Tunaenda Digital Newsletter August 2020

Dear Friends,

I hope you are keeping well. As we continue to find our 2020 way, a few notes to share.

First, teachers: thank you for your input and your ideas during these many months while schools are closed. We appreciate you.

Second, families, parents, caregivers—you who provide the first learning environment of all, the home—we are with you. Our children are at home, just as yours are. In this time when we are all struggling with remote learning, for those who are working remotely as we are, I wonder what differences you see (and your children see) between remote learning and remote working. One thing is for sure, more than ever before and with many challenges, we are all going digital.

Third, I will make an observation on process and the value of process when things are disrupted. In recent weeks we have received through email and WhatsApp many essays from children across Kenya in the Digital Essay Competition 2020. Since this is the 8th year of Digital Essay Competition, even though schools are closed, we are running it anyway, entirely online. This too is a 2020 experiment in remote learning. We have extended the submission deadline as we have done in many past years, to Tuesday 1st September. As you may know, in 2020 we are asking students, How is technology helping you, your family, and your community during the coronavirus pandemic? Or Ni vipi teknolojia inakusaidia wewe, familia yako na jamii yako wakati huu wa janga la ugonjwa wa korona? Submissions may be done in English, Kiswahili, Art, Kenyan Sign Language (KSL), French, and German categories online at essay.ekitabu.com, or through email to essaycontest@ekitabu.com, or via WhatsApp to 0708727037. In case of any difficulties in submitting an essay, please call us or text us to help. We are planning for prizegiving just as we have always done, with scholarship funds, computing devices, and national recognition for winners and finalists. In Digital Essay Competition 2020 we are trying new things that we hope will teach us about how to meet the challenges of remote learning. We are finding that a good process is a learning process, one that builds in learning as central to its purpose. Such a process may be resilient to many disruptions.

Komesha Corona.

Warmest regards,
Will

Read the entire newsletter here

Source: eKitabu