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<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;"><b>TAKING </b><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;">IT</span> TO RURAL SCHOOLS</b><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;">At the heart of Meru district, a dusty
road leads to Ruiga girls’ school. It is a typical village school with no power
and vehicles to the shopping centre operate only on market days. </p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;">To access it, one needs prior
information, if it rained; don’t bother visiting because the road is
impassable. The school is two kilometers from the road with no public
transport.</p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;">Imagine this: the school has an
integrated system that allows teachers to teach mathematics, chemistry, biology
and physics using animated computer graphics and has an integrated system that
allows parents to monitor students’ academic and disciplinary progress from the
internet. </p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;">The imagination can roll on to the
classroom where the teachers use LCD projectors in place of black boards and
exam past papers are available online. The assignments are forwarded via email
and teachers, parents and students are in constant communication. </p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;">Well, this is the dream that the
headmistress of the school has dared to dream. The school is typical of many
village schools but wants to be the pioneer of computer technology in the area.
</p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;">This school imposes itself as the
testimony of the determination by <span style="" lang="EN-GB">Cyber School Technology Solutions (CSTS) of providing quality
educational services to schools in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kenya-</st1:place></st1:country-region> whether rural or urban.</span></p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">With no power and coming from a place where computers are still
perceived as myths, CSTS is proving that all students can enjoy world-class
teaching aids that enhance the learning environment.</span></p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">Fatma Bashir, chief marketing officer at CSTS narrated to ICT
stakeholders gathered for the KICTANet forum how she has had to teach
communities about benefits of computers before embarking on her mission to
promote educational packages.</span></p>
<p class="li" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">“One time a headmistress of another school blocked us from entering the
school because we were introducing ‘<strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">bad pictures through the internet’</span></strong>
to the students. I took time to explain to the teachers the benefits of
computers in schools, and that we had good intentions,” Bashir told the forum.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CSTS develops teaching resources, aligned to specific
syllabi, featuring 3D animations. Each Unit within a Chapter apart from 3D
animations contains 2D animations, visuals, charts, experiments and other
reference materials required by teachers in a classroom environment. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Today, Ruiga girls’ school has 220 students and 12
teachers. Granted the challenges, the school was ranked 18 out of 79 schools in
2006, <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">up
from 33rd position in the district in 2005</span></strong>, and according to
Bashir, the students have demonstrated positive index improvement in sciences
subjects after using the Digital Science products for barely 6 weeks before the
final exams.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This school epitomizes the desire by CSTS to bridge the
infrastructure and digital divide and ensure that rural schools enjoy similar <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">opportunities</span></strong>
as those enjoyed by urban schools.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Through the electronic teaching aids offered to schools,
CSTS hopes to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban schools. This,
Bashir argued, will lead to early familiarization with ICT for teachers and
students alike.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">According to Bashir, CSTS hopes to qualitatively improve
learning by conceptualizing more creatively and digitizing learning resources
to help educators build better learning interventions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">For the tough science subjects, CSTS hopes to make them fun
by introducing new teaching aides in the subjects of Mathematics, Biology,
Physics and Chemistry that animate and turn the subjects to life, making it
easier to learn and recall.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Standardizing the learning process thereby creating an equal
opportunity for success for every student sitting the examination across the
board.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Digital Science is a revolutionary teaching aid because by
using animated visuals, that brings to life the abstract concepts learning
science has been made easier thus more interesting and readily understood by
the students. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">“The interactivity built into these modules also gives
students a feeling of hands-on experience. At the same time, it gives control
to the teachers and students as the lessons follow syllabi of specific subjects
while pace and explanations can match the level of the student,” said Bashir.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In Physics, interactivity allows students to tweak
parameters in situations and literally see how the system responds to the
change. In short, the limitations of a school laboratory are overcome. For
example, no school lab can show a nuclear reaction, but this is also shown in
our modules. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In Chemistry, using the virtual lab, students can conduct
potentially hazardous experiments safely and without the expenditure of
chemicals. Even dangerous experiments dealing with poisonous gases, etc. can be
performed (students are warned adequately in such cases to prevent them from
replicating it in reality). They can also repeat experiments over and over
until they are familiar with the process in preparation for practical
examinations, all this at the click of a button.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In Biology, through animation of complex concepts students
get to understand what they are being taught and can thus apply this not only
in their lives but also while responding to examination questions. For example
a process such as importance of diffusion in the human body, cell division
during reproduction etc are visually depicted aiding the understanding and
retention process required in the teaching and learning environment. </p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">CSTS has introduced a new
technique of teaching mathematics. In Mathematics, when teaching about
shapes, the animation shows the shapes in 3 dimension, thus attracting the
students to get into the concept and learn it better and with self-interest. </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">CSTS recognizes the necessity for
educating students about HIV / AIDS appropriately and effectively, using the
power of multimedia. The organization has developed innovative, original
multimedia teaching tools, on CD ROM for HIV / AIDS education for children
between the ages of 6 and 18. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">The content sophistication
increases for higher age groups, covering the nature of viral infections and
causes and effects of HIV / AIDS. Because this is a global problem with
many mature themes, it is treated in a sensitive and flexible, non-judgmental
manner to appeal to persons from different backgrounds. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">The lessons are created in a
visually attractive style with cartoon characters giving the message in a
manner which is easy to understand. This is followed by interactive exercises,
quizzes, etc. to reinforce the learning process, evaluate what they have
learnt, and show them how this knowledge can be applied in safe behavior to
avoid HIV / AIDS.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">By Advocating the use of relevant ICT
software in education CSTS hopes to improve learning processes of all
students in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
as well as improve living standards.</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">Ends
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div> </div>Rebecca Wanjiku,<br>journalist,<br>p.o box 33515, <br>Nairobi.00600<br>Kenya.<br><br>Tel. 254 720 318 925<br><br><span>blog:<a target="_blank" href="http://beckyit.blogspot.com/">http://beckyit.blogspot.com/</a></span><div><br></div></div><br>
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