Abuja — iEARN Nigeria, a non-profit educational organisation and Nigerian affiliate to iEARN (International Education and Resource Network), with headquarters in the United States, recently organised a two-day workshop for secondary school teachers drawn from the different geo-political zones of the country.

The theme of workshop, held at the Government Secondary School Tudun-Wada, Abuja, was Capacity Building for Effective Collaborative Learning".

It was aimed at introducing Nigerian teachers to iEARN programmes and empower them in the use and incorporation of the internet and other communication technologies in their teaching and learning process.

Addressing the participants, Titilayo Obisesan, who represented the iEARN Nigeria Coordinator, Olaolu Sasore said that the heart of the programme is on the principle that students can be empowered to enhance their learning and that they can, by addressing local, national and global issues in the projects, make a positive impact on the quality of life on earth.

According to her, iEARN is an inclusive culturally diverse community, a safe and structured environment with opportunity to apply knowledge in service and learning projects among community of educators as part of the educational process.

Founded in 1988 iEARN has been involved in linking schools internationally. As a world-wide programme, it currently links up over 20,000 schools in more than 115 countries across Africa, North America and the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and the pacific. Each of these countries is represented in the iEARN International Assembly.

She said the vision of IEARN Nigeria is to stimulate and nurture a population of new leadership who are principle-driven and service -oriented. To this end she explained that iEARN is leading a drive for training trainers, professional development of teachers/educators and curriculum developers for ICTs in secondary schools thus preparing the country for true education in the 21st century.

Welcoming the participants, the Principal of the school who was represented by theVice Principal (Admin) Mrs. MaryAnn Elamah, enjoined the teachers to maximise the opportunity offered by iEARN Nigeria to effect the academic development of their students, which is most useful when they interact with students from other countries across the globe.

"Already, iEARN Nigeria is gaining national and worldwide acclaim having over 30 Nigerian teachers participate in the online Professional Development Course leading to award of the Master Trainer Certificate. There is also the recent award by ChildNet International in Jamaica to a Nigerian Student Master Samuel Odofin, for his project on ìBiotechnology - the food solution.

In the course of the two-Day workshop the teachers were taught various projects, involving practical demonstration by the participants. Speaking on behalf of the participants 'Ebele Ndubuisi, a Teacher from Queen's School, Enugu said they had learnt enough to inspire their students to be productive. She thanked the organisers for the opportunity offered them to participate in the workshop, and assured that the students will benefit from the programme when they got back to their schools.

The Programme Coordinator, Mrs. Ronke Bello on her part, encouraged the teachers to impart the newly acquired knowledge to their fellow colleagues and learners. She then presented certificates to the participants.