The first week of this four-week-long program is over. Everyday was packed, but by the end it finally felt as if everyone had settled into a routine. During the week, the students have scheduled activities pretty much non-stop from 8am until 6pm. They start with classes in the morning (from 8am until noon), get a break for lunch, and then have three hours of applications or computer lab in the afternoon. Throughout the four weeks there are several scheduled speakers in the evenings as well as movie nights in which we turn their auditorium into a movie theater and show DVDs with a focus on agriculture and engineering. Jose, Sara and I are responsible for teaching three classes: life skills, computer lab, and an engineering applications lab.
A bit about the computer lab…
About three quarters of the students have never used a computer before. Several of the TA’s also have very limited experience with computers. At first I think we were a bit shocked at the widespread lack of computer exposure. Many of the students could barely use the mouse on the first day. Double clicking was a challenge. For those who do not have the luxury of owning their own personal computer, there is very little access to computers. At Cuttington, there is a computer café that resembles a computer graveyard more so than a lab – filled with old machines infected with viruses. Students are allowed to use the café computers for 30 minutes per day, probably enough time for someone who has never used a computer before to log on and not do much more than wait for a webpage to load with the abysmally internet slow connection. Cuttington has two brand new computer labs (with no internet), but access to them is limited and students have to pay an extra fee on top of their tuition if they want to take classes that use the computer labs. We are teaching the computer classes in these new labs.
That being said, I LOVE teaching the computer labs. The students, especially the beginners, are incredibly eager to learn. The classes are 3 hours long – so we try and give them a break about halfway through to stretch their legs and go to the bathroom if they need to. Most of them stay in the lab, glued to their computers. After the first couple of classes, the students thanked us profusely and excitedly exclaimed that this is their favorite class. When I teach something new, it’s hard to keep the students’ attention because they just want to try it again and again. For example, at the end of last class I showed them how to draw a plane in Google Sketchup. I wanted them to draw one rectangular plane and one circular plane to practice using the different tools. After demonstrating how to do it, I pause to give them a chance to copy, and then want to move on to show them how to extrude their planes into 3D shapes. I look over at the monitor next to me, and the student has drawn close to 50 planes and just keeps going. So when I try to move on to the next step, he looks up at me with a confused and bewildered look because of course, I had not yet showed them how to delete objects.
So far, we’ve had the beginners use Paint to practice their hand-eye coordination and get used to using the mouse, Open Office Writer (we’re using Open Office instead of the standard Microsoft Office suite because it is available for free) to practice typing and learning formatting, and Google Sketchup as an introduction to a computer drafting program. The more advanced students have been introduced to Open Office Calc (a spreadsheet program) and are further along in learning Google Sketchup.
Some of the TA’s the other afternoon asked Sara and I what the biggest differences were between American and Liberian students. I think that one of the most drastic differences is the access to technology. American students grow up with computers and use them for school as early as grade school. As a result, I think that we think and approach tasks in a more efficient manner because we are required to use computers to complete them. I hope that teaching these students basic computer skills will not only allow them to be proficient at typing and using a computer, but also to help them understand the magnitude of efficiency gained by using computers, and not just for school work, but in everyday life.
That’s all for now! We’re working on adding more pictures to the blog so stay tuned. - Lauren
Very Cool Lauren!!
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