Saturday 15th August 2020
wrapped up ten days of the third edition of the Summer Tech camp, organized by
Dar Si Hmad for Development, Education and Culture.
The camp offered an amazing
learning opportunity for young unprivileged girls in Middle school or entering
High School, to initiate them in technology and a better, safer use of the
internet. Each day the camp ran from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm with a communal
breakfast and the launching of the day with an ice breaker activity for fully
energized sessions.
The camp curriculum is
inspired from the last editions of the Summer Tech Camp, Sifna Teknologia,
with few updates based on this year’s beneficiaries’ needs. As its name
indicates, the Summer Tech Camp’s main topic is "Technology," yet it
features sessions related to critical thinking, to personal discovery, self
awareness and to soft skills such as public speaking or team work that the
girls will inevitably need both in their personal and professional lives.
The first day of the camp was
all about introductions: the camp and Dar Si Hmad. We then played many games to
discover more about the girls and build a solid network. We were impressed by
the variety of talents that made up the program and the different skills the
girls had: some could sing beautifully, some played football (a
predominantly male sport), some were iron ball players, some were active
Turkish language learner, many were K-POP fans, and all loved gaming and
are passionate young women.
Then, we established together
the group rules, we call it our constitution, in order to guarantee a
healthy, comfortable and enjoyable learning experience for everyone.
After lunch we introduced the
girls to the technical world of computers and the ABCs of web surfing. The
girls were very interested in the new information and facilities they
discovered, especially that they knew the internet through phones and many of
them rarely use a computer. To apply what they have been taught, the girls were
asked to do Webquests on different topics and share their results with their
peers.
On the 2nd day, the girls
watched a TED Talk video about the “Hole in the wall” experiment. Each one
expressed her opinion about the experiment and how we can relate to it as
technology knowledge seekers. Next, we talked about the difference between
software and hardware. We practiced installing Mozilla Firefox and learned more
about the facilities extensions we could bring to the web browser we used.
ALEXA was one of the extension examples we focused on especially that it was
needed for the workshop on sources of credible information, on detecting fake
news, on avoiding illegal downloadings and plagiarism. The 2nd day was also the
occasion for girls who do not have an email address to create one and write
their first email. As new High-Schoolers expected to give presentations, we
initiated them into powerpoint and Google slides use.
Day 3 started with an
open discussion about the stereotypes girls have about the technology world.
Followed by two Ted Talks about computer science and women in technology; the
girls found more arguments to better express themselves about the topic. In the
following session, the girls understood the principle of Wikipedia, its
accuracy and practice advanced search Google offers.
“Video games” was an interesting
session especially for those who love gaming, and they were surprised to
discover the other side of video games through gender representation in video
games. Girls realized how important it is to be aware of everything they
consume from the internet. We then suggested some instructive games and
clarified that learning can happen through fun games.
Given the current situation of
the pandemic and the schools’ lockdown, we figured out that the girls will need
a session related to online learning and the possible platforms that can be
used for this end. The girls mentioned that they only used Whatsapp groups to
study and did not know there were other platforms that would offer them a
better virtual learning experience; that is when we introduced them to different
platforms such as Zoom and Teams, and we eventually had a class simulation on
Google meet. The girls learned how to launch a virtual class themselves and
invite their friends.
To clarify the importance of
self awareness we tackled on Day 3, the program of day 4 started with a session
on critical thinking, its definition, steps and effective tools to shift one’s
way of thinking. After a practice in which girls had to think and use their
mental abilities, they had a workshop on DIYs and had free time to find a DIY
idea and determine the materials they will need. In the afternoon, the girls
had a workshop on digital photography that focused on practical
techniques/criteria to take good pictures and edit them online in a way that
would guarantee an effective story telling.
Day 5, we could not have the
planned visit to the Berber Museum, closed because of the pandemic. We started
the day with a discussion on museums, their importance and the girls'
experiences in museums. We then introduced them to the platforms that can allow
them to visit far away museums without moving from their chairs or buying a
ticket. After that, we had a workshop on videography. We started the workshop
by projecting the videos Khadija Amahal had made as a summary of the previous days
of the camp. The girls were excited for the tips and the techniques of
videography that would allow them to make such videos themselves.
At the end of the workshop we
asked the girls to practice what they learned so far and make videos on their
own about any topic they want. We gave them video ideas to guide their
thinking; an interview, a set of pictures telling a story with a sound,
voiceover or a vlog of a day in the camp.
Day 6 was a pause from the
serious workshops and an opportunity for the girls to have fun through playing
a variety of games that needed effective team work. The afternoon was solely
dedicated to working on the DIY projects and presenting them in front of their
peers.
Day 7 and back to serious
work! The first thing we think about when we hear technology is the weird
writing that we call a code, so it was important to include a session on coding
and binary alphabet. Coding might seem very complicated yet if explained
through games it becomes fun and easy to understand. In the afternoon the girls
were introduced to AI artificial intelligence and had an open discussion about
its uses in our daily life, its future and limits.
Day 8 was a personal discovery
journey. Girls enjoyed taking personality tests and found out more about their
strong points. The afternoon was a session on possible schools and majors the
girls can pursue. Also, the girls were very excited for the exchange programs
session especially that the facilitator Khadija told them previously that she
had visited many countries through exchange programs.
Day 9 the girls had to work on
their final projects (presentations and videos) so as to share them within the
afternoon. Before the presentations we included a session on Public Speaking so
that they have an idea about the way they should present their project. The
girls’ final projects incredibly rewarded our efforts. Upon completion of the
training, the participants seemed to take our feedback into consideration.
Written by: Hanane Ben Belaid, STC assistant and facilitator
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