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O&P Uganda’s Makerspace Entices Ugandan Teacher to Prep for Retirement

Today is Cosmas Okumu’s first day for a training in electronics at Oysters & Pearls-Uganda’s Makerspace.

A Physics teacher at Negri College in Gulu, Cosmas says he gets thrilled when he makes anything electronic.

“I made an inverter as part of my research at Kyambogo University last year. My supervisor looked at me with respect. I felt good. Today, the feeling is back,” he said.

Today Cosmas assembled a circuit, and the sweet memory of winning came back.

But now, it is not all about the excitement that comes with invention. Cosmas wants to make good use of the makerspace, to craft his retirement job.

“The training is preparing me for old age,” he said.

“When I retire, I will open a shop where I will repair electronics, and earn a decent income,” he added.

Only today, he was able to assemble a circuit; the achievement made his hope soar. Cosmos is ready to learn more in a few months.

Cosmas’ plan for a retirement job is a wise idea, considering that many on retirement in Uganda face challenges acquiring their most basic needs. Although the government introduced the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment program in 2012, each beneficiary gets only 25.000 shillings (about US $8) each month, and

Giving Gulu University Science Students More Skills in Technology

Gulu-University-Students-of-O&P-tech-Lab1 Gulu University students at O&P Tech Lab

Lack of, or inadequate science materials, in addition to ill-equipped laboratories in most Universities in Uganda have always led to the passing-out of poorly trained science graduates who are unable to innovate, or solve simple problems in the community. Oysters & Pearls – Uganda is filling that vacuum, by giving hands-on training to Gulu University students in Computer Science topics at their makerspace.

In the last week of October, Oysters & Pearls – Uganda trained Gulu University students in robotics and programming, among other technology related topics. More than fifty students benefited from the program, and some of them confessed to have gotten their first hands-on experience.

Now, the students gather at the Oysters & Pearls – Uganda Lab every Wednesday and Thursday, to get more practical skills in various fields in technology.

Fernando Opifeera, a first year student Bachelor of Science in ICT says the makerspace is giving him an opportunity to learn more in his course because; “At the Makerspace, I am able to match the theory I learned at the university with its practical application .”

This initiative is also simplifying the learning process of a number of the science students

Computerized Devices and Text Books Helping Blind Students to Excel

“I am sure one of the six blind students sitting for national examinations will pass with distinctions.” The head of the Special Needs Unit at Gulu High School, Daniel Odoch expressed this firm conviction. Francis Ojukul, the coordinator of the VI department, had the same feeling.

For three and a half decades though, such optimism in the performance of the blind and visually impaired students at Gulu High School was non- existent.

In Uganda, education for Persons with Disabilities was started in 1952 by the Colonial Government. The special needs education services were for a few children with visual, hearing, learning and mobility challenges who were not gaining from the existing educational provision for regular children. However, Persons with Disabilities are still generally marginalized by beliefs and attitudes in society, and so developments in this ‘Special Education’ have been moving slowly since then.

The blind annex of the school was launched in 1986. But it was only five years ago, when Oysters & Pearls started sponsoring and giving study materials and tools to the blind, that the unit started producing first grades, both in internal and external examinations.

“Since 2012, we have registered at least a first grade in the national examinations,” said Mr. Ali Muzamil, a blind teacher of Commerce

Spelling quiz for blind students

Increasing Knowledge of Blind Students through Spelling Quizzes and Group Revisions

Oysters & Pearls-Uganda has initiated a weekly quiz competition at Gulu High School to improve the grades of Blind Annex students.

The initiative, which was kicked off this year by Ojukul Francis (O&P-UG Project Coordinator), sets students in groups of four. Each group is comprised of students chosen from senior one up to senior six. The winning group gets a prize at the end of the session.

Students who are educated using a Brailler typically do not receive corrective feedback on the writing skills, including grammer and spelling, because their sighted teachers often cannot read Braille. Their spelling is poor as a result and words are written phonetically.

Nonetheless, they are enthusiastically joining in on quiz day to sharpen spelling and compete to answer questions from past exams to ensure the best possible performance on exams.

Francis says he received numerous complaints from the blind students that sighted teachers were not spelling words for them during class which is majority sighted, ignoring the fact that they cannot see the blackboard.

“The spelling quiz competition is not only making the students improve their spellings, but also to think fast, because each group is given only ten seconds to answer a question,” Francis said.

Odoch

Oysters & Pearls-Uganda Offers Hands-on Training to University Students

The president of the Faculty of Science at Gulu University, is grateful for the hands-on training given by Oysters & Pearls-Uganda, to students of Information Technology and Computer Science.

Jimmy Lukwago, a final year student of Information Technology at the University, expressed his gladness during a career guidance and practical computing seminar at the University, where Oysters & Pearls was a main contributor.

During the event, Oysters & Pearls-Uganda’s director of technology, Jacob Odur, showed the students how a 3D printer works.

Victor Paul, our robotics trainer introduced the students to embedded systems using Arduino. Victor and the students explored the Arduino hardware; looking at both digital and analog pins, power pins, and barrel jack for external power. Other fields that the students experienced was Arduino Integrated Development environment, IDE, and installation of Arduino software and UNO board drivers.

The students also practiced basic programming, for instance, blinking a Light Emitting Diode, LED, and other hardware, such as breadboard used in electronic prototyping/testing of circuits, among others.

Jimmy acknowledged that many of the science students had not experienced such practical work, and had definitely not seen a number of the materials used.

“The university does not have enough materials for practical work, so a majority of the science students are not exposed. This

Easing Work of Blind and Visually Impaired Teachers in Uganda

Never do you hear a visually impaired, or blind employee in Uganda talking about availability of friendly work tools. For teachers, the problem is graver; because their poor or lack of sight hinders them from using the computer to research, and frequently update notes to remain relevant to students.

Many choose the unreliable option of asking colleagues to help them make notes, mark students’ work, and assess them. That kind of help does not come easy; and is highly unpredictable! This desperate, and heartrending situation has been prevailing for the blind and visually impaired workforce in the country since time immemorial. As such, many who become blind or visually impaired suddenly, find themselves leaving their job, involuntarily.

But Oysters & Pearls-Uganda has broken this curse, especially for many blind and visually impaired teachers in northern Uganda. The organization has trained all the blind and visually impaired teachers at Gulu High School, the only secondary school in the north that is blind inclusive. The teachers now have skills in the computer software; Job Access with Speech, JAWS, which is designed for the blind and visually impaired.

To simplify their work, each of the teachers has been assigned a lap top computer, with access to the internet. The laptops have text books

Students Trained by Oysters & Pearls Win 2017 National Robotics Competition

Elations, wide smiles, giant hugs and camera flashes, punctuated the final hour of the 2017 robotics competition at Makerere University in Kampala. The winners were from Gulu High School, Bishop Angelo Negri College and Dr. Obote College, all in northern Uganda.

Students of Gulu High School got a trophy for developing the best prototype of an Egg Crack Partition Machine. Reagan Okumu, a student of Gulu High School, is among the students who worked day and night to develop the model. Reagan comes from a poor family in Omoro district, located more than 30 kilometers to the East of Gulu town. Every holiday, he sets up a small business stall and makes chapat and ‘rolex’ ( a snack made of fried eggs, cabbages, green peppers and tomatoes, rolled in a chapat), to raise money for his tuition and scholastic materials.

Reagan has been using a knife to crack eggs; a major ingredient in his chapat and ‘rolex’ business. But using a knife has made him cut himself many times, besides performing under capacity. Being part of the group makes him feel lucky as he has gained skills during the training and the competition. Reagan’s wish is to have the prototype of their egg crack and partition machine developed into

Teaching Video Game Design in Northern Uganda – A Give and Take

I was invited to teach Video Game Design (VGD) at the Oysters & Pearls-Uganda Tech Camp 2016 along with Professor Carl Twarog from East Carolina University in North Carolina and his 4th year student, Candice Fonville. The three of us made a great team. Sandra had seen a notice on Twitter of my class in Unity in late 2015 at Outbox in Kampala and contacted me. In the first week, we introduced the students to Unity Engine and how to make a basic 3D game with an environment, a 3D character, token collection and score. In the second week, we introduced 2D games, and showed the students the differences and similarities in making 2D, and 3D games. READ MORE...

Gulu Annual Tech Camp

Please read the article by Lindsay Craig about the class he taught in Gulu at the annual Oysters & Pearls Technology Camp.

I’m starting a robotics toy company called QuestBotics (which is another story), but in my copious free time every year I go to Uganda, Africa to teach a Technology camp with Oysters & Pearls – Uganda. It’s a two-week event and kids in northern Uganda flock to a school called Gulu High where they get to play with sensors, tiny robot brains (microchips), Legos, video games, motors and virtual reality.

With over 120 students and 50 staff members at the camp in Uganda, we have our hands full just getting the power turned on, but that didn’t stop us – this year, we found the time to add four new subjects for the students–shortwave radio, audio, art and solar energy.

Pushing the boundaries in Uganda Tech Education
We’re always pushing the boundaries of what we can teach at the Gulu Annual Tech Camp. The second year of its existence we were teaching printed circuit board design as a part of the prototyping course. Students had clamored in the past for the opportunity to work with Bluetooth and other wireless technology. So, we bought a bunch of low-cost short-wave

2016 National Technovation Challenge in Uganda

Please read the article regarding the “2016 National Technovation Challenge in Uganda” in which Oysters & Pearls sponsored the participation of the Gulu High School team.

Innovations May 15 2016.inddClick to read an article about the Gulu Team from New Vision – “Girls Create App for Bodabodas” by Jeff Andrew Lule

 

New Vision – “Uganda will be technology hub for Africa by 2030” by John Agaba, 5th August 2016

The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Elioda Tumwesigye said Uganda will be a hub for science and technology in whole of Africa by 2030 during a technovation challenge at the Makerere University School of Public Health-powered ResilientAfrica Network.

It was Tumwesigye’s first day out in the field after he was appointed to the office as inaugural minister by President Yoweri Museveni late June.

During the technovation challenge that attracted teams from over 15 girl secondary schools from across Uganda, the new minister reiterated the need for science and innovations, pledging support to the network. – READ MORE

 

Coverage also included the Resilient Africa Network website: “The 2016 Uganda Technovation Challenge”

This year’s

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