You can  download and view the media from Kitovu using the link below,  AYV is Adobe Youth Voices , a project aimed at giving the youth an opportunity to voice issues which concern them.

Bududa_slides-AYV1

1st Position: Asea Solomon

School: Gayaza High School, Kampala, Uganda

Project: Tackling Climatic Change

Project aim: To sensitize the community about climate change as a global   environmental challenge and to provide opportunity for the learners to contribute positively towards the adaptation to Climate change and mitigation of the associated negative effects.

2nd Position: Elizabeth Lwabu

School: Iganga SS

Project: Enabling the blind enjoy school using computers

 
Project aim:

i) Improve learning and revision in the classroom of the blind, inquiry and action in order to build a healthy future for their communities.
ii) Improve on communication, research, inquiry and action in order to build a healthy future for the blind in this country and the world.

3rd Position:  Jonathan Serunkuma

School:   Transform Educational Centre, Kasangati, Uganda

Project: Art for a better environment

Project aim: To help learners use the acquired knowledge and skills in ridding the environment of waste and using it in a beneficial way to create money generating ventures for themselves and their communities, hence building a healthy environment for our communities and the entire world.

Way Forward

The selected teachers are to undergo further face-to-face and online mentoring to put them to international standards.

Microsoft will cover all their costs of air travel, accommodation, training and meals at the Pan-African event.

As SchoolNet Uganda, we look forward to their success at the Pan-African event and thereafter at the World Innovative Teachers event 2010 which will be held (26 – 29) October in Cape Town, South Africa.

It should be remembered that one Uganda teacher participated in the World Innovative Teachers event for 2008 which was held in Hong Kong and one Uganda teacher participated in the World Innovative Teachers event for 2009 which was held in Brazil.

The Innovative Education events are part of the Innovative Teachers program, a global community of educators sponsored by Microsoft Partners in Learning. The Innovative Teachers program is built on the understanding that informed, empowered teachers are at the heart of meaningful and effective teaching and learning. By inspiring and learning from each other, educators around the world are transforming the way their students engage with the world and their learning

The competition recognizes teachers whose lessons and projects show exceptional innovation in terms of collaborating with others, producing content or making an impact on the community.

There are great prizes to be won at the Pan-African and/or Worldwide innovative Teachers Awards.  The events also provide a great forum for Innovative Teachers to network and share ideas.

The competition requires teachers to submit a Virtual Classroom Tour (VCT) describing their lessons prior to the competition.  These VCTs will then be assessed based on specific criteria which may be viewed by clicking the link below.

ITF – Evaluation Criteria

Details of the workshop and workshop report can be downloaded from

http://schoolnetuganda.sc.ug/workshops/past-workshops/schoolnet-closethegap-ict4e-teachersworkshop.htm

I would like us to join hands and celebrate with one of our SchoolNet Uganda family members, John Ssenkunja who has been awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to pursue the MSc in Education For Sustainability offered by the South Bank University, London with all  tuition costs covered. The course starts in October, 2010.

John Ssenkunja has participated and involved his students in iEARN projects, Adobe Youth Voices and facilitated at a number of Inspiring Science Education for Girls using ICT.

We wish him the best and encourage others to always try the opportunities sent of SchoolNet mailing list.

The Exhibition is Lesson 14 of the WSWM curriculum and this lesson is facilitated by the students unlike the first 13 lessons which are facilitated by teachers. After the students learning in the first 13 lessons, they now have an opportunity to use the skills and knowledge they have acquired to educate their fellow students, teachers, school administration and management and their parents on issues regarding sexuality and growth and how to live enjoyable health lives. The students became change agents in their communities.

Uganda is faced with SRHR issues like early pregnancy, abortion, child sacrifice and abuse, sexual harassment and abuse, alcohol and drug abuse etc all of which are causing moral degeneration in society. The youth who are the leaders of tomorrow have something to say. The exhibition gives them an opportunity to air their voices.

Please attend in person, invite parents, nearby schools, your biological children and listen to the key SRHR messages from the students which will be communicated through poems, speeches, personal testimonies, art works, skits etc. Feel free to attend any of the exhibitions near you.

Remember young people learn more from their peers whom they see as friends in ‘the know“ rather than from adults whom they see as authority trying to preach to the young on how to behave.

A detailed “WSWM Exhibition Schedule at Glance” can be downloaded from the link below.

wswm-exhibition-schedule-2009-at-a-glance.pdf

  WSWM ANTHEM

So noble, so nice,
So gentle yet so young,
We look forward here,
For a better nation.

The youth of today,
An age of decay,
Sex, Age, Rights and Gender,
With you it starts,
Rise above yourself,
To save the youth.

So noble, so nice,
So gentle yet so young,
I ought to know,
That the World Starts With Me.

The written WSWM anthem with the musical notations can be downloaded using the link below

wswm-anthem.pdf

A video clip [8.2Mb] of the anthem is available for download using the link below

WSWM Anthem

You may need to download and install the Flvplayer below for you to watch the WSWM Anthem

flvplayersetup.exe

In a very hot competition involving 42 innovative teachers from 15 African countries, Milton Chebet, a Biology teacher from Gayaza High School,won the Gold (1st –best) award in the Community Category with his project “Preservation of African Medicinal Plants”.

He immediately walked away with a brand new Toshiba Laptop.

Chebet Milton is one of the three Innovative teachers who will be representing Africa at the global Innovative Teachers competition to be held in Brazil in November 2009.

As SchoolNet Uganda, we would like to celebrate with Milton Chebet who is member of the SchoolNet family, this success.

We are  optimistic and confident that he will win the global competitions.

Most of the awards where taken by the South African teachers.

One of the biggest shortcoming with the Uganda entries in the competetion was lack of collaboration with other teachers in Uganda or else where in the world.

SchoolNet Uganda would like to encourage of all teachers who intent to participate in future events to take advantage of the collaborative opportunities offered by SchoolNet Uganda.

I would like us to join hands and celebrate with one of our SchoolNet Uganda family members, Kebirungi Barbara who has been awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to pursue the MSc in Education For Sustainability offered by the South Bank University, London with all tuition costs covered. The course starts in October, 2009.

Kebirungi Barbara joined the SchoolNet Uganda family when she attended  a two-day Non-residential ICT in Education sensitization workshop for interested Head teachers of secondary schools  held at Gayaza High School, (19th August – 20th August) 2008. The workshop was organized and conducted by SchoolNet Uganda.

After the workshop, Barbara continued reading all the messages and opportunities send on the SchoolNet mailing list which included the call for the Commonwealth scholarships. Barbara becomes the third SchoolNet Uganda family member to benefit from this Commonwealth scholarship scheme. Her achievement should be an inspiration to all of us to continue sharing and to try all opportunities which come our way.
It is always better to try and fail rather than failing to try.

Please I encourage all of you to share your achievements with the rest of the family members because they are always very inspiring to all of us.

We have a section for personal testimonies on the SchoolNet Uganda website
http://schoolnetuganda.sc.ug/testimonies
Feel free to read personal testimonies of other SchoolNet Uganda family members. You can also send to me your personal testimony of how participating in SchoolNet Uganda activities has impact on your life. I will upload it on the website

Lastly I would like to share our African proverb with you.
“If you want to move quickly, move alone. If you want to move far, move together”

Kakinda Daniel
Training Director,
SchoolNet Uganda

Participants were drawn from the Ministries of Education of Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.  Additionally, there participants from SchoolNet South Africa, SchoolNet Uganda and The Global e-Schools.

The theme of the workshop is: ” EFFECTIVE USE OF ICT IN EDUCATION: IMPROVING IMPACT THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT”  – A WORKSHOP FOR POLICY IMPLEMENTORS

Workshop objectives:

•  Share international and continental experience on the progress of ICT in Education initiatives with African education policy implementers.
• Allow participants to reflect on their own country-level experiences and share projects which have been developed and completed or are in progress, with a particular focus on professional development of school managers and teachers. 
•  Formulate an action plan for taking professional development in ICT in education to the next level in each country, taking into account the realities and constraints that most participating countries face with regard to the larger scale expansion. 
•  Create a community of policymakers and implementers who face similar challenges in the developing context. 
•  Test the framework of the new course for mid-level policy implementers and receive feedback from participants.

The African Innovative Teachers Competition

Three Uganda Innovative teachers namely Richard Bukenya (a music teacher from Gayaza High School), Milton Chebet (a Biology teacher from Gayaza High School) and Solomon Bbumba, a primary teacher arrived yesterday Mon 31st August at this beautiful city of Sir Seewoosagur city, Mauritius aboard Emirates via Dubai to join other innovative teachers from other African countries at the Le Meridien Hotel, Mauritius. On the same flight was Ronald Ddungu of Gayaza High School, one of the Africa continental judges for this year’s Innovative Teachers’ competitions. All the innovative teachers are very active members of the SchoolNet Uganda Network.

On 2nd Sept, Wed afternoon, participants of the ICT in Education Workshop will join the Innovative Teachers for a joint session. This will be followed by the Innovative Teachers’ Projects Exhibition, selection of the winners and the Awards ceremony. The winners at the completion will represent Africa at the global Innovative Teachers’ competition to be held in Brazil, later this year.

We need to pray to God to bless our Ugandan team to make it Brazil for the Global competition. It should be remembered that Ronald Ddungu was second in one of the categories in last year’s global competitions which were held in Hong Kong. 

I am very optimist about our team and will keep you posted.

 Kakinda Daniel
Training Director, SchoolNet Uganda.