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Community Informatics - A Role in Emancipatory Learning in Distance Education
Abstract
It is well documented that the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in the context of teaching and learning can increase the possible use of a greater range of teaching and learning options for on-campus and distance education modes of course presentations, through open learning, online and resource based learning etc. Furthermore, in the provision of distance education the use of learning centres, small groups or individuals can bring new learning opportunities into local community advantage. This can assist in the development to ‘learning communities’ by widening access in local communities to eduction and training opportunities, increasing interpretation of knowledge in a local context and supporting existing educational systems (Longworth,1999). The use of ICT by regional (territorial) communities as a technology strategy or discipline is defined in this paper as “community informatics”(CI). As indicated by Gurstein (2000), CI can link ICT at the community level with emerging opportunities in community development and life long learning. As such, this term brings together the concepts of ICT and that of community development based on individual growth within a framework of shared learning, sharing experience across cultural and geographic boundaries and interpreting information from within a community context to create applicable knowledge.
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