About the Conference

OTLC 2025 is a two-day transformative conference aimed at fostering sustainable e-learning practices. Bringing together 1,200–1,500 educators, policymakers, and technology experts, the conference highlights policy reforms, cutting-edge e-learning tools, and best practices in teaching." Key Focus Areas: Bridging gaps in technology access. Building effective e-learning systems. Adopting good practices across education levels. Conference Highlights Policy updates and educational strategies. Workshops on ICT integration in teaching. Networking with key stakeholders in education and technology.

What is the Problem and the Opportunity?

1.The Government of Uganda (driven by the global digital surge), has been conducting robust reviews to the education sector among which e-learning was embraced as a viable mode of teaching and learning.

2.On Thursday 22nd August, 2024, the Minister of Education and Sports permitted and launched the use of Mobile devices in all schools, a clear move that education in Uganda is inevitably going digital.

3.Unfortunately for e-learning, a combination of structural and technical issues specifically; (a) un-reliable internet (b) low quality devices (c) poor e-learning options (d) limited skills among users – have all made this program unrealistic to millions of users.

4.Sadly, many institutions and students, unable to find a way around the challenges, are halting or re-thinking of its minimal use. With Primary and Secondary schools also allowed to embrace e-devices, its urgent that stakeholders cease the opportunity to address the gaps.

5.Fortunately, The Government and other partners are developing strategies in form of programs and products to improve the use and benefits of e-learning.

How big is the problem at hand?

a)Universities and Higher Institutions of Learning; Almost all Universities and higher institutions of learning operating in Uganda are presently running over 80% of their academic programs online. This includes Makerere, Uganda’s biggest and Africa’s 5th most prestigious, which too rolled out on-line classes with some processes like registration and admissions now fully virtual.

b)Technical and Vocational Institutions; Over 128 Business, Vocational and Technical Institutions, have online training programs they conduct but are overwhelmed with challenges. As indicated, many are halting or delaying to embrace the e-programs.

c)Secondary and Primary Schools; 380 Secondary and 92 Primary Schools in Uganda are presently running some online holiday/remedial classes.

d)Other Agencies; 81 Private and Consultancy agencies, 96 NGOs (specifically those working in education and among hard-to-reach settlements, 12 Government Agencies are all known to run online training programs.

Who is affected and what is the impact?

The Education Sector: The challenges faced by e-learning are very detrimental to education and implementation of development programs. In one random survey conducted with students in two Universities in Uganda;

a)Broken promises; In one week of online classes, Students must commit a total of 20hrs. BUT they estimated that only less than 5hrs (25%) of these sessions were successful as teachers give internet as the excuse or everyone simply “fails to connect”.

b)Persistent re-takes for online examinations; In-fact a different group of Students in another University indicated that when they do exams online, one is tempted to do very little in a hurry to submit as the system always clogs at the end of the paper or those with low quality gargets/ phones simply lose their work.

c)A lot of e-learning is poorly conducted; For teachers (because of limited skills and the compromised capacity of their ICT systems) are unable to successfully conduct online classes, while the learners, (without reliable internet, software and resilient devices), are frustrated and have no option but to quit the program.

d)The negative impact; And in all this, the government as well as the responsible institutions miss out on the planned educational outcomes, as e-learning in many cases is nearly impossible in Uganda.

The Conference Objectives

When education and learning is affected, so is development. The planned Conference plans to “Discuss chronic challenges to Online Teaching and Learning in Uganda” and aims at bringing together the different stake-holders “to appreciate and contribute expertize” in making e-learning sustainable by;

1.Appreciating the importance of e-learning to education

2.Assessing the gaps and solutions to current challenges and gaps to e-teaching and learning

3.Enabling the access to devices, tools, systems and technologies for online teaching and learning

4.Learning about good practices in Online Teaching & Learning

5.Securing required expertize in teaching and learning using online modes

Conference Agenda and Outcomes

1.Updates on Policy and Guidelines on e-learning

2.Possible mechanisms/ opportunities to access ICT devices and tools for Institutions, faculty and Students

3.Recommended components of an effective e-learning system

4.Strategies to transition into an efficient on-line institution

5.Possible options available for e-learning in internet-limited settings and among hard-to-reach learners.

6.New ways of conducting assessments and exams on-line

7.Primary and secondary education and e-learning

8.Types of on-line devices and services required

9.Good practices in various e-learning systems

Keynote and special presentations

1.Uganda’s ICT road-map and the role of different stakeholders

2.Navigating the frontiers of Artificial Intelligence (AI); Opportunities and Threats for online teaching and learning

3.The DOs and TIPS in successful online teaching and learning

4.Ground breaking innovations in the sector of e-learning

5.Challenges that e-learning presents to international students

6.E-learning for vulnerable and Special Needs Learners

7.Tested strategies for E-learning in internet limited settings

8.Financing and partnerships opportunities in e-teaching and learning

WHO is ATTENDING and WHO are you MEETING?

a) 60 Delegates from Government and Policy Agencies to share policy updates and interpretation of e-learning in Uganda.

b) 210 Vice Chancellors, Principals, Deans and Heads from Universities and Higher Education Institutions seeking to establish or improve their online teaching and learning platforms.

c) 260 Lecturers, Tutors and facilitators requiring additional basic skills and knowledge in handling/ managing e-sessions.

d) 340 Students and their Representatives seeking to learn of better devices and strategies for on-line teaching and learning.

e)366 Owners, Heads and Teachers of prominent Secondary and Primary Schools excited to learn and adopt online teaching and learning approaches

f) 96 Directors and Senior Managers of NGOs in education challenged with E-learning to distant and hard-to-reach learners like those in migrant or refugees’ settings

g) 27 Heads and Senior Officers of Government agencies; opting for online platforms to roll out their community outreach and capacity building
h) 74 Heads of Business, Technical and Vocational Institutions; curious of using e-classes in practical/ hands-on lessons.
i) 54 Chief Executive Officers of Corporate, Private, Events and Consultancy agencies; that have training components targeting long distance, remote or international
j) 13 ICT Companies and Agents as product developers and service providers in the ICT and internet industry
k) 16 Directors of Online; TVs, Radios and social media spaces
l) 14 ICT agencies and teams of Researchers and Innovators