E-resources and referencing training workshops for DAAD scholars in Tanzania

Earlier this year, the Information and Training Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA) and the Germany Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) held two e-resources and referencing trainings for selected scholars in Tanzania. The first training was held at Ramada Resort Hotel from 29 January to 1 February 2019. The workshop was attended by 23 DAAD-sponsored master and doctoral students from within and outside Dar es Salaam. The second workshop took place at the Gold Crest Hotel from 4 to 7 February 2019 and was attended by ten DAAD scholars from Arusha and surrounding areas.

The training workshops were led by facilitators from ITOCA. One of the objectives was to build the Tanzanian scholars’ capacity to use up-to-date literature and research made available to them through various electronic platforms, including Research4Life. Participants were also trained on how they could use Research4Life for networking with other scholars as well as interact with the global Research4Life community. Additionally, the participants were provided with workbooks containing exercises on accessing and using the five Research4Life programmes: AGORA, OARE, ARDI, Hinari, and GOALI. The exercises taught them to apply various search strategies, techniques and other options for searching on Research4Life.

Post- workshop evaluations were conducted at the end of the workshops to solicit feedback on the usefulness and effectiveness of the workshops as well as the Research4Life programmes. The majority of the scholars found the delivery and content of Research4Life excellent and expressed that they would recommend use of the program to their peers.