Abstract
On 18 March 2020, The Government of Uganda announced a 30 days closure of schools at all levels to forestall the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the special academic programmes that were affected was the Data Stewardship-in-a-box program. Also known as Stewardship-as-a-Service, the initiative was established in Kampala International University on 19th September 2019 as part of the efforts towards building a data-focused culture. The inaugural class comprised of ten graduate students of Computing, Information Technology, Engineering, and Applied Sciences. The initiative was implemented as a mentor-mentee model where senior researchers are responsible for nurturing the academic and research careers of the Data Stewards in a controlled environment. Despite its novel nature, the initiative ran uninterrupted until January 30th, 2020 when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. There were uncertainties among the academic and research communities on how the declaration will change the faces of learning. Of particular concern was how to keep the Data Stewardship program running in the face of all the uncertainties. A new model, therefore, had to emerge. This paper presents how the internet was used to deliver Data Stewardship as a service in the COVID-19 era where face-to-face interactions were Impossible and how the initiative was transformed into a COVID-19 Data Response through the installation and deployment of FAIR data points in Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Kenya and Zimbabwe and facilitated the continuity of education through remote learning through the development of an LMS-in-a box.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
LMS-in-a-box, COVID-19, Learning, Emerging Economy
