Dear Family and Friends,
That was Then, This is Now, a book title which reflects the "compare and contrast" of Mwangaza's computer lab last year (first picture) and this year (rest of pix). In retrospect, the services and experiences provided by the previous computers, and the numbers of teachers who learned on them, are actually amazing, especially considering the ages of the machines and the distances travelled, just to get here. Was quite a sight several years ago, to see the majority of seminar participants in each of 3 consecutive week's seminars, put a sticky tab in the "Have never turned on or used a computer" on the first day of their seminar. Then, 5 days later, nearly 100% putting a new tab in the "Comfortable with using a computer for typing and email".
With revitalized internet reception and more compact computers using flat screens, teachers working together 2 to a computer is much easier to manage. With Carolyn Seitz, from Ohio, having joined our team for our second seminar, we will be able to split the participants into 2 groups so that each can be working individually on a computer with 2-3 facilitators assisting/advising, while the other two facilitators lead the other group in searching the Mwangaza library for references to their content areas, becoming better acquainted with the contents and resources of the government syllabi, etc.
Many of you provided these computers with your contributions this spring. A Scandinavian NGO (non-governmental organization) refurbishes the computers and sends them to ViaAfrica, another NGO based in Tanzania and 2 other African countries. Mwangaza's management team negotiated with them for 20 computers, 15 here on campus (10 in one room and 5 in the library) and the other 5 given one each to the 5 Pilot Schools. With increased memory over the older models, and using open-source software, they are easy to use and have little need for taking up memory with protection against viruses.
The hard drive, which works with a with some similarities to Macs, and the software, which has programs resembling Office, are easy to use and mostly transferable/readable with either macs or PCs. For very reasonable prices, less than $5,000 for the 15 computers on campus, including delivery and set-up, Mwangaza has already hosted 3 groups of students and/or teachers with focus on computer skills before last week's teachers' seminar.
In the photos, the teachers are learning Excel (spreadsheet) from Salome and John, and practicing with a meaningful application of organizing a roster of students and their test scores. Then S & J teach them how to find the averages, grades for the term, insert comments, and finally give the recommendation for advancement or not. It is not unusual for teachers to have more than 60 in a class, and several classes, so this is a great way to keep track of, and keep up with, the progress and grading of several hundred students. In the center picture, these are 2 men who had never touched a computer before last week. Along with another novice who joined them, they cooperatively rotated in and out of the one chair to be certain each tasted of every step in the experience. Before the end of the week, each was capable of setting up a spreadsheet, inputting the information, and organizing it as needed using the EXCEL options. Very Cool!!!
Along with discovering Excel, the teachers discovered that folks who can type can work much faster on a computer than those who do not. One computer session was devoted to getting acquainted with the typing program and skills, with our teammates providing a graphic organizer showing each finger's "duties". The program is very reinforcing, giving visual clues, not allowing any mistakes to be typed in the beginning stages, and working from index fingers out with lots of repetition. Never enough time to reach competency in one week, but hopefully enough taste to be motivated to practice more.
Will follow with the other uses of the "new" computers and another technology tool new to Mwangaza this year.
Peace and love,
Mike and Sharon
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