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Curriculum Development Workshop

So these are a few reflections on the March 24th Curriculum Development Workshop held in The Gambia.

On March 24, a meeting with all the computer teachers in The Gambia, the Department of State for Education, the West African Exams Council, and Gambia college curriculum unit, and other non-government organizations was held to adopt a computer education syllabus for Gambian High Schools
        The Meeting convened and went smoothely because we started with the approved WAEC computer syllabus for Ghana. To facilitate the process, I took the Ghana syllabus and wrote it on flip-chart paper on the wall with my minor omitions and additions. I tried to leave as much unchanged as I could. Where I added something, I wrote it in another color. where an item was removed I did not change the numbering. During the meeting, everyone had a chance to suggest changes.
        Many of the issues with this curriculum were raised and argued. Here are some of the issues:

Duration
        The curriculum was designed to be used with classes held 1 hour a week for one year. Nearly every teacher realized it would not be possible to have more classes a week, but a faction strongly believed we should make it a 3 year syllabus. We finally decided that a separate syllabus should be written for the second year and third year and that they be dealt with later (perhaps when there are students eligable to make use of that syllabus). Considering that less that 10% of each school received computer classes this year, it is unlikely that a second syllabus would be necessary.

Syllabus II
        In the second year, people agreed that Excel (and other spreadsheets) should be covered. Likewise, the amount of time is wholely insufficient to teach the most important and most difficult of all the lessons: File Management. In their second year, teachers should devote a lot of time to having students practice file manipulation to the level needed to understand how Windows handles files and directories. To this end, I (Marc Maxson) have been teaching HTML (<html>,<br>, and <a href> tags only!!!!) design because it requires that students understand file path, structure, and syntax - things that are more difficult to teach without an example.

Aim
The aim of the syllabus was giving students basic computer literacy, not a certificate for further employment. But a faction felt that a separate syllabus for career oriented IT students needs to be adopted also. Someone (Poncelet) should take the lead on that syllabus. It would mostly benefit those for-profit computer training centers that specialize in advance studies anyway. Schools have no teachers to teach database programming or visual basic anyway.


We agreed that this was not an IT syllabus. Instead, we renamed it a computer literacy syllabus.

Theory
We debated the issue of how much theory to include. A student can learn to use a computer without knowing how it works. However, a faction strongly believes that students are better able to use a computer if they know how it works. Hence, the resolution of this issue depended on the time available to teach computers. Given the time constrictions, students can only get a small amount of theory. Here is the extent of the theory we agreed upon:

1. Computer Basics    
1.a.        Introduction to Computers
    1.a.1. What is a computer?
    1.a.2. Brief History of Computers (From the Abacus to Charles Babbage)
    1.a.3. What are computers used for?
1.b. Handling a Computer    
        1.b.1. Starting a Computer
    1.b.1.1. Identify the various parts of a computer
    1.b.1.2. Switch on the computer and its peripherals/boot the computer (cold and warm)
        1.b.2. Concepts
    1.b.2.1. Explain the terms Hardware, Software, and Operating System.
    1.b.2.2. Parts of the Windows Desktop
      1.b.2.2.a Desktop and Icons
      1.b.2.2.b Start Menu and Taskbar
    1.b.2.3. Applications
  1.b.2.4. Files and Directories

As you can see, the amount of concepts are very limited. But since our aim is computer literacy, we only need to define a few terms to get students cracking on the computer.

Class Format
        Another lengthy and unresolved debate was the actual way in which the classes are conducted. Some schools have separate classrooms for lecture and practical. While I don't understand the importance of this issue, some teachers were adamant about DOSE having a policy on whether one or two rooms will be used.
        If two rooms are used and two teachers teach, then one can be teaching half the students while the other has students in the lab doing practicals. If one teacher teaches in one room, he can teach practicals on days when there is electricity and teach theory on days that NAWEC is asleap.
        This issue can be partially resolved by stating clearly in the manual which lessons will require computers (and electricity) and which only require a blackboard.

Background Content
We debated the amount of history about computers that teachers should teach. The consensus was that about a 15 minute summary from the Abbacus to Charles Babbage should be sufficient.

Poncelet thought that more explanation should be given about the concept of a Graphical User Interface. Students should know that it is about organizing something with pictures rather than words, and linking information through objects like icons. This was omitted from the first draft syllabus and may be more appropriate in a class for pure "computer science" students.

Word Processing
Discussion was given to whether to include Tables in the wordprocessing section of the syllabus. We decided to omit Tables for the following reasons:

I (Marc Maxson) empasized that the first software students should use after an introduction to Windows should be a mouse tutor, followed by a Windows tutor, followed by a typing tutor, then a word processor.

Materials
        Every school will get a copy of the syllabus, a computer manual for teachers and students, and a CD of educational software from the Center for Educational Technology.