Thursday, April 30, 2009

2009: The International School of Art, Business, and Technology in Ghana

2009
2009 is shaping into a fine year with several promising projects in the works.


Global Goodness
I.S.A.B.T. has entered into Sponsorship Agreement with Global Goodness to help them bring 8000 books to Ghana. Expected delivery date July 2009.

http://www.ggoodness.com/

Making Books In Ghana
Professor Thurston has a summer course scheduled with Bloomfield College, “Making Books in Ghana.” this coming July. Bloomfield students, with special guests, will travel to Ghana to help Ghanaian students make their own books, and train teachers in the use of the book making technology so the project can continue on in the schools. We hope to eventually partner them with schools here in the U.S.

http://campus.bloomfield.edu/cat/international.asp


I.S.A.B.T. in Tanzania
Professor Thurston will be traveling to Tanzania this August for the International Reading Association's Pan African Conference. Teamed with several other educators who use RealeBooks, they will be presenting the bookmaking project and RealeBooks to African Educators from all over the continent.

http://www.reading.org/General/AdvocacyandOutreach/InternationalOutreach/AfricaOutreach.aspx

2008: The International School of Art, Business, and Technology working in Ghana

2008

The year of 2008 was very exciting for I.S.A.B.T. As a new organization we have made significant of headway towards obtaining our mission.

29 G4's
In the Spring of 2008 I.S.A.B.T. received secured a donation of 29 G4 Mac computers and Monitors to bring to Ghana from the ITS Department of Albright College. These computers are in storage while we arrange for shipping. Expected delivery for the computers is July 2009.


Bookmaking Pilot Project in Ghana
President Thurston traveled to Ghana to start a pilot project titled, "Making Books in Ghana". Using simple technology (a laptop and printer) and special bookmaking software (RealeWriter) he worked with students to write, create, and print their own unique stories into books.



You can read the books at
http://ghana.realelibrary.com

Engage in an interactive presentation of the project and view Thurston's Journal at
http://makingbooksinghana.org

or watch videos at
http://www.youtube.com/user/jonthur



Donation of a video conferencing unit to the Cape Coast Poly Tech University in Ghana.




President Thurston was also able to donate a state of the art video conferencing system to the Poly-Tech University in Cape Coast. This is part of our global studies initiative. We plan to begin international video conferencing exchanges using this technology.

2007: The International School of Art, Business, and Technology in Ghana

2007

In the Spring of 2007, Jonathan Thurston, Trudy Obazee, Sarah Philbrick, and Rex Otu, inspired by the enthusiasm and dedication of the students and teachers of Ghana and bound together with a dedication towards building global educational bridges, founded the educational Non-Profit organization titled;

“The International School of Art, Business, and Technology in Ghana” in the United States, and non-governmental organization status in Ghana under the same name.

During this year, Professor Thurston and Professor Obazee both received research grants to study the Ghanaian educational system in relation to the American systems titled;

Albright College Research Experience Grant: “Improving the Education of African Students through the study of technology and its usage in education.”

and

Albright College Professional Development Grant: “Comparing the American Educational System to the Ghanaian Education System in regards to Primary and Junior Secondary School”



The research involved traveling to Ghana and interviewing both teachers and students at three schools in Ghana; Brenu JSS, Elmina Methodist JSS, and Teshi-5 SS.

Part of our summer work also involved bringing donations of books, school materials, calculators, and writing supplies to each school.

2006: The International School of Art, Business, and Technology in Ghana

Dear Friends,

I am going to attempt to catalog our projects from the past few years by breaking it down into year by year segments, starting with 2006.


2006

Jonathan Thurston (Assistant Professor and Department Chair of Digital Media Program at Albright College) takes a class of Albright College students to Ghana the summer of 2006 to study West African Folklore and History in a video documentary format.

http://www.albright.edu/albrightian/archives/11_02_2006.pdf

The class students were also able to help transport 8 much needed computers to Ghana to assist the NGO Women in Progress with the philanthropic efforts in Ghana.
http://www.womeninprogress.org/