Teacher in Ghana who used blackboard to explain computers gets some Microsoft love
Teaching
kids how to use a computer is hard enough already, since they're kids,
but just try doing it without any computers. That was the task
undertaken by Richard Appiah Akoto in Ghana, and his innovative (and
labor-intensive) solution was to draw the computer or application on the
blackboard in great detail. His hard work went viral and now Microsoft has stepped in to help out.
Akoto
teaches at Betenase Municipal Assembly Junior High in the small town of
Sekyedomase. He had posted pictures of his magnum opus, a stunning
rendition of a complete Microsoft
Word window, to Facebook. "I love ma students so have to do what will
make them understand wat am teaching," he wrote. He looks harried in the
last image of the sequence.
The
post blew up (9.3K reactions at this point), and Microsoft, which has
for years been rather quietly promoting early access to computing and
engineering education, took notice. It happened to be just before the
company's Education Exchange in Singapore, and they flew him out.
Akoto in Singapore. |
It
was Akoto's first time outside of Ghana, and at the conference, a
gathering of education leaders from around the world, he described his
all-too-common dilemma: The only computers available one belonging to
the school and Akoto's personal laptop were broken.
"I
wanted to teach them how to launch Microsoft Word. But I had no
computer to show them," he said in an interview with Microsoft at the
event. "I had to do my best. So, I decided to draw what the screen looks
like on the blackboard with chalk."
"I
have been doing this every time the lesson I’m teaching demands it," he
continued. "I’ve drawn monitors, system units, keyboards, a mouse, a
formatting toolbar, a drawing toolbar, and so on. The students were okay
with that. They are used to me doing everything on the board for them."
Pursuing
such a difficult method instead of giving up under such circumstances
is more than a little admirable, and the kids are certainly better off
for having a teacher dedicated to his class and subject.
A little
computer literacy can make a big difference.
"They
have some knowledge about computers, but they don’t know how to
actually operate one," Akoto said. So Microsoft has offered to provide
"device and software support" for the school (I've asked for specifics,
though they may depend on the school's needs), and Akoto will get a
chance to go through Microsoft's educator certification program (which
has other benefits).
Obviously
if this school is having this issue, countless more are as well, and
could use similar support. And as Akoto himself eloquently pointed out to NPR when his post first went viral, "They are lacking more than just equipment."
But
at least in this case there are a couple hundred students who will be
getting an opportunity they didn't have before. That's a start.
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