Kenya Teachers Computing Online Book Club

Kenya Teachers Computing Online Book Club #WeSpeakComputingKE The future of learning is undoubtedly mobile, personal and self-directed. Whether it is effective or not depends on what exactly is being “personalized, “but “getting out of the way “and focusing on how to learn rather than what to learn is a shift difficult to fault. The two could form the core of formal education models. Education experts indicate that as we progress in the 21st century, online learning will constitute 50% of all learning and education. Cognitive learning on the internet is better than learning in-person. The endless amount of information in the internet is at disposal through a computer or mobile phone connected to the internet. This hands-on tool allows students to relate their interests on a personal level which is believed to motivate students to do better in school. Many educators believe it can encourage the type of independent students need to progress in their leaning processes. That will prepare them with the required knowledge and skills to survive in a world where information has become the new currency! Apart from benefiting the students, teachers and other staff members especially those furthering their education will be able to do research easily. The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. #Quote “Leading innovation is not about getting people to follow you into the future, it is about getting people to co-create it with you.” -Linda A.Hill-Harvard Business School Personal Learning Network (PLN) Learning can happen anywhere at any time from anyone and anything. Your connections and any information you see are learning experiences that can help you grow personally and professional There is nothing new about PLNs.They are the people and information sources that help you meet your learning goals. Building your PLN means that you not only seek to learn from others but you also help others in the network learn. Anyone can make a contribution .Your PLN can be your most powerful learning tool no matter what the subject. Your PLN can connect you to others and to information in ways never thought possible a few years ago. Ranging from using Google to search for information, trends, maps, and even literature reviews. Social networks to connect to friends, work contacts, and finding friends. What they are doing in Twitter, updates on their conversations and links to new information. Joining groups and learn from wall post from Facebook. #quotes “One child, One Teacher, One book, and One pen can change the world. Mala Yusafzai-United Nations Youth Assembly, 12 July 2015. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow, Learn as if you were to live forever.” -Mahatma Gandhi 'Giving Every Student an Opportunity to Learn Through Computer Science For All' “In the new economy, computer science isn’t an optional skill-it’s a basic skill, right along with the three “Rs” -Barack Obama-USA President https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/01/30/weekly-address-giving-every-student-opportunity-learn-through-computer Today we need graduates who Know How to do what they were not taught. -SymourPapert (2002) http://www.papert.org/article/BodeMiller.html Kenya has high internet penetration and mobile subscription rates in sub-Saharan Africa. And, one of the bonuses of having the internet is the ability to never stop learning. For the jobs of today, and in the future, are in science, technology, engineering and math STEM, art and design STEAM and computer science. The intersection of STEM, open educational resources (OER), and computer programming is the focus of a number of the articles published on open source.com in 2015.They highlight a growing interest in all three areas where students, parents and educators have the opportunity to immerse themselves in education as never before. Introducing the Kenya Computing Teacher Online Book Club which will offer: voluntary, open and free membership to all Kenyan educators: primary, secondary, tertiary and university levels).Its primary aim is to boost and promote a culture of profession development. Through empowering teachers and the Kenyan educators through connected resources. Which can be accessed, used face to face, off-line modes and or blended as the situation requires and demands. #quotes “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go with others.” -African Proverb “We read to know that we are not alone.” -C.S.Lewis #on reading Designing with Teachers: Participatory Approaches to Professional Development in Education The role that teachers occupy in their professional development is a central consideration for designing support and activities. Many professional development opportunities treat teachers as consumers, neglecting fundamental understanding about how people learn, as evidenced by language like “teacher training. “As Papert (1993) argued, for designers of professional development opportunities, teachers must be respected as learners. Teachers need to be treated as designers of learning environment, not merely agents, enacting a vision, following a prescription for pedagogy. Teachers need to be treated as co-designers of their learning experiences in professional development. Way forward... • Get education, whether formal or informal “If time and resources are available .get a degree; if time and resources are limited, get a certificate; if time and resources are non-existent, find a mentor and or read some books there!!! • Go beyond formal learning: “Look at options to “knowledge acquisition”to”knowledge application” • Never stop learning “Become a learner yourself and you’ll have the edge when connecting with your audience. Develop a passion for knowledge and always pay attention to how content is structured and presented.” • Develop skills associated with educating others “With the myriad of available resources, such as books, webinars, MOOCs, certificate programs, and more, as well as abundant determination on your part, you can learn the fundamentals of education and the Instruction Systems Design approach. Empower teachers through connected resources; -Accessing ,sharing ,collaborating and exploring these resources is made easy as possible by communicating and connecting via channels such as: i. Discussion groups ii. .Email iii. .social media tools: iv. Google community, blog v. Social media… vi. Work in a new project weekly/monthly depending on the duration vii. Talk, exchange-experience, and provide resources. viii. Post discussion topic in the teacher Google Community, Twitter create hashtag, blog, Telegram ix. Provide voluntary weekly or monthly Mentorship program for pre-post-service.(mentorship provides positive change for both mentor and mentee) x. .Educators need to share thousands of resources and questions .To accompany various online community activities. xi. In future there is a need for face-t-face and online gatherings where teachers can gain deep understanding of the professional development course they are taking; this will include monthly introductory regional workshops,seminars,conferences ,meetups for educators with experiences, webinars that are recorded and shared on online communities, curriculum guidance and downloads are also essential. xii. Limited commitment-Just participate in occasional online evaluations   Our Core Tasks& Objectives: The combination of online plus offline classes’ resources will provide flexibility in self-tutelage style, allowing educators to choose the right balance for their engagements .The length of accessing a book and other resources for a particular topic, session or discipline is flexible, deliverable in 6,9,12,18 weeks or more, depending on the time available and the entire work to be covered. Items to be covered and not limited to: • ICT in education and technology(UNESCO model) • Databases (MS Access, My SQL etc.), • Programming/Coding(HTML/CSS,Scratch,Python,Django,Minecraft,Javascript,C,C++,C#,Ruby,PHP,Swift • MIT App Inventor, Android development, Microsoft Studio and Azure, Microsoft Apps Creator Touch Develop, Mobile Software, Game Design, • projects, • Computational Thinking,Cryptography,cyber security training and control, • Linux. • Social media and Networks,Digital Literacy,Digital Citizenship, • wearable s,learning analytic s, cloud computing • Robotics Education, Computer Engineering,Git /Github, • Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence,3D Printing, Internet of Things, • Virtual Reality,MOOCs,Open Source,Big Data,Microsoft Edu,Google Edu,Apple Edu,Adobe Edu,TED-Ed Talks and Clubs • Climate Change,Entrepreneurship. Crowd.Crowd Funding, Chess, hackathons,boot camps. • Usage of webinars,blogs,social media(Google community,Twitter,Facebook,Google+,Linkedln,WhatsApp,Telegram,Instagram,You Tube channel, Skype,),communication tools(UberConference,Blue Jeans,Slack,Google+,hangouts) #Never Stop Learning “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young” -Henry Ford “Let your dreams be bigger than your fears, your actions louder, than your words, and your faith stronger than your feelings.” -Unknown. 'I have a dream. So said Martin Luther King Jr on 28th of August, 1963 and it inspired the humanity to dream, to believe and to make impossible the possible! Of all the dreams I have nurtured, the most cherished and close to my heart is to work closely with my fellow colleague educators and communities to: Communicate, Create, Innovate share and collaborate on promoting computing activities in Kenya and at the global stage as all. To make access and learning of computing universal.' Computing Everyday life is increasingly regulated by complex technologies that most people neither understand nor believe they can do much to influence. The very technologies they create to control their environment paradoxically can become a constraining force that, in turn, controls how they think and behave. (Bandura, 2001, P.17) Therefore there is an increasing sense of urgency that everyone should be able to participate as writers of computational culture. This need has been expressed by a variety of source ,including computer science education researchers(e.g.Guzdial & Forte,2005,literary theorists(e.g.Hayles,2005)and government agencies (e.g.Chopra,2012),and stems ,in part ,from a concern that unless we understand how to actively participate in computational culture we risk being controlled by it. Computing is a new subject. It draws together the strands of computer science, information technology and digital literacy, and seeks to equip children with computational thinking skills and the creativity they need to understand and change the world. The ubiquitous nature of computing has spread its reach into everyone’s daily lives. Securing our cyber –infrastructure, protecting national security, and making our energy infrastructure more efficient are many numerous issues all depending on computing. Today’s students are required to make decisions about their educational and career pathways often as early as middle school. Studying computer science in high school alerts them to the fact that computer science is an exciting educational discipline and provides an important skill set for students entering any career area, including other sciences where innovation and breakthroughs increasingly depend on the contributed knowledge of computer scientists. A fundamental understanding of computing and computational or algorithmic thinking is increasingly important to success in the digital age. Computing education will benefit all students, not just those interested in pursuing computer science or information technology careers. Computer science develops and extends logical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students who participate in high school computing classes and have previous experience with technology demonstrate improved readiness for post-secondary studies. Schools aren’t teaching pupils the basics of computing anymore-they are just teaching them how to use software. “Children are learning about applications, which are pretty low-value skills. We need to give students opportunities to learn programming, encourage computational, which is a way of thinking about solving problems. It has applications across the curriculum. Pupils would gain enormously from knowing about.” Technology is reinventing the world. Kids need new skills to prepare them for a successful career in the future but the current (Information Communications Technology and or Computer Studies curriculum in Kenya and as it’s in most parts of the world, does not include them, which is quite alarming!! Cool: Meet the woman who is teaching 20,000 Ghanaian kids to code https://twitter.com/ICTchamps_ke/status/6935681594340114720?s=09 This is why the Kenya Teachers Computing Online Book Club : Comes in! Its volunteer led, on and after school digital fun book club that will equip our educators with the much needed computing knowledge and skills. Which will be transferred seamless to our millennial generation of kid’s later in Kenya. That if the kids are trained in the right skills, the country will breed more entrepreneurs,innovators and problem solvers who are needed in every ministry to develop logical thinking, persist at tasks and learn to collaborate to develop the nation and the world. Pupils need to understand the mechanisms and coding behind computer programmes-not just learning how to use a word processor, enter data into a worksheet or design a power-point presentation. Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use word or excel by bored teachers, we could have 11-years-olds able to write simple 2D/3D computer animations. The New Envisaged Kenyan Education Curriculum : Let us envisage a new curriculum that could have 16-year-olds creating their own apps for smartphones and 18-year-olds able to write their own simple programming language. Coding is also a part of the core curricula in some countries: England, Estonia, Denmark, Israel, Finland, Australia, Hong Kong, parts of the USA and Germany. Computing At School CAS The Computing At School CAS working group recognises that computer science (CS) and Information Technology (IT) are disciplines within computing that like maths or history, every pupil should meet at school. The rationale is argued in “computing at school: the state of the nation “and reflected in the Royal Society Report, “Shut down or restart?” Source(s) http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/data/uploads/CAS_UKRC_report.pdf http://www.computingatschool.org.uk http://royalsociety.org/education/policy/computing-in-schools/report In a nutshell: Every pupil should appreciate that computation ideas inform and illuminate other disciplines, and this should be reflected in the teaching of these disciplines at school. Like numeracy and literacy there is a cognitive strand of computing that offers valuable thinking skills to learners of all ages (e.g.algorithmic s, logic, visualization, precision.abstraction? The program is endorsed by Microsoft and Google companies in general. #Notable quotes “Coding is a really important language to learn as-important as English, someday.” -Tim Cook-Apple CEO “Computer Science is to the information revolution what mechanical engineering was to the industrial revolution” -Robert Keller #ChangeAgents Effective #ChangeAgents as leaders will listen,learn,and help craft shared goals and shared narratives to bring diverse groups of people together. NB: Please feel free to fill and add up your details to the following fields to enable us come with a comprehensive database of the Kenyan and other international educators who will be interested and wish to be a part and a parcel of the Kenya Teachers Online Book Club Members. We,guarantee your privacy will and it will be protected under the framework of the KENYA INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS ACT http://www.ca.go.ke/index.php/public-consultations/93-general/254-kenya-communications-regulations-2009 Also,if you don't want to get contacted about opportunities like this in future,feel free to respond letting me know and I'll pull you off the list. “Coding is the new literacy. To thrive in tomorrow’s society, young people must learn to design, create and express themselves with digital technologies,” says Mitchel Resnick, a media arts and sciences professor at the MIT Media Lab. We aspire students to be creators and not just consumers of tomorrows' technology,and that includes students of all backgrounds Use cloud computing & save the environment Connect,Share & Collaborate Categories:Kenya,computing,online,teacher professional development,computational thinking,robotics