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<p>Tyler Cinnamon is a American programmer and entrepreneur. He started TechLit Africa with Nelly Cheboi in 2018 to disrupt poverty with used IT devices.</p>

Founder & COO

Reports and Insights from Rural Africa | How We Teach Computer Classes in Primary Schools to Unlock Global Opportunity in Rural Africa

Blog - Effective Digital Skills at Scale

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<p>Irene teaches the introductory lessons to graphic design. She explains how students can use Inkscape to create vector graphics.</p>

Specialist Educator

<h2>Hussein The Artist</h2><p>Hussein, a seventh grader at Saint Mary has been the best designer amongst all my students so far.&nbsp;</p><p>He knew about inkscape and vectors even before I introduced it to his class. So Hussien has been taking any opportunity he gets to come to the computer lab. For example if he has a free lesson in class, instead of staying in class like his classmates, he would come to TechLit lab and offer to help teach. </p><h2>Following Your Passion</h2><p>“So, Irene, because I am already an artist, how can I benefit from my talent? ” he asked shortly after I introduced vector art to his class.</p><p>I told him all about graphic designers and how they are crucial in so many companies. From designing logos to even fonts. I also went on to explain free lance, how he can have his own agency and be self-employed designing logos for people. </p><p>He was so happy to hear that. “I can’t wait to benefit from my designs.” He said and went on to design really cool hats, shoes and even abstract art.</p>

7th Grader from Saint Mary's Primary Is An Artist With a Bright Future | Motivating Conversation with Irene Sheey About Future Opportunities

<p>This week, I shared all the possible things one can do with Graphic Design talents. Hussen, a Seventh Grader in Saint Mary's Primary was inspired and hopeful about his future as an artist.</p>

Future Designer from Saint Mary's

Saint Mary's

<p>Nelly Cheboi is a celebrated social entrepreneur, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/nelly-cheboi/?sh=179de9a85764" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Forbes 30 under 30</a> honoree, and<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/14/world/education-technology-recycling-kenya-poverty-cnnheroes/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> CNN Hero</a>. After growing up in rural Kenya and lifting her family out of poverty, she focused on her community.</p>

CEO | CNN Hero | Forbes Under 30

<p>Every Thursday, we all gather around on Zoom to share stories from the classroom. Every educator writes a story to share from their week about student achievement.</p>

Classroom Stories | TechLit Africa

Stories From The Classroom

Inkscape

Graphic Design

<p>Lucy is our internet skills and touchtyping specialist.</p>

<h2>Internet Skills Specialty</h2><p>Internet skills is one of the specialties we teach in TechLit Africa. Creating accounts in our local, offline internet program called Social enables students to save and upload their work so that they can always make progress when attending computer class.</p><h2>The Effects of Social</h2><p>Since I started introducing Social accounts in Mogotio Primary and showing them how to open the account they have been showing less interest in it. But from the day I started reviewing Social with them and showing them how they can communicate to their colleagues by chatting they have really developed interest in it. Most of them really enjoy that. Now they are able to save their work and upload it on Social.</p>

Students Learn Internet Skills - Security, Storage and Communication - Now Enjoying Computer Classes and Progressing With Creating Skills

<p>Now that we are teaching Internet Skills as a TechLit specialty, students are able to save their work and chat with their friends. They are making more progress and having more fun now and learning internet skills in the process.</p>

Effects of Internet Skills on Computer Classes

Mogotio Primary

Social

Internet Security

Effects of Internet Skills

<p>Stanley is a community developer by profession, and a freelance writer on the side. At Techlit Africa, Stanley has been a school lead educator for many schools, including Logiri Primary and Barrina Primary in and around Mogotio, Kenya.</p>

School Lead Educator

<h2>Becoming A Producer</h2><p>Video production is one of our&nbsp;specialties in Techlit Africa. You may think that you have to be 18 years or older to become a video producer. That's not true for Barrina school.</p><h2>Inspiring Self-Discovery</h2><p>Meshack, a fourth grader at Barina quickly changed his career to a producer when Allan introduced video production to his class. He was particularly motivated when Allan explained that they too can make cool music videos like the one they see of Dogo and even Diamond, a very famous talent artist from Tanzania. </p><h2>Self-Efficacy Mastery Experiences</h2><p>This nine year old Meshack impressed all his classmates after he cut all the videos and stitched them together to make one amazing video. </p>

Video Production Specialist Allan Kiprono Inspires Young Students To Follow Role Models And Work Hard In Computer Class

<p>A 9-year-old in Barrina school decided that he could become a video producer like his favorite artists. He was so motivated that he learned and taught his whole class how to edit videos.</p>

9-Year-Old Discovers His Potential | TechLit Africa

Barina Primary

Open Shot

Video Production

9-Year-Old Discovers His Potential

<p>Irene Pepit is our school lead educator for Zawadi Yetu in Mogotio, Kenya.</p>

<h2>Well-Rounded Students</h2><p>This is a story about the fifth graders at Zawadi Yetu Academy. They have enjoyed every single one of the specialties that have been introduced to them, from Coding, Music Production to Personal Branding and Graphic Design.</p><p>They can do all the specialties without the help of their specialist and have shown great passion for learning TechLit programs. They keep asking me what is next. “<strong>What are we learning next?</strong>” they would say, almost in unison</p><h2>Self-Teaching with Computers</h2><p>So today I felt challenged and decided to introduce Word Processing and Document Editing to them. They were really happy to see a new skill they could learn. I used LibreOffice to show them the basic elements of word processing.</p><p>I only knew how to type and format the texts. I didn't know some of the other elements. To my surprise, the fifth graders started doing a lot more than what I had shown them. I even asked them to show me how they were able to insert images and where they got it from.</p><h2>Self-Expression and Creativity</h2><p>Most of them made a document with a computer image in it. Some wanted to recreate the QWERTY Touch-Typing application screen. So they wanted a computer with three icons on it that said “You Did It!” just like the feedback screen on our Touch-Typing application QWERTY. Almost all of them had “TechLit Africa” somewhere on their document.</p><p>Manu even wrote a thank you note to Nelly and Tyler and also TechLit Africa. It read “I thank Nelly and Tyler because since I joined this school i have been attending computer classes. Now I know how to use Inkscape and OpenShot. If it was not for TechLit I would not have known what a computer is.”</p>

Students at Zawadi Academy Learn More Than Their Teacher in Word Processing / Document Editing Digital Literacy Specialty Lesson

<p>This week, I introduced my students to Document Editing because they are hungry for new computer skills. After just one lesson, they already know more than I do. They created such complicated documents and even a thank you note.</p>

Document Editing at Zawadi Academy

Zawadi Yetu

LibreOffice Writer

Document Editing

<p>Milka is our school lead educator in Saint Mary's Primary in Mogotio, Kenya.</p>

<h2>Creating Digital Art</h2><p>For a while now, we have only been teaching graphic design to fourth graders and up. For lower classes we had our students use Potato Guy, an application to learn drag and drop skills. For Potato Guy the goal is to dress a potato.</p><p>I had always wondered how young is too young to introduce our students to Inkscape. At the moment we thought fourth graders were the youngest.&nbsp;So today we decided to experiment with second graders. They are about eight years old. </p><h2>The Youngest Artists</h2><p>I was particularly impressed with Allan, a second grader who drew a person wearing a green shirt and white pants. His design was so detailed with black hair, brown skin, one white shoe and the other shoe was barefoot. Of each of the colors, he had to pick the specific colors from the color wheel.</p><p>Most students had no problem using Inkscape. Now I am excited to try Inkscape with even the youngest of our students.</p>

We tried to teach 8-year-olds to use Inkscape, a vector editing program. They impressed us with their creativity and how quickly they learned to create digital art with Inkscape.

<p>We tried to teach 8-year-olds to use Inkscape, a vector editing program. They impressed us with their creativity and how quickly they learned to create digital art with Inkscape.</p>

8-Year-Olds Creating Digital Art

<p>Allan is a photographer, journalist and the founder of KE Media. With TechLit he inspires students with his passion for video production. Students learn to use video editing software with Allan.</p>

<h2>From Baringo to Mombasa</h2><p>On Monday, I traveled from Mogotio hub to Mombasa hub with <a href="https://techlitafrica.org/team/members/magdaline-korir" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Magda</a>. Our goal was to introduce students there to <a href="https://techlitafrica.org/curriculum/video-production" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">video production</a> and <a href="https://techlitafrica.org/curriculum/graphic-design" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">design</a>.</p><blockquote>Our school lead in Victoria Baptist, Mwinyi, had already prepared the students for our arrival.</blockquote><p>When we arrived at Victoria Baptist, one of our two schools in Mombasa, the kids were very excited. Mwinyi, our school lead at Victoria Baptist, had already highlighted to them that a specialist was coming from Baringo.</p><h2>Introducing Video Production</h2><blockquote>The students were prepared with a lot of questions.</blockquote><p>When I introduced myself as a specialist the kids were more excited. When I introduced video production to them, they were really calm and ready to hear what I had to say.</p><p>The students at Victoria Baptist asked a lot of questions:</p><ol><li>How will video production <strong>help them</strong>?</li><li>Why is video production <strong>important</strong>?</li><li>Can they do video production <strong>at home</strong> or <strong>at a higher level</strong>?</li></ol><p>They really liked it when I told them they really could make good videos like they watch on TV. I even got two student teachers to help me run the class.</p><h2>A Self-Teacher Named Fabrin</h2><p>I had a student by the name Fabrin who was outstanding. He was in Grade 4, Group 1. He easily understood what I had taught.</p><blockquote>Fabrin chose to teach the other student what he learned.</blockquote><p>Without me showing him, Fabrin learned how to use a common shortcut, Control-A, to move all the videos at once. Some students like to be the only one with some skill, but Fabrin choose to teach the other students what he learned. He taught his group and even stayed to show the second group in Grade 4.</p><p>Overall, the response to video production in Victoria Baptist was very good. The Mombasa students are just awesome.</p>

Curious Grade 4 Students With Many Questions | Class 4 Students Self-Teaching | Teaching Video Production In Mombasa | Baringo To Mombasa

<p>On Monday, I traveled from Mogotio hub to Mombasa hub with Magda. Our goal was to introduce students there to video production and Graphic Design. Overall, the response to video production in Victoria Baptist was very good. The Mombasa students are just awesome.</p>

Questions and Self-Teaching in Mombasa | TechLit Africa

Victoria Baptist

Questions and Self-Teaching in Mombasa

<p>Magda is one of TechLit's most skilled educators, and has taken on capacity development and new school onboarding.</p>

Kenya Capacity Lead

<blockquote>All hail Mnazi Moja kids!</blockquote><h2>Teaching In Mombasa</h2><blockquote>The last time I was in Mombasa, I only taught for a short time.</blockquote><p>I was here last on the second month of the year and then disappeared for close to 5 months only to show up towards the end of July.&nbsp;The last time I was in Mombasa, I only taught for a short time. I was just doing introduction to computer classes. We were just starting the Mombasa hub and I got the opportunity to be one of the pioneers.&nbsp;</p><blockquote>I then "disappeared" without a goodbye.</blockquote><p>I did make friends with the kids . They were so adorable and the way they addressed me as&nbsp;"madam" with their coastal accent was everything to me.&nbsp;I then 'disappeared' without goodbye only to show up five months later with new skills to teach.&nbsp;</p><h2>Returning To Mombasa</h2><blockquote>It's amazing the kind of impact teachers leave...</blockquote><p>When I came back to Mombasa, I was surprised that they still remembered me and one boy was trying to speak English and said "<strong>I am miss you today madam</strong>" and I was like "<strong>I missed you too!</strong>"&nbsp;</p><p>It's amazing the kind of impact teachers leave even after interacting with kids for just a short time.&nbsp; That aside, this time I was here to teach social and vectors.</p><h2>Creativity And Internet Skills</h2><blockquote>Students can create and share their Vector projects work on Social.</blockquote><p>Social is a specialty in TechLit where we teach kids basic internet skills and social media at large. We also teach them how to secure their accounts.&nbsp;After this, we create accounts for them where they can reach out to their fellow students and also upload their projects and progress. They can also view their fellow students' uploads. Vectors is a specialty where we teach kids how to draw different things and become creative in many ways.</p><h2>Sharing with Internet Skills</h2><blockquote>Before I could turn around, Eugene was done and ready to share.</blockquote><p>My story today comes from my vectors class in grade 6. I had just finished the introduction class and I asked them to go sit down and try to draw the different things in their minds. Before I could turn around, Eugene had already drawn a boat and he was calling me to go and help him upload it to social so that his classmates could see it.</p><h2>Healthy Competition</h2><blockquote><strong>"Today you have won, but tomorrow I will beat you!"</strong></blockquote><p>I was really impressed so I asked his classmates to clap for him. Brighton, a student in the same class, really felt challenged. He drew his picture, uploaded it to social and then proceeded to the chats section and left a message for Eugene: "<strong>Today you have won, but tomorrow I am going to beat you.</strong>"</p><p>I was impressed that the success of one of them makes the rest of the class want to do better. I&nbsp;am a proud teacher.</p>

Primary School Students in Mnazi Mmoja Missed Teacher Magda Until She Returned To Teach Internet Skills and Creative Vector Software Which Inspired Healthy Competition

<p>I returned to Mombasa as a specialist educator after many months away. The students missed me, and I was lucky enough to inspire competition during our time together. All hail Mnazi Moja! </p>

Healthy Competition in Mnazi Mmoja Primary School

Mnazi Mmoja

Healthy Competition in Mnazi Mmoja

<h2>Speicalists Coming To Victoria Baptist</h2><p>Yesterday in our school, Victoria Baptist, we received&nbsp;a specialist, Allan, who came and thought a new skill, Video Production. Indeed the reaction of the students was so exciting when they heard that were going to be thought video production.</p><h2>Class Champions</h2><p>What was more exciting is that two of the kids, named Fabri and Victor, quickly grasped the concept so they went around the class and showed the other students how it is done. For the first time the students were asking a lot of questions.</p><h2>Inspired to Study Hard</h2><p>After the classes, during the break time, one 9-year-old girl named Naomi, who is a good friend of mine, asked me if she will be able to make gospel songs and make videos for herself. I said yes and I told her to take her classes very serious and put more efforts to the subjects she is not good at. So she also asked if she can come to the computer lab during her free time like breaks and during lunch. I said she could.</p>

Students In Victoria Baptist Primary Learn New Digital Skills With Video Production Lessons And Discover Passions Inspiring Them To Studying Hard

<p>I am the school lead of Victoria Baptist primary school. The students were very excited to receive a specialist to teach Video Production. When Allan came to introduce them, two students helped lead the class and one girl Naomi found her calling.</p>

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