Updated February 4, 2010 to include the presentation, update the conference tag, and change some of the wording. A few weeks ago, a colleague asked me if I still think about Africa a lot. “Every day,” I replied. “Every day for the past year — six months before I went, and six months after coming home.” The experience certainly had a profound effect on me. … Continue reading Beyond Borders: Lessons Learned from African Schools

“I have said it before and will say it again….not every one in every district has a cell phone… All these ideas are cool, but technology is not 100% pervasive, despite what we as tech people want to think.” — A Technology Coordinator on the Ohio Techcoords Listserv Not everyone has a cell phone. Not everyone has Internet access. Not everyone can afford a graphing … Continue reading Not Everyone

We knew it would be difficult long before we got there. We were told that Mfangano Island, near Mbita, Kenya, was “the furthest you can go and still be on Earth.” Even in Mbita, a comparative metropolis, conditions were pretty rough in the schools. The Teachers Without Borders – Canada team visited ten schools the first week we were there. None of them had electricity. … Continue reading Why Integrate?

Here’s a quiz. Look at these five pictures. Which one was not taken at a school? The first time we visited a school in South Africa, we couldn’t help but notice the security in place. The school was surrounded by an eight-foot fence topped by razor wire. We drove through the gate and pulled up to the school and parked. When we got out, we … Continue reading Security

Admittedly, this post has little (if anything) to do with education or technology. But many people have asked to see some (not all, please!) of my photos from the trip to Africa this summer. My darling bride has collected these as her favorites. They make up about 5% of the total, most of which will eventually end up on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649 Apologies for not telling … Continue reading The Best Photos

What did you learn this summer? I’m going to be reflecting on this for quite a while. But here’s my first attempt at documenting the things I’ve learned (or re-learned) in my Teachers Without Borders – Canada experience this summer. We’re working on common problems. When asked what the major challenges are facing effective technology integration and use in schools, teachers in both South Africa … Continue reading First Five Lessons

I’ve been trying to think of a good way to answer The Question for the last week or so. As I get closer to home, I know that I have to come up with an answer soon. The question, of course, is this: “How was your trip?” How much time do you have? I’m not sure I can boil six weeks into a couple sentences. … Continue reading The Question

On our way from Mbita to Gilgil yesterday, we took a little detour to Kogelo for a little visit with Mama Sarah. We didn’t know what to expect. We thought we were just going to visit the town, maybe take a few photos of signs saying “this is the place, blah blah blah.” It wasn’t like that at all. We drove up to the homestead … Continue reading Mama Sarah

For the first week in Mbita, I kept asking myself (and others), “what are we doing here?” We’re supposed to be teaching technology integration — helping teachers use technology effectively to complete projects and improve learning in other curricular areas. But as we made our school visits, it became increasingly clear that they’re not ready for that. Of the ten schools we visited, none had … Continue reading A Drop in the Ocean