TeachersTalkingCourse

Back in August 2003, during a needs analysis in Ago-Are, teachers were saying that they wanted to know about ICTs. Teachers interest in ICTs is largely because the government has decided that all teacher who want promotion beyond a certain point must be computer literate. Of course, it is not just Ago-Are teachers who are saying that they want to "know computer". Teachers around Kafanchan, where Fantsuam is based, are also wanting training. Later this month I (Pam McLean) am due to join John Dada and Kazanka Comfort of Fantsuam in Kafanchan for a "Teachers Talking" course that we are presenting..

This is a course about ICTs and is intended to give teachers some inspiration and vision, as well as theoretical and practical knowledge. One short week can be little more than a whistle-stop tour of what ICTs are all about. The teachers on the course can be likened to tourists on a coach tour, being raced around the main sights. The course organisers hope that "the tourists" will at least go home with positive memories and useful “traveller’s tales” to share with their pupils, colleagues and communities.

(More Pictures) The TT support group

In order to provide a “welcome” to “the tourists” when they first log on to the Internet we have set up a yahoo group. The ideas is to create a small virtual community, where the "tourists" can meet people who will help to make them feel at home on the Internet. If you have an interest in teaching or education of any kind, and would like to get to know the TT teachers in rural Nigeria you are welcome to join Background

Increasingly, in countries all around the world, teachers are being told they must be “computer literate” and their pupils must be “computer literate” too. What does it mean to be “computer literate”? What relevance can computer literacy have in rural schools, which have few books, no electricity and certainly no computers? Should teachers, and their students, in rural schools ignore computers and carry on as if they do not exist anywhere? Or do the teachers, and their students, need to understand what is going on where computers are regularly in use? If the students have no computers how can they be helped towards some measure of computer literacy? What can be done to make sure they are not too badly disadvantaged compared to students who do have computers in schools? How can they be prepared for when the opportunities to use computers do arise later in life? What do the teachers need to learn to help their students, and how can they learn it? These are the kinds of questions that the Teachers Talking course sets out to explore. The nature of the course

By the end of the course teachers will be able to discuss issues such as those mentioned above, drawing on their own practical experience. They will have enough information to start reaching their own decisions about the relevance of computer literacy in their own schools, and what they intend to do about it.

The course is called Teachers Talking for several reasons. It aims to give teachers sufficient experience, knowledge and confidence to decide, and talk, and teach about computers and computer literacy. It also offers teachers the chance to experience using computers to communicate. Although people communicate by sending written messages to each other they often describe it as “chatting” – another word for talking. In readiness for the course a small group has been set up consisting of people who use computers for education in other parts of the world. These people – who describe themselves as the Teachers Talking group - hope to be in contact with the teachers who come on the course. This will happen when the teachers learn how to use the Internet to send messages and share information with other education professionals. A practical approach

The course is very practical. Teachers on the course will experience various ways that computers are used in education, and in the wider world. They will try out various things for themselves and should feel confident that, given sufficient opportunity, they know that they could become competant computer users. We will not spend a lot of time developing skills that people will not have the opportunity to practice. We will be more like tourists visiting “the world of computers” – looking at what interests us, trying out one thing and another – but always with a friendly guide on hand to help us find our way.

The course organisers and the teachers on the course know that the teachers are not staying in “the world of computers” they are going back to their rural schools. The course organisers hope that the teachers will go home full of “travellers tales” about what they have seen and done - ready to share their experiences with their colleagues, students and communities. 6 - Course content. By the end of the course it is probable that teachers will have experienced:

• Use of the Internet
• Being part of a virtual community
• E-mailing
• Yahoo groups/discussion lists
• Wikis
• Blogs.
• Searching for information
• Working collaboratively with others – in other parts of the world – to investigate/learn
• Contributing information to a group
• Adding information to a Wiki
• Using an online tutorial to learn new information or a new skill
• Basic word-processing
• Use of database/spreadsheet to manipulate data

• Basics of input, output, information processing, storage, editing (and that the same basic processes apply to all kinds of digital information - words, diagrams, photos, sound, video etc.)
• Uses of computers for office work and school administration
• Uses of computers by teachers for work in the classroom and for non-contact time.
• Computers and communication
• Computers as tools for teaching and learning – for students and for teachers own professional development.
• Various kinds of ICT applications for ODL (Open and Distance Learning)

The course organisers are hoping to run additional Teachers Talking courses in future – repeats of this introductory course and follow up courses – but these are hopes not definite plans at present. Teachers who might want to continue their involvement will be encouraged to stay in touch with the course organisers directly, and with the Teachers Talking yahoo group. The course organisers will also appreciate feed back from teachers about what they actually do when they get back into schools and which parts of the course turn out to have been most useful. This is a participatory course. Rural teachers are the experts on what works in rural schools; their feedback will help the course to increasingly fit the needs of other rural teachers. It is partly because we seek the opinions of the teachers that the course is called Teachers Talking. Summary

The Teachers Talking course organised by Fantsuam Foundation is planned for Monday November 29th to Saturday December 4th in Kafanchan. It is a practical course which takes the approach that the teachers are like tourists on a lightning trip to the "connected community". In readiness for their visit the organisers have set up a welcoming group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CawdTeachersTalking/ . List members are invited to join. The course is also very practical regarding the realities that teachers will face when they get back to their under-resourced classrooms, with no likelihood of electricity or computers. Afternoon practical sessions will be online. Morning practical session will include the preparation of classroom resources and lesson plans.