Africa HIVAIDS Educational Material and Electronic Adaptation Workshop, SchoolNet-Africa and Africa Connects Conference
Cape Town, South Africa, 3-14 July

HIV/AIDS Educational Material and Electronic Adaptation Workshop, July 6-8

Thirty-two participants attended the workshop from seven African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia) and the United States (see list below and group photo). The teachers, all from secondary schools, were identified either through their active involvement in the World Links HIV/AIDS online collaborative project, currently in its second year, or by recommendation of local American Embassies and country coordinators.

The principle workshop facilitators were Ms. Ann Klofkorn-Bloome, an adolescent reproductive health specialist and World Links’ HIV/AIDS project online facilitator, Ms. Keleigh Matthews, MetroTeen AIDS program director, with assistance from Mr. Marco Aguilar from UNCF SPC and Mr. Anthony Bloome from World Links.

OBJECTIVES
The three-day workshop had several overall objectives:
Goal #1: to bring educators together from different countries to share cultural experiences and experiences with HIV/AIDS classroom education, including their participation in the World Links online collaborative project;
Goal #2: to collect and disseminate locally-used and/or produced print-based HIV/AIDS educational material;
Goal #3: to develop a common set of criteria by which to select material for adaptation into and dissemination by electronic platforms (e.g., CD-ROM or web); to show examples of electronically-produced material; and to select an initial set of material for electronic adaptation;
Goal #4: to develop HIV/AIDS subject-oriented lesson plans to use in their schools.
Goal #5: to discuss next steps and action plans

OUTCOMES
Goal #1:

Cultural Experiences and HIV/AIDS Classroom Experience
On the first day, participants shared their experiences with HIV/AIDS education, relative rates of infection and efforts by governments/NGOs to combat the disease in a series of fifteen-minute country presentations.

HIV/AIDS Online Collaborative Project
Participants then briefly described their participation in the HIV/AIDS online collaborative project. For the last two years, World Links has developed and supported a HIV/AIDS online collaborative project in Africa involving students and teachers in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. School participants in the project (with access to the Internet Learning Center labs established by the World Links program) work with an online mentor to explore a number of project issues: e.g., basic facts and myths about the disease, its impact on individuals, community and country, community awareness and social action activities.

Goal #2:

Collecting and Disseminating HIV/AIDS Educational Material
Prior to the workshop, participants were asked to bring HIV/AIDS material which they used in their classrooms. When combined with additional examples of material gathered by workshop facilitators, there were approximately 50 different sets of local and internationally-produced material collected. On the second and third day, participants were invited to a HIV/AIDS Materials’ Fair to peruse the material displayed on a series of large tables and to take any additional copies back to their schools. Examples of these materials are listed below under

Goal #3:

Criteria for Selection of High-Quality Print-Based and Electronic Adaptation of Material
On the third day, workshop participants broke into randomly assigned teams to evaluate and compare HIV/AIDS print-based material for use in their classroom and for potential electronic adaptation. To begin this activity, there was a presentation and discussion of Auntie Stella – material produced in a series of question and answer flashcards by the Zimbabwean-based NGO Training and Research Support Training Center (TARSC) -- previously identified material on adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues that World Links is currently in the process of adapting for web delivery. Issues discussed during this session included: security – would people bypass the methodology of first reading the questions before going directly to the answers?; Visual – Is there an eye-catching homepage; Content – After going through the thirty-three cards what will draw people back to the site?; Update – Will there be a chat option or bulletin board to keep the interaction fresh; and Audience – What looks best for youth visitors.

Exemplary Electronic Material
Participants were first shown web pages within a CD-ROM, produced by World Links for the HIV/AIDS online collaborative project, with content downloaded from fourteen HIV/AIDS and education-oriented websites (e.g.., Action Aid, Avert, UNICEF, Advocates for Youth). The CD-ROM provided an example of already existing HIV/AIDS material on the web and copies were distributed to all participants.
World Bank Institute Development Education Program. As a model example of approachable and interactive web-based material, participants were introduced to the material produced by the World Bank Institute’s Development Education Program. As a group, participants enthusiastically worked through some of the intriguing questions posed in DEP’s Millennium Challenge website. Several of the World Links’ teacher participants were familiar with and spoke highly of the DEP program.

Interactive Nights Out! CD-ROM
Michael Branch from TechWorld, a Washington-D.C. based charter school, presented the Interactive Nights Out! CD-ROM, a highly interactive and engaging product produced for US-based youth by WILL software to address topics about sex, relationships, drugs, etc.

HIV/AIDS Material Fair
Following these morning sessions, participants reviewed HIV/AIDS material in five small groups and provided recommendations on HIV/AIDS criteria and electronic format suggestions. Groups evaluated the material on the basis of Basic Information, Prevention Skills and Material Content and then suggested areas of importance for electronic adaptation (See the attached Criteria.doc for a full criteria list.). Two interesting topics raised in the large group discussions: 1) Does the material move from information to inspiration for action? and 2) Why does information not always equal behavior change?

Material Selection
While participants and facilitators often noted throughout the workshop that there was inadequate time to do a comprehensive evaluation of any – yet alone all – of the HIV/AIDS material on display, several publications were suggested for possible adaptation. These included:

1) Choose Life Magazine (Botswana)
2) Think About It (Zimbabwe – Form Three Teacher’s Book/Student Guide)
3) Let’s Talk (Zambia)
4) Life Skills’ Activity Book (South Africa)
5) Action Magazine (Zimbabwe)
6) Auntie Stella (Zimbabwe)
7) Be Proud Be Responsible (D.C. Schools)
8) My Future is My Choice (Namibia/UNICEF)
9) Health Education to Prevent HIV (UNESCO/WHO)
10) Ubungani: A Parent Guide for Life Skills, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS Education (South Africa)

Goal #4:

Cultural Module & HIV/AIDS Lesson Plans
On the final morning of the workshop, Mr. Aguilar from UNCF’s Institute for International and Public Policy led a discussion concerning the addition of a dynamic cultural exchange module/component in the next round of the HIV/AIDS online project. This exchange between the African and D.C. students would take part in the first month of the HIV/AIDS online collaborative project.

Ms. Matthews from MetroTeen AIDS then presented on the importance of introducing HIV/AIDS topics throughout the curriculum. In small and large groups, participants discussed innovative ways of integrating this topic into specific subject-related lesson plans. Some of the subjects covered included Arts and Music, Economics, Environment, English, Mathematics, Geography and Social Studies.
Participants were presented with certificates after completing workshop evaluation forms.

Goal #5:

Next Steps & Action Plans
Based on workshop evaluations, participants acquired a better understanding of each other, a great deal of new knowledge to take with them, and materials to take into their classrooms. They also agreed that to keep the collaboration going that it was important to keep in touch with each other following the workshop. Facilitators and participants both agreed that the workshop was highly ambitious given all the ground that was covered and could have been much longer, but that it was a good beginning. Participants were actively encouraged to get involved in the series of activities which would follow from the workshop and are listed below.

The next step items discussed include: developing a project list-serve and forum to allow participants to keep in touch; obtaining copyright permission and beginning HIV/AIDS material adaptation for the web with identified sets of material producing an HIV/AIDS project website which includes an interactive cultural exchange component, encouraging local website creation and identifying students and teachers to participate in the next offering of the HIV/AIDS online collaborative project beginning in October, including training the new HIV/AIDS country participants from Botswana, Nigeria and. Ms. Matthews also volunteered to deliver basic HIV/AIDS educational training and Mr. Bloome to introduce the concepts of online collaborative project development to the D.C. schools.

Africa Connects Conference, 10 –13 July

From 10-13 July, all participants attended the 8th Annual Africa Connects Conference. The conference had 1600 participants from over 60 countries, and was organized by the Western Cape Schools Network, SchoolNet SA and iEARN, focused on the use of Internet and computers in schools to support and transform education. Conference tracks included such topics as: ICT Infrastructure, School Management and ICT, Educational ICT Products and Services, and ICT and the Learning Environment. HIV/AIDS workshop participants made a presentation at the conference on the outcomes of the project and workshop, and future plans.

PARTICIPANT LIST