long way to the effective use of ICT in distance learning in both urban and rural areas. From our trials and errors, we think that the distance education designer should think about the plan of integration, the diffusion of information about ICT in distance learning, the equipment and software, and about training of ICT users for the effective use of ICT in distance learning.

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