YOUTH TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE
A REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP CONDUCTED ON 28
OF APPLIED ICT IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTINTRODUCTION
On 28
the workshop.MODE OF DELIVERY
The workshop was of two hours time and it had four sessions. Session 1 was allocated 15minutes which were used for introducing YTI, its mission, vision and members. Session 2 was allocated one
hour and 15 minutes in which students were given lectures on introduction to computer and allowed to make practices. Session 3 was allocated 20 minutes which were used for lecturing students on
applications of ICT in socio-economic development. The last session was allocated 10 minutes in which students were allowed to ask questions related to ICT in general. The workshop was led by one main instructor who stood infront of the class and gave lectures to students and instructions to assistant instructors who helped students on practicals. The workshop room had 15 tables whereby each table had 2 to 3 students and one assistant instructor.
MATERIALS DELIVERED
During session two the main instructor gave lectures on introduction to computer, the following areas were the areas of our concentration:-
•
switching on and shutting down(four types of shutting down were addressed) a computer•
• application programs, word processing(Ms word, open office) was addressed
We don't have our own generators for assurance of power supply in case of unreliable power supply.th of april was the Azania main hall while on 29th the venue was one of the class rooms at Chang'ombe Demostration school.applications of ICT in socio-economc development in the world: ICT in Education and Health were addressed
uses of mouse and keyboard th and 29th of April 2011, YTI conducted a workshop on Applied ICT in socio-economic development at Azania secondary school and Chang'ombe Demostration school respectively. This was done as one of the ways of YTI to accomplish its mission of initiating ICT to studentsThe workshop was intended to provoke the burning desire of learning and liking ICT by heart to students, the idea which YTI believe it will create self-motivated ICT experts. However the workshop aimed at showing to students how broad is ICT, how can ICT be used in Socio-economic activities. The workshop was focused to benefit 80 students, that is 40 students from each school, Azania and Chang'ombe. It was approximated that two students will use one laptop and have one instructor duringth and 29th OF APRIL ON THE TOPIC
•
internet and email: google search engine and gmail were addressed•
1. Switching on and shutting down a computer
The main instructor started by showing to students how to switch on a computer(laptop in our case) starting from the point of pluging the AC adopter charge on the laptop, switching on the starting button and waiting for the system to boot up. After showing them, students were allowed to practice how to start a computer with the help of assistant instructors. Then the instructor showed the students how to shut down computer whereby only four options were addressed. The shut down itself, restart, sleep and hibernate options were addressed. Students were allowed to shut down the laptops by using all these options and experience the difference of each option from the other
2. Uses of mouse and keyboard
Students were shown the type of mouse which is used on laptops and the normal peripheral mouse. All actions of mouse were treated for example right-click, left-click, double-click and drag. The laptop keyboard was used to show students the special keys, numbers, letters and function keys together with their functions. After showing all these to students, the assistant instructors guided the students on practices of how to use mouse and keyboard.
3. Application programs
Word processing was the area of our concentration, MS word for laptops which had MS operating systems was addressed and for those with linux open office was addressed. Students were shown how someone can create a word document such as a letter, after being shown they were allowed to create their own documents.
4. Internet and email
Students were lectured what internet and email mean together with their importances whereby education purposes were highly emphasized in the use of internet. Students were taught how to
use the search engines such as google, almost six ways of searching were addressed. Students were also taught how to create and use emails. After being taught they practiced how to search by using google search engine and they created emails by using gmail.
5. Applications of ICT in socio-economic development in the world
The reason for teaching students these applications was to show students the powerfulness and wideness of ICT and how it can act as a bridge to development of any country. ICT in Education and health sector were the areas of our concentration. In education students were taught about e-learning and how to get books and other academic materials from the internet. In health students were taught about Telemedicine and shown how it can help to improve the health sector. Other applications of ICT such as ICT in industries, agriculture, mining and military were just mentioned for simple curiosity.
PARTICIPANTS
The number of students who participated in the workshop was 73 students(38 from Azania and 35 from Chang'ombe) together with 16 YTI members(instructors) and two teachers one from each school.
VENUE
The venue in which the workshop was conducted on 28
EQUIPMENTS USED
The working tools which were used are laptops, mice, modems, extension cables and cameras.
During the workshop 17 laptops, 10 mice, 5 modems were used for practicals. Laptops and mice were
used in practicals for all the time while modems were used in the session of internet and emails whereby students were connected to the internet and learned how to use search engines such as google
and how to create and use emails. Ten extension cables were used for connecting the laptops into power suppliers.
OUTCOMES
The workshop met the expected outcomes of YTI, students were very excited and eager to learn more about ICT, the practical session was the most interested session of all, students were very happy to see how powerful are the search engines. This was proved by students themselves through the questions which they asked.
CHALLENGES
1. Insufficient tools for supporting the trainings: YTI is determined to assist students in developing their interests in ICT but still we have no enough working tools for example the last workshop was conducted by using laptops only without a projector.
•
We only have 16 laptops therefore we couldn't accommodate a large number of students.•
No enough modems for practicals of internet applications•
We don't have our own projectors for displaying the teaching contents on the board.•
2. Sustainability of the program: the programs which have just started need to be sustainable what we just did is like planting a grain of maize in the desert. Students whom we have taught have no access to computers at their homes, so in order for them to develop what they have received from us, they need regular trainings and practices.
NB:
YTI is ready to conduct regular trainings and practicals to the students whom we have started with if and only if we are supported to do that, we plan to have our fixed centres where students can come and get the trainings. Right now we can not afford to run such kind of centres.