Join the conversation

Posted on | February 3, 2010 | No Comments

Sponsored by the Media and Communications Branch of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Conversations for a Better World is a shared blog dealing with health, population, and gender issues. The aim is to encourage people from all over the world to exchange different ideas and viewpoints on some of the most important issues of our time. And, you’re invited to contribute!

A new conversation topic is started every month (previous topics have included Motherhood & Human Rights, Poverty & AIDS, and Youth in Humanitarian Crises). After registering on the site, you can join the ongoing conversation and post your views about the current topic. Write an opinion piece, submit a photo essay or a video, or just join in with some brief comments.

The blog can be found here.

Written by Fanny Johansson

Category: Environment, Human rights, aid & development, grassroots

MKFC eTeacher Training with Kigali Institute of Education, Rwanda

Posted on | February 1, 2010 | No Comments

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MKFC Stockholm College will start an eTeacher Training course together with Kigali Institute of Education (KIE)

KIE is Rwanda’s premier University for teacher training education. KIE was created out of the teacher training department of the National University of Rwanda (UNR). As part of the plan to transform Rwanda into a regional knowledge hub, the government identified a need for a dedicated university for teacher training. The teacher training department at UNR was subsequently moved to KIE along with the faculty and resources.

In its ten years of existence, KIE has made significant strides. It has evolved into a dual mode institution offering distance and pre-service programmes in various disciplinary areas ranging from diploma to Honours degree. At Master Level, as MSc/MRes in Social and Educational Research Methods has been on offer since 2007. KIE in partnership with UNISA offers programme that range from certificate to PhD.

The Rwandan Ambassador of the Nordic Countries, Mrs Jaqueline Mukangir has helped us with contact with KIE through the Rwanda Ministry of Education and Honorable Minister of Education Dr. Charles Murigande.

MKFC Stockholm College e-Teacher Program has been carried out in several European countries and it is developed in collaboration with University of Turku – Centre for Extension Studies. MKFC has successfully used the same method when the teacher oriented paradigm changed to eLearning approach in 1991. MKFC has been a role model in eLearning and was awarded the Boldic Award in 2008 (www.boldic.net) for implementation of the eLearning methods.

The program is planned to start in March 2010.

Category: Africa, Education for All, Social media, e-learning, teacher training

Playing Entrepreneurship – Pakistan Teacher Training

Posted on | January 29, 2010 | No Comments

This weeks practical example from our Teacher Training courses come from our Pakistan group students Noshin Rabia.

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In my class 90% children belongs to Arab families and others Srilankan’s, Pakistanis, Indians, etc. In early classes they always have a problem of speaking and understanding English Language. So this is the basic theme to motivate them in the class all time. Active learning doesn’t mean the children need to by physically active throughout the class period – it just means that you design your class period around having them actively participate in the learning process. There are lots of things you can do…

Read the whole post about what Noshin does to activate her pupils and stimulate learning processes.

Read more

Category: Asia, Student examples, e-learning, teacher training
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Beyond the whiteboard, using innovative technology

Posted on | January 28, 2010 | No Comments

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In an article suitably named “Moving beyond the whiteboard”, BBC takes a closer look at how a few British schools have integrated technology in the classrooms in a fun and effective way.

At one school, 3D projectors and glasses have been introduced and function to make science classes more interactive. For example, learning about how the heart works is no longer limited to abstract text books – now, students can get this kind of knowledge by experiencing how different body parts almost jump out of the 3D screens! Teaching and learning is more hands-on and Kathryn Macaulay, director of ICT, calls the project  “one of the most successful pilots of IT we have had for a long time”. In Illinois, 3D learning has been tested and has proved to have a real impact on how children learn.
The students’ grades actually improved by a whopping 35% in the classes that were studied.

Read more here.

Source: BBC.

Written by Fanny Johansson

Category: Education, Education for All, learning

International donors commit to Haiti rebuilding

Posted on | January 27, 2010 | No Comments

Despite concerns the Haitian government might lack the ability to manage a reconstruction fund and fears President René Préval does not hold true leadership in the country, international leaders committed to a 10-year rebuilding effort in Haiti at a tentative cost of $3 billion The New York Times
The money would be used to build model home communities for some 200,000 people rendered homeless and to reconstruct government offices destroyed in Port-au-Prince.
But donor nations called for an independent-needs assessment to be conducted by representatives of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the UN Development Programme to ascertain the true costs associated with rebuilding.

Check out these  360 degree videos from Haiti, filmed by CNN

Category: Education
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