EducationFinder on kumppanisi koulutusviennissä

Posted on | January 16, 2011 | Comments Off

In English

MKFC Helsinki College on EducationFinderin ylläpitämä aikuisoppilaitos, joka

- tarjoaa verkkokoulutusta edistääkseen yksilöiden aktiivista osallistumista yhteisönsä kestävään kehittämiseen.

Esimerkkejä koulutuksista:

• Opettajankoulutus, joka sisältää koulun roolin yhteisön kehittämisen toimeenpanijana
• ICT-taidot ja sosiaalinen media opetuksessa
• Perusterveydenhuolto
• Turismi
• Ympäristön kestävä kehittäminen

- Paketoi eLearning-koulutuksia sekä kouluttaa ja konsultoi kouluttajia ja sisällöntuottajia verkkokurssien tuotannossa

- Laajan yhteistyöverkostonsa kautta vie koulutusta kehittyviin maihin sekä Ruotsiin, jossa MKFC kouluttaa maahanmuuttajia

- Etsii partnereita kehityshankkeisiin yllä olevien teemojen ympärille

Sports Day at Faisal Public School

Posted on | March 7, 2012 | Comments Off

 

Faisal Public School is MKFC Education Finder local partner in Pakistan, the school has organized an Annual Sports Day for children and teachers. Children has taken part in different sports and fun activities. MKFC celebrated 2010 as the year of children’s right to play and we believe that all the children has right to play. Play has great importance on children physical and mental growth. It encourages creativity, discipline and strength among children. We really admire and appreciate FPS efforts in this regard, hope the school administration will continue with such endeavors.

MKFC EducationFinder releasing studymaterial for the iPad 2

Posted on | February 15, 2012 | Comments Off

Education Finder is a part of Future Learning Finland

Posted on | November 9, 2011 | Comments Off

World education rankings: which country does best at reading, maths and science?

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | Comments Off

The world education rankings from the OECD are out. The UK is slipping down in maths, reading and science, and has been overtaken by Poland and Norway, this major study of 65 countries reveals today.

Around 470,000 15-year-olds across the world sat a numeracy, literacy and science test last year, the results of which inform the latest Pisa study by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

PISA rankings within OECD. Illustration: Paul Scruton for the Guardian

The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) is highly respected across the globe, and enables politicians and policy-makers to assess how different country’s education systems compare.

It shows the UK’s reputation as one of the world’s best for education is at risk, and has tumbled several places since 2006.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading?fb=native

EDUCATION FINDER – What We Do

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | Comments Off

 

 

 

 

Who are Africa’s ICT Key Players?

Posted on | August 18, 2011 | Comments Off

 

South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya will be the key players in the African ICT sector in the next five years. A survey conducted by Africa Business Panel among 800 business professionals involved with Africa shows that these 3 countries were earmarked as the continent’s favourites when it comes to the future of the ICT sector.

Ghana, Egypt, Rwanda, Botswana, Angola, Uganda and Zimbabwe are the runners up and complete the top ten countries out of 53 economies on the African continent.

Virtually all African economies show promising year-on-year growth. This is attracting the attention of the international investor community who increasingly see Africa as ‘the last frontier’ for attractive growth opportunities. Research and numerous survey results among the international investor community consistently indicate that investors expect over half of the ten fastest growing economies in the world in 2011 to be African.

The Africa Business Panel has published a month-on-month Africa Business Confidence Index since January 2011. The index results for Africa based on surveys of 800 business professionals from more than 30 countries on the continent consistently show growth. Calculations are based on the purchase managers index methodology used globally.

The outcome of the business confidence index for the African continent is consistent with the trust of the international investor community. The manufacturing business confidence index for June is 53.9 and for non-manufacturing 60.4 for the same month. Any number over 50 indicated growth.

The top-10 key players in the African ICT sector in the next five years

1. South Africa

2. Nigeria

3. Kenya

4. Ghana

5. Egypt

6. Rwanda

7. Botswana

8. Angola

9. Uganda

10. Zimbabwe

“South Africa is far ahead in ICT technology, infrastructure and culture. It can only continue to grow barring any economic shocks.

Nigeria is rapidly growing rapidly its ICT culture and infrastructure. Power continues to be a challenge but, as always, Nigeria has the population to support most of the business opportunities available and at play. Kenya is increasing its ICT footprint too and, has a some local innovative talent to drive some heavy growth in the sector,” says Whenkeremma Okezie, CEO at Geomarine Systems Limited in Nigeria.

“I’ve been looking at the figures of BPO’s coming up in Kenya and it’s phenomenal. It wouldn’t be possible without the ICT investment that’s being put into the country’s different sectors.

Rwanda is a country that has shown hunger for anything that can boost its growth and the government has lent the ICT sector a hand by partnering with not-for-profit organizations that have shown interest. South Africa has the largest resource base in the continent and would not hesitate to use it in an industry with such promise,” says James Njoroge, Financial Consultant at Pan Africa Life Assurance Limited in Kenya.

“South Africa has always been number one in innovations in Africa. The country is stable politically and financially, thereby making it the first destination for foreign partners seeking low-risk environment. It’s citizens also seem to be ICT savvy.

Nigeria on the other hand would have been number one, if it had a semblance of political stability. The mind-burgling 150million population still makes the country difficult to resist for investors because of the amount of traffic you could generate from such huge population. Nigerians are quite business savvy.

Ghana is more like a rising South Africa, with a very stable political and economic system. The country also boasts a far better security position than the two countries earlier mentioned,” says Caesar Onejeme, Business Development at Fleet Technologies Limited in Ghana.

Source: http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2011/07/who-are-africa%E2%80%99s-ict-key-players/

Education Finder Addresses Traffic Safety in Nigeria Through ICT and Education

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | Comments Off

Firm helps tackle road accidents

In a bid to stem the tide of road acidents in the country, an Information Communication Technology (ICT) enterprise, Multicultural Centre for Adult Education (MKFC) Stockholm/Helsinki College, Finland, has embarked on a two-year campaign tagged Green Means Go Road Traffic Safety through Education/Action for Change.

The project is aimed at encouraging the use of new media technology and community sensitisation activities among young Nigerians in promotion of road safety. It is jointly put together by by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland, SEED Nigeria and Eve Development Educational (EDEEN) Foundation.

Speaking to Newsextra, the Project Manager for Africa, MKFC Stockholm/Helsinki College, Eva Kagiri said the project has a four-part approach: educative video documentary for road users, road safety competition among primary and secondary schools in Lagos and Imo states, data collection on road related accident through the use of new digital technology and community development projects on road safety awareness.

Eva, who hails from Kenya, said that the increase in road accidents since 2004, according to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), is very disturbing indeed.

The trend, she said, also undermines the country’s productive profile, especially one which aims to be among top world 20 economies by the year 2020.

Eva, a social development expert, cited the increasing numbers of top government functionaries, industrialists and other road users who have been killed, injured or maimed on Nigeria’s bad roads. She also said some of those deaths are traceable to inadequate understanding of safety tips by road users.

She said that the project will start with a road safety competition among three primary schools in Lagos and two primary schools in Imo State.

“It is important that our desire and effort to rebuild and sustain the culture and identity of road safety can be effective when our children are nurtured and integrated into the campaign of road safety in Nigeria”.

Eva added that the project will also involve data collection of the number of road accident cases in Nigeria which would help in answering the question of who are the most vulnerable road users, who suffers the most among the pestestrian and those using the three wheel drive.

“We are setting up a road data collecting system through the use of new digital technology like facebook, twitter, short message service (SMS) where first-hand information on road accident cases will disseminated to a medium for proper articulation and intervention of road accidents in Nigeria”.

Source: The Nation Newspaper: http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/newsextra/9826-firm-helps-tackle-road-accidents.html

Education Finder and My Mobile My Life in EduSummIT 2011

Posted on | June 21, 2011 | Comments Off

UNESCOn koordinoima EduSummIT 2011 kutsui kesäkuussa 120 kehittäjää ja tutkijaa tekemään eri puolilta maapalloa luomaan koulutuksen tulevaisuuden suuntaviivoja Pariisiin, UNESCON  päämajaan.
UNESCO tarjoaa näkökulmia, asiantuntemusta sekä yhteistyömahdollisuuksia koulutuksen, kulttuurin, tieteen ja viestinnän aloilla. Se tukee YK:n tavoitteiden saavuttamista ja kestävän kehityksen, ihmisoikeuksien, sukupuolten välisen tasa-arvon sekä demokratiakehityksen edistämistä. EduSummITin tavoitteena oli luoda yhteisiä suosituksia ja linjauksia koulutuksen 8 alateemaan.

Olin mukana teemaryhmässä ”Global awareness” eli globaalitietoisuus.
Teemaryhmässä ydinasioiksi  nousivat koulutuksen ”access” eli saatavuus ja ”success” eli koulutukseen liittyvät laatuasiat.  Koulutusta pidetään tehokkainpana keinona köyhyyden vähentämiseen sekä terveyden ja toimeentulon turvaamiseen. Kehitysmaissa etenkin tyttöjen koulutusmahdollisuudet ovat mahdollistaneet tyttöjen työllistyminen ja siten lisänneet perheen hyvinvointia, mutta johtaneet koko kyläyhteisön hyvinvoinnin lisääntymiseen. Tieto- ja viestintäteknologia (TVT) nähdään keskeisenä koulutuksen ja palvelujen välittäjänä kehitysmaissa ja syrjäseuduilla.
Yhteinen maailmamme kohtaa samoja, koulutusta estäviä ongelmia, kuten esim. opettajapulan. Vuoteen 2015 mennessä tarvitaan 1.9. miljoonaa pätevää opettajaa: kehitysmaissa ongelmana on opettajien puute, kehittyneissä maissa puolestaan noin puolet opettajista siirtyy muihin ammatteihin. Kehitysmaiden opettajien tulisi saada pätevöitymiskoulutusta omassa maassaan, koska he harvoin palaavat takaisin kotimaahansa silloin kun koulutuspaikka on ulkomailla.  Verkko-opetuksella on yritetty korjata koulutuksen saatavuuteen liittyviä puutteita mutta Internet-palvelujen puute estää verkkokoulutukset. Euroopassa on 65 Internet-käyttäjää 100 käyttäjää kohden, Afrikassa vastaava luku on 10. Vaikka Suomessa luku kollektiivisella tasolla on hyvä, useilla syrjäseutujen asukkailla ei edelleenkään ole toimivaa laajakaistayhteyttä. Miten voimme puhua palvelujen tarjoamisesta verkkovälitteisesti, jos kipeimmin palveluja tarjoavat eivät niitä saa? Yleinen globaali trendi maailmanlaajuisesti on kännyköiden suuri määrä ja UNESCo tuleekin suosittamaan mobiiliteknologiaan liittyvien palvelujen hyödyntämistä ja kehittämistä EduSummIT-ryhmien päätösten siivettämänä. Afrikassa mobiilipalveluja onkin kehitetty aloilla, joissa meillä perinteisesti käytetään Internetiä, tavallisimpia ovat pankki-, terveydenhuollon ja koulutuksen palvelut. Ongelmana koulutuksen mobiiliratkaisujen toteuttamisessa ovat puhelu maksut. Useat operaattorit Afrikassa tarjoavat ilmaisia palveluja klo 24-06 mutta yöaika ei ole kouluaikaa.  UNESCo yrittääkin vaikuttaa ilmaisen ajan tarjoamiseen myös kouluaikana.
Laatuun liittyvä, opetukseen käytettävän rahan määrä on yleinen ongelma. Kehitysmaissa korruptio vie paljon rahaa itse opetukselta; toisaalta taas Suomessa rahaa kuluu nykyisin paljon koulutusrakenteisiin ja byrokratiaan. Opettajille ongelma näkyy resurssien vähäisyytenä ja ryhmäkokojen kasvamisena.
Maailmanlaajuinen koulutusyhteisö jakaa periaatteessa samat koulutustavoitteet.   Koulutustavoitteisiin kuuluvat kriittiset tiedonkäsittelytaidot, ongelmaratkaisutaidot, korkea-asteen ajattelutaidot, riskinottaminen ja yleensäkin innostuneisuus ja motivaatio uuden oppimiseen. Näiden kompetenssien uskotaan tuottavan edellytykset tulevaisuuden työhön, innovointiin ja elinikäiseen oppimiseen. Tärkeää on myös, että oppimisympäristö sallii yrittämisen ja virheiden tekemisen. Se, miten tavoitteet saavutetaan, ei olekaan yhtä selvää. Kehittämistä helpottamaan tarvitaan tietoa, joka puolestaan tarvitsee käytännönläheistä tutkimusta. Odottavat katseet kohdistetaankin nyt korkea-asteella tehtävään tutkimukseen. Tutkimuksen ja yhteiskunnan välille toivotaan avointa vuoropuhelua ja jatkumoa siten, että päätöksentekijät antavat tutkijoille tietoa kohteista, joista tutkimustietoa tarvitaan; tutkijat puolestaan antavat tutkittua tietoa tutkimuskohteesta. Kuulostaa helpolta mutta päätöksentekijät kokevat, että tutkimustieto on vaikeasti ymmärrettävää ja siksi myös mahdotonta hyödyntää. Etenkin teknologiaan liittyvässä tutkimuksessa tulokset ovat aivan liian hitaasti hyödynnettäviä. Jos tuloksia joutuu odottamaan vuosia, tutkimusongelma on tutkimuksen julkaisuhetkellä vanhentunut. Tutkimusten edellytetäänkin tarjoavan joustavampia tapoja yhteiskunnan kehittämiseen.

Teknologian sulautuminen tuotteisiin ja palveluihin näkyy eri toimialoilla ja jokapäiväisessä elämässämme. Jotta palvelut olisivat kaikkien käyttäjien saatavilla, ratkaisujen on oltava helppokäyttöisiä ja mahdollisimman usein avoimeen lähdekoodiin pohjautuvia. Lisenssien hinnat estävät hyvienkin ohjelmien käytön. Opettajat tulee kouluttaa ohjelmien käyttöön; usein kouluille ostetut koneet ja ohjelmat ovat jääneet käyttämättä opettajien asenteiden ja osaamattomuuden vuoksi.

Pienryhmätyöskentely oli tehokasta ryhmille tehtyjen selvitysten ja selkeiden toimeksiantojen vuoksi. Työskentelyä tehostettiin sosiaalisella medialla: ryhmätuotokset tallennettiin Wikeihin kaikkien muokattavaksi ja facebookissa ja Twitterissä tiedotettiin asioista ja otettiin kommentteja vastaan.  Tarkemmat tiedot ryhmien suosituksista julkaistaan myöhemmin mutta yhteenvetona voin todeta, että yhteinen maailmamme on pienempi kuin tiedostammekaan. Kun me mietimme, miten saada nuoret pysymään koulussa eli saada koulutuksesta tarpeeksi kiinnostavaa, kehitysmaissa mietitään, miten saadaan sähkö kouluihin ja lasten työssäkäyntiä vähennetyksi.  Globaalit lapsemme ovat samanlaisia ja ne mobiilit eli kännykät ovat yhtä helposti käytössä eri maanosissa. Kehitysmaissa koulu onkin usein taskussa eli oppijan mobiilissa.

Lisätietoja: Seija Jäminki, MyMobileMyLife-koordinaattori Suomessa
seija.jaminki@tokem.fi<mailto:seija.jaminki@tokem.fi>

Seija Jäminki toimii Kemi-Tornion ammattikorkeakoulun verkko-opettajana ja lehtorina sekä koordinoi yhdessä MKFC-Collegen kanssa kansainvälistä MyMobileMyLife-toimintaa verkkoyhteisöissä. Yhteisö kehittää mobiilien sovellusten hyödyntämistä elämän eri aloilla.

EduSummIT 2011. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/resources/single-view/news/edusummit_2011_moving_education_into_the_digital_age

http://www.wix.com/MyMobileMyLife/MyMobileMyLife

Unesco: Suomen toiminnalliset periaatteet ja tavoitteet UNESCOssa http://www.finlandunesco.org/public/default.aspx?nodeid=34697&contentlan=1&culture=fi-FI

Education Finder and eCAP E.A in Dar es salaam, Tanzania e-Learning Conference 25-27th 2011

Posted on | June 2, 2011 | Comments Off

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conference was well attended by more than 1700 people from 80 countries.  Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Europe and South-Africa had the most participants respectively.  There was 25 ministers and deputy ministers and more than 50 high-level government officials from the countries around Africa. The conference was officially opened by Dr. Mohammed Gharib Bilal, the Vice President of the United Republic of  Tanzania. His speech revolved around Africa as an open market for investment and how Africa needs to embrace technology. Dr. Mohammed stated that of the 37% of the youth who make up the working population 60% are unemployed. That said, he also stated that there is still a big shortage of trained teachers, limited access to libraries and shortage of Internet.

Dr. Mohammed also highlighted the main factors that needed change in order for the ICT sector to grow well. Some of those being policies, financing, unreliable infrastructure, Language barrier (having windows in Swahili soon would change that), promotion of ICT to meet the MDG and enhancing sustainability and poverty reduction

There was 322 speakers from 57 countries in 65 parallel sessions. The smaller sessions were more interactive than the main sessions. There was a lot of overlap in the small sessions, meaning that one could not attend all session that were of interest to them. The time allocated to the sessions was only enough to stay in for one session.

From the small sessions attended, WYSE technology showed how one can have cloud computing instead of having a whole room of computers filled with cpu’s that can be stolen or are noisy and the tutor has to talk loudly to be heard on top of all the fans in the rooms. Cloud computing can also be done in areas where there is shortage of electricity whereby the server is connected to solar panels or a battery.

The session on enabling women for a better tomorrow was also one of much interest. “Educating a woman is educating the nation” this is because the woman will teach what she learns to both her children and her mate. Empowering women is one of the main themes of that had a lot of emphasis put on them.

Innovation and entrepreneurship is also another theme that had a lot of emphasis placed on it. Employment should not always be the focus of every child who goes to school but they should be taught skills that will help them employ themselves successfully after school.

Quotations From some of the speakers

To give you a feeling of what the atmosphere was like, let’s give you a few quotations:

Learn to ask when on doubt. Swallowing our pride is the hardest thing to do, but we have to in order to learn. Learn to unlearn in order to learn what is there today. –Emanuel Feruzi

People who make good decisions are people with experience; These are people who have made bad decisions and learnt from them. Learn to make mistakes and learn from them. –Mac Daniel Powell

All learning requires technology, all technology requires learning. -Jenerali Ulimwengu

High notes on the conference:

• Meeting of the different people from different walks in the e-learning sector
• Eye opener on what e-learning is all about, with the different aspects in it
• Real life stories on successes and failures of people and business in the sector
• Learning of what is in the market at the moment, what needs to be improved and where one has the market benefit

Low notes on the conference

• Sessions were squeezed together. The conference was quite intense. Sometimes one had to miss out on interesting sessions.
• Most of the small sessions were very academic. Presentations were mainly ongoing research with not much to hold ground on.
• Networking effectively was also difficult, the sessions started quite early and ended very late with little time lefts in-between to meet people.
• In some sessions it felt like they were out to sell their products instead of giving information.
• Not much time given for discussions of some topics.

Written by Naomi Ihugo and Anne Kagiri

 

Business Opportunity with The African Development Bank (AfDB) Seminar

Posted on | May 17, 2011 | Comments Off

Mr. Sherman Reginald A. The Procurement Specialist AfDB Tunis presenting during a recent seminar in Helsinki

Education Finder – team Helsinki, previously attended a seminar dubbed Business Opportunity with The African Development Bank (AfDB). The event was organized by, the Unit for Development Financing Institutions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland in conjunction with Finpro, and in cooperation with AfDB on the 12th May 2011.

The aim of the seminar was to showcase AfDB activities and procurement practices that Finnish companies may use successfully if they intend to engage in the bank’s projects or wish to source funding for other projects in Africa.

Special focus was made on developing partnerships the private sector particularly in Energy, Water and Sanitation, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) but there was encouragement to seek “blessings” from the public sector to support the private sector.

Did you know that AfDB is purely an African bank? Well, it is a bank that is owned and funded by African member governments. It was established as a means of providing funding through loans to African governments and private enterprises. In the private sectors, the big companies or may I say big ideas have benefited in obtaining loans from AfDB, however, for small players, there is a possibility of using the hedge funds that belong to organization that work in partnership with the bank in financing such projects.

In the recent time, there has been serious talk about how giving AID to southern countries has not yielded good results and there is prediction that many countries will still fail to reach the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). So, one of the solution is to encourage the growth of private sector. Finland’s private companies were being encouraged to take part in what has now become a strategic business plan of entering the African market.

The private sector can best take the opportunity of exporting technology, knowledge and product that has already been developed in Finland. For the most part, the technology, product or knowledge is needed but a lot has to be done to localize to meet the market needs.

At the end of the seminar, your author was left thinking how best can Africa and Finland’s private sector be inspired to embrace the business opportunities that lay untapped in rich continent of Africa? Could this be one of Africa’s magic bullet that will impact on the effort of reducing poverty and promote sustainable development? Can there be a good example that there is genuine business to be done even if the MDGs may not be reached?

Well, if you share in the sentiments, and hope, with suggestions join in and give us your views. Perhaps, you will help in finding the answers that we so badly need. Otherwise, for you with a business and intension of expanding your operation, grab on the opportunity and grow with Africa by visiting AfDB.

keep looking »

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