Report of the methodological workshop for the anglophone countries – Nairobi, Kenya ROCARE / ERNWACA • Tel: (223) 221 16 12 • Fax: (223) 221 21 15 • BP E 1854, Bamako, MALI Bénin • Burkina Faso • Cameroun • Côte d’Ivoire • Gambia • Ghana • Guinée • Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal • Sierra Leone • Togo www.ernwaca.org/panaf 1 Training Worskhop for the Anglophone countries of the Panafrican Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of ICTs 24 th – 25 th September, 2007 Kenya School of Monetary Studies (KSMS) On the 24 th and 25 th of September 2007, a workshop , organized by ERNWACA, the University of Montreal and IDRC , in partnership with the University of Nairobi, was held in Nairobi on the methodological integration of ICTs. Five (5) countries, anglophone and lusophone participated to this workshop.
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Training Worskhop for the Anglophone countries of …Mr Gamal Eldin Mohamed Amin - Egypt Mrs Alice Ndidde - Uganda Dr Jude Lubega - Uganda Dr Ian Charles Moll - South Africa Ms Fatima
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Report of the methodological workshop for the anglophone countries – Nairobi, Kenya
Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal • Sierra Leone • Togo www.ernwaca.org/panaf
14
Annnex B
Methodological Workshop for Panafrican Agenda on the Pedagogical
Integration of ICTs Organized by ERNWACA: Minutes for Day Two
The second day started with an introduction from the facilitator Moses who later invited Thierry Karsenti (TK) to talk about Work Methods. Work methods TK briefed the audience on what needs to be done and the criteria for carrying out the work. He emphasized the issue of filling in the required forms that have been placed in the guide such as the country form. It was a requirement for all participants to fill in the forms for the better streamlining of the project work. TK also emphasized the necessity of including the required schools as stipulated within the guide. The number of schools required will be a minimum of 10 but it is up to the researchers to add more schools to increase on their sample. Further still he emphasized the necessity for data collection and upload onto the repository. TK also mentioned that this year will be more for data collection and the following year of the project will be mainly for publications based on the collected data. He mentioned that it will be very interesting to see researchers from different countries analyzing the same data and making different conclusions and deductions. How to Key in Data into the Repository This session was offered by Toby Harper (TH) and he illustrated how different information would be entered within the repository. TH described the importance of filling in the information in the right format because it was a representation of the country. There were three major forms that required filling in and these included Institutional, manager and primary/teacher training institution forms. TH mentioned that it was the role of the researchers to upload data into the observatory in the right format. He further demonstrated how to access the observatory through both the simple search and advanced search. TH showed the participants how they would be able to login as visitors and as registered members. He mentioned that visitors were not authorized to change or add details to the observatory. TH emphasized that each country only had one user name and password and these should be shared amongst the researchers. Researchers can never be logged in at the same time into the repository. TH illustrated that the simple search had two options of accessing the country of residence, through the map or by selection from the list. Once the country has been selected then the members can access the information about their country and other details.
Report of the methodological workshop for the anglophone countries – Nairobi, Kenya
Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal • Sierra Leone • Togo www.ernwaca.org/panaf
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TH described how to upload the data, modify the data within the repository and also how continue by clicking on the proceed button. He emphasized the issue of not using the backward or forward button on the browser but use the proceed button designed on the observatory. TH emphasized the purpose of filling in the institutional forms and it is to help in creating a profile for am institution that will be used for the entire research. Comments from members about the observatory included
• The interface is not user friendly enough (Egypt)
• There is need of a help page to guide new users on how to use the observatory
TK mentioned that sharing the data collected was one of the objectives of the Panafrica project. When we place the data into the observatory it ‘s been offered for sharing and each institution should be aware of that. TK mentioned that a video guide will be dispatched to each institution to help as a user manual for the observatory. TK also talked about visits to be carried out in each country involved in the project. He mentioned that the main goal of this is to:
• Have an overview of the schools being visited by the researcher in a country
• Only two schools per country will be visited by the project team
• The meetings will be approximately 30minutes and the entire program should be organized by the research team. The people to be met at the schools should include the head teachers, students (who are able to talk), teachers etc…
• The project team will also need to visit the ICT infrastructure in place at the school.
• Approximately two hours will be used to get the overview of each school in the country.
• The project team will visit for two days and will have also to meet the research team to talk about the challenges being faced and also hold a 3-hour publication workshop in any of the selected country.
• The schools to be met will be decided upon by the research team and could be any type (primary, secondary, urban or rural)
• Another member from any country will be called upon to travel with the project team to see how things are done else where. This member will vary per country visited and will be notified in advance.
Report of the methodological workshop for the anglophone countries – Nairobi, Kenya
Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal • Sierra Leone • Togo www.ernwaca.org/panaf
16
Communication This session was offered by Dramane Darave (DD). He mentioned that the web tool designed had three main functionality of communication and these included e-mail lists, discussion board and forum. The information sent on the email list would be more public than any other communication tool. It was discussed by members that it was necessary to create 2 email lists for both French and English speakers. This would help in the good dissemination of the important information to the participants. The panafrica news letter was also mentioned as another tool that would be used for communicating information related to the project. However emphasis was also put on the use of the discussion board and forum as ways of communication where the info can be stored and reused after. Discussion and Closing Remarks Professor Kinyanjui He mentioned that he was more than satisfied that the participants are ready to accomplish the project with flying colors based on the guts that had been demonstrated in the workshop. He thanked all people that had participated within the workshop in order to move the project forward. He mentioned that participants spread the good news to all Africans that there is need of sharing important data for the good of everyone. He commended the preparations that were good and well focused. He further mentioned that participating in the project made him feel so proud and because he has never been a failure, this project also will be a complete success. TH Thanked Prof. Kinyanjui for his involvement and thanked the participants for the time and allowing to attend this workshop. He further emphasized communication within the project as one of the crucial things that needed to be encouraged at all times. Alice (representative of the participants) Commended the organizers of the workshop and thanked them for the good work well done. She further talked about how the project will contribute to the different countries and should be taken very seriously. Alice mentioned some of the challenges that were ahead of the researchers:
• Human Capacity had been offered by the project team and participants were challenged to put to use what had been offered to them.
• If the participants do not publish then who would go ahead to publish? Therefore it was the role of the researchers to work hard and achieve the stated objectives of publishing their findings.
Report of the methodological workshop for the anglophone countries – Nairobi, Kenya
Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal • Sierra Leone • Togo www.ernwaca.org/panaf
21
Annex D - Evaluation feedback
What went well?
• Discussions between participants/trainers • Presentations were brief, clear and useful • Resources were good , high quality of materials (PowerPoint presentations ,iPod
explanations, Newsletter for distribution ) • Very good time-management • Reaffirmation of data-sharing principles • The frank discussions and comments throughout the day were an indication of
individual and creative seriousness of the tasks ahead • Excellent contributions from all members • Great support among members is developing • Good leadership/directives by Moses • Openess of the researchers • Presentation of the methodological guide and ho we can collect data from the
schools • Good questions and meaningful debates • We learned how to introduce and search data in the Observatory • Good organization, good accommodations, specially fasting issue, common
dinner • Flexibility by facilitators
What could/should be improved?
• Follow the outline of the workshop, time management should the improved • It would be more useful to spend time on key research issues as opposed to
administrative issues • Start times, time management • Need more time for developing a shared set of theoretical assumptions about this
work • Not enough time on country issues and what we might learn from them • Meeting room hot ! Interruptions by the sun! The climate in the room could be
kept cooler, especially in the afternoon • Give important documentation on the websites • Printed versions of the presentations, especially the one on publications by
Kathryn Toure
Report of the methodological workshop for the anglophone countries – Nairobi, Kenya
Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal • Sierra Leone • Togo www.ernwaca.org/panaf
22
• The Internet and the printer did not work well • Accommodations and air-conditioning should be improved • The coordination between the regional coordination and the contact person on
what was expected • Keeping of time, especially after breaks or in the morning when going in the
workshop room • Need to have concrete ideas about what countries think about publications • Participation for all participants, discussion groups among participants • Mostly accommodations and perdiems • Practical focus was good but too long • Clarity of expectations • More time should be allowed for practical work in future workshops • For next workshops :
o Include cultural presentations o Visit to one school to have first hand experience o Provide to all participants ½ day to know the country
Other comments/Concerns/suggestions
• We need to consider other aspects of interaction because they are necessary, for example current use of ICT for research, supervision, communication
• Too little focus on the intellectual project • Too little understanding of country contexts • Too much time on ceremonial activities • Too much time on technical stuff like surfacing through the website which we
could easily figure out ourselves • Clear indications on the way forward and time-frames for follow-up actions • Looking forward to the practical bit • Provide all the presentation either in electronic format or print format • Provide additional administrative secretariat • Good balance between common guide and flexibility according to national
contexts • Great leadership from Moses – Well organized • Increase the budget for research • Members should be open to ask questions • The timetable is overloaded • Communication in the two languages should be taken seriously • Messages should be offered in the two languages to avoid feeling out of place • Holding the next workshop in Montreal • Invite national committees to a workshop • Organize an international conference for ICT research
Report of the methodological workshop for the anglophone countries – Nairobi, Kenya
Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal • Sierra Leone • Togo www.ernwaca.org/panaf
23
• Refine possible topics for research • Provide manuals for the navigation through the Observatory • Meet the promises made for the future conduct of the project – Do not allow It to
be still-born • A very fruitful and exceptional workshop • Communications should be initiated immediately • Greater involvement of country team members