Monday, August 18, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The first day of touching a computer.
In mid 2003, a computer was donated to our library. But it was set up in the staff room. I did not pay any attention to it because I was not interested in computers at the time. After few days - nobody had even switched it on. So one day I decided to use it.I took a book from the library on how to operate a computer and spent a week reading through it. Then I tried to use MS Word to print a document. I failed! But a director from the Education office came to school and noticed my efforts and helped me.In November 2004, my school was given a computer room for the benefit of our students. Our principal asked me to take charge of our new computer unit.
Until then, using a computer with internet access had been a dream for me and my students. We felt very lucky to get a computer unit in a rural area such as Nihiluwa in the Hambantota District. It was a dream come true. It fulfilled a longstanding need at the Nihiluwa Public School. I personally believe that students must behave in the computer unit as if it was a library.
Since then I started duty as a center manager. Infact I had an idea to generate opportunities for my students to get maximum usage of this unit. With the help of my Principal and the staff I arranged a flexible time table in order to enable every class to access the computer unit.The second phase ,I paid my attention towards the school leavers and allocate extra time to train them to meet the demand for ICT skilled personnel cater to the needs of the current job market. To meet those things I started Ruhunu Lanka ICT Foundation in mid 2007.
Participation on Baramathi Initiatives
Mr Amal Gunawardhana a Founder of Ruhunu Lanka has been invited to participate to 8Th Annaul Baramathi Initiative on ICT and Development in Pune India from 22 to 26 March at the Vidya Pratistan Institute of Information Technology Intellectuals from the Asia pacific also have been invited.
One computer starts many changes
In October 2003, my Principal informed me that our students couldn’t afford the report book which included all their exams results. He proposed that we try to provide cheaper ones using a computer and the old duplicating machine we already had.
At that time I was only able to create simple word documents and get a single printout. Even that was a huge challenge for me. I had spent a week to learning how to use Windows media player. Since every report book has its own format it was difficult to design because I didn’t know how to apply a border, insert a picture, insert a table etc.
Again I got help from our Library. After a few days I figured out how to format a page for our own design. Then I designed a cover page, but I forgot to include the school logo. This again was a big problem for me because I didn’t know how to insert our school logo to the cover page. I asked a few people and I found that first, the logo must be scanned and copied to PC. But I still couldn’t get it right. I thought it was a complex task. How do I do this?
Then I met someone from a private computer institute In Tangalle city with a school letterhead and told them about my requirements. They taught me how to do it exactly . In addition to that I also learnt a bit about Photo editing tools and removable media such as floppy diskettes.
After a few days I started to design the report book. Mr.Jayasekara, a teacher in my school also helped me use the old duplicating machine. Finally we were able to complete our principal’s proposal. He was more satisfied than I expected. This Report Book can now be bought outside the school for 25 Rupees. However students can buy it at 5 Rupees.
My report book project created a new trend was in my school. I imposed a rule that every teacher must design their exam papers using our computer. This resulted in a big queue to use our single computer.
Then I launched my next idea - teaching students using a single computer. It is not an easy task. I got a big room reserved for the proposed computer lab. Then I set up the one and only computer inside the room and started lessons. Every class has 30 students. But I only had to manage like this until 24 November 2004. That day our dreams came true! A complete computer unit was given to our school through the Secondary Education Modernization Project (SEMP).
This was a new challenge for me. At the beginning I was informed that the SEMP will provide only two years of maintenance (electricity and repairs) for this lab. I like challenges and I made a sustainable plan for computer unit which is currently in progress. See the results of our efforts at www.ruhunulanka.org
At that time I was only able to create simple word documents and get a single printout. Even that was a huge challenge for me. I had spent a week to learning how to use Windows media player. Since every report book has its own format it was difficult to design because I didn’t know how to apply a border, insert a picture, insert a table etc.
Again I got help from our Library. After a few days I figured out how to format a page for our own design. Then I designed a cover page, but I forgot to include the school logo. This again was a big problem for me because I didn’t know how to insert our school logo to the cover page. I asked a few people and I found that first, the logo must be scanned and copied to PC. But I still couldn’t get it right. I thought it was a complex task. How do I do this?
Then I met someone from a private computer institute In Tangalle city with a school letterhead and told them about my requirements. They taught me how to do it exactly . In addition to that I also learnt a bit about Photo editing tools and removable media such as floppy diskettes.
After a few days I started to design the report book. Mr.Jayasekara, a teacher in my school also helped me use the old duplicating machine. Finally we were able to complete our principal’s proposal. He was more satisfied than I expected. This Report Book can now be bought outside the school for 25 Rupees. However students can buy it at 5 Rupees.
My report book project created a new trend was in my school. I imposed a rule that every teacher must design their exam papers using our computer. This resulted in a big queue to use our single computer.
Then I launched my next idea - teaching students using a single computer. It is not an easy task. I got a big room reserved for the proposed computer lab. Then I set up the one and only computer inside the room and started lessons. Every class has 30 students. But I only had to manage like this until 24 November 2004. That day our dreams came true! A complete computer unit was given to our school through the Secondary Education Modernization Project (SEMP).
This was a new challenge for me. At the beginning I was informed that the SEMP will provide only two years of maintenance (electricity and repairs) for this lab. I like challenges and I made a sustainable plan for computer unit which is currently in progress. See the results of our efforts at www.ruhunulanka.org
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