Department of Computer Science and Engineering
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Item Techno-economic analysis of UMTS900 and UMTS2100 for rural connectivity in Tanzania(IEEE Xplore, 2012) Simba, Fatuma; Trojer, Lena; Mwinyiwiwa, Bakari; Mvungi, Nerey; Mjema, EmannuelRural areas of the developing countries lack Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures such as access network, also known as last mile connectivity, to deliver ICT services. The lack of connectivity is due to high cost of implementing ICT infrastructures. Wireless technologies are envisioned as candidates for rural connectivity. They are not only easier and faster to deploy but also cheaper than the wired technologies. This paper presents a techno-economic analysis of two wireless technologies in Tanzania, called third generation (3G) implemented at 900MHz and at 2100MHz frequency bands. Objectives of techno-economic analysis are to investigate economic feasibility and to determine a cost effective option between the two connectivity options. Results show that, 3G at 900HMz is a feasible and cost - effective connectivity technology in Tanzania. These results can be generalized to other developing countries, since rural areas pose similar characteristics with regard to ICT infrastructure developmentItem Sustainable Broadband Connectivity Model for Rural Areas of Tanzania(frican Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development. Vol 4, No. 2., 2012) Simba, Fatuma; Trojer, Lena; Zaipuna, YonahSome of the reasons for lack or limited Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in rural areas of developing countries in general and Tanzania in particular, is high cost of establishing such infrastructures, lack of electrical energy and low ICT literacy. Public Private Peoples Partnership (PPPP) is recommended as a suitable model to implement sustainable ICT projects in rural areas. This paper surveys the availability of supporting environments for the provision of broadband rural connectivity: The surveyed environments include initiatives for ICT infrastructure development and institutional frameworks such as policies, strategies, legislations and regulations. The aim of the survey is to investigate the readiness of Tanzania tp deploy PPPP model for rural connectivity implementation. Furthermore, the paper proposed implementation strategies in order to adapt the PPPP model for sustainable broadband rural connectivity in Tanzania.Item Cost-Effective Mobile Based Learning Content Delivery in Resources and Network Constrained Environments(Pan African International Conference on Information Science, Computing and Telecommunications, 2014) Simba, Fatuma; Mahenge, Michael; Mwangoka, JosephThe advancement in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has brought opportunities for new ways of learning in Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) through e-learning systems. While these opportunities exist, e-learning contents delivery and accessibility in third world countries like Tanzania is still a challenge due to resource and network constrained environments. The challenges include: high cost of bandwidth connection and usage; high dependency on the Internet; limited mobility and portability features; inaccessibility during offline period and shortage of ICT facilities. So there is a need for a technology to bridge these gaps. This paper explores the opportunities brought by mobile technologies to find out a cost-effective solution for elearning content delivery and accessibility in HLIs of Tanzania. Specifically, the paper proposes a Cost-effective Mobile Based Learning Content Delivery approach for resource and network constrained environments. The proposed solution has the potential to reduce the cost of bandwidth usage, and cut down server’s workload and Internet usage overhead by synchronizing contents from a remote server to a local database in the user’s device for offline use. It will also improve the quality of experience and participation of learners as well as facilitate mobility and portability in learning activitiesItem Rural Connectivity Technologies Cost Analysis(World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 2009) Simba, Fatuma; Trojer, Lena; Mwinyiwiwa, Bakari; Mvungi, Nerey; Mjema, EmannuelRural areas of Tanzania are still disadvantaged in terms of diffusion of IP-based services; this is due to lack of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures, especially lack of connectivity. One of the limitations for connectivity problems in rural areas of Tanzania is the high cost to establish infrastructures for IP-based services [1-2]. However the cost of connectivity varies from one technology to the other and at the same time, the cost is also different from one operator (service provider) to another within the country. This paper presents development of software system to calculate cost of connectivity to rural areas of Tanzania. The system is developed to make an easy access of connectivity cost from different technologies and different operators. The development of the calculator follows the V-model software development lifecycle. The calculator is used to evaluate the economic viability of different technologies considered as being potential candidates to provide rural connectivity. In this paper, the evaluation is based on the techno-economic analysis approach.Item Strategies for Connectivity Configuration to Access e-Learning Resources: Case of Rural Secondary Schools in Tanzania(World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 2009) Simba, Fatuma; Trojer, Lena; Mwinyiwiwa, Bakari; Mvungi, Nerey; Mjema, EmannuelIn response to address different development challenges, Tanzania is striving to achieve its fourth attribute of the National Development Vision, i.e. to have a well educated and learned society by the year 2025. One of the most cost effective methods that can reach a large part of the society in a short time is to integrate ICT in education through e-learning initiatives. However, elearning initiatives are challenged by limited or lack of connectivity to majority of secondary schools, especially those in rural and remote areas. This paper has explores the possibility for rural secondary school to access online e-Learning resources from a centralized eLearning Management System (e-LMS). The scope of this paper is limited to schools that have computers irrespective of internet connectivity, resulting in two categories schools; those with internet access and those without. Different connectivity configurations have been proposed according to the ICT infrastructure status of the respective schools. However, majority of rural secondary schools in Tanzania have neither computers nor internet connection. Therefore this is a challenge to be addressed for the disadvantaged schools to benefit from e-Learning initiativeItem Broadband Access Technologies for Rural Connectivity in Developing Countries(International Journal of Research and Reviews in Computer Science (IJRRCS), 2011-04) Simba, Fatuma; Trojer, Lena; Mwinyiwiwa, Bakari; Mvungi, Nerey; Mjema, EmannuelRural areas especially those of the developing countries provide challenging environment to implement communication infrastructure for data and Internet based services. The main challenges are the high cost of network implementation and lack of customer base, as rural areas are characterized by low income, highly scattered and low population density. This situation drives network operators to establish network infrastructures in urban/city centers leaving rural areas as underserved community. This paper surveys the available connectivity technologies with potentials to offer broadband access network to rural areas. The scope of this survey is on wireless access technologies, due to the fact that they are efficient in terms of cost, timeof deployment and network management for rural environment. We provide comparison of the surveyed technologies in terms oftheir capacity (data rates) and coverage. We also discuss the current deployment of WiMAX and 3G technologies in Africa, which is a home to most of the developing countries. The survey results indicate potential broadband access technologies for rural areas of the developing countries.Item Developing Multimedia Enhanced Content to Raise HIV/AIDS Awareness to Children(Published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019, 2019-05) Simba, Fatuma; Kalinga, Ellen; Makuru, PatriciaIt is estimated that more than two-thirds (70%) of all the 35 million people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the world are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania as one of the country in sub-Sahara region is no exceptional, more than 60% of all new HIV infections in Tanzania occur among young people. While almost all children in Tanzania aged 15 years and below have heard about HIV/AIDS, less than half have enough knowledge to protect themselves against infections. It is known that HIV/AIDS is taught in primary schools, although majority of the pupils demonstrated a very low level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS. This raised a concern on the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS and life skills education in primary schools. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a great potential for HIV/AIDS education to children because they like and enjoy to use ICT resources for entertainment, learning, networking and communication. Hence, it is important to apply technology for educational in teaching HIV/AIDS through the use of multimedia contents in accordance to the local context of Tanzanian curriculum for primary schools. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to develop multimedia enhanced contents to raise HIV/AIDS awareness to children. ADDIE model, Adobe Flash Professional 5, Action Script programming language and articulate storyline2 authoring tool, were used in the development of multimedia enhanced contents. Results show that level of HIV/AIDS knowledge among pupils after using the interactive multimedia has been enhanced in the tested three knowledge areas (causes, prevention and effects). Results in this paper suggest that, multimedia enhanced contents can be used to complement text book based learning approach in enhancing HIV/AIDS awareness for children in primary schools in Tanzania.Item Development of Extension Procedures to Enhance web-based e-Government System with SMS Mobile Based Service(IST-Africa 2019 Conference Proceedings, 2019-05) Simba, Fatuma; Majaliwa, AklanTanzania is among the African developing countries that has embraced egovernment in recent years. The continual rises of wireless mobile technology bring an attention to enhance e-government systems by extending some of the services to be accessed and delivered via a mobile phone. Due to lack of standard extension procedures each government institutions extends according to developer’s technical knowledge. The main objective of this paper is to develop extension procedures for enhancing web based e-government systems with a mobile service. In this study both exploratory and prototyping methods were used. Exploratory method was used during data collection. Prototyping was used during design and development of mgovernment service prototype. Web based e-Government systems in fourteen (14) Government departments, Ministries and Agencies were analyzed to identify a system for enhancement. Wananchi portal, under the Ministry of information, culture art and sports was selected. The selection criteria were the system that has direct interaction with citizens. During design and development of m-service prototype, several extension procedures and their interactions were observed and recorded; six (6) procedures were found relevant. Therefore, this paper proposes a six steps extension procedures from web based e-government to m-government. Clear understanding of the extension process will reduce development time and cost. Extending web based system with mobile services means extra services and hence more revenue to network and service providers. To the government, it means an added/alternative channel to service her citizens, and to the citizens, means readily accessible and responsive GovernmentItem Preventing Utilization of Shared Network Resources by Detecting IP Spoofing Attacks through Validation of source IP Address(IST-Africa 2018 Conference Proceedings, 2018-05) Simba, Fatuma; Lema, Hussein; Ally, AbdullahNetwork intruders may spoof IP packets by modifying headers of the IP packets in order to fool people to believe that the transmissions are originating from trusted source. Consequently, various defencing mechanisms have been developed to identify and prevent IP spoofing attacks. However, most of them were implemented on either hosts or routers levels which utilizes a lot of shared resources on the networks during the attacking process. On the contrary, this paper proposes an algorithm for validating source IP address by using Layer Three Switches (L3S) in a Local Area Network (LAN), which means that the IP spoofing attacks will be identified and prevented without utilizing shared network resources. The study employed Mininet network emulator, POX controller, L3S, packets analyzer, and packet constructor to design and develop the algorithm. Results have shown that the algorithm was capable of detecting and preventing IP spoofed packets on LAN before L3S forward them to a target, and eventually an attacker was identified by using his/her MAC address.Item Overview of Broadband Connectivity for Rural Areas-Tanzania as a Case Study(International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS),Vol. 15, No. 4, April 2017, 2017-04) Simba, Fatuma; Zaipuna, Yonah; Trojer, Lena; Byanyuma, MastidiaBroadband connectivity is a necessary service required not only in urban areas but more so in rural areas where most of the basic services are inadequate or do not exist at all. Broadband services can enable many services to be offered through information and communication technologies (ICTs) to the extent that rural people can get a chance to enjoy quality communication and other services as in urban areas and be part of the socio-economic development of a given community. Currently, there is a number of technologies and initiatives to connect rural and urban-underserved areas at a reasonable cost but most of the rural users are yet to be connected. This paper gives an overview and a discussion on technologies, broadband connectivity models, infrastructure and policy readiness, and initiatives towards achieving connectivity and bridging the digital divide. The context of this paper is rural areas in Tanzania.Item Utilization of Broadband Connectivity in Rural and Urban-Underserved Areas: The case of Selected Areas in Arusha-Tanzania(International Journal of Computing and Digital Systems ISSN (2210-142X), 2018-03) Simba, Fatuma; Trojer, Lena; Zaipuna, Yonah; Byanyuma, MastidiaUtilization is a key aspect in the management of any societal resource not only when it is scarce but in all cases to allow for optimum benefits to be accrued to everyone in the society. Internet bandwidth, which is a rare commodity especially in ru ral areas is hardly available where needed at the same cost and quality due to various reasons. Tanzania as a case study is among countries that have invested much in international, national and metro backbone networks, but still, there are areas without or with inadequate internet access services implying a significant utilization problem. In this paper, we present as a case study, the status of broadband connectivity in selected rural areas in Tanzania (Arusha) and the status is used to make recommendations for optimized utilization of installed capacity.Item Feasibility of cloud computing implementation for eLearning in secondary schools in Tanzania(2018-05) Mwakisole, Kennedy; Kissaka, Mussa; Mtebe, JoelThis article assessed the feasibility of implementing eLearning systems in a cloud-based infrastructure for secondary schools in Tanzania. The study adopted questionnaire and document reviews as data collection tools. A total of 820 students successfully returned the questionnaire from seven secondary schools in Tanzania. The study found that 11% of government secondary schools had computer labs with 20.1% of them connected to the Internet. Moreover, more than half of surveyed students (56.6%) had access to mobile phones at home with 53.5% using the phones to access the Internet. However, the study found that the cost of the Internet had remained unaffordable to many students. This study shows that eLearning implementation in the cloud for secondary schools in Tanzania is feasible. This research will serve as a base for future studies that plan to implement eLearning systems to enhance teaching and learning in secondary schools in Tanzania.Item Development of Digital Diary for Enhanced Parental School Involvement in Tanzania(2018-08) Jeremiah, Sekione; Mtebe, JoelThe study examined the use of digital diary as a tool for enhancing parental school involvement in Tanzania. The development of the digital diary followed eXtreme Programming agile method where 87 parents and 6 teachers from St. Florence school were involved. Parents and teachers were given six months to use the tool before testing for its effectiveness using data from 7 teachers and 156 parents through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires respectively. The study found that the majority of respondents (84.4% of parents and 96.7% of teachers) indicated that the digital diary was useful tool as enabled them to track children’s progress via their smartphones. Moreover, computer generated reports showed that messages to/from parents were delivered with approximately 90% success rate. This research argues for schools to adopt and use digital diaries for easy, engaging, and effective for better parental school involvementItem Investigating Secure Implementation of Government Web based Systems in Tanzania(2018-08) Kondoro, Aron; Mtebe, JoelThe government of Tanzania has been adopting various webbased systems to improve public services to its citizens. With these systems being online, security and privacy have started to play a key role. Many systems use HTTP over Transport Layer Security (HTTPS) to secure their web front ends. However, many HTTPS implementations still suffer from several security and privacy problems. This study investigated the security of HTTPS implementations government webbased systems in Tanzania. Using a sample of 74 government web-based systems, an automated tool testssl was used to check for well-known HTTPS/SSL vulnerabilities, configuration mistakes, support for outdated and vulnerable protocols, and adherence to HTTPS best practices. Results show that 43% of web systems have serious HTTPS security issues due to vulnerabilities, and configuration mistakes. These issues can lead to system com- promise, disclosure of sensitive information, and loss of privacy to citizens. The study highlights these security issues that may have been overlooked and offers suggestions that may prevent them in the futureItem Assessing Electronic Medical Record System Implementation at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, Tanzania(2018) Mtebe, Joel; Nakaka, RonaldHospitals in sub-Saharan Africa countries have been investing heavily in electronic medical records (EMR) systems aiming at improving patient safety, healthcare quality, and transforming the healthcare industry. Similarly, the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) has been implementing various EMR systems in the past few years. However, the implementations of these systems have not been successful like in many hospitals in sub-Saharan AfricaItem Using a mobile application to support students in blended distance courses: A case of Mzumbe University in Tanzania(2018-12-31) Shemahonge, Ramadhani; Mtebe, JoelItem Redesigning local games to stimulate pupils’ interest in learning numeracy in Tanzania(2018-12-31) Godfrey, Zitto; Mtebe, JoelThe lack of interest and negative attitude in learning mathematics have been described as one of the causes for the continue poor performance of the subject in primary schools and beyond in Tanzania. Despite several government’s efforts to improve pass rate of mathematics, the use of digital games has not been well adopted. This study redesigned local games played by Tanzanian children all over the country into digital games for the aim of stimulating interest of pupils in learning numeracy skills. Three games: Ruka Kamba, Manati, and Kombolela were developed using eXtreme Programming practices and elements of game design for learning proposed by Plass et al. (2015). The developed games were piloted at Mlimani primary school with 111 pupils using direct observation and questionnaire, and 12 teachers using focus group interviews. The study found that the majority of children indicated that developed games are enjoyable, fun, and easy to play. Nonetheless, some few usability problems were identified during observation and are discussed. Similarly, teachers indicated that the developed games were pedagogical effective having content and skills necessary for improving numeracy skills both for self-learning and in the classroom. This study has demonstrated that local games can be redesigned into digital form and be used for stimulating interest of pupils in learning numeracy skills in developing countriesItem Key factors in learners’ satisfaction with the e-learning system at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania(2018) Mtebe, Joel; Raphael, ChristinaThis study aimed to identify key factors that have an influence on learners’ satisfaction with the e-learning system at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, using a modified, updated DeLone and McLean (D&M) (2003) model. The research model was tested against regression analysis using a sample of 153 enrolled students. The study found that system quality, instructor quality, and service quality had a significant positive effect on learners’ satisfaction, with service quality being the strongest predictor. However, course quality was found to have no significant effect on learners’ satisfaction with the e-learning system. The findings from this study will help institutions that are planning or implementing e-learning systems to enhance learners’ satisfaction and, consequently, increase systems success. The implications of these findings are discussed.Item A Critical Review of eLearning Research Trends in Tanzania(2018) Mtebe, Joel; Raphael, ChristinaThis study investigated research trends on eLearning implementation in Tanzania from 2007 to 2017. A total of 74 articles from electronic databases, conference proceedings, and selected electronic journals were reviewed. Using content analysis, the study found that there is an increasing interest in eLearning research with the majority of studies conducted by researchers from three universities. Students was found to be the most studied population group while quantitative research design being the most preferred research design. It was also revealed that mobile and game based learning were the least investigated eLearning technologies despite the proliferation of mobile telephony in Tanzania. Internet access and lack of support were the most ranked challenges hindering eLearning implementation in Tanzania. This study will also help policy makers to promote further research in areas where the research gaps have been identified and find interventions to overcome barriers that hinder eLearning implementation in Tanzania.Item Eliciting In-service Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for 21st-Century Skills in Tanzania(2018) Mtebe, Joel; Raphael, ChristinaThe Tanzania Vision 2025 articulates the country's aspiration of becoming an industrialized and middle-income country by 2025. The education sector, which is the main driving force towards realizing this goal, is expected to bring about the right mix of high-quality skills for the rapid development of quality and adequate human resources. The kind of revolution needed is nevertheless impossible if teachers are not equipped with the necessary skills to bring in the desirable changes. This study adapted Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) for 21st-Century skills to investigate teachers’ competence levels of 21st-Century skills using self-reported survey and classroom observations from a sample of 132 teachers in 20 schools in Pwani and Morogoro regions. The study found out that many teachers have moderate self-reported confidence in all TPACK elements with technology. Conversely, teachers self-reported confidence levels in content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge was found to be high. The findings from this study provides valuable insights on how teachers use ICT to prepare students for 21-Century skills capable of supporting the country’s efforts towards developing an industrial economy.