Applied Africology v1.2
Africology is an interdisciplinary academic discipline that studies the history and culture of African people around the world. -Wikipedia
In Applied Africology, rather than trying to solve a problem as it would be in a different context, we explore the given problem within its African context and may re-interpret or restructure it in order to suggest a relevant path to a solution.
This course uses practical examples and African methods to introduce you to Africology as a living and evolving pan-African way of thinking. In further modules and lectures we explore different fields in which Africology can be applied. These fields range from Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (also known as STEAM), to Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Project Management, etc.
We take an innovative approach to course development
The Africology Course is developed iteratively in an Agile process emphasising short feedback loops
The Applied Africology Course versioning is modelled after semantic versioning and stands currently at v1.2.0
What people say about it
"As an Engineer the Applied Africology Course helped me understand the context and environment in which I live and work in order to solve problems in an African way."
~Jean Paul, Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer
Concepts of Applied Africology
The key concepts of Applied Africology are identified through research, analysis and the study of African History, Science and Arts as well as Africa’s Societal Values, Cultural Wisdom and Knowledge Heritage. The results of this research are structured and compiled in a way that can be easily implemented in different fields and sectors, used to solve real live problems and applied in everyday situations.
Part of this course is to setup a community environment to boost and promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) as a cross-disciplinary contributor to innovation and development in Africa. Africa and Africology is the common thread that links all these fields together.
"An Africologist is always alert to potential applications for research results and discoveries made in any beneficial field, regardless of the field." ~ Val Lopes
Research Methodology
- Discover opportunities and challenges in key areas and environments that you understand and can be transformed through innovation.
- Ideate products with market potential through culturally relevant ideation sessions.
- Prototype work with the Applied Africology tools and methodology to design and transform ideas, from hypothesis to prototypes.
- Test and measure the prototypes with real users and learn from their feedback and behaviour.
Modules
- Africology
- Critical Thinking
- Problem Solving
- Ideation
- Design thinking
- Systems Science
- Project Management
- Manufacturing in Africa
- Sustainable Design
- Financial Literacy
- Employability
