This teacher is being hailed for his dedication towards teaching his students about computer sciences – but without any computers.
Owura Kwadwo Hottish is a 33-year-old educator from Ghana who teaches a middle school computer science class at the Betenase M/A Junior High School in Kumasi.
Despite the school not being equipped with any computers, Hottish still manages to teach the kids by spending thirty minutes before every class drawing detailed diagrams of different computer programs on the blackboard.
Hottish has been teaching lessons like this for the last six years. Since schools in the region are rarely equipped with actual computers, it is considered a very normal method of teaching.
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The teacher recently went viral, however, after he posted photos of his drawings to Facebook.
The drawings, which featured a startlingly accurate depiction of Microsoft Office, impressed thousands of social media users around the world. Not only that, but it caught the attention of Microsoft.
Spurred to help the school, the tech company started out by sending Hottish to an international educators’ conference in Singapore, which was the teacher’s first time outside of Ghana. When he finished giving a lecture about his teaching methods to the Education Exchange – a gathering of almost 400 educators and school leaders from 91 countries – he was given a standing ovation.
Anthony Salcito, the vice president of Worldwide Education at Microsoft, said: “Your work has really inspired the world. It really shows the amazing innovation and commitment and passion that teachers have for helping their students get ready for the future. At Microsoft, we believe that educators are heroes and are pushing the boundaries of what is possible to transform learning and making a direct impact on the experiences and lifelong skills of their students.”
Hottish, on the other hand, told Microsoft that he never thought his lessons were that impressive, saying: “I have been doing this every time the lesson I’m teaching demands it. I’ve drawn monitors, system units, keyboards, a mouse, a formatting toolbar, a drawing toolbar, and so on. The students were okay with that. They are used to me doing everything on the board for them. When I did this, it was nothing new or strange for them.”
As the cherry on top of the whole experience, Microsoft is also working with local organizations to giving the school an entire computer lab. Hottish will also gain access to the Microsoft Certified Educator Program (MCE) for professional development.
“Something very positive has come out of this and I am very happy,” says Hottish. “We are no longer going to use the chalkboard again. We will have computers.”
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