Webmaker Training in Uganda

> 60 newly trained Webmaker Mentors. 12 amazing Webmaker Super Mentors. 200 students taught how to participate on the web. 1 epic weekend in Kampala!

**Mozillians from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda gathered together for the first time to run a train-the-trainer event for East Africa.** The goal was to teach the local community–a lovely mix of educators, techies and university students in Kampala–how to teach the web.

**The training in Uganda builds on [Webmaker’s free online professional development](http://training.webmakerprototypes.org/en/).** Our theory is that **blending online and in-person professional development,** participants get the most out of the experience and better retain the skills they learned. Not to mention staying connected to a local community as well as a global one.

## Training Agenda

Together with the amazing event hosts, we crafted a **[modular training agenda](https://michelle.makes.org/thimble/MTcxMDQ4OTYwMA==/webmaker-training-uganda-2014).**

It cover 2 days of training and a half day practice event. **Participants had little to no experience teaching the web** before the event. But after the training, they would go on to **teach 200 secondary school students!**

The training helped the participants get ready for the practice event and to teach the web to the communities they care about. We covered these **four main learning objectives:**

* understanding the **value of the open web, making as learning and participatory learning.**
* **using the Webmaker tools** to teach web literacy
* how to **create your own teaching kit** and be a good facilitator
* how to **participate in the global & local Webmaker community**

Not to mention lots of **fun games and interstitial activities.** I learned, for example, how to play a Ugandan schoolyard game called [“Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.”](https://michelle.makes.org/thimble/MTU0MjcxNzQ0MA==/ali-baba-and-the-40-thieves)

## Community Leaders

For me, the most exciting part of this event was **meeting and supporting the emerging community leaders.**

Some of the Webmaker Super Mentors were part of our [first training a year ago in Athens](http://michellethorne.cc/2013/05/webmaker-train-the-trainer/). Others were quite experienced event organizers, mentors and facilitators who stepped up to the role of teaching others how to teach.

The training facilitators had a beautiful blend of experiences, and **each facilitator, in addition to each participant, got to level up their skills as part of the training.**

## Lessons Learned

Every event is a learning experience, no matter which role you have. **I learned a lot by helping San James teach people to teach people how to teach the web.**

* **Practice events are invaluable.** The highlight of the training was bringing the 60 freshly trained Webmaker Mentors to a live event, where they taught 200 secondary school students and put their new skills to practice. They prepared their own agendas, rehearsed them, and then split into small groups to teach these students. Floating around, it was amazing to hear the mentors sharing the knowledge they just learned the day before. And from the smiles on everyone’s faces, you could tell it was a fun and memorable event.

* **Prepare low-fi / no-fi activities.** We missed a big opportunity to test the amazing new **[“low-fi/no-fi” teaching kit,](https://keyboardkat.makes.org/thimble/LTIxMDA3NTY0ODA=/lofi-nofi-teaching-kit)** for when you want to teach the web without internet or computers. Given our connectivity issues, this would have been perfect.

* **Make time for participants to take immediate next steps.** I was proud how well we worked in debriefs and reflections into the training agenda. **However, it would have been better if participants had had time to make an action plan and even take the first step in it.** For example, they could pledge to host a [small Maker Party.](https://michelle.makes.org/thimble/LTE2NjE1MzQyMDg=/how-to-host-a-maker-party-small), log the event and draft an agenda.

## Thank you!

**This was one of the most inspiring and fun events I’ve been to with Mozilla.**

The hugest of thank yous to all the Super Mentors–from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda–for making the event possible. A special thanks to San James and Lawrence for believing in this event for a long time. Your upcoming [Mozilla Festival East Africa](http://mozfestea.mozilla-uganda.org/) will be a success thanks to your wonderful team and the people you trained. This is only the beginning!

* [More photos](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.642768499146582.1073741837.173150682775035&type=3)
* [Blog post by Super Mentor Jay B](http://ochenblesa.blogspot.de/2014/06/mozilla-webmaker-mentor-training.html)
* [Wrap up by Mozilla Uganda](http://mozilla-uganda.org/blog/?p=506)

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  1. Pingback: 2015: A resolution to share Inspirations | San James

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