ICT works and teaching rural teachers about ICT July 7, 2010
We are in an unusual situation because of the way that Teachers Talking developed in response to local need. If we were part of a traditional project (under the wing of a funding agency, or research programme) then the mechanisms would be in place for us to report back on what we have done and share what we have learned in the process. However we are very much outside the formal system and so I am still l unsure of the best way to feed our experiences up into the mainstream.
My hope, belief and desire is that ICT will enable a two-way flow of information between rural Africa and people elsewhere. I see an important role for ICT for enabling communication and collaboration - so that future development programmes of many kinds will be radically more effective than the top-down approaches to the past.
I named our training programme Teachers Talking to reflect that vision. I wanted to give rural teachers the knowledge and confidence to enter into informed debate with external policy makers and decision takers. I am still a long way off achieving that objective - but we have taken a lot of small steps in that direction and the fact that you are interested in our experiences and willing to share them more widely is another useful and encouraging step in the right direction.