Technology and Development in Africa and Beyond
Surveys 20 years of digital technology and communications culture in Africa via development studies, focusing on ICT4D, micro-tech, and new media's political and social uses.
Summary
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.87 GPA, 95.7% A/AB (n=23 letter grades).
What you’ll be able to do
Identify canonical authors and texts, historical forms, genres, and structures in African culture studies and information and communication studies. Students will demonstrate their understanding of major theories, approaches, concepts and current and classical research findings.
Understand their own learning processes and possess the capacity to intentionally seek, evaluate and learn from information, and recognize and reduce bias in their thinking.
Communicate effectively through essays, oral presentations and discussion and project based work, so they may share their knowledge, wisdom and values with others across social and professional settings.
Write and speak across disciplinary boundaries with regard to existing research about Africa, the African diaspora and international development.
Explain the social, economic, and/or environmental dimensions of the sustainability challenge(s) of the historic and contemporary challenges of development-oriented tech projects, and identify areas within ICT which could assist in their sustainability. [Sustainability]
Analyze sustainability issues and/or practices using a systems-based approach of information access and media communications within the sustainability framework with regards to environmental change, public infrastructure for clean water and sanitation, urban growth, education, governance and democracy, and public health. [Sustainability]
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2· UW Guide 3
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapJunior standing
- Junior standing
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Junior standing
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.87 GPA, 95.7% A/AB (n=23 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- ICT4D
- Micro-tech practices and new media interventions
- Interdisciplinary area studies and social anthropology of technology
- Sustainability of development-oriented tech projects
Skills
- Critical thinking about technology use in diverse cultural contexts
- Applying critical perspectives to new media solutions for social problems
- Identifying canonical authors, texts, and theoretical frameworks in African and communication studies
- Analyzing sustainability issues using a systems-based approach to information access and media communications
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
No records available.
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
{
"model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
"model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
"task_version": "17",
"output_id": "03a32212f762228ac20b9542b19fcb6d1d8f4b7e5ab0702a89612fa490dd940d",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}