Over 80 Basic School Teachers in the Ashanti Region have benefited from a 2-day certified Digital and Internet Safety Training organized by Christian Service University College, Kumasi, with support from Skills Development Fund (SDF), Ghana. (Group photo) The 2-day practical session, christened, iLearn2Teach ‘19 brought together IT and Non-IT Experts to train participants to become Digital Counsellors.
According to the main Coordinator for the programme, Mr. Emmanuel Adinkrah, Systems Administrator, CSUC, the aim was to equip these teachers who represented different schools with knowledge in digital and internet safety tips and opportunities to impact society.
He said the programme was the first of 3-phases of the ‘skilled training’ scheduled for 2019 and noted that the 80 beneficiaries recorded for the first phase is anticipated to yield over 4,000 digital counsellors from their respective communities at the end of the 3-phases.
Excerpt: CSUC won a grant from Skills Development Fund (SDF) in March, this year, upon submission of a proposal to develop innovative curriculum based on e-learning models and other innovative academic contents for training. This has secured the University College, its first phase of the grant to undertake the above programme, dubbed, iLearn2Teach ‘19 – developing digital counsellors to impact society through certified training series.
SDF is a funding agency that supports public and private institutions based on the window of grants accessible at certain points in time through innovative proposals development.
Presentations from the CSUC-SDF Training:
The 2-day training gave insights into digital citizenship, digital parenting, impact of cartoons, social media marketing, internet usage threats, ethics and morality at the work place and self-branding through audio-visual presentations.
Mr. Tweneboah Koduah, CEO for HiPAG, a Life Coach and Business Strategist also enlightened participants to realize their potentials and to aspire for career progression through wise and smart usage of the Internet ecosystem.
He also encouraged CSUC to promote such training programmes for similar groups to maximize common knowledge and community impact.
Mr. Ebenezer Asare Boafo, Web4uGhana and Digital Literacy Safety Expert, highlighted the effects of cartoons, especially on how it can shape the minds of children into receiving certain negative views without proper digital parenting.
Mr. Albert Opoku, Hapaspace Ghana, Official Google Partner, exposed participants to more useful ways they can access the internet beyond Facebook, YouTube and checking of mails.
Other facilitators including Mr. Gabriel Opoku Appiah, Ghana Internet Safety Foundation, Dr. Samuel B. Adubofour, Mrs. Linda Amoako Banning and Mr. Emmanuel Adinkrah, CSUC added their voice to the internet expertise needed for the growth of these teachers.
Meanwhile, participants commended CSUC for their continued impact on society and entreated them to extend the number of training days to allow participants to cover more topic-areas than they have achieved.
Trainees received certificates each as Digital Counsellors after taking examination and an evaluation process at the end of the first phase.
