Part One: Overview of PGD

The Post Graduate Diploma in ICT Policy and Regulation is offered by a network of African universities that use an eLearning curriculum design. Each student will choose a home institution from the list of participating universities. It will be the student’s home institution in which they will register, enroll and “attend” courses. The courses offered at the Post Graduate Diploma level are offered in mixed formats. Some learning will take place in face-to-face interactions, some learning will take place via interactive Internet tools (e.g., discussion forums, listserves, e-mail, web sites, etc.), and some learning will take place through independent study. Students can expect that some courses may be taught by instructors from other institutions and “attended” by students from other institutions.

NetTel's eLearning Design

The eLearning design used by this Diploma programme was chosen because it enables the distribution of learning resources (expert lecturers, practitioners for the ICT sectors, content, learning materials) across large geographic areas at minimal costs. eLearning, as used by NetTel, is the effective teaching and learning process created by combining digital content with local community and tutor support along with global community engagement. NetTel accomplishes eLearning through the use of several digital tools:

1. NetTel’s KEWL web site (http://elearn.nettelafrica.org). This site retains the latest version of all course content and provides a number of Internet-based interactive teaching and learning tools.
2. CD-ROM versions of the KEWL web site. These CD-ROMS provide a static version of the course content available on KEWL as well as “go live” links to Internet-based applications.
3. Low bandwidth interactive options for e-mail, discussion forums, and list serves.
   KEWL, an acronym for "Knowledge Environment for Web-based Learning”, is a web application developed by the University of Western Cape in South Africa. KEWL is an open source learning management software system that supports the NetTel curriculum. Users of KEWL only need a web browser (i.e., Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) to access the environment.

The eLearning curriculum design requires the active participation of all students. Without interaction, the quality of the learning environment is diminished. For this reason, a large portion of student assessment is based on participation. Extensive participation can be a challenge for students who are also fully employed. Responding to this challenge, this Diploma programme is designed to be flexible in terms of residence requirements and course times. In many situations, students will be able to complete course work during times that are most convenient to them. However, all courses do have deadlines for assignments, assessments and other course activities.

PGD Curriculum

NetTel’s Post Graduate Diploma consists of ten courses. These courses were developed through partnerships between African and non-African universities and training institutions with input from African and non-African regulatory associations. These courses represent the interdisciplinary nature of ICT policy and regulation. The following disciplines are drawn upon to develop these courses:

• Public Policy Regulatory Research
• Communications
• Finance
• Economics
• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering

Below is a brief list of the ten courses. Each course is required to complete the Post Graduate Diploma programme.

1. Macro Environment and Telecommunications
2. ICT Technologies
3. ICT Industry and Markets
4. Spectrum Management
5. Financial Analysis
6. Approaches to Regulation
7. Universality and Quality of Service Regulation
8. Service Pricing
9. Policy, Law and Institutions
10. ICT Applications

To learn more about the each of these courses, please refer to Part Three: NetTel Curriculum that follows the section "Becoming a Student" section.