[UgaBYTES] Telecentre academy | learners experience & Kampalawasn't built in a day

[Francis Mwathi]

Hallo Telecentre practitioners,

I have found the discussions so far very enriching,Like  Jean paul, I also
undertook an online training and found it very convenient. Once registered
you get an account and from any internet access point you can carry out
you studies. Each module of training had online assignments and one exam
that was conducted from the main centre.

However in our case here, not all telecentres have internet and some which
have its not as reliable as it should be. That would be a challenge that
we should as well address.

The other thing, is most countries now have ministries of IT, most of whom
are formulating means of promoting ICT to rural ares . We should focus on
bringing them on board too. the governments through these ministries could
help by accrediting certification if the academies are conducted
nationally, the governments could help in many other capacities not least
financialy.

Thanks a lot for the continued discussion,

Bye






>   Dear all ,
>   I also wish to contribute something to the Telecentre Academy I have
> been keenly following  the discussions  but due to connectivity
> challenges some times I fail to make contributions apparently  am using
> a dialup and the connection is too slow!
>      Am of the view that the academy will positively take  Telecentres to
> greater horizons  if it is properly planned.
>   I wish to propose the following;
>   Like Dean Mulozi said, that we should have a Continental academy , yes
> it should be like that  but I wish to scale it a little bit down to
> Regional level  for  example , the East Africa  Telecentre Academy
> including , Kenya, Uganda,  Tanzania , Rwanda and Burundi.
>   The same to Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and Northern
> Africa.
>   I also propose that such Academies should be established within the
> existing Telecentres  simply because it will bring the costs down, more
> still it will  expose the participants to more technologies and various
> skills.
>   Sustainability of such  Centers will be strengthened  but this  requires
> some mutual understanding with the management of such Centers and the
> organizers through a  Memorandum  of Understanding ( MOU)
>   To me this sounds more meaningful than looking for funds   to buy land
> and all the necessary constructional expenses.
>   However, such Academies can be shifted from one Centre to another
> depending on the  time period given to particular Academy to operate in
> a given  Centre. This can done  maybe every after 5 year .
>   Education Levels in selecting participants,  in my opinion selections
> should  not be below  O’Level so long as participants are trainable
> because  many of our staff /Volunteers  especially in Africa lies under
> this category  and they are doing a good job.
>   Certification, of course has to be done , and  am of the view that the
> award should be based on the courses completed and passed eg  Level 1in
> IT,  Level II Networking  etc
>   Such certificates should be awarded by Telecentre .org but not  through
> a University neither an IT institution.
>   Course contents should also be developed by a team that has worked with
> the Telecentre before or more familiar with the Telecentre activities.
> More still, in my opinions I think the course content should be  user
> friendly and not too academic , practicals should be emphasized to
> enable the participants benefit more.
>   Some one talked about the course fees , yes this is a good idea  because
> if it is for free sustainability of such Academies may fail in future ,
> however, this may  exclude some of  our Telecentre practitioners since
> some of them their income base are still  meager and can hardly afford
> to join the Academy. In simple terms I mean that the fees should be
> reasonable to all .
>   But before we come to the Academy whether we should have it or not a
> needs Assessments survey should be carried out, just to assess  the
> strength and  weaknesses of the Telecentre practitioners.
>   However, some of following topics in the course content should not be
> neglected;
>
>    Office Management Skills
>    Financial  and      participatory budgeting skills
>    Perfect Computer Application skills
>    Internet networking skills
>    Computer Repair and maintenance
>    Marketing and Proposal writing skills
>    Radio Script writing and Radio Browsing skills. Etc
>   I hope that if all is done then we shall have a strong Telecentre
> Academy  and in long Run   Telecentre sustainability will be attained in
> all Centers.
>   This is my simple contributions I don’t know what other have say about
> it
>
>   Eager to hear from you soon
>   Peter Balaba
>   Nakaseke CMC
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