People at USI: Izak Van Zyl

Location: Facoltà di Lugano
Office: 129
Tel: +41 58 666 4674
Email: vanzyli@usi.ch

Istituto di Tecnologie della Comunicazione, PhD Student
New Media in Education Laboratory, PhD Student

Izak holds an MA in Social Anthropology from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. In early 2009, he became involved in a research project that assessed the adoption of ICT within schools across the globe. The research was also conducted in Limpopo and supplied him with unique perceptions of technology use (or non-use!) in resource-limited settings. His experiences here certainly boded well for a PhD undertaking in the field of ICT and its integration within (developing) schools.
Later in 2009, Izak became involved in a similar venture, assessing the possible impacts of ICT in the South African home-based healthcare environment. Again, he was exposed to the very real prospects of introducing technology to deprived communities. This research was the ultimate motivating factor behind applying for a PhD in the field. He joined NewMinE as a research assistant in 2010 and works on the MELISSA project ¿ Measuring E-Learning Impact in primary Schools in South African disadvantaged areas ¿ as a facilitator. Izak¿s research interests include: the anthropology of technology, digital culture, social and cultural entrepreneurship, technology in rural healthcare, and elearning.