Daraja girls learn how to use iPods in the classroom

Tuesday was an exciting day at Daraja as the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences presented the teachers with iPads and Form 1 students with iPods. The goal of the new technology is to provide students and teachers with an environment where they can critically consume information, collaborate, and create new projects. The iPods are part of a research project to understand how mobile devices can be used to enrich education and hopefully can extend the success to other schools around Kenya and East Africa.

The iPads and iPods are equipped with numerous applications that aid in learning. For example, there is a 3D anatomy application where students can dissect a human body and see the different layers of tissue, muscle, and bone. The iPods have books, demonstrations, and videos that all create an enriched learning environment that will help extend a Daraja girl’s learning beyond campus. USD Professor Heather Lattimer said she and her Graduate Students are training the teachers how they can use their iPads to record videos of lessons and send it to all the iPods for students to watch whenever they need to.

The Form 1s were overjoyed to receive the iPods, especially Hannah who couldn’t wait to receive her own device, “I could not believe it. This will help me in my studies. If I am doing an experiment, I can record it and re-watch it so I can understand what is going on at each step. It is an improved technology. If many schools have it, they can improve education.” That is the goal of the project; improve education for the Daraja girls. It is a new way of learning that will help the girls critically engage in their own education.