Happy New Year!
It's been some time since I last posted something, but things have changed. My projects in Maputo have ended but that doesn't mean I'll no longer contribute to this blog. On the contrary, I think it would be useful to continue writing about ICT in international development and in education.
Friday 4 January 2013
Thursday 20 September 2012
Moodle workshop
As I mentioned earlier, I have been asked to give a workshop on moodle. Last week it was held in Bilene As you can see from the pic below, it's a great site to relax and enjoy the blue waters. Apparently in November until February this place is full of people. But it's not a bad site to have a workshop, eh?
It involved representatives from INED (Instituto Nacional da Educação à Distância, national institute of distance education), IEDA (Instituto de Educação Aberta e à Distância, institute of open and distance education), DINES (Direção Nacional de Ensino Secundário, national department of secondary education), INDE (Instituto Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Educação, national institute for educational development) and DTIC (Departamento de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação, information and communication technologies department). So why so many departments? INED has the mandate on distance education, they're the ones in charge of all programmes involving distance education. DINES and INDE have the responsibility for the pedagogical and educational material development, IEDA is responsible for implementation, and DTIC, technical support and infrastructure development, which also means capacity building of all involved with the computer resource centres within the education system and the ministry.
What made this workshop very interesting to begin with was that this group of people were chosen to setup and implementation plan using moodle as the core technology. But it became apparent quickly that more is needed for this to be useful in helping out the educational system. There are problems of teachers and school administrators guarding the computers and hoarding the Internet access for themselves. Or in some cases, computers were sent to the wrong location, others, the computers have been sitting in their boxes uninstalled for a year or so. Most of this is due to lack of proper communication and training, or the lack of technical support. So you can understand my confusion when asked to give a workshop on moodle: if we have so many issues with the basic infrastructure, how can we implement such a programme?
The answer is to proceed with what we've got. People here are very resourceful and very eager to make their country a better place for all Mozambicans. As advisers we need to assist them by pointing out the options and their respective pros and cons.
The workshop in the end was a success. We managed to get through an introduction of moodle, understand how this technology could be adapted, and, more importantly, what needs to be put in place and the amount of work needed to get a pilot project up and running. It was also great as we managed to shift the focus from using a tool, in this case moodle, to focusing on who was the client, in this case, the students. This meant answering the questions of what is it they need, what is lacking, what do they want, what do those helping them learn need and want, what would be the challenges, and so on. It is quite important in projects like this to consider the context and target, then look to configure the tool accordingly. Not the other way around.
Going back to computer programming, when I started learning it was more of forcing on the user the programming needs and behaviours. Today form and function are a must, no need to look far: look at the smartphones in your hands, look at the user interfaces of some of the dynamic websites, like Facebook, look at the Apple and Android products. It was really great to see the shift within this group.
It was also quite an intensive workshop from the content and language point of views. An entire week of working and having meals wit everyone meant that it was quite the language immersion, no doubt that this has greatly improved my competency in the language. Not only did I learn new expressions, but I learned a good set of technical terminology.
But step by step ...
On other news, my application for DIRE was accepted, this is the residency permit, the card should be ready by the beginning of October. But seeing how things work here, I might have to wait a little bit longer. While this means that I know longer have to leave the country every thirty days to renew my stay, it means that until I get the actual DIRE card, I'd have to get permission to leave the country if I have to travel outside.
 |
| View of the beach from the hotel. It's a lagoon that's open to the Indian Ocean .... Just absolutely crystal clear water! |
What made this workshop very interesting to begin with was that this group of people were chosen to setup and implementation plan using moodle as the core technology. But it became apparent quickly that more is needed for this to be useful in helping out the educational system. There are problems of teachers and school administrators guarding the computers and hoarding the Internet access for themselves. Or in some cases, computers were sent to the wrong location, others, the computers have been sitting in their boxes uninstalled for a year or so. Most of this is due to lack of proper communication and training, or the lack of technical support. So you can understand my confusion when asked to give a workshop on moodle: if we have so many issues with the basic infrastructure, how can we implement such a programme?
The answer is to proceed with what we've got. People here are very resourceful and very eager to make their country a better place for all Mozambicans. As advisers we need to assist them by pointing out the options and their respective pros and cons.
The workshop in the end was a success. We managed to get through an introduction of moodle, understand how this technology could be adapted, and, more importantly, what needs to be put in place and the amount of work needed to get a pilot project up and running. It was also great as we managed to shift the focus from using a tool, in this case moodle, to focusing on who was the client, in this case, the students. This meant answering the questions of what is it they need, what is lacking, what do they want, what do those helping them learn need and want, what would be the challenges, and so on. It is quite important in projects like this to consider the context and target, then look to configure the tool accordingly. Not the other way around.
Going back to computer programming, when I started learning it was more of forcing on the user the programming needs and behaviours. Today form and function are a must, no need to look far: look at the smartphones in your hands, look at the user interfaces of some of the dynamic websites, like Facebook, look at the Apple and Android products. It was really great to see the shift within this group.
It was also quite an intensive workshop from the content and language point of views. An entire week of working and having meals wit everyone meant that it was quite the language immersion, no doubt that this has greatly improved my competency in the language. Not only did I learn new expressions, but I learned a good set of technical terminology.
This past week was the conclusion of the workshop and proposal development. Yesterday, we, as a group presented it to the directors. All are in agreement with our proposed model: a central server within the Ministry of Education (MINED) that would synchronise with the satellite servers located at each of the resource centres. This helps us minimise the need to send out technical support staff to the sites, streamline content delivery, and keep the system up and running even with interruptions in Internet service. Furthermore, the satellite servers would then become central servers to the provinces' schools upon expansion of the programme. So far there will be 6 schools involved in the pilot project: 2 per province, the provinces being Gaza, Sofala, and Nampula. We would then have a central group of administrators of the server and moodle who will be responsible for the direct training of resource centre managers, tutors, students, and professors (those who would be adapting the content to moodle) - thereby avoiding the cascading training model, a proven failed model. These would be drawn from those who have the technical background to handle such responsibility. In addition, those would be adapting the content would be drawn from within MINED, but it is unclear whether we would be outsourcing the work. So far the discussion is in favour of developing the capacity within the ministry, as outsourcing, while could be cost effective, might hurt us in the long run - it would create an unsustainable dependability.
So with the green light from the directors of all these units, we are now charged with the responsibility of writing the budget, terms of reference, and the exploratory work needed to fix the project plan. Part of the exploratory work is visiting Namibia, apparently they've been good at rolling out a distance education programme using moodle. So it would be good to see how they're doing this from a technical and policy aspect. It also is a relevant project as there are regional issues to take into account. By the way, I was informed that I would be leading this project ;) This is wonderful news, as this is an exciting project and an opportunity to tie in all the capacity building plans we have, and start introducing the use of Linux systems along with the associated technical development. In terms of the latter it would be the beginnings of the foundation necessary to start making a move towards using open source systems within the educational resource centres. But of course, as a volunteer I'm not supposed to lead these projects, that's INED's job, I'll be working from the background.But step by step ...
On other news, my application for DIRE was accepted, this is the residency permit, the card should be ready by the beginning of October. But seeing how things work here, I might have to wait a little bit longer. While this means that I know longer have to leave the country every thirty days to renew my stay, it means that until I get the actual DIRE card, I'd have to get permission to leave the country if I have to travel outside.
Tuesday 21 August 2012
Another workshop
So ... I've got the green light to go ahead and start creating a training workshop on how to install and configure Moodle, what are its capabilities, limitations, and how we can adapt it to Mozambican secondary schools.
The training is to be held in Bilene, a little place north of the city, just south of Xai-Xai. Supposedly a weekend get away for the citizens of Maputo, a little escape to get to enjoy some nice beaches.
But for now, I'm done with my first project, and onto my next. These next few weeks are going to be super busy, but I'm going to learn a lot from this experience, not to mention and excellent opportunity to improve my Portuguese. Thankfully, some if not all the attendents can speak English, and all of them are tech savy.
I must admit that I don't know much about pedagogy, but I do know a bit about technology and its use in knowledge transfer and management. But this is a new area for me ... Learning how we learn and how the use of such technologies such as Moodle facilitate and accelerate that process. In the case of education in Mozambique, Moodle is currently used at the pedagogical university for distance education of university students, although not all subjects are offered, a current project of theirs. This project will look at the introduction of Moodle to 11th and 12th graders, but not in the same sense, i.e., reaching out to distance students. No, it is seen as a possible tool to augment the capacity of a school as there are not enough seats to accommodate the number of students in demand for education. The reasons for that are not very clear to me, but from what little I know now, is that one of the major factors is the lack of teachers. Hopefully, I will know more after the workshop as the attendees are going to be from different institutions involved in secondary and distance education.
The training is to be held in Bilene, a little place north of the city, just south of Xai-Xai. Supposedly a weekend get away for the citizens of Maputo, a little escape to get to enjoy some nice beaches.
But for now, I'm done with my first project, and onto my next. These next few weeks are going to be super busy, but I'm going to learn a lot from this experience, not to mention and excellent opportunity to improve my Portuguese. Thankfully, some if not all the attendents can speak English, and all of them are tech savy.
I must admit that I don't know much about pedagogy, but I do know a bit about technology and its use in knowledge transfer and management. But this is a new area for me ... Learning how we learn and how the use of such technologies such as Moodle facilitate and accelerate that process. In the case of education in Mozambique, Moodle is currently used at the pedagogical university for distance education of university students, although not all subjects are offered, a current project of theirs. This project will look at the introduction of Moodle to 11th and 12th graders, but not in the same sense, i.e., reaching out to distance students. No, it is seen as a possible tool to augment the capacity of a school as there are not enough seats to accommodate the number of students in demand for education. The reasons for that are not very clear to me, but from what little I know now, is that one of the major factors is the lack of teachers. Hopefully, I will know more after the workshop as the attendees are going to be from different institutions involved in secondary and distance education.
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Got me projects
What a view, eh? This is from the balcony of my office at the ICT department, 20th (and last) floor at MINED. The view is facing south to Catembe across the water. I also get a decent workout when the elevators are not working!
And yes, I'm still waiting for my contract, but it's in its final stage ... the almighty signature. They say that this illusive signature should be put to my contract sometime this week. I hope so, but in any case, I think I should look into getting a new police clearance report.
But enough of that!
I've been working with MINED (Ministry of Education) for about a month now. First project was to create a web portal to capture information about the students of the teacher training colleges, some 8,000 - 10,000 students distributed through 24 schools around the country. Now that they are linked to the internet, it is theoretically possible. This information will allow MINED to manage the distribution of teachers throughout the country, make sure that everyone is converting to the new 2 yr curriculum, and then collect final marks at the end of the year.
Other projects I'm going to be involved in:
> Providing training on moodle to a core team that will plan and implement an eLearning platform for 11th and 12th graders in the distance education programme of INED (Instituto Nacional de Educação a distancia). The rough plan, if the green light is given, is to take a month understanding the needs, planning the configuration of moodle, then implementing the pilot project within Maputo city. The results of this phase will then be incorporated into the roll-out plan for the rest of the country.
> Creating another web interface for a student registry. This will contain the list of students (not sure, but I believe these are 12th graders) qualified to take exams. From there bar codes can be generated to affix to their scantron answer sheets. The scantron system works. The problem arises when students do not properly fill in the bubbles, incomplete numbers, or entirely illegible. Once these issues are sorted out, then the staff need to cross-reference the eligibility of the student before filling the database with the student's answers. Now, if the number of erroneous answer sheets were small, then this would not be a problem. It is a big enough problem to delay the release of results for about a month, sometime two. So the idea is smooth out the workflow by eliminating sources of error.
> The third project is a doozy! MINED spends something like USD45K/yr on software licenses for all the schools with computer labs around the country. With a growing number of schools getting computer labs and connecting to the internet, this number will continue growing, eating up a major chunk of the budget. One solution is to bargain with the suppliers, i.e., Microsoft, for better education prices. However, that will eventually reach a limit. The other logical solution is to move to open source operating systems and software. So the question how would we do that when the capacity to support such systems is either non-existent of very very small. Yes, this is like planning to dominate the world!! But other organisations, municipalities, and education systems have shifted to the open source model. And why not? you have a fully functional and stable system for free, thousands of supporters around the world, multiple languages to use, robust security, and more importantly, very easy to remotely managed. So, yes I've got my hands full with this project. I hope that by the end of my placement we would have at least started a pilot phase, if not start rolling out the conversions and building capacity.
You may have detected a recurring phrase here ... capacity building. A continuous process with all you interact when working in international development.
"Capacity building, also referred to as capacity development, is a conceptual approach to development that focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations from realising their developmental goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results" - wikipedia
I've noticed that many have the skills, the thought processes, the know-how, and the resourcefulness to achieve their objectives. However, there are many challenges, and not many perceived solutions. This is a delicate process: first build the relationship and confidence with your counterpart(s), then you build their confidence in their abilities, and then you can start to work in earnest at the tasks at hand. A lengthy process, especially when there are deadlines to meet. So no, I don't know all of what is encompassed in the term "Capacity building", but I'm learning.
Now onto the geeky stuff. Technical warning: I will indulge in a bit of geekery, but this is not a programming post ... those will come later ;)
I'm using CakePHP to program the database interface (frontend), while the database (backend) is PostgreSQL.
CakePHP has the same conceptual framework as RubyOnRails namely, it provides the internal bits and bobs to create a dynamic web portal/site, and all you have to provide is the code to handle the content. It is a MCV framework: M = model, C = controller, and V = views. The idea is that the model represents your tables within your database, the objects within the model are the data, the methods are then used to retrieve, delete, edit, or delete objects and their relationships within the tables. The Controller contains the code on how to handle the data, as well as any needed data processing, which is then passed onto the views. The views are the templates for the content that is presented to the user. There is another PHP framework called Symfony that seems to be used more, but I must admit, that approached the selection of a PHP framework from the point of view of RubyOnRails. I will endeavour to use it in future projects. However, the beauty of these frameworks is the ability to define relationships between the models. RubyOnRails has a beautiful implementation of these relationships. For example, a database of students, their cars, and classes would have the following relationships:
So where am I with this software project? It's completed ... I just need to translate the interface into Portuguese! But I'll have help from the team. One of whom is interested in programming :D so I'll start building a software development team with him.But not all is well and good ... there are problems. I've been provided with an office, space to work, and a computer. So yesterday, I was asking the my boss about the need for login credentials. "Not needed, if you do, then I'll create one for you. No problem." So here I am standing over a computer that is beeping ... a sound usually associated with a fried motherboard. So the curious monkey that I am opened it, and what do I find? No not a monkey, nor dust bunnies. It's clean ... its memory banks are empty. Yes, the memory cards and of several other computers were stolen. And now that the hunt is on, two computers were found missing along with hard drives, some mice and keyboards. An inside job.
And yes, I'm still waiting for my contract, but it's in its final stage ... the almighty signature. They say that this illusive signature should be put to my contract sometime this week. I hope so, but in any case, I think I should look into getting a new police clearance report.
But enough of that!
I've been working with MINED (Ministry of Education) for about a month now. First project was to create a web portal to capture information about the students of the teacher training colleges, some 8,000 - 10,000 students distributed through 24 schools around the country. Now that they are linked to the internet, it is theoretically possible. This information will allow MINED to manage the distribution of teachers throughout the country, make sure that everyone is converting to the new 2 yr curriculum, and then collect final marks at the end of the year.
Other projects I'm going to be involved in:
> Providing training on moodle to a core team that will plan and implement an eLearning platform for 11th and 12th graders in the distance education programme of INED (Instituto Nacional de Educação a distancia). The rough plan, if the green light is given, is to take a month understanding the needs, planning the configuration of moodle, then implementing the pilot project within Maputo city. The results of this phase will then be incorporated into the roll-out plan for the rest of the country.
> Creating another web interface for a student registry. This will contain the list of students (not sure, but I believe these are 12th graders) qualified to take exams. From there bar codes can be generated to affix to their scantron answer sheets. The scantron system works. The problem arises when students do not properly fill in the bubbles, incomplete numbers, or entirely illegible. Once these issues are sorted out, then the staff need to cross-reference the eligibility of the student before filling the database with the student's answers. Now, if the number of erroneous answer sheets were small, then this would not be a problem. It is a big enough problem to delay the release of results for about a month, sometime two. So the idea is smooth out the workflow by eliminating sources of error.
> The third project is a doozy! MINED spends something like USD45K/yr on software licenses for all the schools with computer labs around the country. With a growing number of schools getting computer labs and connecting to the internet, this number will continue growing, eating up a major chunk of the budget. One solution is to bargain with the suppliers, i.e., Microsoft, for better education prices. However, that will eventually reach a limit. The other logical solution is to move to open source operating systems and software. So the question how would we do that when the capacity to support such systems is either non-existent of very very small. Yes, this is like planning to dominate the world!! But other organisations, municipalities, and education systems have shifted to the open source model. And why not? you have a fully functional and stable system for free, thousands of supporters around the world, multiple languages to use, robust security, and more importantly, very easy to remotely managed. So, yes I've got my hands full with this project. I hope that by the end of my placement we would have at least started a pilot phase, if not start rolling out the conversions and building capacity.
You may have detected a recurring phrase here ... capacity building. A continuous process with all you interact when working in international development.
"Capacity building, also referred to as capacity development, is a conceptual approach to development that focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations from realising their developmental goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results" - wikipedia
I've noticed that many have the skills, the thought processes, the know-how, and the resourcefulness to achieve their objectives. However, there are many challenges, and not many perceived solutions. This is a delicate process: first build the relationship and confidence with your counterpart(s), then you build their confidence in their abilities, and then you can start to work in earnest at the tasks at hand. A lengthy process, especially when there are deadlines to meet. So no, I don't know all of what is encompassed in the term "Capacity building", but I'm learning.
Now onto the geeky stuff. Technical warning: I will indulge in a bit of geekery, but this is not a programming post ... those will come later ;)
I'm using CakePHP to program the database interface (frontend), while the database (backend) is PostgreSQL.
CakePHP has the same conceptual framework as RubyOnRails namely, it provides the internal bits and bobs to create a dynamic web portal/site, and all you have to provide is the code to handle the content. It is a MCV framework: M = model, C = controller, and V = views. The idea is that the model represents your tables within your database, the objects within the model are the data, the methods are then used to retrieve, delete, edit, or delete objects and their relationships within the tables. The Controller contains the code on how to handle the data, as well as any needed data processing, which is then passed onto the views. The views are the templates for the content that is presented to the user. There is another PHP framework called Symfony that seems to be used more, but I must admit, that approached the selection of a PHP framework from the point of view of RubyOnRails. I will endeavour to use it in future projects. However, the beauty of these frameworks is the ability to define relationships between the models. RubyOnRails has a beautiful implementation of these relationships. For example, a database of students, their cars, and classes would have the following relationships:
- A student has a car
- A student belongs to many classes
So where am I with this software project? It's completed ... I just need to translate the interface into Portuguese! But I'll have help from the team. One of whom is interested in programming :D so I'll start building a software development team with him.But not all is well and good ... there are problems. I've been provided with an office, space to work, and a computer. So yesterday, I was asking the my boss about the need for login credentials. "Not needed, if you do, then I'll create one for you. No problem." So here I am standing over a computer that is beeping ... a sound usually associated with a fried motherboard. So the curious monkey that I am opened it, and what do I find? No not a monkey, nor dust bunnies. It's clean ... its memory banks are empty. Yes, the memory cards and of several other computers were stolen. And now that the hunt is on, two computers were found missing along with hard drives, some mice and keyboards. An inside job.
Thursday 26 July 2012
You can dance!
On the cultural front, I wanted to share with you a bit of the music, especially the dances ... I've included a clip from a concert and another of a traditional dance during the children's day festivities ... take a look:
It is quite amazing to see people dance: so happy, so relaxed, so into it! The music definitely drives you. I've already started to learn pieces of mozambican rhythms on the djembe. Several weeks ago, ok ... more than a month ago, we were at a going away party for a dear friend and I ended jamming with a few musicians ... more of me learning their rhythms and styles. Due to the form of the arabic tabla and the normal way of holding it, one uses more their fingers and almost always one hand is dominant as it sits across your lap. With the djembe secured between your knees you don't have the same restrictions, therefore you could do some crazy rhythms! I definitely need more practice, but what usually happens is that you struggle for a few attempts and then you flow with it, especially when you're drumming with others.
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