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Hello Sandra,

Thank you for introducing me to a team of hardworking and

enthusiastic teachers and children of Hand of Charity. I thoroughly

enjoyed my stay with them and learned pretty much from them myself.

DAY 1: Monday 14th Dec. 2015. ARRIVAL

I arrived at Bungoma late – 9.30pm. Fred and a pastor were there to

pick me. I travelled with the pastor on the dirt road that very night to

Bukokholi village. I found some of the teachers already there. (I only

realized the next day that they were not actually Fred’s family members

but part of the participants!).

My Three Day Meeting with Educators of Hands of Charity at

Bukokholi Village, Bungoma, Kenya – 15th to 17th Dec. 2015

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Day 2: Tuesday 15th Dec. 2015

In the morning I met Esther, Agnes Kitui, Wasike Rose, Isaac, Wekesa Rose, Machebe Elizabeth

and Bonaventure Masika who introduced himself as the program supervisor.

I decided that I should first hear from them about what they do in the program to give me an

insight and help me know how to steer the meeting’s activities.

Masika took the lead in sharing the activities they carried out. He said the program aims at

giving basic computer skills to the learners. He said Wikipedia proved to be an invaluable item

for the students who always searched for information for it. The teachers shared activities like

Sugar Lab and Print Activity in which they engage the learners.

Apparently, many adults, especially those doing courses in universities and other institutions

always would come to search for information from Wiki. Masika said they expanded their

program to take on a HIV/AIDS project, jigger eradication, trash collection. One of those for

which they have a lot enthusiasm is A Wild Life in campaign for Black Rhinos.

I got curious to know what really kept them going on with it. They reported enjoying working

with the kids. Masika said the kind of recognition accorded him by member of the community

spurs him on in the program.

In my own assessment, the teachers are highly motivated to make a difference in the lives of

the children and they have considerable know-how of the available technology. What they

needed was a knowledge and experience in innovative, 21st century approaches in learning. I

therefore decided to concentrate more on project based learning as what the centre can fully

embrace. Technical know-how, in my opinion can be handled later on needs basis.

PROJECT BASED LEARNING.

I then introduced the teachers to project based learning as a 21st century approach to learning.

I explained that it is a learner driven learning program in which the learners are actively

engaged in problem solving of real world issues that affect them. As a learner driven program,

the students identify with the problem at hand and are inspired to learn everything to solve it.

I then played a video clip giving a brief explanation of what project based learning is:

Youtube link to project based learning explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMCZvGesRz8

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I then pointed out key differences between PBL and the traditional method of learning.

PBL Traditional

Learner centered Teacher centered

Compartmentalized into subjects Inter-disciplinary

Tends to be judgmental; punishing mistakes Mistakes are often opportunities for

reflections and evaluation

Greater emphasis on cognitive learning Emphasis on all the three domains of learning

Emphasis on memorization Aims at higher order thinking

Competitive learning Teamwork; collaboration

Tends to be less concerned with technology Technology as an integral tool of learning

Little regards for individual differences Complete attention to individual differences.

Disregard for student exhibition Exhibition is an integral part of learning

activity

I also took time to explain the general need to revisit the purpose of education if the real

benefit of PBL and technology in learning activities are to be realized. I stressed particularly the

need to equitably attend to the three domains of learning and the need to drive the learners to

higher order thinking even as we attend to the lower order thinking. I also laid emphasis on

individual differences of learners.

I further stated that there are two key elements in PBL which needs to be present – making the

program learner driven and ensuring active participation and in-depth knowledge of their

chosen subject matter. I stated that learners have their own experiences and concerns for

which they should be given opportunity to express and build on. It is crucial that the learners

work on projects they identify with and own if PBL is to be of any meaning. I emphasized the

fact that projects by their very nature have a start and an end. They start with the learners

conceiving an idea and ending with final feedback and evaluation.

I further outline key steps/activities in project based learning.

• Recognizing or identifying a need/problem • Identifying target beneficiaries. • Formulating clear aims and objectives • Identifying methodologies. • Identifying tools and resourceful persons • Drawing up a work plan • Executing of the plan • Punctuated by continuous reviews, critique, and self evaluation • Completed work outcome/end product to the identified beneficiaries • Feedback from the field and further self-evaluation • Exhibition/Sharing of learning experiences in the whole process

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I added that project based learning is not a one day affair but may take months, a full school term or even a year. I laid more emphasis on the importance of evaluation which is all involving and takes very many forms. For instance:

Taking note of students’ increased enthusiasm to participate and learn

Taking note of how they come up with their own ideas either for the ongoing project or for a new one.

Asking students to make reflections of their learning points in written or spoken form.

Evaluation at individual level or as a class/program

We spend the afternoon interacting with the learners who had gathered in a house I was

informed belongs to a church. The kids were busy engaged in using the XO machines for various

individual activities. They were rather shy at sharing out what they do in their learning

activities.

Day 3: Wednesday 16th Dec 2015

On the morning of this day, the educators generally said that the idea of learner driven learning

was new to them but would be happy to employ it in their program.

I then took time to share with them PBL outcomes of my learners: A musical, The Power is in

Your Hands, a self portrait documentary, A Voice for Orphans and one other, about juice

making and nutritional values of fruits.

Wrath of a Stepmother https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dETML4E819M

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Youtube link of A Voice for Orphans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC76foMCtFk Youtube link of The Power is in Your Hands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6jM7OZfy28

The Making of Watermelon and Passion Fruits Juice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmiOo01S_Ag

The educators were very much impressed by the media work. I shared with them how the two media pieces were conceived by the learners. A Voice for Orphans was the idea of one of the learners on the team. She thought there was need to address major issues affecting orphans in Uganda. The second media, The Power is in Your Hands was outcome of an inspirational speech of a young lady living with HIV. I stressed that the starting of a project does not have one special formula. It may start in several ways but the most important thing is the learners input and role in deciding.

I revisited some of the key steps in the process of PBL. I however pointed out that the steps may vary from one project to another depending on needs and preferences of the learners.

I shared a media documentary of project based learning in a school in USA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3jD7LJ6AWw - followed by a behind-the-scenes documentary of Wrath of a Stepmother - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxAhkmiX_4A

We used my laptop to view the media items

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The educators were fascinated by how radically different things were as depicted in the videos. They noticed the fact that the teacher in the first video was very patient with his students. They also noted the great involvement of parents in the program. They were also impressed by the quality of the video produced by the PMM Girls’ Students given their age and level of experience. They took note of the high level concentration of the learners in their learning activities and their in-depth knowledge of what they were studying.

The educators expressed the desire to try their hands at mentoring their learners in media making too.

In the afternoon of the same day, I shared with the educators an inspirational piece. The Story of the Hummingbird, featuring a narration by the Kenyan Nobel Piece Laureate, Wangari Maathai.

Youtube link to “The Story of the Hummingbird” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGMW6YWjMxw The educators were very excited by this message. Some of teachers saw a little bit of

themselves in the Elephant as well as the Hummingbird in the video. My message for them is

that they just have to do the little they can in impacting lives of the learners and their

community. I hinted that they could lace their PBL program with such inspirational talks, be it

from a video or a physical presence of an inspirational speaker.

We then embarked on a two hours activity of going through the process of purposeful media

creation in PBL. I shared with them the steps in media making and the various forms of media.

We then had a hands-on activity of creating a panel of discussion form of media, addressing

issue of drug abuse. Each of the participants took a role – a drug addict, a rehabilitated one

time addict, a police officer, a social worker, moderator and camera lady. I acted as the

director.

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We took a break to go hiking in the nearby rocky hills before returning to do post-production

work – reviewing and editing. Machede took lead in learning to edit, all before power cut at

8.30pm. The work couldn’t go on. She however was very excited about the opportunity to

create a multimedia in video format.

DAY 4: Thursday 17th Dec. 2016

We could not continue with the editing practice this morning either because there was still no

power.

We used the time to reflect on what was learnt in the previous days and pave a way forward.

I asked the educators for responses from each of them to the following questions:

1. What do you intend to do or can do differently having undergone the workshop? 2. What else would you like to see covered but has not been handled in the workshop?

Below are their responses:

I will place more emphasis on preparing the learners in a project.

I will reflect more on my mistakes and see how to do away with them.

I will ensure that the learners make feedback and participate in evaluation of themselves and their projects.

I will ensure emphasis on the learners taking the lead in deciding the course of their project.

I have liked the fact that the US educator shown in the video about PBL is not judgmental but listens to and encourages his students even when they make mistakes or do not do the work well. I will try to work like him.

Ms. Machede Elizabeth’s fast improving skills in video editing were rudely disrupted by power cut.

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I will work to ensure more parental involvement in the students’ learning activities.

I will revive sharing of success stories by the learners

I will place equal emphasis on educating the heart, the mind and the hands of my learners.

We have to accept mistakes by our learners and of our own because they help show the way forward.

Support and guide the learners to make their own decision.

Try to understand and agree with what the learners have decided but not to force them to do what they do not agree with.

I have learnt that young people have to learn to decide for themselves.

As a teacher, we should not fear the views of the learners even if they go against our own.

Laptops and other forms of technology are ladders for the community to see more of the world.

When I find a problem, I should share it with the kids for them to analyze and solve.

Planning is the key in successful project.

On the second question the following were addressed:

I shared ideas of how to make a work-plan for their program; giving them the main features of a

work-plan. As for creating of a curriculum, what I shared with them was that the nature of a PBL

project determines the course to take. However, separate curriculum could be put in place for

subjects like languages and mathematics as well as social studies. These can run alongside the

project based learning activities.

They also consulted about how to give awards for the pupils. In my view there are several forms

of awards they can be given to the learners but one principal one could be a certificate on

completing a project. A learner’s full time participation in the project is however more crucial if

the certificate is to bare any meaning. I also offered that it is very important to be mindful of

individual differences in awarding learners for excelling. One who may be good at editing may

not be good at singing for instance.

I then shared with the educators, some key learning outcomes/skills to look out for at the

end of a successfully conducted project:

The spirit of collaboration

Global awareness, understanding and citizenship

Awareness of cultural diversity and sense of tolerance towards one another.

Self confidence and self esteem and assertiveness in their attitudes and feelings

Confidence in handling technology for constructive purposes

Passion for the things they do in the projects.

Ability to have self discipline to work with minimum supervision.

Heightened interest and enthusiasm in studies.

Being conscious of community needs and concerns

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The desire to be proactive in addressing issues

Developed critical thinking

High interest in creating and innovating.

Developing of interest in pursuing a particular career. I further stated that the way to add value and make a difference in Hands of Charity is to create and be innovative by

1. Going beyond classroom or institution by engaging community 2. Addressing immediate issues affecting communities they live in 3. Having a learner driven program in which the teacher is just a facilitator and guide. 4. Embracing the spirit of collaboration and networking at many levels: -teacher to

teacher, student to student, one group to another, school to school, community to school, etc.

5. Aim at cost effectiveness and efficiency in utilization of available resources. Live within your means to do things as an institution, teacher, student etc.

6. Recognize the invaluable role of technology in creating and innovating to enhance learning.

In between our meeting, I shared with Fred the need for him to show more presence by building a global network. I suggested that he submits a presentation for the next eLearning Africa conference due for Cairo Egypt. There are normally full conferences scholarships for which he can apply. I did express my wish to make another visit to train the teenagers to be part of my iEARN project and introduce them to the iEARN coordinator in Kenya, Mr. Angule Gabriel. I can also use the moment to introduce them to Microsoft in Education program.

Fred holds the view that I should support them in kick starting project based learning with his students. I am willing to do so. My view is that the kids are split up into groups, each guided by an educator. Each group then embarks on a project of their choice. They should also aim at making one large exhibition similar to what we are arranging for

the Jinja Primary Schools in November next year.

The program ended at 11.30am Chole Richard – 19th Dec. 2015

One last photo with the educators before I set off for home