Written by DSH intern, Ms. Salwa El Haouti
Additional
to the multiple events Dar Si Hmad embraced during June of this year, the last
week of the month has also witnessed the completion of the second edition of
the Summer Tech Camp with satisfactory results. This educational program, which
aimed at initiating underprivileged teenage girls to the digital world, also
served girls with average prior knowledge on the use of the internet.
Although
the main focus of this instructional program was the teaching of technology as
its name indicates, the syllabi developed for the teenage beneficiaries
comprised a number of other concerns all of which would certainly serve them on
both the short term, as high school students, and the long term as active
members in the job market and the society.
The
first day of the camp was an opportunity for the beneficiaries to know one
another and for the instructors to present an overall of the schedule of the
week before inciting the girls to create their own classroom constitution. That
session was also marked with the introduction to the technical jargon in
relation to the computer, starting from the components of the hardware to the
essential terminology that pertains to its software. The girls were also taught
some ABC’s on surfing the web and were assigned some Web quests as a practice.
Watching a Ted talk beforehand on the merits of being an IT girl and discussing
it also contributed to maximizing the attention and interest of the Summer Tech
Camp’s beneficiaries.
Day
2 was a continuation of the previous day’s lesson. This time, the girls were
initiated to the web extensions and were offered examples on the ones they will
most benefit from as young web browsers. Since all the girls are about to enter
high school, it was necessary to show them how to use Google Docs and Google
Slides. Above all, they were further instructed on how to detect real news and
information from fake ones using internet tools, as they will be assigned to do
divers researches from high school onward, all by giving the credit to the
publisher of any content in order not to commit any plagiarism.
The
third day of the summer tech camp started outdoors by visiting the local
Amazighi museum of Agadir. This visit was an opportunity for the girls to learn
and rectify many fallacious and erroneous ideas they once had on the Amazighi
culture and history. The tour they had was intentionally planned to stimulate
the girls’ curiosity on what one can learn in the museums and thus feel eager
to visit more of them. Back in Dar Si Hmad, we guided them to websites where
they could have a virtual 3D visit to internationally known museums such as the
Louvre Museum in Paris. Having access to such content would definitely
reinforce their overall historical and cultural knowledge, which will indeed
benefit them throughout their lives. The afternoon of that session covered the
right techniques of taking pictures and shooting a video, and also guided the
girls to some editing platforms where they could modify and improve the quality
of their pictures or make a short video film.
On
the fourth day of the program, the girls demonstrated great interest and
engagement with the course content. That day was consecrated to coding and
Artificial Intelligence and had included many tasks for practice. The learners
were then directed to some beginners’ coding websites, where they could learn
and also practice the coding as they did inside the classroom. Each young girl
by the end of the session has created an HTML web page, which comprised a head
and a body where pictures and videos were also attached. In the last quarter of
the day’s program, the focus was mainly put on the AI where the girls expressed
clear astonishment at the level the technological field has reached.
The
morning of day five was spent in the beach of Agadir. The girls had a blast
playing competitive games with one another. They clearly needed a pause from
the serious subjects they have tackled in class the previous days. The
afternoon was also spared for them to make their own DIY projects where they
gave vent to their creativity.
Similarly
to the fourth day, the sixth one also evoked the engagement of the girls, but
this time in deep discussion about themselves, how much do they know about
their strengths and weaknesses and to what extent do they exploit their
potential. The girls complained about the poor orientation they get in their
schools about the educational prospects ahead of them, the organizing team of
the camp also held a session of orientation where the girls’ questions and
ambiguities were finally clarified. Moreover, scholarships’ opportunities for
both high school and university students were also presented to the
beneficiaries of the program, as they were also provided with tips on how to
maximize their chances of getting one.
Day
7 was the last day of the camp and it was a chance for the girls to demonstrate
what they had acquired throughout the week. The participants did a power point
presentation on one of the various matters, which were treated during the
program. The presentations were pretty inventive and originative as they
tackled what they have learned from different perspectives.
Since
this day marked the end of the camp, it, of course, included a number of fun
activities before the participation certificates were given to the young
beneficiaries. By all accounts, the week’s program described above is indeed a
strong evidence on how successful the Summer Tech Camp of the year 2019 has
been.
