What to expect at the 2018 ICT Teachers Capacity Development Workshop at Kololo SS starting tomorrow 5th-6th Sept 2018

All is set for this year’s ICT Teachers Capacity Development workshop, which will also double as the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) for Uganda ICT Teacher’s Association (UITA). It is going to be a mega networking opportunity – teachers from all regions of the country have confirmed attendance. The participants will be greatly inspired by experienced and motivational speakers who will take us through a fully packed program of lined-up breath-taking sessions – time management will be prompt to ensure no session overlaps the time for the next session.

Several organizations have applied to come and interact with the teachers and make demos of their business solutions and products, from school management, accounting and report making systems, to e-learning solutions. A variety of books by the bestselling authors will also be on display for easy acquisition. T shirts have also been organised for the participants. You can order yours here.

 

The program

Time Day #1 5th September 2018 In charge
8: 00 – 09:00 am Arrival and registration Kololo SS
09:00 – 09:30am Welcome remarks, expectations, objectives & ground rules Workshop Coordinators
9: 30 – 10:30am
( 1 hr)
Desktop Publishing: Handling Support Files, Printing multiple copies per sheet and Tips on conducting the UNEB practical examinations effectively. Mr. Eneku Ronald

(Progressive SS Kitintale)

10: 30 – 11:00am Tea Break Kololo SS Home Econ. Dept
11: 00 – 1:00 pm
( 2 hr)
Web design: Tips on handling website design at UCE effectively. Mr. Mukalele Rogers
(Kololo SS)
01: 00 – 02:00pm Lunch Kololo SS Home Econ. Dept
02: 00 – 03:30pm
(1 ½ hrs)
Assessment: Principles of setting standard, syllabus–aligned exams and a look at some 2018 Mocks Mr. Mwodha David
(Kings Col. Buddo)
03: 30 – 05:00pm
(1 ½ hr)
ICT teachers association: Progress report and next steps, plus Use of ictteachersug.net , sharebility.net and other websites for resource sharing, eLearning and school management. Mr. Lukyamuzi Ronald
(UITA Chairperson Central)
05:00 – 05:30pm Tea Break Kololo SS Home Econ. Dept
05: 30 – 07:00pm
(1 ½ hrs)
 Practical hands-on: one on one discussions in the lab. Practice QNS to be availed. Mr. Ivan Wamusi and
Mr. Wambedde James
(Kololo SS)
07:00 – 08:00pm Supper Kololo SS Home Econ. Dept

Residents will be accommodated in the Kololo SS SESEMAT Hostel for the night

Time Day #2 – 6th September 2018 In charge
8:00 – 10:00am
(2 hrs)
Programming: C and VB side by side. Mr.Mukalele Rogers
(Kololo SS)
10: 00 – 10:30am Tea Break Kololo SS Home Econ. Dept
10: 30 – 12:00pm
(1 ½ hrs)
 Innovative Teaching: The use of technology, multimedia, project based learning and e-learning to enhance teaching and assessment in schools. Mr. Ddungu Ronald
(St. Mary’s Col Kisubi) – andMr. Kalema Ayub Golooba
( Nabisunsa Girls School)
12: 00 – 1:00pm
(1hr)
 ICT Clubs: Activity Ideas for Student ICT Clubs, guidelines on establishing them and how to utilize them to promote ICT and innovation in schools. Mr. Chole Richard ( KAWA Trainer / Tr PMM Girls School, Jinja)
01: 00 – 02:00pm Lunch Kololo SS Home Econ. Dept
02: 00 – 03:30pm
(1 ½ hrs)
Databases: Tips on challenging areas in databases such as data formats and relationships. Mr. Matovu David

(H.O.D Mpoma Schools)

03:30  – 04:30pm UCC Programs in schools and how ICT Teachers can get involved. UCC Officials
04:30pm-05:00pm Closing Ceremony, Group photos and Issue of Certificates. Head teacher Kololo SS,

Workshop Coordinators

 

 

A summary of the final program can be downloaded here in PDF format. and below are the details for each session.

Desktop Publishing Session

On the first day,  Mr. Eneku Ronald, an ICT Teacher at Progressive SS Kitintale, will lead a session on Desktop Publishing. Using Microsoft Publisher to create desktop publications seems to be simple and obvious from the onset, but every year desktop publishing is one of the poorly performed questions in practical examinations. Being a relatively new application to Computer Studies teachers which was introduced recently when Subsidiary ICT was started at UACE, and package rarely taught at most universities and training centres, many teachers simply gamble around with it and fail to do the technical aspects such as printing crop marks, multiple pages per sheet, dealing with shapes such as logos, using the master page, etc. The facilitator will also give tips on handling support files and conducting the UNEB practical examinations in general, based on his vast experience in conducting Practical ICT / Computer Studies UNEB examinations over the past decade.

Web design Session

Mr. Mukalele Rogers will then lead a session on Website Design. Mr. Mukalele Rogers is an Information Technology professional with great experience and proven record in ICT Teaching, Web design, programming and ICTs in general.  He has taught ICT and computer studies since 2009, in schools like Rock High School Tororo, Jinja College and Kololo SSS. Rogers has authored several books for Computer Studies and ICT. He is also the initiator of Sharebility Uganda – a platform for connecting the various stakeholders and developing a culture of sharing and receiving open digital resources to promote education in Uganda.

Website Design at O level continues to be a no-go area for teachers in many Ugandan Schools, yet it is clearly indicated on the UCE syllabus. Many teachers discourage their students from attempting the topic because of the fear for coding HTML WebPages in the examinations to come up with a fully working website in about 30 minutes! UNEB examiners in the latest 2017 examination report noted that the few candidates who attempted the question mainly used Microsoft Publisher 2007, which has its own disadvantages, the HTML it generates is not compatible to many browsers and its website publishing tools have been discontinued by Microsoft in the latest versions of the software. The Examiners have therefore made a recommendation in their report that the teachers should introduce alternative web authoring software to their students. Mr. Mukalele will show the members different alternative software, and practically attempt a complete past examination question using Microsoft Expression Web software.

Assessment Session

Mr. Mwonda David, a veteran teacher of Computer Studies will facilitate the session on assessment. Mr. Mwonda is greatly experienced in this area, and is one of the pioneer teachers of the O Level Computer Studies way back in the early 2000s. He is currently teaching at Kings College Buddo. He will focus on principles of setting standard, syllabus–aligned exams. Syllabus books and Sample Past Papers will be needed to aid this highly interactive session, and Mr. Mwonda is requesting the members to come along with  their 2018 regional MOCK past exams, copies of which will be printed. and shared with the members during the discussions.

ICT teachers association Session / First AGM 2018

The Uganda ICT teachers association (UITA) is taking great shape!

Through UITA, the ICT teachers countrywide are putting efforts and minds together to support each other to innovatively improve their methods of work and improve their capacity, thereby promoting ICT education, increasing computer literacy and bridging the digital divide in Uganda.  Mr Lukyamuzi Ronald, who was voted as the chairperson of the Central Region ICT Teachers, will lead the UITA AGM session in conjunction with the chairpersons of the Eastern, Northern and Western Region. A progress report will be presented and the amended constitution will be signed off to pave the way for formal registration of the association as the next course of action. The new UITA Logo and T-shirts will be unveiled and all members who registered at tshirts.ictteachersug.net will receive their T-shirts. Other project and activity ideas such as the UITA SACCO will also be discussed.  The members will also be showed how to freely use their joint website, ictteachersug.net to contribute to online content. The website is based on the popular easy-to-use multi-user Content Management system, WordPress, whose basics will be demonstrated. Other resourceful websites like the moodle based elearning.sharebility.net, edu.walktrackuganda.com, bedesoft.org, etc will also be exhibited.

Practical hands-on session

The last session of day one will be a practical hands-on session in the computer labs. Practice questions will be availed and Mr. Wambedde James and Mr. Wamusi Ivan of Kololo SS will be available to assist anyone who will need help. Wi-Fi and internet connectivity will be available for members to get online and access the online systems. A team from My Schools Uganda will also be available give a demo of how their online web-based school management software operates and how it can simplify life for schools in schools administration and student report making.

At the end of the day, residents will retreat to the new SESEMAT hostel at Kololo SS, but will continue engaging online throughout the night. The steering committee will have an executive meeting after supper to reflect on day one and setup a team to register the association before the next AGM.  The hashtag #ICTTrsUG will keep track of the discussion on social media. We shall have a media team to keep the members updated using the twitter handle @ictteachersug and the Facebook page fb.com/ictteachersug. A comprehensive workshop report will be posted on the website ictteachersug.net after the workshop.

Programming Session

The second day will start with one of the most challenging sessions: elementary programming. The session will build on what the teachers have been learning in the various retooling workshops over the years. This session will thus focus directly on the implementation stage of the program development life cycle. The two programming languages recommended by Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), i.e. C and Visual Basic and will be compared by creating the same programs in both languages and executing them. The DevC and Visual Studio IDEs will be used – and the software will be availed to the members on CDs free of charge. Members with computers which cannot run Visual Studio IDE will be shown a workaround of using the Visual Basic Editor embedded in Microsoft Office Applications to run Visual Basic code. One key highlight is how to use InputBox and MsgBox for input and output in Visual Basic. All source code will also be shared to the participants through their registered emails. Download this handout for related content which will be adapted this session.

Innovative Teaching Session

Mr. Ddungu Ronald of St. Marys College Kisubi will then lead a session on Innovative teaching, in conjunction with Mr. Kalema Ayub Golooba of Nabisunsa Girl’s School. Focus will be on the use of technology, multimedia, project based learning and e-learning to enhance teaching and assessment in schools.

Ddungu Ronald is currently a Deputy Principal at St. Mary’s College, Kisubi. For the last 22 years, he has been teaching Maths and Physics with Gayaza High School. He has attended and facilitated a number of ICT for Education (ICT4E) workshops and conferences, including those organised by SchoolNet Uganda, iEARN (International Education and Resource Network), and eLearning Africa. He has advocated for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through projects like Mobile App Development which his students have created using the MIT App Inventor software. He spearheaded the setting up of the Gayaza High School e-learning platform (starting with the e-resources he had gathered at his library). Mr. Ddungu has got several local, continental and international awards and recognitions, including Microsoft Sponsored Initiatives. In 2015, Ddungu was selected among the 50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize.

Mr. Kalema Ayub Golooba is a vastly experienced trainer engaged as lead ICT trainer for educators (Teachers, Headteachers and Tutors), in several workshops, including ICT Retooling workshops. He is also an inspirational speaker, regularly engaged by a number of schools, universities and Non Government Organizations (NGOs) to highlight and demonstrate the potentials and application of ICT in Education. Mr. Ayub has a lot of experiences and lessons to share especially from the several international workshops, trainings and conferences he has attended over the past year. Notable among them is ILEP 2018 and the ICT in Education Workshop in Cambodia. Check out this youtube video of a recent presentation by Mr. Ayub on Education in Uganda.  Mr. Ayub has been the lead trainer of National ICT Retooling workshops over the years.

ICT Clubs Session

Mr. Chole Richard will lead the session on School ICT Clubs.

Chole Richard is an advocate and passionate practitioner of best practices and integration of ICT in education. He is a Secondary School teacher and Master Teacher of International Education Resource Network (iEARN) where he facilitates a students’ global collaborative learning project, Envision My Ideal World. He worked for ten years as an educator with Adobe Youth Voices, an international learner driven purposeful multimedia production program for teenagers using concepts of project-based learning under local patronage of SchoolNet Uganda. He is a Microsoft Innovative Educator, emerging one of 18 best in (MIA) Microsoft Forum for Middle East and Africa in 2012. He is very much inclined to engaging students in inter-disciplinary learning through purposeful multimedia creation. He has participated and presented at several international conferences dedicated to promotion of ICT in Education and Development. He is an associate member of Kisubi Associated Writers Agency (KAWA) and currently a teacher at PMM Girls’ School where he teaches Literature in English and English Language

 

Together with KAWA under the UCC funded ICT Clubs Pilot Scheme, Mr. Chole has been mentoring teachers and students in about twenty schools country wide to start and manage ICT Clubs. In the discussions which followed especially on the teachers’ Whatsapp platforms, many teachers from other schools which were not part of the pilot schools expressed interest in being part of the program but it was not possible in the short run since it was only a pilot. In this session, Mr. Chole will briefly share with the ICT teachers how they can kick start ICT clubs in their schools with the resources they have. In future if the UCC funded program is rolled out to more schools, then they will quickly get on board since they will already have some formations on ground, which will simply get boosted. He will highlight the benefits of ICT Clubs in schools, possible club activities, projects and workplans. He will also give more tips to the teachers on how to inspire creativity and innovation among students and also share with them examples of Avenues for Global Citizenship and Impact such as the World Technovation Challenge.

Databases Session

Mr. Matovu David is going to facilitate the session on Databases. Mr. Matovu David is an all-round Computer Expert  who has taught at several levels including in tertiary institutions. He is the Head of Department ICT at Mpoma Schools.

He will be ready to address all the challenges the teachers find with databases. During last year’s UCE and UACE examinations, the several weaknesses of candidates in the area of database management were noticed. According to the 2017 UNEB Reports, the following advice was given to the teachers.

  • Emphasis should be put on Use of an appropriate data types
  • Formatting and customization of values in databases such as formatting the currency with a UGX symbol
  • Proper use of criteria in queries and formulas in a form.
  • Majority of the candidates failed to relate a wild card in terms of database use.
  • Teachers should put emphasis on how to rename database files.
  • Teachers are encouraged to train students on how to switch primary keys from one field to another.
  • Teachers are encouraged to teach learners how to print database objects or their screen shots.
  • Emphasis should be put on proper setup of relationships enforcing referential integrity. Some candidates simply created any type of relationship and not-to-one to one relationship as required by the question.
  • Teachers should guide the learners on how to create a report and include specific fields from two given tables
  • Teachers should teach the learners the clear difference between page footer and report footer
  • Teachers should provide heavy duty printers to help the learners both during practice and in exams.

Mr. Matovu has set some key questions which will guide this interactive practical session.

UITA Partnership with Uganda Communiations Commission UCC

We are expecting some officials from UCC to grace the last day of the workshop.

UITA is a fruit of past UCC initiatives, because UCC RCDF-funded National ICT Teachers retooling workshops at Kololo SSS, over the years since 2011, have been bringing together teachers whose network has been growing. These teachers formed social media platforms like whatsapp where the idea of forming the association was built.

Last week when Mr. Mukalele Rogers, the UITA coordinator visited UCC offices in Bugolobi, he met Hon. Nyombi Thembo the Director RCDF and Mr. James Beronda, the Technical Manager RCDF. They welcomed the idea of forming the Uganda ICT Teachers Association and said that UCC is interested in to partnering with UITA. They also promised to extend some support towards the workshop and also asked for a session to come and engage with the teachers.

In Mr. Beronda’s recent engagement with teachers who converged at Makerere College School, He did mention that many schools received computers in the first phase of provision but the managers of schools did not look after the equipment well and always came back to RCDF for maintenance. He urged schools to always personalize this ICT equipment donated by partners. He mentioned that in the next phase of approach, RCDF will provide high speed internet to schools of 5mbps that are ready to support the development of their communities. He also mentioned that content creation in schools is the next step and the sharing of teaching and learning materials across schools to support equalization of schools is a big buy in for UCC. He did mention that RCDF is currently creating ICT clubs in schools to help with building the advocacy needed and the support systems in schools. He emphasized that there was a need to bring the urban schools in contact with the rural schools such that classes are brought together online to share the learning environment. We look forward to sharing more about UCC Programs in schools and how ICT Teachers can get involved.

 Closing Ceremony

To conclude the workshop, we shall have a brief closing ceremony. It will start with a group photo of all participants at the stairs of the Mighty Kololo Senior Secondary School, which is also the National In-service Training Center for the SESEMAT program. The head teacher Kololo Senior Secondary school will give closing remarks and finally, certificates of attendance and DVDs with workshop materials will be given to all participants.

Register to attend

A few slots are still available. You can register at agm2018.ictteachersug.net. You can choose to attend one of the days or both. Thw workshop fee is only UGX 20,000 per day. This money will cater for meals, facilities, workshop materials, utilities, security, internet and other administrative costs. An additional hostel fee of UGX 10,000 will be paid by only the residents for accomodation.

Keep updated and keep connected

Visit socialmedia.ictteachersug.net for a list of our growing social network platforms. These include:

Social Media Platforms for Uganda ICT Teachers

Please follow the links below to join/follow the ICT Teachers Social media platforms for realtime updates.

You can also join One of these regional groups for regional coordination.