"Teachers Talking" "ICT Skills for Teachers in Rural Agricultural Communities in Kenya - A Proven Practical Approach

Dear Friends,

I appeal to you all to support my Teachers Talking Project idea at Africa Rural Connect, a program of the American National Peace Corps Association. The idea is to empower teachers to enter into informed debate and to influence policy regarding ICT in education, investment and development in rural agricultural communities in Kenya.

To endorse please go to the African Rural Connect sign up page:

http://arc.peacecorpsconnect.org

Click on the link, if it doesn't work copy and paste at your browser.

Soon after you sign up an email will be send to email address that you provided, go to your email account, check your inbox and if you don't see it check your spam mails (its happening to some people) and click on the link provided to confirm your registration. After that Login into African Rural Connect go to ideas just below the ARC logo,  find Teachers Talking and click on it the idea page will open. When there you can first choose to go through the whole idea information and later ENDORSE it on the right side.

I am also looking for support, collaborations and networks to expand and replicate this project idea to other rural Kenyan communities and probably Africa that share the same needs.

Comment what you think about the idea and share with friends to endorse too.

With Kind regards

David Mutua

Former VSO Volunteer

“Teachers Talking”

ICT Skills for Teachers in Rural Agricultural communities in Kenya – Computer Literacy Training for Teachers – A Proven Practical Approach". This will empower teachers to enter into informed debate and to influence policy regarding ICT in education, investment and development in rural agricultural communities in Kenya.

Teachers play a very important role in community activity in these communities, they are community opinion leaders, about 98% practice farming or agribusiness , they lead human right groups and civic education awareness, basic health education, climate change and sustainable energy, women affairs, and are patron in youth groups and influence political decisions in the rural communities.

Therefore, empowering these community opinion leaders (Teachers) with skills on how to source and process relevant and timely information, how to communicate it and use the best and modern technology is a way of creating knowledge banks, investment and development opportunities to these information, infrastructure and financial poor communities that will enable them compete globally.

PROJECT BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Teachers Talking (TT), "ICT Skills for Teachers, Students and Communities in Rural Kenya – Computer Literacy Training for Teachers – A Proven Practical Approach".

Teachers Talking (TT) is an introduction to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for teachers in rural Africa. It is an in-service training course which ran for the first time in 2004 at Fantsuam Foundation, Nigeria and later replicated in Kenya in 2008.

The “Teachers Talking” (about ICT) project has wide ranging objectives. At its simplest level it is an introduction to ICT’s, designed specifically (but not exclusively) for peri –urban and rural teachers. At another level it promotes strategies for the teachers to use that are alternatives to rote learning, but can work in the resource-poor classrooms where rote learning is often used. At another level it encourages teachers to see themselves as part of a worldwide connected community of life long learners.

However, the ultimate objective is to enable high-flying teachers to enter into informed debate and to influence policy regarding ICT in education, investment and development in rural Africa – hence the name “Teachers Talking”.

In August 2006, David the former VSO volunteer and Teachers Talking project manager in Fantsuam Foundation, Nigeria, continued his dream on replicating some his projects skills and experiences in Kenya, he approached Commonwealth of Learning Canada for the COL PROTEIN funding, VSO Jitolee Global Education and Advocacy Program and Pam McLean of Dadamac UK, the Teachers Talking course designer and developer. They all agreed to support the idea and David was able to start with a baseline study or research work on the level of ICT awareness in Kangundo district, a rural community in eastern part of Kenya, about 70 kilometers east of Nairobi the capital city of Kenya. From the survey findings, there was a need to create awareness and training on basic ICT’s. David organized for a five day training and invited Pam Mclean (the TT designer and developer) to work together on facilitating using TT resources and materials as they had done before in Nigeria, the workshop was followed by six months of face to face and online monthly discussion meetings with a TT virtual learning community in Nigeria, UK and USA, 20 school teachers and 6 communities members (former teachers) were involved.

It was such a big disappointment when 2007 post election violence in Kenya derailed the long term follow-up we were doing after the initial TT course in Kenya.

We have involved the trainees in different other government and organizations ICT training and support projects like the Kenya ICT Board Digital Villages project and Microsoft women teachers ICT training BUT there is a huge need to continue supporting this advocacy and training until schools and communities are fully equipped with the knowledge and equipment necessary. We are not givin up.

Why Teachers, Peri-urban and Rural areas, and ICTs?

From a personal experience, sampled research work in several African countries and as a fact known to those who have worked in rural African communities the following facts explain why we have considered Teachers, peri-urban and rural communities and ICTs:

1. Teachers play a very important role in community activity in these communities:

a) Kenyan economy is based on agriculture, 97% of rural teachers in Kenya practice subsistence farming and small agribusiness to supplement their incomes from professional teaching. These small business activities are mostly the back bone of the rural economies.

b) They influence our children learning process even outside school curriculums. Our children spent their early learning lives with these teachers than they do with parents and learn things that parents do not teach them.

c) They are community opinion leaders, they lead community discussions and development programs in most of the African rural communities.

d) They lead human right groups, civic education awareness, basic health education, climate change and sustainable energy, women affairs, patron in youth groups and political decisions.

2. Peri-urban and rural areas accommodate about ¾ of information, infrastructure and financial poor communities of all African nation’s population.

3. ICT's - Knowledge (Information) is and remains the greatest treasure for any conscious individual and nation with an ambitious vision; it is the ultimate legacy of man's existence on the planet Earth. Modern world development is enhanced on how one can source for relevant and timely Information; how to communicate it and use the best and modern Technologies to source, process and communicate (ICTs).

Therefore, empowering these community opinion leaders (Teachers) with skills on how to source and process relevant and timely information, how to communicate it and use the best and modern technology is a way of creating knowledge banks, investment and development opportunities to these information, infrastructure and financial poor communities that will enable them compete globally.

Education and learning are among the most important of all human activities and always have been the principal means of creating productive and sustainable societies. With Globalizations and the increasingly dominant role that information and knowledge play in all economies, providing quality education is becoming ever more important. At the same time, the emergence of information and knowledge as core assets for development and economic growth is widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The gap is growing between those who have access to and can manage modern information and knowledge systems and those who lack the access and ability to actively participate in the information age.

Teachers Talking is therefore a unique approach to ICT training for teachers, students and community members that are designed specifically for Rural Africa.