Yes, we can kick poverty as florists: My Experience working with A Floral Design Class at Holtet Videregaende Skole. Oslo – Norway

Having closely worked and attending classes by one professional Norwegian florist Erik Køpke I have realized how I could have made a fortune from the variety of flowers that grow naturally around homesteads and the wild in almost every part of Uganda where I grew up. Erik is a professional practical florist, also currently studying to become a vocational teacher so he can share his expertise and skills with the young and old. I was inspired by his creative skill and love for flowers when I attended his exhibition at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HIOA) in June 2012. He demonstrated to everyone how he turns flowers into admirable, interesting and an income generating activity. Through his professors, I got his contacts and asked to closely work with him and visit his classes in a vocational secondary school he taught. Here are some realities;

1. Flowers grow almost everywhere in the world at least for Uganda where I come from, we just need to open our eyes to see them and give them attention.

Anyone with interest can be a florist or at least practice the art given a range of uses that flowers offer. You don’t need to start a professional level; even our great grandparents decorated their homes and compounds during festivities.  3. Floral deco designs can be created around any theme/inspiration. 4. There are a variety of tools and materials available (both rudimentary and modern) to use in assembling flowers into a beautiful artwork /decoration.

5. There is huge market for flowers and floral designs the world over including the rural communities like local African churches, wedding and graduation venues and parties for one who cannot market this art at a national or commercial level. Most flowers in Europe particularly Norway are imported mainly from Africa according to Erik Køpke who also makes orders from some parts in Africa for his work.

6. Lastly and most importantly, believe in yourself that you can do it (I mean you can be a florist and make your own designs). All you need is to market and share with colleagues and others what you do. Below are some of my powerful designs as a result of all the experiences working with Erik Køpke, a Norwegian professional florist.

CAN YOU MAKE YOUR OWN FLORAL DESIGN TODAY AND EARN BIG?

OIL in UGANDA: Will It Fuel Employment or Conflict?

Uganda in East Africa will soon/if not already added on the list of Oil Producing Countries (OPC) in the world. With its latest discovered oil standing at 3.5 billion barrels, according to the Government, Oil companies have estimated that around 1.8 billion barrels of this will be recoverable. This brings a smile on the face of many Ugandans and East Africans as they hope for the better future. Local Higher and Vocational institutions including Marerere University, Uganda Christian University, Nkumba University, Nakawa Vocational Training Institute to mention have already developed study programmes and revised their teaching curricula to incorporate courses in Petroleum, Oil and Gas Management, Exploration and technical studies in a wake to prepare graduates for employment opportunities.

The government also through its Development Partners has awarded scholarships to some Ugandans to take up studies abroad (Trinidad and Tobago, Ireland, Germany  to mention) in Petroleum studies. Reports indicate that some students have already graduated from these institutions yet “The oil industry  is not ready for them”!. People in a poor and marginalised regions do hope that oil would restore their fortunes. What is the future of Uganda and Ugandan’s with the discovery of oil? Should Ugandan’s  hope for a good education? employment opportunities? peace? Please Read more and leave a comment!

Graphic Design Education in Africa: The technology question?

Graphic design, like many other professions, is being transformed by new technologies. Not only are computers, smart phones and other gadgets powerful tools for creating design, designers now work on websites, software interfaces, and other new tasks. As technology has come to play a bigger role in design and, thus, design education, some questions can be asked where this leaves the profession in the developing world like Africa. Are the identity and role of the graphic designer changing substantially? Are new technologies allowing those users with no design background to take away from the work traditionally performed by graphic designers in Africa?

With my experience as a Graphic designer trained and raised through the African education systems particularly in Uganda, I see that new technologies have changed the tasks performed by graphic designers and to some degree authenticated people without a graphic training to perform tasks that would otherwise be for graphic designers. This is due to a series of software packages and new advanced digital tools that have been developed to do graphic work and yet are hardly available for use in education institutions. Also, one of the changes brought about by advances in computer technology is that individual designer’s need to execute a range of tasks previously performed by a number of people.  This implies that students need broader abilities in design, since they will have broader responsibilities in the workplace. For example, trained typographers are essentially gone; today’s graphic designer must be both an art director and a typographer likewise web designers must possess a series of multiple skills. The question again is how can students be potentially equipped with both conceptual principles of graphic design and skills to become multi-task without appropriate technology available in most schools?

Learning in Groups: Way forward for Vocational Education & Training

Vocational Education and Training is oriented towards teaching, training and learning in relation to work and labour market. It emphasizes learning by doing. In fact one of its major aims is to develop a positive attitude towards skills and competences of students in the fields of vocational education and training (Mjelde, 2009). To achieve its aims, learning in Vocational Education need to be organized in a way that learners can work together to develop critical thinking and help each other to master the content and become competent in vocations.

Learning in groups and teams should be core for both teachers and students when planning their teaching, mentoring and other education activities.  My students have always acted as learning resources through their active participation in group projects. This has not only been important towards my success as a vocational teacher but has also helped me learn to associate with people from different walks of life and accommodate their views irrespective of who they are and where they come from. This is important for everybody for society to develop. There is need to respect each other irrespective of divergent views for the learning process to go on smoothly and this should be for both teachers and learners in my opinion even where some factors dictate.   

Today, after one month working with masters’ students from different backgrounds (nationalities), vocations, gender, ages and religions at Høgskolen I Oslo og Akershus in Norway, we decided guided by professor Trond Mustafa to put our brains together as a group to explore what it is like to work in groups during the learning process. Students have done this for the last few months they have been on this programme and they admit in their groups that a lot of knowledge and skills have been gained through sharing their material and giving feedback to each other, learning from people’s experiences as well as benefiting from their own contributions.

Students also acknowledged the fact that group learning is not as easy in practice given the various challenges associated with it especially when working in a multicultural environment. “It takes time and critical thinking to bring together divergent views/ideas from the group members to have the project move forward, (a student noted)”. However, the students learn better and acquire a broad knowledge and skills from the experiences within the learning groups.   

Learning in The Workplace: The Best Strategy to Curb Youth Unemployment In Developing Countries

The workplace was once seen as a place of work, to produce goods or offer services. It was not the place to learn because learning occurred before employment or as part of apprenticeship or special training period (Billet, 2001). Most academic and vocational Institutions in developing countries that prepare youth for the job market are still embracing this ideology – looking at the workplace as a place to get a job. Focus is put on training learners to acquire academic papers they can present to get jobs without necessarily analyzing the current needs of the labour market.   The demands of work now have become complex / changed (in terms of jobs, new technologies, new opportunities, e.t.c.) and no initial training can prepare someone for lifetime of work.

 

Learning is a normal human process that occurs throughout life, prompted by events and challenges of everyday existence. Therefore it occurs everywhere with a small proportion of it taking place in classrooms or formal course of study. There is agent need for educational institutions to move their focus from teaching to learning since learning takes place everywhere including the workplace. From my own experience as a vocational teacher at Higher Education in Uganda, there is need for Higher Institutions (both academic and Vocational) to revise their curricula by adding contents and methods that emphasize workplace learning. We can have our learners spend more time doing studies and projects at the workplaces even for academic subjects.

Learners will experience and understand the dynamics of the workplaces before they graduate from their studies. Business students for example, will have hands-on experiences on how business is done at the workplace but not how they do business as for the classroom teaching. They also know how to communicate to clients (through practice) but not how they communicate as the case for classroom teaching! Engineers need to be guided through practice (hands-on) how to fix car faults and construct modern buildings but not how they fix faults or build modern buildings. All these experiences can be acquired at the workplace. This will help the educated youth to be more aware of how and what they are doing and for what reason rather than wait to experience after they complete their studies. Most workplaces crave for skilled and competent workers not unskilled educated youth that require on-job training services first for them to work.     

When learning shifts from the classroom and the teacher to the workplace, the focus of research also will change and aim on what managers, supervisors and co-workers can do to help, how workplaces can be organized to promote the kinds of learning needed there and on what employees can do to assist their own learning. This in turn will help both academic institutions and employers to work together in developing relevant curricula to make a significant impact on working life.

E-learning Tools: Mind Map

E-learning Tools: Mind Map

A Joint Presentation made at Oslo & Akershus University College of Applied Sciences during the LATINA 2012 Summer Course.