Water!! Moodle and 'Leavers' workshop
on Kev in Tanzania (Tanzania), 19/Aug/2009 05:18, 34 days ago
Yesterday morning water came back! Well for half hour, but it is progress and a nice surprise! Had my first shower at home since April today! Hope some comes again tomorrow morning...Here is the update for the last week or so:Last week I got Thad to install Moodle onto the server. Moodle is a VLE (virtual learning environment), a program which you install on your school/college network which enables you to post resources, comments, do quizzes and share other tasks and information. I spent most of last week moving all the resources I made onto Moodle and structuring it so that students can self study and tutors can access the resources and use in teaching. It was a little time consuming but now all 11 syllabus topics have a section and there is a discussion forum for each topic. I am currently creating some tests and quizzes which will mark and provide automatic feedback to the students. it is not very taxing just time consuming - lots of data entry!You may say will it be used? - I am sure it will be used in the ICT department. It is possible to roll out Moodle across the curriculum but not sure how keen the other tutors will be to organise it all themselves and to do all the data entry. Students can only access at the college at the moment but it is a fantastic resource and I am trying to keep the tutors enthusiastic about it.I want to make sure that the rest of the ICT team are confident using Moodle and are happy updating the information on it. Moodle works even better if it is used interactively by both the tutors and students rather than just being an online library for the students.Thursday 13th AugustThat keep me busy at the start of the week, on Thursday I travelled to Dar for my leavers workshop at VSO. The journey was fine although there was lots of sun and my arms needed lots of sun cream! Met Liz at the YMCA and it was lovely to see her again, we had been apart a long month so it was great to hold her again! In the evening we went to the Patel Brotherhood (Indian place like the Badminton) and met Edel and some of her fellow Irish friends. It was a good laugh and very close to the YMCA so we could stagger back without having to worry too much.Friday 14th AugustToday was the leavers workshop, we got up and got breakfast then went to catch a dala dala to Msasani where VSO is based. There are only a few dalas to Msasani and trying to get on one is like a scrum, people start climbing on the bus before the others have got off, there is pushing and shoving of men, women and children! It really was insane this time, it took 10 minutes to get the people off as everyone surged onto the already packed dala. We decided it would be safer and more comfortable to get a cab. Luckily we bumped into Martin, Yasmin and Matty which was nice and meant the cab would cost less split.The workshop was nice, it was good to be thinking about the future and seeing some old friends. We talked about our challenges and successes. It was interesting hearing the differences in some peoples placements. One volunteer loved it and did want to go home and got upset when chatting whereas another said trust no one and couldn’t wait to leave. I think my experience lies between the two extremes and shifts day by day. One thing I did realise is that I have surprised myself and found that I am more resourceful than I thought. I am not worried about coming home and on the flipside not worried about extending. I know when I do get home that there are things people will not understand or care about and there are some things that I will not want to talk about.VSO made me feel good and there are a few more little things to organise. There is a plan I want to implement but don’t want to mention it just yet...There was a package for me at VSO which was from Wendy– a lovely surprise. Mail still not all coming into Mpwapwa which is very frustrating! Post a CD for Jim for his birthday – I hope it gets through!In the evening we planned to go to the red onion restaurant with all the volunteers but it was closed due to Pakistan Independence Day! So we went to Patels again.Saturday 15th AugustHad a nice lie in and mid morning went to shoppers plaza for shopping and lunch. I bought some bacon to take back to Mpwapwa and had some doritos with my lunch - yum!Spend the day relaxing with Liz, she does not read this so I can put that she really is great company!In the evening we had a date and this time the red onion was open so we went up for some yummy but slightly expensive (for a volunteer) food. We had an early night as yet again I needed to get the ridiculously early bus back to Mpwapwa on Sunday. Its so nice having someone to snuggle up to a night.Sunday 16th AugustCaught a taxi to the Ubungo bus depot and caught the bus back to Mpwapwa, journey was fine and was lucky to have a thin dada next me– good to enjoy that little extra space!Back in Mpwapwa I gave the footballs Wendy sent me to some of my neighbour’s kids, they were very happy and it was really sweet. I was pleased to give them the footballs as they are my neighbours and they get me water. It was lovely to see how happy they were and I got a couple of photos.Unfortunately the inevitable happened, a load more kids came along asking for things. That was a little annoying, I am constantly asked for things (at least 10 times a day) by both adults and kids– it is because I am Mzungu (white person) there is a prejudice and misconception that due to the colour of my skin I am rich and there is an expectation on me to give things. I have been here nearly a year and some people still ask me everyday they see me even though they know I don’t have much – it does wear you down. Just giving things makes people more dependant on aid – If you go on holiday to Africa please don’t just give out money, it will make you feel good but it exasperates the situation and makes it hard for people who are in the country long term trying to help.It is hard to know what to give and I get conflicting feelings– especially when you see they only have one toy and I don’t blame people for asking but the worst thing is the corruption and red tape that prevents real aid and donations from reaching the grass roots.Right enough of the development and aid dependency rant– it is hard to understand until you have been in a country a while…Monday 17th AugustHad a very yummy breakfast today as bought some bacon and baked beans in Dar!Back at work and carrying on with Moodle, sent emails to lots of friends and want VSO to give me a reference for my placement here in Mpwapwa so have been sorting out VSO forms and reports.Tuesday 18th AugustHad the rest of the beans and a little more bacon for breakfast again– I could get used to that!Power went at around 9am as it was no power Tuesday. I had invigilation from 11am - 2pm in the recreation room. It was a bit of a sham exam, the paper was only 1 hour long and all students were finished in 20 minutes… The paper had 10 arrows pointing to parts of a spreadsheet and the students had to label it, it was more like a starter exercise than an exam… I was disappointed as it was there only exam – I wish they had let me make one for the students but it was for the grade ‘A’ classes who are taught in Kiswahili and I don’t teach them, it is the diploma students I teach.As the exam was over so early so I went to meet Matayo for lunch in town and in the afternoon did some reading as there was no power.Power came back by 5pm and I had‘eggybread’ with the last of the bacon for supper, back to Tanzanian dinners for the rest of the week!Going to Dodoma this weekend for regional workshops– sure I will have some photos and stories to tell next week.Take care