The 5th Regional ICT4ELT Regional Conference Report

by **Admin** Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:44 pm

The Moroccan Association of Teachers of English
Agadir Local Brach

The 5th Regional ICT4ELT Regional Conference Report

MATE-Agadir, in collaboration with the Regional academy for Education and Training Souss Massa Draa, organized the fifth edition of the Regional ICT4ELT Conference on the 30^th, 31^st, and 1^st may/ June, 2008 at the Training Centre Zerktouni, Agadir. The theme of this year is [b]Enhancing Learner Centered Teaching and Learning Through “GENIE” Programme and Multimedia Rooms. This edition was characterised by the attandence of a significant number of teachers from various delegations within and without the region of Souss Massa Draa, namely Chtouka Ait Baha, Inzegane Ait Melloul, Ouarzazat,Tiznit, Agadir Idaoutanane, Guelmim, Dakhla and Laayoun.

On Friday from 4:00 to 6: 00 was the period of receiving and registering the participants. At 7:00 Mr. Ahmed ATLAGH, Vice president of MATE Agadir Local Branch, started by introducing the headlines of this year’s conference and the speakers. Mr Atlagh also chaired all the workshops and presentations. Then Mr. Hassane FATHI the President of MATE-Agadir Local Branch welcomed and thanked the paricipants for participating in Agadir‘s regional ICT Conference, which has reached its fifth edition. Mr. Fathi introduced the theme of the conference and expalined the rationale behined the choice of this theme. Then Mr. ATLAGH introduced Mr. HASSIM, an ELT supervisor. Mr. Hassim, in his presenation, talked about the role of GENIE programme in enhancing ICT in education, he also highlighted the philosophy behind introducing such a programme in the Moroccan schools, he also underlined the limitations that characterise this programme. After Mr. Hassim’s presentation, Mr. Atlagh gave the floor for participants’ questions and remarks.The first day finished with a dinner at the center.

Saturday 31^st, the paricipants had had breakfast at 7:30 before they joined the conference room. The first presentation started at 8:30 by Mr. Mohammed ASSABANE, Mr Atlagh, the chairperson, introduced the speaker and his areas of interest. Mr. Assabbane’s presentation was on Interactive White Boards in the Moroccan Classroom; in his presentation the speaker talked about interactive white boards, but at the same time he raised the issue of the impossibility of having interactive white boards in every classroom beacause of their prices, however, in his presentation Mr. Assabbane showed the possibilty of making an iteractive white board by simple means. At 10:00, a tea break. At 10:30 Mr. Assabbane conducted a workshop to show the participatants the feasibility and the possibilty of mantling an interactive white board. At 11:30 Mr. Atlagh gave the floor to Mr. Salah Eddine BELAASSAl who talked about blogs and their importance as a tool to assess students’ works, and also for the teacher to reflect on their performance. At 12:30 Mr. Atlagh thanked Mr. Salah Eddine Belaassal for sharing with the participants. At 1:30 Mr. Atlagh closed the worshops and presentations by thanking the speakers and making announcements. At 8:30pm the participants had dinner at “Jours et Nuits” restaurant.

Sunday June, 1st. The paricipants had had breakfast at 7:30 before they joined the conference room. The first presentation started at 8:30 by Mr. Zakaria JAMAATI, EFL teacher, Agadir. Mr. Atlagh, the chairperson, introduced the speaker and his areas of interest. Mr. Jamaati talked about forums in general and tried to list all the advatages they have; to illustrate the advantages that fora entail he talked about MATE Agadir forum. Right after Mr. Jamaati’s presentation, Mr. Atlagh introduced the next speaker, Mr. Brahim OUTAIK, translation Teacher, Agadir Ex GENIE programme trainee. Through his workshop Mr. Outaik tried to show the participants how they can set up a website through the Microsoft Office Word or through ready made programmes and in his workshop he used the website x5 software. Mr. Mohamed ELHACHIMI, IT Supervisor and Regional GENIE programme coordinator took over to talk about the characteristics of a website from a pedagogical point of view. Right after Mr.Mhamed Elhachimi’s workshop, Mr. Mohamed HASSIM tried to show how students can make use of ICT for self learning, and here Mr. Hassim provided the example scenarios. The last speaker was Mr. ATLAGH, EFL teacher, Agadir; Mr Atlagh conducted a workshop on the teacher’s [b]Remote Control at the Computer Lab. In this workshop Mr. Atlagh showed the participants how teachers can faciltate and at the same time control students’ learning in multimedia rooms through a simple software.Finally, Mr. Zoubair, an ELT Supervisor in Agadir thanked the partcipants for their attendance and particularly Mr. Mohamed Elhachimi who contributed a lot in the success of the event, then the participants had lunch at Nahda Restaurant.

The fifth edition of the regional ICT Conference was a success by all standards. The participants’ positive feedback on the event either during the days of the event or after it on the yahoo group reflect this fact. What the participants’ liked most during this year’s conference is that all the workshops, presentations, photos, and softwares are uploaded in a website that Mr. Brahim Outaik volunteered to designe specifically for the participants to download all the materials they want.

Secretary General
Si Mohamed CHANA

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