HITA working trip to Ho in Volta Region - April 2019

April 14 - 22, 2019 - Trip Report

The HITA delegation this time consists of Thomas, Daniel and Karsten, all of whom have been in Ghana on previous HITA visits, and the "newbies" Petra and Rachida. The two represent the Carlo-Mierendorff-Schule, an integrated comprehensive school from Frankfurt, which is seeking to establish a longer-term cooperation with a general education school in Ghana. Petra and Rachida want to establish local contacts with a number of high schools. Later, one of these will be chosen to agree on a series of joint activities that will lead to a lasting Ghanaian-German cooperation. HITA will be involved in this cooperation as far as IT-specific issues are concerned: from equipping schools with IT infrastructure to training students in the use and maintenance of information and communication technology.

Early in the morning on Palm Sunday we set off for Ghana. After 9 hours, including a change in Brussels, we arrive in Accra. The new terminal is a testament to the economic growth of recent years - among all African countries, Ghana has some of the highest growth rates. The problem: Too little of this reaches the general population. The expansion is due to the export of crude oil and gold, sectors that contribute a lot to the gross national product but employ comparatively few people. As a result, Ghana continues to suffer from high unemployment. There is no dispute among experts that the country needs to make significant efforts in education. Only then can it be ensured that the favorable overall economic development also results in a sustained improvement in the quality of life for the population at large. The vast majority of Ghanaians continue to live in the most basic conditions, with completely inadequate supplies, not least in terms of health services.

At the airport, HITA partner Emmanuel Chance is waiting for us to take us in his minibus to Ho, the capital of the Volta region, four hours away. Here, HITA equipped a large nursing and midwifery school with a powerful computer lab plus campus WLAN last year (see the documentation here). We are curious to see what will await us on site: Have teachers started to establish computer- or smartphone-supported learning (eLearning and mLearning) in everyday study as planned? After a usual bumpy ride, during which we are accompanied by torrential rain, we reach Ho in the evening. The staff of Chance's Hotel greets us warmly. We are welcomed with delicious dinner and Ghanaian beer, then we fall exhausted into bed.

In the coming days, we will visit four general education schools that were previously recommended to us by our friends in Ho. We already know the Springs School from our last visit. It is housed in the buildings of a former car repair shop. The teachers have only the means for their work. After the welcome, Petra and Rachida propose to do a group work with the students. The content is general information about Germany, such as food, school, seasons, soccer, etc. First, random groups are formed. Afterwards, the small groups deal with a topic, read it together, look at the corresponding pictures and are supposed to remember at least - due to the shortness of time - two important pieces of information. What is amazing is that most groups are able to memorize almost anything. The final presentation takes place in the so-called ball bearing. To do this, two students who have worked on different topics stand opposite each other in an inner and an outer circle and take turns telling each other what new things they have learned about Germany.

The other three high schools visited, each with more than 1,000 students, are considerably larger but also better equipped: Mawuli School and Mawuko Girls Senior High School, both founded by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana, and the Catholic OLA Girls Senior High School. Again, Petra and Rachida take the opportunity to do the exercise explained above with some classes in group work, which is excellently received.

We are thrilled by the enthusiasm of the hundreds of students who greet us at each of the high schools. Not least because of the huge size of the classes, which are usually between 100 and 200, the lessons usually consist almost exclusively of frontal teaching. Nevertheless, it only takes a few moments for the students to understand the basic principles of group work and to apply them with great enthusiasm. The feedback also from the faculty is excellent through the series. With the school management and the teachers present, we then discuss some possibilities for cooperation, such as exchange of teachers, joint project work with regular online meetings via Skype, possible student internships, support with teaching materials, e.g. for the natural sciences, etc.

In the coming weeks, Petra and Rachida will discuss the next steps with the school administration of the Carlo Mierendorff School and the options for establishing a permanent cooperative relationship with one of the four schools. HITA will explore how we can support schools in the future, according to their needs in terms of information and communication technology equipment and capacity in terms of IT teachers.

Another focus of our trip is to review how the campus WLAN installed last year and the HITA Computer Lab at the School of Nursing and Midwifery(SONAM) in Ho are being used. While all of the installation had been done by HITA in 2018, it is the responsibility of the school's administration and faculty to ensure the optimal use of the new infrastructure in everyday school life. A working group, which includes the SONAM IT team and some selected tutors, has used the last few months to set up an eLearning platform (based on Moodle, an open source software) and to use it in the classroom as part of a pilot operation.

Our interviews with the teachers involved and the IT team show that good progress has been made. 20 courses that are an integral part of nursing education were selected for the pilot. For each course, a workspace has been created on the eLearning platform where teachers can post course information and learning materials. So far, Moodle has been predominantly used for tests/examinations, which are conducted in the form of multiple-choice question catalogs. Whereas paper sheets were previously used for this purpose, the tests are now conducted online, for which the students must visit the HITA computer lab at a fixed time. This brings significant advantages from the tutor's point of view, as they can now access the test results immediately after the end of the session. Correcting by hand is no longer necessary. This gives the teachers more time for exchanges with the students and for preparing the courses. 650 students are already participating in the pilot and are gaining valuable skills in the effective use of computers.

We spend a day in the HITA Lab observing those involved in one of the online exams. Two IT professionals oversee the room, provide technical support and advice. This form of intensive support proves to be necessary because most students are very familiar with their smartphones, but not with desktop computers, and therefore always need support. The eLearning system, which is installed on the school's local LAN and can therefore be used regardless of the existence of an Internet connection, works without any problems and is lightning fast. Teachers involved in the pilot will receive hands-on help with uploading content to the Moodle platform. Some have already become real Moodle experts and share insider tips. The need for piloting is demonstrated by the fact that standardized procedures have not yet been established for all eventualities. The project team recognizes on this day that there are still opportunities for students to cheat, which can be easily eliminated by modifying the procedures (e.g., setting up additional, temporary password protection).

Our observations indicate that teachers are very accepting of the eLearning system and the new computer infrastructure, and are also quite willing to put in the effort necessary on their part to attend training sessions and become familiar with the system. This was not necessarily to be expected, as the workload of the tutors was already enormous, not least because of the strong increase in student numbers in recent years.

We discuss with the project team how to proceed in the coming months. Teachers would like support in posting teaching materials on the eLearning system. There is a desire to be able to post video clips, practice guides, textbooks, and technical literature on the platform. There is still uncertainty about what content from the Internet can be used for this purpose and how to proceed practically. We propose the establishment of a central eLibrary where all essential texts and media content can be held and used by teachers for their purposes. In the medium term, the eLibrary will provide significant gains in effectiveness for teachers and students. HITA will participate in the procurement of electronic teaching materials, for which we can use our online access to the SONAM Moodle platform.

There still seem to be reservations about the consistent use of the smartphone for learning purposes. Almost all students have a smartphone, but so far its use in everyday life has been informal. In our opinion, a separate pilot project will be necessary in order to convince the tutors of the advantages of mobile learning and to develop application scenarios together with them. This is one of the essential tasks that HITA will address in the coming months.

With HITA partner Emmanuel Chance we discuss our plan to build our own school for the practical training of young locals. Our observations at both the nursing and midwifery schools and the general education schools in the region confirm that Ghana's education system is not capable of producing anywhere near the number of skilled workers needed to establish and, in particular, maintain the infrastructure. There is a lack of knowledge on how to ensure the sustained operation of computer systems, for example. Far too much equipment remains unused because there is no skilled person available to make repairs and adapt it to local needs. Chance has therefore been pursuing the idea of establishing a technical school for his region for some time. HITA is currently exploring the possibilities of gaining partners in Germany for this project, based on the good experience with the dual training system in our country.

Easter Saturday brings us to Adaklu, where we visit the Chief and his wife, called Mama, and thank them for last year's ceremony to enthrone Thomas as "Development Chief" [see our 2018 report]. Adaklu is a rural region with the imposing Mount Adaklu towering in the center. As is typical for the remote parts of Ghana, the population of Adaklu is only inadequately supplied with the most basic necessities - drinking water is particularly lacking. Waya, the main village, is not connected to the piped water supply. Drinking water is transported to Waya in tankers and canisters by cargo motorcycle. Since there are considerable costs for this, many inhabitants drink the rather dirty water from the only river in the region, the Kpedze.

The last high school we visit is the only high school in Adaklu District, Adaklu Senior High School. Just under 600 high school students are currently being taught here by 45 teachers; in the coming school year, the number is expected to rise to 1,000 students. In this rural region, conditions are much worse than in the schools in Ho that we have already met. The school principal is visibly concerned that he will not be able to offer enough drinking water to the prospective high school graduates who have gathered on the school's forecourt for our visit. Another problem is the electricity supply: electricity bills are a significant burden on the school's tight budget. Initial experiments with electricity generation from solar energy have been successful, but the necessary investments for expansion are indirectly impossible to raise. We agree with the school management to establish contacts with relevant development aid institutions in Germany. HITA also wants to get involved to improve the school's computer equipment. In particular, the maintenance of existing equipment proves to be difficult time and again, as too few service providers trained for this purpose are available. We spend the evening together with friends of Emmanuel Chance on the grounds of his villa, which also houses the HITA office for the Volta Region. We are making new contacts with a number of committed locals; many of them are from Adaklu but now live in Accra or even abroad. In particular, the three teachers present are full of energy and welcome the opportunity to work with HITA on innovative solutions to address the country's many challenges.

After the exhausting day in Adaklu, we devote ourselves on Easter Sunday to writing our various reports, sorting the extensive picture material - and resting on our shady terrace. In addition, we distribute small gifts to the hotel staff, who supported us so energetically and took care of our physical well-being in the best way. Before our return flight to Frankfurt on Easter Monday, we use our stay in the capital Accra for an informal meeting with a veteran Ghanaian diplomat who has excellent contacts in the Ministry of Health. He promises us to arrange a meeting with the acting minister. HITA will use this meeting to ensure that our long-standing, good relationship with the Ministry continues under the current administration. Specifically, we want to discuss how HITA can apply the extensive experience gained at the Ho School of Nursing and Midwifery to the modernization of other educational institutions in all parts of Ghana.