ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Ashesi’s 360 approach to the COVID-19 pandemic

Following the government directive to close schools in March 2020, a meeting of the academic leadership of Ashesi University devised a 360-degree response to the COVID-19 pandemic with decision making underpinned by simplicity and flexibility. The Admissions Department, supported by Student Life, led the evacuation and safe return home of all students, with students with challenging situations placed in homes the week of the announcement. Concurrently, the Academic Affairs team suspended all regular activities for two weeks, and with the assistance of the Operations and IT teams, developed the operational response plan, piloted the following week. Faculty and Academic Affairs stressed best practices, and in response to Student Life, emphasised the quality of instruction over quantity; rigour and higher-order thinking over the amount of learning. Pursuance of quality assurance was through weekly and clear master plans on teaching. Student Life, Admissions, and Academic Affairs used a devised student activity sheet to provide support to students to mitigate attrition, which was less than 0.2 per cent at the end of the semester. They regularly engaged students in virtual town hall meetings. Parents were included in students’ study needs and invited to visit classes. Vendors for the grounds, cafeteria, security and cleaning services have been supported during this period. Most faculty and students have begun to enjoy the online teaching and learning experience with no request for a tuition refund, but rather, high student demand for summer school.

Source: Ashesi
AshesiBot: An automated chatbot for handling Ashesi Facebook Messenger platform

As each day passes, new ways of improving our lives through technology emerge. Companies keep on exploring ways of reaching out to their customers and other stakeholders in a way that is more comfortable and efficient. Regardless of their exploration, the problem of presenting information in a way that allows quick retrieval of information by users remains a challenge. To solve the problem of information retrieval, companies have implemented search bars on their website and other functionalities. Unfortunately, search bars have proven to be inefficient because they bring everything that matches with the input of the user. Additionally, others have implemented live chat systems to help mitigate the problem of information retrieval. However, live chats are time-consuming especially when there are few workers behind the live chats systems providing services to numerous customers who demand immediate attention. These problems necessitate a novel approach for retrieving information that meets the needs of businesses and individuals; using chatbots. The idea of chatbots is not new, but it is becoming more refined and useful with the application of machine learning to solve the problem of information retrieval. The advent of chatbots on websites and social media platforms is fast spreading, helping with a 24/7 retrieval of information. The use of automated chatbots to handle a conversation with a business’s customers is now a trend because it allows for quick retrieval of information with little or no support from the staff members. Use of chatbots gives room for staff members of an organization to focus on more significant issues. Customers equally benefit from using automated chatbot system as they no longer need to be in a queue. To sum up, this paper seeks to solve the problem of information retrieval for Ashesi Facebook messenger subscribers using an automated chatbot.

Source: Ashesi
Ashpilot: A Digital Navigation System for the Ashesi Campus

Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies have revolutionized outdoor navigation, making it easier to find routes and track locations with real-time accuracy. However, GPS is ineffective indoors, where direct line-of-sight with satellites is blocked. This project tackles navigation challenges in both indoor and outdoor environments by developing a digital navigation system for Ashesi University's campus. Current navigation methods on campus are inefficient, often relying on word-of-mouth directions and leaving newcomers disoriented. The proposed system aims to bridge this gap by offering a comprehensive solution that integrates real-time navigation for both indoor and outdoor environments. The system also provides historical and contextual information about campus buildings and events. By leveraging OpenStreetMap for outdoor mapping and MappedIn for indoor navigation, this system provides seamless transitions between different environments, enhancing the user experience. While the project satisfies a majority of its functional requirements, limitations include the system's lack of advanced interactivity and accessibility features. Future recommendations include enhancing mapping tools, multi-language support, and integrating features for virtual campus tours and emergency management. By addressing the highlighted challenges and leveraging emerging technologies, this project serves as a robust foundation for future advancements to campus navigation.

Source: Ashesi
Assessing healthcare interoperability technologies for Ghanaian hospitals

Healthcare Interoperability is essential to the effectiveness of healthcare delivery in the world. Over the years, hospitals have tried to digitize their services to make the delivery better. However, interoperability remains limited especially in African countries. Most hospitals have still not been able to properly make their systems interoperable to enable different departments as well as other health facilities access common health data even with the usage of different information systems. This project seeks to investigate the technologies that can be used to implement healthcare interoperability in Ghanaian hospitals, and to assess the impact that would be created if these systems are being implemented. Out of this research done, restful APIs were being used to allow users to access healthcare data without having real access or total control of the actual database.

Source: Ashesi
Assessing road construction: potential impact of constructing the Kwabenya Kitase road on the local economy

Road construction typically confers significant benefits on the population the road serves. A recent rapid growth of urban residential areas in Ghana has necessitated the construction and rehabilitation of the roads linking these urban areas to major commercial towns in the country. The Kwabenya (Abuom) to Kitase area, straddling Ghana’s Eastern and Greater Accra regions, is a typical example. Using both primary and secondary data sources, the research reveals that agricultural production is perceived by several respondents as likely to be improved by the construction of the road. Several major sectors of the economy, such as education, real estate, arts, entertainment and recreation, construction and hospitality are also identified as likely to be improved by a better road network. In spite of these positive impacts, the research identifies certain negative implications of a construction of the Kwabenya-Kitase road. These include dust, noise and the destruction of arable land and a consequent change in the livelihoods of inhabitants, especially within the Agyemanti-Kitase area. It is established that constructing the Kwabenya-Kitase road is likely to boost the local economy, as long as an effective maintenance culture is enforced. However, responses also show a concern that an influx of businesses is likely to diminish arable land for construction and commercial purposes.

Source: Ashesi
Assessing the effects of automation on women's employment in Ghana

As the age of robots and self-learning software is upon us, fears of the apocalyptic vision of a world where jobs will be destroyed with human labour to be replaced by robots causing severe unemployment keeps increasing. This paper sought to assess the effects of automation on the average Ghanaian woman by studying the labour force participation trends among women in Ghana and then using the Oxford study by Frey and Osbourne (2013) to estimate the probability jobs in Ghana being computerized. To do this, I employed the deductive research approach and comparative survey design. I used archival data of the 2015 Labour Force Report from the Ghana Statistical Service to get a better understanding of the types of jobs Ghanaian women are typically employed in. In conjunction, I put this information against the Frey and Osbourne (2013) probability index on automation risk to estimate the potential automation risk for each sector and what this means for the female labour force of Ghana. The participants of this study are women who are economically active (15-59 years old) and who are in the agriculture, fishing and forestry sector; wholesale and retail sector; manufacturing, mining and quarrying sector; hotels and restaurants sector or public administration sector. The research revealed that only about 15% of Ghanaian working women are at a high risk of automation or have above a 70% automation risk which is lesser than the 20% of women globally. Moreover, it was found that although the majority of both the male and female workforce in Ghana have a predominantly medium risk of automation, 42% of the total male workforce has a medium automation risk whilst 38% of the female workforce has a medium automation risk. Also, the male workforce has an 18% high automation risk whilst the female workforce has a 15% automation risk. This suggests that men in Ghana are affected slightly more than the women in Ghana by automation.

Source: Ashesi
Assessing the impact of (Nigerian, Ghanaian, Zimbabwean, Rwandan and Kenyan) accents on English-speaking speech recognition systems

The use of electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones have rapidly increased over time. Technological powerhouses have inculcated some form of speech recognition in their devices and as such, the increase in usage of this devices provides the increase in interaction between humans and speech recognition. Speech recognition involves adequately transcribing spoken sentences or words into text. This interaction is present all over the world, Africa inclusively, and the continent with its diverse languages comes with its diverse accents and pronunciation of words. A successful interaction between humans and speech recognition involves these systems adequately transcribing the spoken word to the correct text. However, with these transcriptions, errors are prone to occur due to the fact that, mismatch in accents can increase the error rate of a speech recognition system by more than 100% [16]. This Thesis explores to a very large extent the impact that certain African accents such as Nigerian, Ghanaian, Zimbabwean, Rwandan and Kenyan have on the accuracy and transcriptions made by English-speaking speech recognition systems. The findings made in this study states that to a very large extent, the various African accents used in the study does affect the accuracy of the speech recognition systems used for the study.

Source: Ashesi
Assessing The Knowledge, Perceptions, And Attitudes Of Undergraduate Students Towards Climate Change In Ghana

This study investigates how climate change knowledge and perceptions influence undergraduate students' attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors in Ghanaian universities. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the study adopts a quantitative, cross sectional survey design to examine studentsrect effect = 0.066, p = .028). Additionally, age and prior coursework in climate-related subjects emerged as significant control variables, positively influencing perceptions and attitudes. These findings underscore the critical role of perception in shaping environmental attitudesand suggest that enhancing knowledge through targeted educational initiatives may amplify positive climate engagement among youth. The study contributes to a growing literature on climate change education in developing contexts . It provides actionable insights for policymakers and educators aiming to strengthen climate literacy among university students in Ghana.

Source: Ashesi
Assessing The Level of Emotional Intelligence Among Ashesi University Students in Comparison With Other University Students

This research study assesses the level of Emotional Intelligence among university students, particularly Ashesi University students. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize, use, understand, and manage the emotions of oneself and others. Emotional Intelligence plays a major role in personal and academic achievements. Despite the existing and expansion of literature that emphasizes the importance and role of Emotional Intelligence in relationships, academics, etc., there remains a gap in assessing the level of Emotional Intelligence among Ashesi University students to determine if they have low or high levels of Emotional Intelligence. With the use of a quantitative methods approach, the research employs the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) to help quantify Emotional Intelligence levels among university students to help find the Emotional Intelligence levels of Ashesi University students and explore areas that can be improved, maintained or further enhanced. Previous findings have stated that university students have high Emotional Intelligence, while others have stated otherwise, which somehow creates confusion, hence the significance of this study. This research study highlights where Ashesi University students stand, that is, if they have a high or low Emotional Intelligence level, and based on that, the areas managing one’s emotions, perceiving, using, or managing others’ emotions that are falling short. The study also addresses conflicting findings in existing literature regarding university students’ Emotional Intelligence levels and provides recommendations tailored to Ashesi University based on the findings.

Source: Ashesi
Assessment of Usability Issues in Digital Financial Products in Ghana

The proliferation of digital financial products, such as mobile money, has brought new opportunities for billions of people in developing countries to access financial services. Digital financial products are playing a crucial role in bridging the financial inclusion gap that exists between developed and developing countries. In Ghana, financial exclusion is more common among women and people living in rural areas. However, digital financial products on mobile phones (i.e., mobile banking and mobile money) and other platforms, such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and internet banking are accelerating financial inclusion in Ghana. Yet, there are challenges that users face when using digital financial products. In this thesis, we assess the usability issues in digital financial products. Our focus is on mobile money and popular mobile banking applications used by Ghanaians. The study provides user-centered design recommendations that interface designers, financial service providers, and other entrepreneurs can use to design apps that suit user needs and offer improved usability.

Source: Ashesi
Asset-based approaches to supporting the education abroad experiences of first-generation low-income students in an African university

Education abroad (EA) experiences offer tremendous long-term gains for college students by influencing their personal growth, career paths, and overall worldview (Dwyer & Peters, 2004). According to Dwyer and Peters (2004), college students report increased maturity and self-confidence, stronger awareness and understanding of their personal biases, an interest in exploring other cultures, and improved intercultural skills upon engaging in EA programs. Thus, educators, colleges, parents, and employers should, as a priority, support young people to gain access to and participate in EA programs.

Source: Ashesi
ASVIE: A Virtual Assistant Tailored to Ashesi Students

Wherever Ashesi students congregate, stress is a recurrent issue that is either experienced or discussed. Ashesi students are plagued with a significant quantity of work combined with non-academic events that occur in the students' lives. This issue harms students, preventing them from retaining their academic focus and causing their mental health to deteriorate to fulfill those commitments. Asvie, a virtual assistant designed to be an Ashesi student's supportive companion, is a proposed solution expounded on in this research paper. Asvie was introduced to help the typical Ashesi student with a hands-free way of staying on top of their academic and non-academic responsibilities. This virtual assistant is essential in making Ashesi students' lives easier by lowering late submission and missed deadline rates and providing avenues to support their mental wellbeing.

Source: Ashesi
Attendance management system

Attendance is an important element in face to face education. A lot of schools in advanced countries have some form of attendance management system in place to track student attendance, monitor deviances and a source for recording data. There are many methods used to take class attendance, the traditional method being the use of paper or calling out of student names. Some universities, however, use the student ID card. Over the years, people have built applications or devices to take attendance in class. These methods provide better security than the traditional methods. Some methods are better than others and are worth pursuing. In our local context, universities still depend on papers or roll calling to take student attendance. This project seeks to provide a faster and simpler way to take attendance in class with the use of a QR code. The system should combine speed with accuracy and effectiveness. Keywords

Source: Ashesi
Augmented reality (AR) as a tool for blended learning in Junior High School

Junior High School (JHS) student are required to write BECE yearly to transition into Senior High or vocational school. The failure rate of these students has been increasing since 2009 [3]. The educational minister reduced the number of subjects from 11 to 9, added BECE re-sit exams and yet the failure rate keeps rising [5]. According to Ghana´s educational minister, it has been observed that little to no visualization of class content has made learning impractical for these students [4]. Also the theory style of preparing these students for BECE seem to make learning, understanding, and visualization difficult. This paper aims to provide a solution by introducing Augmented Reality (AR) as a tool to be used in a Blended Learning classroom atmosphere at Junior High School (JHS) level. The Augmented Reality (AR) as a tool is developed using a marker-based AR platform which is preferred to location based AR in this research. Marker-based AR apps scan a marker which may be QR code or a virtual image on a phone screen [25]. Location-based AR apps use GPS to locate places nearby and use that data to satisfy users need [25]. Sherimon et al. describe Blended Learning as a combination of face-to-face or traditional learning with e-learning tools [39]. In terms of Blended Learning, using Junior High School (JHS) in Accra-Ghana as a case study, chosen models are: Inside-Out and Supplementary. Inside-Out Blended Learning Model involves student's lessons starting with a traditional classroom teaching style and ending up with learning outside the classroom [52]. Meanwhile Supplementary Blended Learning Model is where students are given a choice between face-to-face learning for every aspect of a course(s) and an e-learning platform for every aspect of a course(s) [52]. The Augmented Reality (AR) tool developed in this paper is called JunAR. From images to animations and sounds, JunAR visually explain a topic in Social Studies to students. Students´ understanding and visualization are enhanced in JunAR. iii

Source: Ashesi
Augmented reality as a tool to promote tourism in Ghana

This thesis seeks to find out if using Augmented Reality (AR) in Ghana's tourism industry is feasible in promoting its tourism activities. As developed countries have been well versed in the use of technology trends like Augmented Reality in their tourism sector, the researcher wants to determine if such integration in Ghana's tourism sites will be well patronized. In this paper, the researcher designed and built an Augmented Reality Tourism website to give users an interactive graphic experience of a tourist site through their devices. Volunteers from social media, both Ghanaians and foreigners, who wish to participate in the research process were the participants of the study. The study took place in this order: the link to the AR Tourism website was posted on social media, the participants clicked on the link to the website to interact with it. After, they were required to fill a questionnaire that aimed to get insights into the participants experience using the AR Tourism website, how effective the system was and if it informed a possible tourist's decision to take a tour. Microsoft Excel was used to analyze the data received from the data collection process. The results from analyzing the data gathered from the questionnaires showed that Augmented Reality would be suitable for the Ghanaian setting. The majority of the possible tourists who responded to the questionnaire are willing to take a tour in Ghana after experiencing a tourist site through Ghana's Augmented Reality application, once implemented, hence boosting its tourism sector due to increased local and international patronage.

Source: Ashesi
Augmented reality Capture the flag

The advent of mobile gaming brought about a new age of how video games are regarded in the context of mobility. Previously, a person would have to own a specialized gaming device that enabled them play on the move. Devices such as the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo’s series of GameBoy devices made this a possibility. However, mobile games have always offered a constraint on the type of interactions they offer players. A mobile game is only as enjoyable as the quality of information it displays on the screen and how it displays this information. A new way of viewing the game world would create a new type of interaction for players, and create a new way for them to enjoy mobile games. This paper reports on the project Augmented Reality: Capture the Flag, which offers a solution to the problem of mundane interactions by using augmented reality as a means of extending the screen of a mobile device. Augmented reality will attempt to reconcile the real world with the game world, creating an illusion of the game world existing in the physical world.

Source: Ashesi