@iLabAfrica hosted a three-?day ICT work­shop for teach­ers dubbed ‘Teach­ing with Tech­no­logy’ at Strath­more Uni­ver­sity, Nairobi from 5^th Septem­ber to the 7^th of Septem­ber 2013.

 

The main aim the work­shop was to equip high school teach­ers and admin­is­trat­ors with cur­rent tech­no­logy, know­ledge as well as the neces­sary prac­tical skills to be able to integ­rate IT while teach­ing.

 

On the first day teach­ers and admin­is­trat­ors got to know about the ongo­ing ICT cham­pion ini­ti­at­ives and emer­ging teach­ing tech­no­lo­gies. They were also introduced to the import­ance of cre­at­ing local educational digital con­tent as well as the government’s ini­ti­at­ive of laptops for schools.

 

On the second and third day, Teachers were introduced to various Open Source and Web tools for teaching and learning. The objectives of the lab were to:

1. Define and understand the concepts of open source and web tools for education
2. Identify at least 10 open source and web tools that can be used for teaching and learning different subjects.
3. Demos and Practical session
4. Exercise: Practical Challenge

Teachers were introduced to the concepts of Open Source and web-based educational sites.  A practical-based approach was used where the instructors demonstrated various open-source tools and online resources, and the teachers participated by following the instructors example.

 

 

The teach­ers were required to form groups and com­plete prac­tical tasks that demon­strated their mas­tery of skills learnt. The practical challenge entailed preparing a lesson using the open source and web tools for education covered in the lab. Each group was required to present the lesson prepared to the rest of the lab. The practical projects were evaluated for:

1. Creativity
2. Effectiveness of the tools selected to deliver the lesson
3. Number open source and web tools incorporated in the lesson

At the end of the work­shop, the teach­ers with the best present­a­tions were awarded with smartphones and tablets. All par­ti­cipants were awarded with Cer­ti­fic­ates and Train­ing Mater­ial and encour­aged to train teach­ers in their schools, at a colorful closing ceremony, on the final day of the workshop.

 

The work­shop was a great oppor­tun­ity for admin­is­trat­ors to learn about the pri­or­ity of ICT tech­no­lo­gies in edu­ca­tion and the import­ance of alloc­at­ing resources to equip labor­at­or­ies. It was also an oppor­tun­ity for the teach­ers to learn prac­tical ICT skills and be able to incor­por­ate these in the classroom.