On Saturday 18 June another 14 'New Kiwi' families from the Wellington Region graduated from the Computers in Homes programme. This group has just completed 30 hours of digital literacy training, both 'in-class' and 'in-home'. The e-Learning team of Tim Davies-Colley (Project Manager), Ibrahim Raouf-Morton (Tutor) and Peter Lynch (Tech support), delivered the programme.
Shona Te Huki (Regional Computers in Homes for Refugees Coordinator) was on hand to present the certificates to our eager graduates.
Graham Kelly as Chair of the e-Learning Porirua Trust, encouraged the graduates to make the most of the technology and their new skills, to learn and get jobs.
Gina Gonzales and Maureen Zaya (Ministry of Education - Regional Refugee and Migrant Coordinators) attended. Maureen spoke to the group in Arabic as a former migrant. She said when she came to New Zealand 15 years ago (from Iraq) she had a lot of help and Kiwis want to help - so just ask.
This was another multi-ethnic group: 10 from Syria, two from Afghanistan, one from Colombia and one family (husband and wife attended) from Vietnam.
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Thursday, 9 June 2016
Graduation highlights the benefits of the new training model
On 7 May e-Learning Porirua held its first graduation for its new training model for Computers in Homes (CIH) for New Kiwis (former refugees). Over the previous eight months Ibrahim Raouf-Morton has been delivering the CIH training to eligible New Kiwi (former refugees) families via 'in-home' tutoring and e-learning 'homework'. It was decided to try this approach to cut down the time it was taking for eligible families to get CIH training, receive a computer and get the internet. The new model definitely achieved this goal, cutting back the time from 12 months, or more in some cases, to one month or less after arriving in Wellington.
There were some interesting, unexpected benefits from this approach however. The graduation represented 21 eligible families, which would normally translate to 21 adults from each of these families doing in-class CIH training for 30 hours. With the new model this 21 people translated into 194 people (adults and children)! This was because at each training session in the home the whole family was present and often extended family, friends, neighbours and/or Red Cross volunteers, also attended. So the new model's 'reach' was much greater in terms of its direct impact. The other major benefit was on the quality of the educational outcomes. With the new model, having several people sharing the one computer and seeing what was going on, the learning was dramatically enhanced. There was a significant, noticeable increase in knowledge retention and understanding from week to week. We believe this is due to two main causes; 1. having the computer available meant skills could be practised between training visits (including completing 'homework') and 2. learning is 'socially constructed' so having a group of people interacting around a common focus is very powerful for learning.
There were some interesting, unexpected benefits from this approach however. The graduation represented 21 eligible families, which would normally translate to 21 adults from each of these families doing in-class CIH training for 30 hours. With the new model this 21 people translated into 194 people (adults and children)! This was because at each training session in the home the whole family was present and often extended family, friends, neighbours and/or Red Cross volunteers, also attended. So the new model's 'reach' was much greater in terms of its direct impact. The other major benefit was on the quality of the educational outcomes. With the new model, having several people sharing the one computer and seeing what was going on, the learning was dramatically enhanced. There was a significant, noticeable increase in knowledge retention and understanding from week to week. We believe this is due to two main causes; 1. having the computer available meant skills could be practised between training visits (including completing 'homework') and 2. learning is 'socially constructed' so having a group of people interacting around a common focus is very powerful for learning.
The graduation was enjoyed by all who attended with the mayor of Porriua City, Nick Leggett, presenting certificates to the happy New Kiwi graduates.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)