Interview with Ebenezer Malcolm, Country Manager of Global Teenager Project, Ghana

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Ebenezer was part of the participants at the CCLE workshop organized by IICD and shared his experience on developing social networking tools to be used by teachers to teach in the classroom

What experiences do you have to share ?

It is about how to create knowledge and share. I shared a story whereby i created a snapshot of how to use blogs, wikis and other social networking tools and uploaded them on teachertube.com

What i did express is that teachers can use blogs, wikis and other CMS or module to create knowledge , i tried to make it very simple for teachers by creating this sofware and how to use it systematically and this i did and uploaded and the feedback i got was so marvelous. Teachers wrote back to tell me this is a good tool and some of them even called for other tools which i can come out with like video tutorials which i am trying to work with International Education and Resource Network to see how this can be possible .

Interview with Melody Palmer, Programme Manager/Network Coordinator of ICT4D Jamaica

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Melody Palmer was one of the participants at the just-ended Cross Country Learning Experience, a four-day workshop organized as a pre-conference workshop towards the 3rd International E-Learning Conference in Accra from the 24th to the 27th of May 2008. the CCLE workshop was organized by the International Institute of Communication and Development(IICD) based in the Netherlands.

I work with ICT4D Jamaica that really stands for Information and Communication Technology for Development in Jamaica. I am the programme Manager and network Coordinator for ICT4D Jamaica. Presently, we are working on literacy and numeracy skills programme. We are doing it with a focus on the youth between the ages of 17-25. The programme has a target group of five hundred learners and we will really like to reach these learners alot of whom have dropped out of high school and have ended with no jobs, we call them at risk and unattached.

For some successes, we have trained over twenty facilitators for the programme and they seem to be keen on the the content that was produced using a software.

On the challenges two. ICT technical competence of the facilitators and the stigma of illiteracy in Jamaica so we really hope this programme will work out to address some of these challenges.

Interview with Dennis Mazali Muhimbili University, Tanzania on an e-learning incubator Project

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Dennis shared his experience at a Cross-Country Learning Experience organised by IICD from 24th-27th of May 2008

Interview with Gay Nyakwende, Programme Manager, One World Africa

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Gay shared her story with a group of IICD Country partners in a four day cross Country Learning Experience taking place in Accra, Ghana from the 24th-27th of May 2008.

What is your Name and where do you come from?

My name is Gay Nyakwende, I am the programme manager for OneWorld Africa based in Zambia

What is the theme of your story and and what is your story about?

The theme behind my story is that the level of education should not be a determinant for one's use of ICTs for development. My reasons are that, One World Africa has gained an experience in training grassroot Women whose level of education has been very minimal. They have also had the opportunity of training teachers who are highly educated but find out that Women whose level of if mastered in the use of computers will be able to produce content on issues that affect them on day-to-day basis much more than what the teachers have been able to do.

What were your learning points?

The learning point here is that, the level of motivation amongst people and also in the desire to learn much more will educate teachers to find that ICTs are a tool in enabling them in their work.

Interview with Kwabena Poku of RANCARD Solution LTD, Ghana

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Mr Poku shared his joy when his organisation worn the top Software company of the year in Ghana for the year 2007 at the recently held 2nd Ghana ICT Awards in Accra, Ghana on the 17th of May 2008.

RANCARD Solution LTD won the award for the software company of the year. This Mr. Poku said was possible because of the the company is based on key principles which are excellent customer service, excellent products which is recognized both locally and internationally. We have also partnered with a number of clients, delivered services and enhanced business operations for so many organizations. Our software is reliable and cost effective.

For an organization to aspire for a similar award in the future, you only need to keep trying, believe in yourselves. Everybody should work to identify where their strength is and keep and work towards maximizing that potential, that way, your organization can earn even more bigger awards than this.

Interview with Rev. E.K Dadebo, National e-LA Coordinator at the Min. of Information and National Orientation on 22nd April 2008

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Rev. Dadebo enlightened us on the benefits participants especially stand to get from the 3rd International Conference on ICT and Development, Education and training scheduled for the Accra International Conference Centre, Ghana from 28-30th May 2008.

What is your understanding of the 3rd International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and training in Accra from 28-30th May 2008?

The 3rd International Conference on e-learning which is slated for the 28-30th of May 2008, is intended to be a capacity building programme for all those who are interested in learning and e-learning. Certainly, ICTs has very positive impact to make as far as the enhancement of learning is concerned and we believe that the up-coming conference on e-learning in May will serve to provide a forum where expects in the field are coming together to share their ideas and the experiences that they have gathered over the years in the implementation of various ICT deployment in e-learning and we also believe that as we are at the threshold of entering the era, we will want to enhance teaching and learning with technology, that is why we are having this programme.

Quite apart from the above, the forum will provide an avenue for people to get to know the various strategies of technology options to be deployed in the use of e-learning, because certainly, we have different conditions in different parts of the world and therefore there may be people with similar conditions like we have in Ghana who have been able to deploy ICTs in the work that they do and we believe that this conference will be an eye opener.

As part of the conference also, the EU is ready to provide funds to tertiary institutions, Universities to go into research and development initiatives. There are also funds that are also available for African Nations who partner with EU countries so that they too can take advantage of the funds to be able to go into such initiatives for R&D and we believe that this is a good opportunity.It is expected that, these initiatives will affect our thinking and orientation as far as teaching and learning is concerned so that we will be able to modernise our teaching and learning and i need to mention that the learning styles of students have changed. They are more interested in digital materials but if you give them a text book to read now, they cannot even read up to 20 pages before they become bored. So we know that e-learning is a good medium that will actually get our people down and learn. We also think that if we create such opportunities for them, it will enhance the teaching methodologies of teachers because they will have to adapt their teaching methods to the learning styles of students. We believe that this is a big opportunity that we have and once we are having a cream of expects from around the world, it is a great opportunity for which we will want to call on all to get involved, to support and as much as possible provide sponsorship packages for teachers and others to come in and find out how exactly they can benefit from the platforms for e-learning around the world so that we too can move on the same pedestal as others in the other parts of the world.

Interview with Estelle Akofio-Sowah at the Launch of the 3rd Ghana ICT Awards

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Estelle Akofio-Sowah, the MD of Busyinternet was at the launch of the 3rd Ghana ICT awards in Accra. She was interviewed and she shared her views on the categories of judges and the categories of awards this year. She had this to say.

There are seven Judges in this year's award and they represent Industry Associations in Ghana, the Judicial Service, the banking sector, the educational sector, mobile and telecom sector and the media.

This fairly represent all the stakeholders.It is also good to remind members on the awards for this year which focuses on the best and not the first. The categories are: The top ICT personality of the year, The top ISP( Internet Service Provider of the year), The top Telecom Provider of the year both mobile and fixed, The top Hardware and Software company of the year, The top ICT4D project of the year, The top Government ICT project of the year, The top ICT training Institute of the year, The top Out-sourcing organisation of the year, The top Internet Cafe of the year, The best foreign entity supporting ICT for the year and the best young ICT personality of the year.

The date for the Awards ceremony is 17th May 2008. For more information visit Ghana ICT awards.