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

SchoolNet Uganda-Close the Gap ICT4E pilot project is a 2 year project implemented by SchoolNet Uganda (http://schoolnetuganda.sc.ug ), in partnership with Close the Gap (http://www.close-the-gap.org ) and the beneficiary schools. The pilot project involves 20 secondary schools selected mainly from the western and northern parts of Uganda.  Close-the-Gap was responsible for providing 10 computers to each of the participating schools. SchoolNet Uganda is responsibility for building the technical and pedagogical capacity necessary for optimally utilizing the computers to enhance teaching and learning and to provide on-going technical and pedagogical support to the participating schools.

Participating schools

The following schools are currently participating in the pilot project: St. Mary’s Girls Secondary School Ediofe (Arua), Muni Girls Secondary School (Arua), Arua Public Girls Secondary School (Arua), Transform Education Centre Kasangati (Wakiso),Gulu College (Gulu), Gulu Secondary School (Gulu), Awere Secondary School (Gulu) , Kitara Secondary School (Hoima), Karambi Secondary School (Kasese), Mt. Rwenzori Girls Secondary School (Kasese), Bwera Secondary School, Bukomero Secondary School (Kiboga), High Standard Secondary School Kateera (Kiboga), Gayaza High School (Wakiso), Masheruka Girls Secondary School (Bushenyi), Masindi Secondary School (Masindi), Iganga Secondary School (Iganga), Trinity High School–Kawempe (Kampala), Aringa Secondary School (Yumbe) and Kapchorwa Senior Secondary School (Kapchorwa).

The Workshop

The 5-day ICT4E Teachers’ workshop was organized and conducted by SchoolNet Uganda at Gayaza High School (17th May -21st May) 2010. It was attended by 19 project schools. SchoolNet Uganda was responsible for training, feeding and accommodation costs and the schools were responsible for transporting teachers to and from the workshop venue.

Workshop Objectives:

The workshop had a number of objectives which included:

• To provide participants an opportunity to interact both formally and informally for the purpose of peer learning and knowledge sharing.
• To reflect on the current Uganda educational system and how national and global changes are impacting or likely to impact on the Uganda educational system.
• To introduce participants to teaching methodologies needed to equip learners with 21st century skills needed to be functionally literate and competitive in the 21st century.
• To brainstorm the challenges schools are facing in providing quality education, how ICT4E can help in addressing some of the challenges and the skills teachers would need to implement ICT4E.
• To provide participants with an exposition of how ICT4E can be used to enhance teaching and learning.
• To Develop participants’ communication, presentation, team work and collaborative skills.
• To develop participants’ information literacy and Internet research skills.
• To enhance participants’ positive attitude towards self-development and towards ICT4E.
• To introduce participants to education digital content.
• To develop participants’ skills to create multimedia PowerPoint presentations.
• To introduce participants to project-based learning, the Innovative Teacher Forum, iEARN Collaboration centre and Microsoft PiL Network.
• To brainstorm the critical success factors for ICT4E in schools.

Workshop Report

The workshop report is available for download using the link below:

SNU_ICT4E Teachers Workshop _2010_web_Report

Last year, one of long time life dream came to pass when I got an opportunity to travel to the USA for the first time to attend the 1st ever global annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Summit. I really saw this as a golden opportunity to learn and share new skills from professional film makers and AYV educators and students from across the global and also make new connections for myself. I also longed to meet the other iEARN members that I had collaborated with on iEARN projects for a long time. At the summit I interacted with a lot of people in the AYV circle and learnt a lot of knowledge and skills that I did not know before I went.

One of the people I met was Lisa Jobson, the Deputy Executive Director of iEARN USA. I was really excited to talk to her. Surprisingly she was the first to talk to me because she was mistaking me for someone she had met at the iEARN conference in Cairo in July, 2008. In our conversation,  I managed to tell my own iEARN story i.e. how I have been a member for nine years running, the projects I have been involved in such as The Global Teenager project, Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger, Folks and Tales project, Eradication of Malaria and HIV/AIDS, Tead Bear Project and the different presentations and efforts I have been doing to encourage other peers and teachers to participate in iEARN projects and how they can benefit from projects. I also told her more about the AYV media i.e. the documentary on gender disparity in science we had made and how I had been actively involved in the AYV implementation process i.e. facilitating at a number of AYV training workshops around the country.

During our conversion, she happened to talk about the internship opportunities they had previously offered to a number of other active iEARN members from across the globe. I also asked her if I could get such an opportunity. Fortunately, “I think” with the background I had given her about myself,  she told me it was possible for me to do internship at iEARN USA but she first had to talk to her bosses and would then get back to me. She also asked me if I would want to do it immediately after the summit or after finishing up my studies. I told her I would to do it after my studies; she then told me to remind her after my studies.

After the summit, I left USA with the team of AYV students I had gone with to the summit and came back to Uganda. I still made sure I kept her posted with the AYV and iEARN work I was involved in locally here in Uganda. In May this year, I wrote to her asking if I could still get the internship opportunity and she simply asked  for my resume (C.V) and told me she was going to talk to her bosses and get back to me.

After she talked to her bosses and reviewed my resume, she then handed me over to the Executive Director of iEARN USA, Prof. Ed Gragert who asked me a couple of questions to check if I had really thought about the internship opportunity and would also be a beneficial person to them. Allow me to put the questions as they were:

“It would help me if I could receive from you a description of how you would envision using what you would learn on your internship to benefit both yourself and iEARN.   And of course, you would be teaching us many things too, so I would love to hear how you feel you could contribute to the work of iEARN-USA as well.”

With the experience and training I have got from answering similar open-ended questions, I thought about these questions and answered them. He was impressed with the way I answered them and next thing I knew we had started discussing travel arrangements and accommodations details. And I speak I just received my air ticket today (21-07-2010).

But before I forget there have been a lot of interviews to answer in order to make this opportunity come to pass e.g. before admitting to International House, New York City I had to fill in a lot of applications and I remember in one of them I was asked to write a one page essay explaining why I would love to stay at International House, New York City, how my stay would benefit the local community and the community projects that I had been involved in for the past year. I remember sharing with them a lot about my experience in working with the local communities to produce media in AYV and also using the knowledge from SNU to answer these questions. I have also been getting a lot of assistance from SNU in order to ensure that my trip is a success.

I am now looking forward to a wonderful stay and sharing and learning experience while in New York City. I want also to establish more links and opportunities while there and also making it possible to connect Ugandan Schools with USA schools to collaborate on real life projects.

In conclusion, I would like to share with you what I learn from my own experience in the hope that you can do the same or more from it.

1. When we get an opportunity to attend an event/workshop outside, we should not just go to attend and leave the place wondering how awesome other people are implementing their projects elsewhere. It is an opportunity for us to network and share with others what we are doing and also explore further possible opportunities out there.
2. SNU and other organizations that help us get other opportunities may not directly get us to where we exactly want to be but could just give us a small push and we should be able to get ourselves going further to where we want to be.
3. We need to let the other people out there when we go out there know of what we are currently doing and what we are capable of because without telling someone they can’t know what you are doing and what you are capable of doing. We also need to keep them updated with what we are doing even when we are not close to them.
4. I am one of the people who fall in that category of people who just pick interest in a project and actively participate in it without thinking of how it is going to directly and immediately benefit from it. The time I joined iEARN I was in my S.2 in Namilyango College and had never thought that I would get an internship opportunity there. At that time I just wanted to connect with the other youth around the World and in my own small way contribute solutions to the global problems with other youth and teachers around the world. But here I am today telling you I am going to be an intern at the iEARN USA offices. And have also made use of the projects and opportunities they are co-coordinating to get other opportunities outside their scope.

Finally I would once again like to say thank you to SchoolNet Uganda and iEARN USA for this opportunity and for slowly but steadily bringing me closer to my dreams. To you it may seem like you are just doing your work but I would like you to know that in me you are modeling a very bright and intelligent young man who is going to benefit the whole world at large. May the Almighty GOD reward you accordingly.

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.

I love literature but now you may find it hard to define me – whether I am a teacher of literature and English language or of things computer – if you ever get to meet me. My interest in things literature is rooted in my childhood which was spent richly with immense books of all sorts to devour.

My interest in computer, on the other hand, began in my later life when I was pursuing my Bachelor of Education Degree at the then Institute of Teacher Education, Kyambogo (ITEK), now Kyambogo University. I essentially knew nothing about computers, not until the challenge of having to produce a typed research project confronted me. My supervisor, Dr. Kakooza Michael, fresh from a long time British experience of precision and thorough work, challenged me to use the Internet as a very resourceful thing for my research. Thankfully, I was very eager to rise to the occasion but it was a hard going…

The research work was time bound, which means I had to submit it to a typist who could do it fast but alas, it was costly. When it came to Internet surfing, the cafes were the only option as Internet was still a rare thing then and costly too! I still clearly recall how I had to depend on a 15 year or so girl in the café – Lotus Internet Café it was – to guide me through clicking here, navigating there, recognizing a tool the other side and so forth. My inadequacies before this little girl were laid bare. It propelled me into working harder to learn how to use the computer. I had also discovered the power of Internet as a source of information. “Google” became my favorite word. Meanwhile I had to always get back to the little, kind and sympathetic girl to guide me whenever I wanted to surf the net for information. 

Soon, my elder brother had a computer in his home office and he was kind enough to let me have access to it once in a while. I had every good reason to visit his home from time to time. It was at this stage that I had a little more interaction especially with the MSWord.

One of the most significant turning points for me came when I joined PMM Girls’ School in March 2002. My life changed once I entered the school’s computer lab which was furnished with ten brand new Internet-connected Pentium III Compaq computers – they were the envy of those days – supplied through SchoolNet Uganda or so I learnt. That was my first knowledge of the existence of an organization called SchoolNet, Uganda.

The computer lab was like heaven for me. I was very excited about the possibility of gathering information from the Internet for my literature lessons. The Net was overwhelming, especially when it came to literature of the western world. I spared no time in identifying and creating content for literature lesson. When we formed the Lit. Writers’ Club – a creative writing club – we chiefly had magazine making in mind with the aid of the computers in the lab. I would gather the club’s members in the lab and instruct them on the little I knew about computer. They would type out poems, use drawing tools and so forth. Soon we were producing magazine locally produced with the help of the computers. The students didn’t really have any regulated or programmed lessons on how to use the computer. We all just delved into it and learning began and products were produced.

I had discovered that computer was a powerful means to disseminate information, instruct and create. Marriage of literatureteaching and computer had been born. (My dream now is to create a literature content though I haven’t zeroed on the software medium to use). It was also during one of these days that I had my first involvement in ICT hands-on training workshops. Though I wasn’t a principle participant, I witnessed interesting activities going on. It was also during one of these workshops that I met one of the Directors of SchoolNet Uganda, namely Mr. Kakinda Daniel. I still vividly recall him writing on a board:

“Aspire to Inspire Before You Expire”

The magnitude of those words remained imprinted in me. It gave me a sense of purpose in the things I do with computer. I have since designed the wordings and glued to the wall of the computer lab.

Enthusiasm to do things our selves (me and my colleague in the department) – trouble shooting, repairs, creation of contents and discovering new things became our specialty. My enthusiasm must have been noticed by the Computer Department’s Head Administrator then, Mr. Lwigale Bernard who in 2003 recommended me as an administrator in the department and asked me to instruct the head teacher Mrs. Lujwala Petronella in Computer lessons. I became the admintrator in charge of internet connectivity and services to students. It is interesting how one gets to be placed in a place of responsibility of sorts out of sheer interest, experience and commitment to what you have never really done in any formal education.

In another workshop organized for teachers by SchoolNet Uganda, I volunteered to take the lead in modules on MsWord and Internet. I must have done well because the next thing I knew was a phone call from Mr. Kigozi Bright who has worked closely with Mr. Kakinda in various SchoolNet programs. Bright invited me to be ready to facilitate an ICT Workshop in Basic Skills for Teachers in Gulu District. The six day workshop at Sacred Hearts Secondary School in Gulu town was a tremendous success in my opinion because I witnessed teachers who had felt intimidated by computer begin using it confidently in that short time. It also gave me confidence in my ability to change people from being illiterate to literate. Me together with Kigozi Bright subsequently organized and conducted similar workshops in several other districts: Tororo, Moyo, Adjumani, Busia and Mukono. We would always leave behind a desire and challenge of teacher participants and their schools to acquire computers. It wouldn’t make sense to induce you to learn ICT then live on after that without access to a computer.

Meanwhile my growing interest in things computer were bringing me into contact with various organizations in the world of IT fraternity – ThinkQuest Uganda, INetwork Uganda, Ugabyte and so forth. These IT interest groups and especially SchoolNet Uganda had begun to redefine my role, position, perceptions and methods as a secondary school teacher. For one thing, you will be a dead pan teacher if you assume to be the overall provider of knowledge, apportioning, and disseminating information as the all-knowing. The world of IT has made me appreciate greatly the power of adopting knowledge sharing mentality in learning. Not only in IT lessons but in all disciplines.

In any case, younger people characteristically are faster and more creative learners than older people. No one may necessarily claim monopoly of knowledge as some children actually have better access to IT products of greater sophistication than even teachers. This actually makes an IT savvy teacher’s role easier: to direct and guide learners as well as provide an enabling environment for learning to take place; making young people realize the potential of computer and other IT gadgets for useful purposes. Human beings, and especially children, are very imaginative. The versatility of computer provides for very many possibilities for one to exercise his or her imaginations and create new useful products. The key lies in acquiring the necessary ICT skills.

Motivating, guiding and providing an enabling environment for a child to use the computer for beneficial purposes is or will be the new challenge for the ICT teacher of the 21st Century Africa. The growth of ICT is an inevitability for which educational institutions have to get prepared. Having an IT savvy teacher is also therefore inevitable and the contemporary teacher must rise up to the occasion and embrace it regardless of his or her discipline of specialty.

I therefore feel privileged to have participated in several SchoolNet initiated educational programs with specific emphasis on ICT as a means to disseminate and share knowledge, skills and values. Notably:

• Training fellow teachers in basic ICT workshops in many parts of Uganda.
• Being trained and participating as an educator in a sexual and reproductive health program, The World Starts With Me.
• ThinkQuest Uganda.
• ICT youth camps.
• Adobe Youth Voices Project.

Each of these has uniquely impacted on me by:

• Improving and widening my scope of understanding and acquisition of skills in ICT.
• Adopting and innovatively recognizing and practicing new pedagogical skills.
• Making me a more versatile teacher with interdisciplinary knowledge.

Yet again, I only see the beginning of things for me. The sky is surely the limit!!

Chole Richard 

The Theme of the Workshop was “Improving Academic Performance by addressing the Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) challenges in schools including the changing face of HIV/AIDS through the World Starts With Me (WSWM) program

A workshop report will soon be available for download.

At school, together with Aminah, our Director of Studies Mr. Henry Naabye and Mrs Sarah Awebwa, we started a new project called Education for Rural schools where we created Educational contents which we were to share with the neighbouring rural schools so that they could also get access to good notes. We created both video and audio lessons in various subjects like Geography, Biology, Physics etc. and we shared them with the rural schools. During the course of this project, we kept on getting assistance from SchoolNet Uganda.

In January this year 2009, through Mr. Kakinda Daniel, I was invited to attend a workshop for a new project which was being introduced in Uganda by SchoolNet Uganda called Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) which equips young people with technology and skills to create media for social change. At the workshop, we were introduced to the project and also trained in media making where we were trained in photo shooting and editing, video shooting and editing, story boarding etc.

After the workshop, I had to work with the SchoolNet Uganda Inspiring Science Education for Girls using ICT site to develop a media piece for social change. At our site, we developed a documentary on the gender disparity in science where we wanted to find out the hidden causes of the low participation, poor performance and low retention of girls in science as compared to the boys. In the course of working on this documentary, I developed a number of skills and experience in video shooting and editing, photo shooting and editing, interviewing people, team work, communication and interpersonal skills, negotiation and I also met a number of big people who inspired me a lot.

Through the SchoolNet Uganda AYV mailing list, an opportunity was sent out to all the sites which were participating in the AYV project where they could apply to attend the 1st ever AYV summit which was to be held in Palo Alto, California (29th July – 2nd August) 2009. The summit participants were to get further training in media making and to meet other AYV members from other countries. The AYV project is implemented in over 30 countries

Our site applied for this opportunity and through a breath taking process our site was chosen to attend the summit. I was very excited to be part of this because it was going to be my 1st time to travel and more over to USA (all expenses paid). I went through the entire process of getting the passport, visa and air tickets and also had to do some pre-summit activities. We had an online forum where we collaborated with the people we were going to be with at the summit. We also had to create a 1 minute video on an issue we wanted to change in our community where I created a one minute video on  deforestation. These activities helped me to improve my skills for using the Internet, communication and interpersonal skills and also media making skills.

The flight day came and I was really excited it being my first time flying and my parents were really proud of me and escorted me to the airport. Together with my team we boarded the plane and flew to USA. However a long the way I saw very many things that excited me e.g. the bigger airports in the other countries, technology etc.

In California we met a number of media making professionals e.g. David Nakabayashi, the Visual Arts Director of Lucas films who has worked on a number of great films including Harry Potter, Transformations, Iron man etc. He shared with us his experience in media making and inspired us to continue with media making. We were also trained in new media skills e.g. I managed to learn some new skills in Adobe Photoshop like photo editing and I learnt also how to record music and how to shoot a music video. My group actually created a music video on Identity.

We were staying at Stanford University so I got a chance of seeing what a University in US looks like. We also visited Dreamworks PDA, a movie making company where we watched their latest animated movies “Monsters Vs Aliens” and “Madagascar 2” in 3D glasses so we were watching the movie in 3D. This was an exciting and interesting new experience which I will actually never forget.

We also had the closing ceremony called AYV Live which was at the Yerba Berna Centre of Arts, one of the best museums in California. Here our documentary was among the six documentaries which were showcased at this event which really excited me and also my other teammate Ronald Kasendwa made a speech at the event. As if that was not enough, I got a life time opportunity of meeting and interacting with the Black Eyed Peas (International Musical Artists) and also took photographs with them. I also managed to watch a live performance of the Black Eyed Peas.

After this experience, I finally returned home to Uganda. From the summit, I learnt new media making skills, shared my experience with the other AYV youth and educators, made a lot international friends who I am still in touch with and I keep learning from them, and also got inspired to continue with media making.

Currently, I am working with Emuka Studios where I do photo shooting and editing in order to make myself some extra pocket money (trying to apply the skills I learnt) and I attribute all this to SchoolNet Uganda (SNU) for having involved in me their activities. I also chose to do Bachelor of Information Technology because these activities have enabled me to see a bright future in IT.

I want to conclude my testimony by thanking SNU for giving me an opportunity to be part of their family because right now they are helping me make better decisions for my future. And to SNU, I want to thank you for all you have done for me; words alone are not enough express my gratitude and I am more than willing to come and share my testimony, skills and experience with all the other youth in case I am need to.