BY LAJU ARENYEKA

It was indeed a meeting of town, gown and technology at the Africa Resources and Technology for Education (ARTE), show in Lagos recently.

From interactive boards to digital campus companions, laptops to CDs containing Past Questions and answers for various examinations, multilingual books to remote controls used to assess students’ performance, to equipment for technical, vocational studies, to all forms of engineering, it was the crème de la crème of education resources and technology.

The organisers of the show, Worldview International, said that the rationale behind the initiative was to bring international and local education suppliers together to showcase the latest technology, resources, software, and aids in teaching and education.

Charlotte Mayanja, marketing manager, Worldview International, said; “Here, in one place we have education suppliers, alongside people from the industry. So it is about bringing together things that would help develop our education system, whether it’s technology, software or any other kind of resource.”

One of the stakeholders who exhibited products at the show is O’Hara Nigeria Limited. O’Hara, in partnership with LABTECH International, provides technology for technical and vocational education for developing countries such as Nigeria.

Mr. Dominic Uvieghara, Managing Director, O’Hara Nigeria, said; “We are all gathered here because we seek ways to improve the Nigerian educational system through the provision of technology. Everyone here is involved in the education sector one way or the other; we have teachers, principals, administrators etc.”

Apart from the exhibition of various products, Mr. Andrew Thompson, General Manager for International Sales and Marketing, LABTECH International spoke at the ARTE lecture titled; Twenty-first Century Learning Platforms. Thompson said; “The problem now is that 20th Century staff are teaching 21st Century students in 19th Century classrooms. So this is a real disconnect.

“We need to integrate technology in the classrooms, engage the students in their own education, and support the teachers in that process.

“There are three necessary things when using technology to teach, we have infrastructure, infostructure and infoculture.Infrastructure is not so difficult to do because that is just putting technology in the classroom, like computers, projectors, cameras etc.”

When it comes to infoculture,we try to figure out how to put the teaching content into a digital structure. The missing item, not just in Nigeria, but in many countries around the world is the infoculture.

Also exhibiting at the ARTE show, was the Learning Nuggets Company. Janet Adeyemi, Country Manager, Learning Nuggets in Nigeria, told Vanguard Learning that her company offers e-learning services. “One of our products is the Campus companion; it is basically for students in universities and secondary schools. People who also work in government, corporate organisations and non-governmental organisations can use it. The Campus companion is a handy tablet with links to a rich e-library, google apps, and loads of other applications,”  she said.

The Learning Nuggets company also offers the Storyphone, a child- friendly headset that serves as a learning aid for reading, spelling, listening skills, languages, music and dance.

Chimaechi Ochei, of Kio Global is a publisher who exhibited some multicultural and multilingual books. Speaking on her inspiration she said; “When I first got to Lagos, I couldn’t find any children’s books with black children in them, there weren’t any written in indigenous languages. Most children’s books sold here are written for a foreign audience, that’s when I got inspired to publish these books.”

Mr. Akingbaye Olutayo, a representative of Educomp, exhibited some smart assessment techniques. For one of such techniques, every student has a remote control which can be used to select the right answer when a teacher asks questions in class.

“Usually after teaching a particular topic,” he said, “teachers ask questions, and when two or three students answer the questions correctly, they assume that everyone else understands, but that may not be the case. This technique helps teachers single out the students who understand from those that do not.”

A lecturer from a technical college who pleaded anonymity, worried that her school, amongst many others, would not be able to afford the resources showcased at the event.