CCISONFI champions cybersecurity inclusion in Nigeria's educational curriculum - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!


The Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigerian Financial Institutions, CCISONFI, has championed the need for absolute vigilance in the financial sector to deal with disruptive cyber threats, beginning with the inclusion of cybersecurity in the nation's educational curriculum, reports ITREALMS.

Chairman of CCISONFI, Mr Festus Amede made this call at the annual conference held in Uyo with the theme; “Cyber Resilience in a Disruptive World.”

Stakeholders demand improved curriculum, technology hubs for students - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Some Lagos stakeholders have demanded from government at all levels to upgrade education curriculum and provide more technology hubs for students in tertiary institutions, reports ITREALMS.

According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders made this call at the closing of a free four-weekend Java training programme organised by Paradigm Initiative.

About 17 undergraduates from the University of Lagos, Yaba College of Technology and Lagos State College of Health Technology attended the training.

Mr James Onyenenue, a Java Consultant, said that government should empower and encourage more institutions by providing enough computers in schools.

“Imagine a situation where the government says every student should have access to a computer or laptop, it would be a different story.

“There is the challenge of networking for young people to meet with those who can empower them in coding.

“If the government can create a platform such as Co-Creation hub where students can have access to learning or meet other experienced and professional programmers, it will change a lot of things,” he said.
 
Mr Solomon Ogunbowale, a Computer Science student at the University of Lagos, said that the four-weekend training had exposed him to programming not taught in schools.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

CRK not removed from secondary school curriculum - FG

ITRealms:

At last, the Federal Ministry of Education has refuted reports making a round that Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK), has was removed as a subject of study from the curriculum of public secondary schools across Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

The reports also alleged that the Ministry reintroduced Islamic Religious Studies (IRS) against CRK.

Director, Press at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Chinenye Ihuoma, explained to ITRealms that the ministry designed a new subject which combined Civic Education, IRS, CRK and Social Studies into “Religion and National Values.”

Equally, Ihuoma told ITRealms in a press statement made available to correspondent that the alternation was not from the minister, but precisely from the National Council on Education (NCE).

“It is just as the council has said that History should be a subject of its own at the basic level in the first nine years. Now, a new subject has been introduced, called Religion and National Values. It is a fusion of religion and civics” she said.

Although Ihuoma confirmed she was yet to see the details, but noted that in a case where students have subject combinations at the same time, “everyone will attend lectures that correspond with their own religion.”

“Arabic and Islamic Studies are not standing alone. Islamic Religious Study and Christian Religious Study as well as national values will be taught under a new subject,” she insisted.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Nigeria can no longer play catchup with technology – Olashore

ITRealms:

… Plans iPad deployment in classrooms

The Chairman, Board of Governors of Olashore International School, Prince Bimbo Olashore, has said that Nigeria cannot continue to play catchup with technologies, just as his school has advanced plans to deploy iPads in classrooms, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at the 2015 Apple iPad Summit organized by Core Group Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa, Prince Olashore said that Nigeria cannot also wait for technology transfer any more but to do something about being competitive with the rest of the world, hence his school took the path it has taken to empower teachers and students technologically.

“We have to leapfrog to catch up and get our young Nigerians prepared for the new technology driven world. We are pleased to be making substantial investment in this direction,” he said.

The iPads in Classrooms programme is expected to be achieved by setting up Local Area Network (LAN) distribution in classrooms and hostels, wireless distribution, indoor wireless device with high frequency, and firewalls to manage internet access on the iPad.

In addition, Prince Olashore informed ITRealms that they have plans to deploy audio and visual multimedia systems in the classrooms that will support the iPad integration, Learning Management System (LMS) that will not use the Internet and a Mac Server for Mobile Device Management to manage the iPads.

Equally speaking, the school Principal, Mr Derek Smith also said that Olashore International will also review its overall technology framework, through a curriculum mapping program, faster internet connection, a new mobile device management (MDM) to check unproductive online presence. 

“It will also make professional development for teachers mandatory, constant and purposeful, and finally, reinforce Students’ responsibility in taking charge of their lives,” he said.

The Apple Summit was aimed at running a successful students’ centered classroom, integrating technology in the class for differentiation, putting learning at the center of the class not the technology, enabling a successful flipping of classroom, maximizing the learning time rather than the teaching time, encouraging collaborative learning system as well as making learning more experiential and interactive for the students.

Resource persons were invited from all over the world and most especially North America to facilitate the different sessions which catered for different levels of involvement in the deployment of iPad in the teaching learning process. 

One of such facilitators were Kathleen Monnin, Assistant Professor of Literacy at the University of North Florida, Tom Daccord, Tellagami, Beth Holland, amongst others. 

The Summit also looked at how the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model (SAMR model) in which a progression of the adopters of education technology often follow as they progress through teaching and learning can be adopted.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 

 
ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!
Pix: Mr. Derek Smith Olashore