Re-Inventing The Wheel

I bet you have heard about Udacity.com. Have you not? Udacity is an amazing, amazing organisation. Basically, they offer some of the highest quality computer science courses that I have ever seen! For free.

As others have noted, the effect Udacity and similar ventures will probably be felt most in Africa. This is the equivalent of having the best universities “donated” to Africa. But there is a problem. Looking at Kenya, a very small proportion of the society will be touched by Udacity. Why? Because we do not have the infrastructure that enables people to take online courses easily. Many parts of Kenya do not have electricity, let alone the Internet.

Would it not be a great shame if our Kenyan brothers had no access to what could be a life-changing opportunity? This is too sad to fathom and we hope to change it!

We’re going to offer Udacity courses – there I said it! Fortunately Udacity offers a creative commons licence that allows you to use their material in any way (apart from commercially) as long as you credit them.

This allows us to do this: we’re planning to set up little computer centres huko mashinani. At these centres, people will be able to access these great courses and reap their benefits.

We are passionate about opening up IT Training in Kenya and making it accessible to everyone. One way to do it would be to set up a conventional college and hire many teachers. But why re-invent the wheel?