BarCamp Ho 2013: Transforming Our Communities

BarCamp Ho 2013 will be held this Saturday 26th October at Ho Polytechnic SRC auditorium. The aim of the event is to network young technologists, professionals, students and entrepreneurs (Change makers), and engage them through learning and sharing. You're encouraged to register and participate in this barcamp, the third organised by GhanaThink Foundation in the Volta region since 2011. Register at http://barcampho13.eventbrite.com.

Guest Post on New African Lifestyle: What African Youth Need

Ketasco students at #jcketasco: Young Africans are ready to contribute their quota

I recently wrote a guest post on New African Lifestyle, a new blog project my friend and Python African Tour founder Kamon Ayeva. I sought to explore what African youth need to make a difference in their communities and contribute to social change.

Various thought-provoking viewpoints were aggregated were from my social media connections. Contributors included students, young professionals and a retired teacher. They all seemed to share the stand that African youth need quality education, mentoring and renewed mindset/culture.

You should definitely take a read and contribute to the discussion on what African youth need to make it!

Short Summary of Third Ghana State of the Environment Forum

Environmental Film Festival of Accra (EFFA), for the past nine years, has been raising awareness on environmental issues through film. They have also organised workshops for young filmmakers, to encourage them to create quality content.

Their overall goal is to rouse the general public to take action on environmental issues. Last Tuesday, 2nd July, the third State of the Environment Forum, part of the festival, was organised by EFFA in collaboration with Creative Storm Network at the British Council, Accra. The theme was "The Environment and Health in Ghana". The forum attracted stakeholders from academia, government, civil society, community groups, the media and development community. I provided coverage for the event through BloggingGhana.

Nana Kobina Nketsia schooling the audience. "Tradition is that which powers a people forward" #GEF13 #EFFA pic.twitter.com/BEYV7Cwg2o
— BloggingGhana (@BloggingGhana) July 2, 2013

 After initial deliberations, the forum was split into four focus groups:

1.    Climate Change, Degraded Environment and Flooding

2.    Ghana’s Oil Industry and Fisheries

3.    Water and Sanitation

4.    Mining and Forestry

Breakout sessions were led by thought leaders for each of the thematic areas. Some of the outcomes were quite revealing:

Human activities have destroyed our lagoons and catchment areas, Ghana Water Co rep, #effa #environforum #gef13
— Ghana WASH Project (@gwashproject) July 2, 2013

Biosphere reserves and climate change- presentation from EPA #GEF13 #EFFA pic.twitter.com/dqqKutTmAp
— BloggingGhana (@BloggingGhana) July 2, 2013

In Accra, 2500 tonnes of household waste are generated each day, and est. 0.5 kg per person, says AMA rep at #effa #gef13 #environforum
— Ghana WASH Project (@gwashproject) July 2, 2013

Just presented @gwashproject #water #sanitation #mapping initiative Yeah! Lookin fwd to questions #lesstalkingmoreaction #effa #environforum
— Victoria Okoye (@victoria_okoye) July 2, 2013

Overall, I think the focus on health and well-being is spot-on as recent trends in Ghana such as e-waste, poor sanitation and galamsey are impacting negatively on our health. I also like the idea of involving school children in the larger festival, through events such as drama and film-making workshops. However, I think the organisers can achieve more by modifying the target audience to include people outside "intellectual spheres"; that way all who are affected will benefit from the information disseminated. Similarly, there are many pressing environmental issues affecting people outside Accra. The issue of galamsey and deforestation, for example, is well beyond Accra's borders. So, why focus all activities in this one small space?

Next year, the festival will chalk its 10th milestone. I trust the resourceful teams behind EFFA and Creative Storm Network would raise the notch higher in their advocacy efforts.

STAR-Ghana Grant Partners Discuss Strategies to Sustain National Development

Civil society encompasses voluntary organisations and NGOs whose programmes are aimed at preserving citizens' interests, as governments and businesses do not always address the aspirations of the people. In Ghana, STAR has been at the forefront of oiling the advocacy machine, and their efforts have resulted in significant strides. Their Grant Partners (GPs) recently convened at the plush Alisa Hotel, Accra, from 26th June to 28th June, under the theme "The Role of Civil Society in Sustaining National Development."

The conversations held were notably focused on the sustainability of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), post-2014, as the STAR-Ghana initiative reaches its five year mandate. Programme Manager Mr Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu spells out the focus of the convention:

On Day 1, discussions were centred on policy initiatives in the educational, health, energy and governance sectors. One thing that surprised me was the lack of emphasis on building local research capacity, particularly with regards to helping Ghana overcome her energy woes. Day 2 delved more into CSO sustainability and strategies that organisations can employ to remain effective and financially buoyant in the face of dwindling donor funding.

STAR-Ghana and Ghana Decides provided updates on Twitter under #STARGPC13 throughout the two-day conference. Pictures were also uploaded to STAR-Ghana's Facebook page. Find more tweets collected via Storify below. Enjoy and share your thoughts on what you think is the best approach to sustaining the gains made in social advocacy in Ghana.

Integration of ICT into Teaching of Mathematics, English and Integrated Science (MEIS) Workshop

I was part of the two-man team from Keta Senior High Technical School that participated in the fifth batch of the "Integration of ICT into Teaching of Mathematics, English and Integrated Science" (MEIS) workshop. The training was held at the Ghana Education Staff Development Institute (GESDI), Saltpond, Central Region from 6th to 10th May 2013. This workshop comes after the digital media training for teachers we hosted in Keta last year.

Concept maps are simple, yet powerful, tools

Background

The “Integration of ICT into the Teaching of Mathematics, English and Integrated Science” workshop, part of the Ghana SHS Connectivity project, is aimed at training 800 teachers (from 400 schools) to lead the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in their schools and beyond. Through funding from USAID, the Ghana SHS Connectivity project is employing a phased approach to ICT Integration in teacher development. The main activities include: Installation of Internet services in 400 Senior High Schools, development of ICT curriculum and framework for integration, identification of ICT competency framework, development of digital content evaluation framework and identification of digital resources. The overall objective is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Ghanaian schools, triggering improved student performance in the specified subjects. Partners for the project include the Ministry of Education (MoE), Ghana Education Service (GES), Global E-Schools and Communities Initiative (GESCI), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Vodafone.

Course Structure

The course facilitators employed discussions and group activities to engage participants, amplying demonstrating what teachers are expected to do after the training. The main topics covered were:

• Day 1: Introduction, Review of Computer Networks and Techniques of Presentations 
• Day 2: Concept Mapping, ICT Policy and TPACK 
• Day 3: Didactic Lesson Plans and Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) 
• Day 4: Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Learning Objects 
• Day 5: Micro Teaching and Closing Ceremony

Impressions and Recommendations 

• The workshop is a step in the right direction as it equips teachers with the right skills, techniques and attitudes in the information age to nurture 21st century scholars 
• The facilitators did an excellent job. It was important and admirable to have fellow teachers coordinate such an important activity as they are better suited to relate to Ghanaian education contexts
• It would have been very helpful if stress was placed more on digital content creation (by teachers to meet peculiar needs of Ghanaian curriculum) rather than just content consumption. 
• More focus should be placed on mobile learning as current trends show that it is the future 
• It was commendable that a discussion-focused model was used throughout the workshop, but it would have been more worthwhile if more time was created to enable teachers share their experiences and ideas with regards to the use of tech in education 
• Reliable access to Internet must be ensured for future workshops of this nature
• Schools must endeavour to send representatives who already have some basic knowledge of ICT since the workshop is focused on integrating ICT into education and not teaching ICT skills from the scratch. 
• Teachers trained should transfer knowledge and skills back to their schools and communities. 
• Future workshops be held to address pertinent topics not covered in the first iteration

Read the full report of the programme

Find teaching resources on the MEIS Ghana website

It was refreshing to find more Ghanaian teachers who are actively using ICTs to make learning more effective and fun for students, like members of the Ghana Educators Network!