Category Archives: Trainings

Challenges and Benefits of iLab & Ministry of Commerce Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) ICT training

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Nowadays, the widespread uses of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) are changing the way people or companies work. It is a feature of the technological advancements of this period in history where there has been immense innovation in the information and communication sector.

Thus, the pace of technological change and what is available for use by businesses has change how they interact and do business with others. In particular, ICTs have a valuable potential for developing Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) through more effective use and better integration of ICTs in business processes while assisting them to make more efficient decisions relevant to their performance. ICTs have the potential to generate a change among SMEs and make them more competitive, innovative and generate growth.

 

 

Challenges faced by SMEs owners in Liberia

the current generation that’s old enough to be engaged in entrepreneurial activities are not aware of the benefits of ICTs since they’ve never been exposed to them

There is a problem in Liberia with the lack of basic computer skills and digital literacy. By our own conservative estimate, more than half the population have never taken a course on any aspect of computer use. The current generation that’s old enough to be engaged in entrepreneurial activities are not aware of the benefits of ICTs since they’ve never been exposed to them.

 

Most entrepreneurs only have a basic knowledge of ICT and don’t consider it as a strategic tool. They prefer investing in their core business rather than in ICT.

Education, training, and workforce development are key factors to improve the ICT uptake and to make effective use of it in general and for SMEs in particular.

The use of ICTs in Small and Medium Sized businesses is not very prevalent in the Liberia. From interactions with the small businesses owners who have participated in our training so far, we’ve gathered that their businesses use some form of ICT. The kind of technology in use is mostly telephones and standalone computers / laptops for basic wordprocessing and Internet purposes. They do not have dedicated ICT staff to carry out the ICT-related responsibilities.

 

They also listed different barriers that prevent them from learning and adopting or implementing ICT, ranging from socio-economic issues to technology-related issues: lack of money, lack of stable electricity, lack of knowledge, technology intimidation and perceived high cost of ICT. The Most of the barriers could be possibly overcome by learning more about ICT and by SMEs employing knowledgeable ICT staff.

 

 

Benefits of the training

 

Owing to these facts, since last year, as part of our regular free ICTs training at iLab, we have partnered with the Ministry of Commerce & Industries’ SMEs department to host series of contextually relevant ICTs training for over thirty (30) Small Businesses owner’s and employees. These training range from Google Map Maker – which allowed them to add and update their businesses geographical information on Google Maps and Google Earth for millions of users / potential customers to see.

Facebook and Google + – social media tools that allowed them to create pages for their businesses to advertise and market their products and services. GNUCash – a free and easy to use small-business financial-accounting software that will allow them to track bank accounts, income and expenses.

MS Excel - an electronic spreadsheet program that they will use for storing, organising and manipulating their organisational and financial documents.

 

Recently we had an intern, Shira Khaminsky from the University of Massachusetts who taught the Small businesses owners a course we labelled as intro branding and advertising. Doing her time she taught them to use Scribus, a free & open source design software to create customised business card, logos and brochure for their business. We’ve also just concluded an Intermediate version of the branding and advertising course for the same group of small business owners.

 

 

On the whole, ICT tools can provide several benefits across a wide range business operations and transactions. Certainly, ICT applications can contribute to improving information in a firm, can reduce transaction costs and can increase the speed and reliability of transactions for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions.

In addition, they are effective tools for improving external communications and quality of services for established and new customers. More specifically, SMEs can obtain a wide range of benefits from the use of ICT.

Among these benefits,it is possible to mention:

 

1. Enhance the productivity and effectiveness of certain activities or functions.

2. Enable the access to new environments as well as the generation of new markets and business models.

3. Improve the qualification and specialisation of human resources, which increases

efficiency.

 

To conclude, our doors are always opened to partner with the Ministry of Commerce and other ministries to train small business owners with contextually relevant ICT skills that will encourage the use of ICTs and enhance their productivity and effectiveness to deliver the best possible services to their customers. We hope that these training will serve as a stepping stone for Liberian entrepreneurs / small business owners to integrate technologies that will boost productivity, thus, generating growth in their businesses.

 

Luther D. Jeke

Training Director

*iLab_Liberia

 

iLab helps bridge the divide between Liberian women in ICT

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Information and communication technologies (ICT) are fast accelerating productivity across the globe. The ICT sector not only drives innovation, but fuels competition through job creation. Understanding the Internet and having proper access to it are therefore crucial for the growth of the Liberian economy, particularly for the professional development of its women.

 

With the help of iLab’s ICT for Girls (ICT4G) Mastering the Internet course, which is exclusively for women and girls as young as high-school aged, Liberian females are now learning about the Internet, various search techniques, and exploring how to use the web to solve real, everyday problems.

 

The training is a week-long course that introduces its participants to the wonders of the Internet as an educational and research tool, and it encourages women to explore what they are passionate about. In the past few months, iLab has taught more than three(3) ICT4G trainings with over 60 participants.

 

We at iLab know that Liberian women are significantly under-represented across the board in ICT-from education and training programs to the higher level careers in the sector. The shortage of ICT-oriented women also impact future generation significantly.

 

This course serve as a stepping stone to encourage Liberian women to learn about the Internet and its many ingredients as they gain more exposure to the opportunities before them in the field of ICT.

 

Luther D. Jeke

Training Director

*iLab_Liberia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Tools for modern-day storytellers: social media for Liberia’s aspiring journalists

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In an effort to bring technology to a growing community of Liberian journalists, iLab recently offered a course exploring online collaborative platforms. This course, Social Media for Social Change, is one of iLab’s ongoing and most popular courses that, in this case, was customized for 14 members of the Journalists for Human Rights Liberia Student Chapter. This training introduces platforms for easily publishing articles, document storage and virtual collaboration among Liberia’s aspiring journalists.

Cross-section of participants

In our interactions with iLab users, we’ve found that most people spend their online time using Facebook and emailing; very few are taking advantage of other information sharing tools. For this reason, we highlighted the following tools for our classroom of journalists:

  • Tumblr – For journalists we’ve met at iLab, the most important function of a website is to share their stories, images and create a body of work for others to see. Blogging tools like WordPress, while useful, focus more on the site’s design whereas our users are seeking to upload content quickly and easily. Tumblr’s features make it clear and simple how to upload a variety of content with a unique, preset theme.

 

  • Google Plus – This social platform is an alternative to Facebook that, in the Liberian context, is more often used for professional collaboration via Hangouts or simultaneous editing of a shared document. iLab users find it engaging and also a productive tool for group work and info sharing outside of the lab.

 

  • Participants receive certificates at the end

    Twitter – As I always say, “a journalist without a Twitter account is half-informed.” Even in a setting like Liberia where slow connection speeds make it difficult to use Twitter, it is undoubtedly the fastest way to share one’s own work and to stay abreast with events both within Liberia and around the world. Even if Liberian journalists only get to use Twitter periodically depending on their internet connection, it is critical for them to have a voice in the Twittersphere where Liberians are under-represented. With the ACE fiber-optic cable recently landed in-country and soon to be distributed, Liberia will soon have access to high-speed internet and these journalists will be ready to take advantage of tools like Twitter right away.

 

We’re excited to Hangout, Tweet and Tumble with these talented storytellers; here are a couple of all-stars to follow: @flozeezee, @AlVarneyRogers. In our efforts to support aspiring and professional journalists, we welcome suggestions about online and offline platforms/tools that you have found useful. Please share with us so we can continue growing Liberia’s online community of storytellers.

iLab’s New Course teaches Liberians to have a Global online voice

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Technology is all around us.

 

iLab Liberia is at the forefront of educating Liberians on various information and communication technologies.  With the help of iLab’s Quickstart Website Training, Liberians are now gaining the skills needed to contribute to global conversations and create an online presence.

 

The Quickstart Website training is a week-long course that introduces participants to WordPress and how to use WordPress to create websites and blogs.

 

The major challenge we identified before teaching this course is that participants need to first have basic computer skills before being able to use WordPress. So we screened participants by using a basic computer test to determine if they were well suited for the course.

 

However, we noticed that passing the basic computer test didn’t guarantee that participants could do well in the Quick-start website training. We now plan to incorporate a more comprehensive evaluation for the next course that will not only test their basic computer skills, but also their proficiency in using the web.

 

With the help of this course, iLab hopes to see more Liberians being proactive in creating their own voice.

 

Luther Jeke

Training Director

*iLab_Liberia

iLab’s Social Media training: its significance to Liberians

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On the 26th of March we certified 17 persons after they successfully completed the social media training at iLab. This was the second social media training held at iLab for non-journalists. Previous social media trainings held at iLab had been exclusively for journalists from various local media institutions.

 

This 5 day course had one session each that lasted for three hours. Those certified included local IT Professionals and students of various Liberian universities. We covered social media tools like Tumblr, Twitter, Google+ and FronlineSMS.

 

As a way of showing the practical use of tools taught in the training, it was required of all participants to start their own Tumblr, Twitter and Google+ accounts. Some of the tumblr blogs started during the training were Gabriel Leoanard’s http://assescode143.tumblr.com/ Fredrick Horace’s http://amuchine.tumblr.com/ and Roosevelt Sackor’s http://rooseveltsackor.tumblr.com/.

 

What makes iLab’s social media training significant to Liberia? There have never been any computer institution or tech lab in Liberia offering training in social media. We have also realized that Liberians have spent the last decade reading other people’s articles, stories and advertisements online; even stories about Liberia online are often told by ex-pats who live here. The participants saw the training as a new means through which their untold stories could be read and seen.

 

With such an eye opening training, we believe Liberians can now get online and contribute stories about all happenings in Liberia.

 

Luther D. Jeke

Training Director

*iLab_Liberia

 

iLab’s FOSS training: why it matters in Liberia

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At iLab Liberia we have had a series of Introduction to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) trainings over the last 9 months. During the trainings we cover the definitions of Linux Operating System derivatives, how to install the Ubuntu 10.10 Operating System, desktop and basic features operations and also introduce participants to Apache web server and Open DNS. I recently led my first Intro FOSS training at iLab, and it got me thinking about the significance of sharing FOSS in Liberia.

 

What makes iLab’s Intro FOSS training unique? Firstly, there is no other computer school or tech lab in Liberia offering any training in FOSS. This FOSS training is iLab’s most popular training because most Liberians have a growing interest in learning new skills and especially a new operating system like Ubuntu that is free, open source, and virus-free. This training is a dream come true for most Liberians because they have been using pirated copies of Windows OS for most of their lives as computer users; these pirated OS’s easily corrupt their computers and make basic computer use extremely frustrating.

Proprietary software like the Windows OS is very expensive and it is very difficult to get a genuine copy in Liberia. We have repeatedly conducted this training at iLab because we have heard participants’ testimonies that learning and using the Ubuntu OS has improved the performance of their computers, made their computers virus-free, and also given them an edge over other techies and computer users.

 

Before iLab began offering these trainings, Windows Operating System was the only OS used in Liberia. During FOSS trainings, we frequently face the challenge that FOSS is a whole new subject in Liberia and we have to spend ample time explaining the concept of FOSS and getting participants to comfortably use an alternative to the familiar Windows OS. It is our dream at iLab that Liberians will develop more interest in learning and using free and open source software to enhance their work and computer user experience instead of using pirated copies of proprietary software that tends to crash after a few months.

 

Want to see our FOSS manual? Click here

 

Luther D. Jeke

Training Director

*iLab Liberia

New Approaches to an Old Favorite: Google Mapping Parties

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At iLab Liberia we usually host a mapping party every month. During the mapping parties, locals and expats come at iLab to map public buildings, their favorite video club, cook shop, neighborhood streets or businesses using Google Map Maker. We play some Liberian music, have soft-drinks and snacks, enjoy the ocean view during breaks; it’s a great time all around.

 

During previous mapping parties we realized that, most folks stopping by to map didn’t have an in-depth knowledge of Google Map Maker (or any mapping tools) and some didn’t even have gmail accounts; having a gmail account is a pre-requisite for using Map Maker. These were issues that limted the amount of places and roads that were being mapped each of our mapping parties.

So for our latest mapping party last Friday, we introduced few new approaches to increase mappers’ understanding of how to use Map Maker and how to make the most of their mapping time. From 5-6pm before the actual party, we had a mapping tutorial for all the new mappers and a station for people to open gmail accounts. During the actual mapping party we divided the 41 participants and gave them 45 mins each to map before rotating in the next group; this was in part because we only have 15 computer stations and also because with more than 15 persons mapping at once, the V SAT internet connection slowed down to a crawl.

 

By applying these strategies, we noticed that all 41 participants were able to smoothly
map places and roads of the choice. We believe that if we incorporatete the strategies we used, we can have more data on the public map of Liberia very soon

 

 

Luther D. Jeke

Director of Training

*iLab_Liberia

 

 

 

iLab Small Business training

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iLab Liberia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, hosted a four-day training for small business entrepreneurs.

 

The training ran from February 13th to 16th, and brought together twelve participants from diverse businesses, covering the following topics:

Day-1: Created Gmail accounts for business transactions with lessons in email etiquette, as well as how to write professional work-related emails.

Day-2: Introduction to navigating the internet and how to use search engines for researching one’s business needs.

Day-3: Created a Facebook business page for marketing and advertisement purposes.

Day-4: Created Google spreadsheet to manage and track finances, then export to Excel or Open Office.

The participants took a final test on the last day, and certificates were awarded. For those who made below a 70% on the exam but participated fully in the course, a “certificate for participation” was awarded; participants who scored a 70% or higher received certificates for “completion and outstanding achievement.”

Since participants are certificated at the end of every training, we have resolved to accompany every training with a final exam to determine what level of certification participants receive.

 

Challenges

Prior to this training, many of the participants lacked the necessary skills in computing their business management and so the training served as a boost to enhance their ability to effectively transact businesses using computers and the requisite online tools.

To date, iLab has not conducted evaluations of potential participants before a training. However, we have noticed in recent trainings that some participants do not possess the requisite skills needed to benefit from the training; although most of our trainings start at the beginner level, some participants have never before used a computer or opened a web browser. To tackle this problem, we will implement a pre-test for those who register for upcoming trainings.

 

Successes

The Small Business training afforded participants to learn ways they can advertise their businesses online and further use the internet to connect to Suppliers, Competitors and Customers in a more secure way.

With the growing number of interests in our trainings and participant obtaining jobs solely from what they learned from ilab, it is evident that our services to the public is breeding the tech community in Liberia in a positive way.

 

Lesson Learn moving forward

We have realized that computing training is needed in almost every section of the Liberian society, while it is true that we have been offering free trainings for the public, it is evident that specific training for targeted groups that applies directly to their career is needed. With the success of the small business Intro-level training, we are confident of looking forward to more customized courses for diverse disciplines.

 

Social Media Training for Journalists

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Today iLab Liberia wrapped up a training for Liberian human rights journalists in social media. The training started on December 8th and finished today. There was one session each day that lasted for two hours. Fifteen journalists from both print and electronic media institutions participated in this training. The social media training covered blogging, particularly Tumblr and Twitter. Some principles of using social media were also discussed, such as including tags in a blog, mentioning your blog or post in a tweet and styles of writing posts as a journalist.

 

During the training all of the journalists started tumblr and twitters accounts. For example Ms. Tecee Boley started http://teceeboley.tumblr.com/, Mr. Sam Zota started http://samzota.tumblr.com/, and Mr. Oniel Bestman started http://onielbestman.tumblr.com/. At the training we were told by the journalists that many of their stories are not heard due to the lack of space in the dailies to publish them. The Journalists saw the training as a new tool through which their untold stories could be heard, seen and read.

 

After this training, iLab Liberia confirmed that there is a great need for such training for Liberian journalists, and as such iLab Liberia plans to host another social media training soon. Please check back later.
Here are some photos from the event.
journalismtraining1
JournalismTraining2
Luther D. Jeke
Training Director
*iLab_ Liberia

 

The *iLab_ Web Challenge

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What programming course would you teach someone in Liberia with little or no previous computer knowledge? That was the question that lay before us as we thought through possible trainings to offer at the *iLab_. Our interest was in a course that would be both relevant and practical to the unique Liberian situation, and one that will prepare them to take advantage of the possibilities the Internet brings—looking forward to the landing of the Africa Coast Europe (ACE) cable in Q2 2012.

 

As mentioned in our previous blog post titled, Developer Training in Liberia, there are no Computer Science degree programs in any Liberian university, thereby hindering would-be developers from acquiring the requisite skills to compete in the digital age. Also, in an earlier post, Tech Centers in Liberia, we made clear our desire to make the *iLab_ a space for innovation and training.

 

After some deliberation, we agreed that providing training in the fundamentals of web development using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) would be an excellent introduction for select first-time computer users without scaring them away.

 

Just about when this question was laid to rest, the second one arose: Who do we provide these trainings for? As you might imagine, being the only center providing this free training in the country, we could not just open the “flood gates” of interested techies without compromising on the quality of the training, so we had to be selective. Finally, we settled on providing this training for select high school students from across Monrovia, Paynesville, and Virginia to enable them to build websites for their schools.

 

We selected four schools namely, Calvary Baptist Church School System, College of West Africa, Ricks Institute, and the Bethesda Christian Mission School represented by three students from each school. During our initial visits to these schools, we had to explain to school administrators what web development meant and convince them that the training would be free of charge—which was a harder message to get across, giving that it sounded too good to be true.

 

At 10a.m. that Monday morning, we had a total of twelve enthusiastic students filling the *iLab_ in preparation for the launch of the *iLab_ Web Challenge on June 13, 2011. To ease the natural tension in the air, we played a naming game to acquaint ourselves with all names in the room. Afterwards, we delved into the training aspect of the *iLab_ Web Challenge.

 

The structure of the *iLab_ Web Challenge is comprised of three weeks (3hrs, 5 days a week, for a total of 45hrs) of intensive training in web development and 3, 5 hour days, of the actual web development competition. After the first week of HTML training, the participating students produced their first project work—developing a seven-page website for their school using only a text editor. It was an impressive display of talent that had College of West Africa taking the first position.A website made by the College of West Africa team is on the right.

 

The second week of the training centered on styling HTML files using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Whilst HTML proved popular with the error-prone starters due to its forgiving nature (Modern browsers often correct for errors in HTML files and display them properly), CSS was not as forgiving and therefore not as popular. But despite the frustrating effect of errors on the parsed web pages, these students persevered into the mastery of CSS. By the end of the third week, many of them had befriended CSS and some even asked if they could forget HTML and only learn CSS.

 

During the final week of training (June 27 – July 1), we covered more advanced CSS topics as well as web hosting, domain registration, WYSIWYG editors, updating websites, and browser issues. Students also used this time to fine tune their code structures to make them easily readable by humans. It was also during this week that students presented their first CSS project. Once again, College of West Africa came victorious.

 

Then came July 11-13—the time set aside for the actual challenge. It was an intensive but beautiful display of teamwork and creativity. Going through code line by line, students perfected their final projects and submitted them for evaluation.

 

The evaluation process was difficult for us to conclude, considering the enormous amount of creativity and uniqueness of each submitted project. After a rigorous inspection of functionality and style, we concluded on the winner of the first *iLab_ Web Challenge.

So the winning project came from the Ricks Institute (On left), followed by College of West Africa tightly in second place, and Bethesda Christian Mission School in third place and Calvary Baptist Church School System in fourth place.

 

Representing the winning team were Mohammed Musahson, Samukai Sarnor, and Moselyn H-Mai Johnson from Ricks Institute. For College of West Africa we had Samily Panton, Pete Wiah, and Kaizerline Johnson in second place, and Michari Tomah, Juliawo Cyrus, and Richmond Roberts from the Bethesda Christian Mission School in third place. As at the end of the challenge, the team from the Calvary Baptist Church School System was left with only one representative, Terrence Mandeh, in fourth place.

 

Looking back on the *iLab_ Web Challenge, we are convinced that it was, and still is, an endeavor worth pursuing. The show of talent by previously computer-illiterate students in such a short period to time confirms to us the potential Liberians have to compete in the global technology arena if given the proper training.

 

We are aware that although training in HTML/CSS alone does not necessarily make one a career web developer, it forms the basis for more advanced web programming and scripting languages. And as we look forward to another exciting round the *iLab_ Challenge, we are considering teaching these advanced web programming and scripting languages for past participants of the *iLab_ Web Challenge.
Kpetermeni Siakor
IT Director
*iLab_ Liberia