Learning4Content/Workshops/Face-to-Face schedule/L4C1/Facilitator's report

Face to Face Workshop Report

 * L4C1 Solomon Islands
 * Date: Feb 18-20, 2008
 * Facilitator: David Leeming, Leeming Consulting, Honiara, Solomon Islands tel:76396 email: leeming@pipolfastaem.gov.sb

Contents

 * 1) Executive Summary
 * 2) Participants list
 * 3) Workshop agenda
 * 4) Feedback from participants
 * 5) Observations from the facilitator
 * 6) Costs and contributions
 * 7) Conclusions and recommendations
 * 8) Annex 1: Participants List
 * 9) Annex 2: Agenda
 * 10) Annex 3: Gallery

Participants

 * 16 participants attended the workshop, including:
 * 2 Curriculum Development Officers
 * 1 Teacher Training Officer
 * The Director, Distance Learning Centre, Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE)
 * 7 Distance Learning Centre (DLC) Supervisors
 * 4 Champion Teachers from the schools hosting DLCs
 * The COL Focal Point for Solomon Islands

The gender balance was in favour of males by 14-2.

The full participant list is given in annex 1.

Preparations
The following pre-workshop organising was carried out by the facilitator collaborating with the COL focal point:


 * Finalising participants list and liaising with DLCP regarding their nominees
 * Finalising venue, liaising with Youth First Computer Centre, assisting them in configuring the room and establishing Internet access for 20 computers
 * Printing handouts, photocopying carried out by Ministry
 * Collecting equipment from DLCP and setting up multimedia projector etc

Handouts included:


 * The agenda
 * Cape Town Declaration
 * The 11 workshop lesson notes (about 70 pages)
 * A CD with electronic copies of the lesson notes, lesson slideshows and other useful items such as Open Office 2.3 was made available for participants to copy

This required a significant amount of photocopying – about 70 pages per participant. However the lesson notes were found to be very useful for the participants.

Workshop Agenda
The 3-day workshop schedule downloaded from the Toolkit was followed with some customisation by the facilitator to suit the local context.

In terms of timing, the first day started late and additional time was needed for completion of registration forms and learning contracts. In addition, some additional background discussion was found to be useful.

A quick summary is given below, with additions/deviations to the agenda in annex 2.

DAY 1
The workshop was opened by Bernard Rapasia, the COL Focal Point, a 10am. Introductions and giving out of handouts followed. The facilitator then followed with the following agenda:


 * 1) Introduction to L4C - using the page http://www.wikieducator.org/Learning4Content
 * 2) What you will learn and background - short PowerPoint slideshow prepared by the facilitator on ICT in Education and DFL in the region- objectives of workshop
 * 3) Intro from COL http://wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:Multimedia/Our_project- the “About Our Project” slideshow was shown to the participants
 * 4) Cape Town Declaration- quick summary to the full declaration in the handouts, as background to OERs
 * 5) Certification explained- http://wikieducator.org/WikiMaster- shows you have reached a certain proficiency and opens doors- http://wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:Policy_for_skills_Certification

A session was added to complete the registration forms and Learning Contracts. To add dynamics and stimulate ideas, this was done in pairs with each participant “interviewing” their partner. A short explanation of the learning contract and the type of contributions that participants might make was given.

The lesson program then followed with the slideshows being used to introduce the lesson. The following Wiki and OER websites and related sites were pointed out to participants during the activity “What is a Wiki”:


 * http://www.wikihow.com
 * http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Wiki
 * http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Solomon_Islands
 * http://www.picisoc.org and TIKIWIKI
 * http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/
 * http://www.oercommons.org (good example > maths > 345 triangle)
 * http://www.schoolnet.net.sb
 * http://www.wikieducator.org > Content
 * http://creativecommons.org/license/

The first day concluded with the lesson on basic text editing.

DAY 2
Day 2 continued with the lessons. All the lessons were covered except the “WikiEducator Advanced Features”. Advanced features including maths editing were explained to the more advanced participants on an individual basis. This was found to work well avoiding distracting the intermediate and beginner participants with too much information whilst they were progressing well.

It was also found useful to pair advanced participants with beginners on day 2.

An extended session was given on OERs, returning to the WikiEducator contents page. The participants were asked to explore them and then report back any content that they found particularly of interest.

This session also covered the subject of quality in regard to open and closed content authoring. This was done in groups with each group reporting back. Feedback is given in the section below. In this exercise, a summary of some issues raised in the online workshop was a useful aid in prompting discussion.

DAY 3
Day three followed the programme given in the annex, with each participant concentrating on their contributions. The contributions of each participant are linked to their user pages, and also are brought together on the Solomon Islands page of the WikiEducator. They are listed below in Wiki code:

Solomon_Islands

* How To Make Tumariki Powder

* Worksheet for providing Basic Computer Training in rural communities

* Avuavu DLC

* HandOut for Clasroom Teaching in Mathematics

* Process of weaving a Polynesian custom Basket

* Teaching_Resources

* cultural medicine for toothache

* Usefulness of technology

* Tourism in Lake Tegano

* Sample Lesson for Year 7

* Different methods of cooking

* Day one English Teacher's Guide for Year 1

* Advices for professional teachers

* Pamua Mathematics Post

* Development Studies for Secondary School

* How to harvest Beche-de-mer The facilitator has also committed to completing a contribution:

* OLPC_Handover_Training_Lesson_Plan

The participants completed their content contributions to varying stages. However, it was most important to ensure that regardless of whether they had completed their content, they felt equipped to do so after the workshop.

Feedback from Participants
To be added later:


 * Summary of discussion on quality
 * Responses to evaluation

Observations of the Facilitator

 * 1) The participants made a up a very interesting group consisting of technical facilitators for DFL (the DLC Supervisors), curriculum developers and DFL administrators including teacher training. This created some very useful dynamics. It may be useful to suggest a varied group for future workshops to help create these dynamics and to strengthen networking / collaboration in the country between organisations.
 * 2) Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) was well represented with two CDOs including their best “techie”. They will be further represented in the second workshop. There is one immediate application, the trials for the One Laptop Per Child (Oceania) initiative, where CDC are collaborating with the DLCP, SPC, UQ and others (see http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Solomon_Islands). CDC’s role would be to create examples of curriculum content in electronic/online format to be used in the OLPC trials. The collaborative feature would work well, as University of Queensland are also developing multimedia content for the trials.
 * 3) Almost all of the participants saw the relevance to their own work. This was most noted with the curriculum developers. The school teachers saw less immediate relevance as they are not used to publishing their own content. It was useful to point out the content examples such as the biology lesson plans created by African primary school teachers in the WikiEducator, and also to help them see how they are already constantly creating content in their daily work, and how the WikiEducator can add value to that.
 * 4) The DLC Supervisors, not unexpectedly, did very well and some of the more interested ones may be good candidates to become WikiTrainers.
 * 5) The empowering impact of ICT was noted particularly with Hillmah, Director of DEC, which had been very run down in past years. She was very imaginative and creative – witness her contributions.
 * 6) The notes and slideshow for the lesson on open licensing are a bit too much and a simplified introduction is needed.
 * 7) In subsequent workshops, the following is recommended:
 * 8) * Encourage mixed groups to create dynamics and strengthen networking in-country
 * 9) * Pairing of participants
 * 10) * A simpler introduction to open licenses
 * 11) * A session where participants collaborate on the development of a single wiki page. The facilitator will suggest and try out some ideas and “set pieces” in the next workshop.
 * 12) * Participants should be signed up to Gmail etc, and introduced to the “Alumni” email list and the main WikiEducator/WikiPacifika email list before the workshop, or at least during the first day. This is an important part of keeping those motivated participants supported after the workshop.

Costs and Contributions
To be completed:


 * 1) Venue hire including Internet access upgrade to 256kbps (Youth First Computer Centre)
 * 2) Lunches and refreshment
 * 3) DLCP delegates travel and accommodation costs inc per deims
 * 4) MEHRD per deims
 * 5) Photocopying (estimated)

Annex 1: Participants list
Name: Avis Mamau (Mr)

Username: Avis

Organization: Distance Learning Centres Project (DLCP)

Title/Position: Supervisor, St. Stephen's DLC, Pamua, Makira

Email address: avis.mamau@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Andoss Tausefoki (Mr)

Username: AceT

Organization: Distance Learning Centres Project (DLCP)

Title/Position: Supervisor, Vuranimala DLC, Central Province

Email address: andoss.tausefoki@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Phillip Pukefenua (Mr)

Username: Nukuman

Organization: Distance Learning Centres Project (DLCP)

Title/Position: Supervisor, Bekabeka DLC, Central Province

Email address: phillip.pukefenua@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Roy Atu (Mr)

Username: Atuman

Organization: Distance Learning Centres Project (DLCP)

Title/Position: Supervisor, Avuavu DLC, Guadalcanal Province

Email address: roy.atu@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Peter Kwanairara (Mr)

Username: Peter_kwanairara

Organization: Distance Learning Centres Project (DLCP)

Title/Position: Supervisor, Arnon Atomea DLC, Malaita Province

Email address: peter.kwanairara@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Rhyno Kaitu'u (Mr)

Username: Kai2

Organization: Distance Learning Centres Project (DLCP)

Title/Position: Supervisor, Henua DLC, Central Province

Email address: rhyno.kaituu@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Paul Tauriki (Mr)

Username: Ptauriki

Organization: Distance Learning Centres Project (DLCP)

Title/Position: Supervisor, Guguha DLC, Central Province

Email address: paul.tauriki@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Castro Muaki (Mr)

Username: Raet2castro

Organization: Pamua National Secondary School, Makira

Title/Position: Champion Teacher, St. Stephen's Distance Learning Centre, Pamua, Makira

Email address: castro.muaki@schoolnet.net.sb

Name: Silas Niavuni (Mr)

Username: Ginty

Organization: Vuranimala Community High School, Central Province

Title/Position: Teacher, Vuranimala Distance Learning Centre

Email address: gsniavuni@gmail.com

Name: Daryln Ramo (Mr)

Username: Drylnramo

Organization: Arnon Atomea Community High School, Malu'u, Malaita Province

Title/Position: Teacher, Arnon Atomea Distance Learning Centre

Email address: drlynramo@yahoo.com

Name: Rex Pugeika (Mr)

Username: Pugeika

Organization: Henua Community High School (CHS), Rennell, Rennell Bellona Province

Title/Position: Principal, Henua CHS and Champion Teacher, Henua Distance Learning Centre

Email address: rpugeika@yahoo.com.au

Name: Bernard Rapasia (Mr)

Username: Bernard

Organization: Ministry of Education

Title/Position: TVET Officer and COL Focal Point

Email address: col@mehrd.gov.sb

Phone number (including country code): +677 28803

Name: Phillip Samani (Mr)

Username: PSamani

Organization: Ministry of Education, Curriculum Development Centre

Title/Position: IT Curriculum Develoment Officer

Email address: p_samani@cdc.edu.sb

Phone number (including country code): +677 30116

Name: James Porakari (Mr)

Username: Porajames

Organization: School of Education, SICHE

Title/Position: ICT Specialist and Teacher Training Officer

Email address: porakari@yahoo.com

Phone number (including country code): +677 30502

Name: Hillmah Mollomb (Mrs)

Username: Himol

Organization: Distance Education Centre (DEC), SICHE

Title/Position: Director, DEC

Email address: hilmol17@gmail.com

Phone number (including country code): n/a

Name: Ellen Wairiu (Mrs)

Username: Ewairiu

Organization: Curriculum Development Centre CDC

Title/Position: Curriculum Development Officer

Email address: ewairiu@gmail.com

Phone number (including country code): +677 30738

= Annex 2: 3-day workshop suggested agenda =

= Annex 3: Gallery = To be added