ICT in Education - Day 1

So today I finally had my first day of my 5 day course on ICT in Education. I have not been that nervous before a class for a very long time. It was not clear who would join my class and how many. Therefore, I needed to develop a course that is as flexible as it could get. Thanks to my friends Beryl and Frieda I had a lot of material that support a learning environment that suited a group of all kinds of experience levels. For the one of you that have been studying with me and that have an interest in learning theories I have build my class on the topic of Knowledge Building Pedagogy (Thanks Frieda for sending me your thesis).

I was anxious that it might not be enough information or that it would be a topic where the teachers here in Kenya would not be open to as it advertises a learning environment that steps away from the traditional information distribution solemnly by the teacher. The learning theory is focusing on the learner and project work in the classroom.

The skills and experiences of the group vary from experiences in Microsoft Office applications to no computer knowledge at all. I also have only few teachers in the course of 17 participants in total. The numbers could increase or decrease tomorrow so every day provides a new set of data ;)

Nevertheless, the group is great and they are slowly getting used to my sense of humor (at least that what I like to believe:). I do have to pace myself constantly as my passion increase the speed of me talking. However, the group is participating activily and they have to as I constantly ask them questions. It is noticable that the women are much quieter and more reluctant to participate activily although there are 3 of them that are openly sharing knowledge and information.

I also thought I would run out of topics today but thanks to my ability to speak in any situation I could not even get through all the information I wanted to. So I am certain I have enough material for the whole week.

The most amazing things that I have observed here is the passion the volunteers working in the hub here in Mombasa put into their work (and they don't even get paid). Team in the hub has a genuine interest and put all their heart into the Camara project here. It is a joy working with the team here and they provide an environment that is fun to work without deminishing the hard work and long hours that everybody seems to add to this project here.

Watch this space for more information on my course.

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Wencke