Now DFAQ interest the world

Fact-finding: Dr Dick Ng'ambi explains the dynamics of DFAQ to visitors Don Williams and Susan Dray of Microsoft.

After championing lecturer-student communication at UCT, the Dynamic Frequently Asked Questions (DFAQ) is now set to take the world by storm.

The US-based Microsoft Education Products Group has shown an interest in this "intelligent and dynamic, anonymous, collaborative knowledge-sharing online tool" developed by UCT's Centre for Educational Technology (CET), and could back it with funding.

On 1 June, the group's Don Williams and Susan Dray visited UCT to get more information on DFAQ, as part of an international tour to understand methods to improve education.

'We buy tools to support education,' explained Williams. 'We are interested in learning from examples of technology innovations that have been applied to solving key real-world challenges in education.'

'The reason we are interested in including DFAQ in our survey of innovative programmes,' added Dray, 'is that you have done some very creative things with technology to help overcome social and educational barriers.'

DFAQ is made up of a website with a 'seamless' mobile-phone interface where students can anonymously pose or answer questions on work covered in lectures and tutorials. Dr Dick Ng'ambi, project manager for mobile learning at the CET, told the visitors that the space created an environment that does not focus on the source of a posting, but on the content.

He explained that DFAQ has received overwhelming support, in particular over the examination period.