Global Peace Foundation Kenya and Oracle Academy conducted a training on 25th March 2022 for lectures and Higher learning educators from various institutions within the country as a way of transforming education. The free training under Oracle Academy’s Transforming Education Computing Programs helps educators to teach, learn, explore, build and develop in the cloud. and equips them with cloud computing skills for use in the classroom.
The five-hour practical training themed “Leveraging Oracle Academy Cloud Program” brought together over 120 lecturers from 69 universities and colleges-computing departments, who attended the session both virtually and physically at the United States International University Africa.
It also offered an opportunity for the educators to register as Oracle Academy members to access free Oracle Autonomous Database, Computer Virtual Machines, Object Storage, Data egress and other essential building blocks needed to create applications on top of Oracle Autonomous Databases
This one day seminar was officially opened by the Senior Manager Oracle Academy EMEA Mr. Danny Gooris who explained how the Oracle Cloud program was conceived two years ago, the progress they have made and its significant role in education. He said the Oracle cloud which is free of charge saves time in academic calendar, easy to join and gives students hand in experience. “Once you create an oracle account and become a member, you get free access to free curriculum, free software and free training,” he elaborated.
The Global Peace Foundation Vice President for Education Dr. Tony Devine, appreciated the good working relationship between GPF-Kenya and Oracle Academy which saw a huge number of participants, despite the event being hybrid in nature. He explained on the need to incorporate technology fully in education curriculum not only at the higher learning stage, but at all levels to ensure that both educators and students are conversant with the latest skills.
Dr. Devine gave insight on roles of educators as role model both online and off-line to instill positive values, motivate students to learn and engage, have the life Arc of students and demonstrate genuine care for their understanding and application of knowledge gained. “We as Global Peace Foundation, have been very consistent on personal growth and development in life, especially in areas such as character and creativity,” explained Dr. Tony
The Oracle Academy Programs Manager, Sub-Sahara Africa Ms. Bekere Amassoma, said Oracle Academy programs have transformed lives of millions of learners both in Africa and other continents to make education process a problem solver to mankind. “Oracle Academy, has been able to support education since 1993, and we are glad with the number of universities already involved in our programs. We intend to open our scope further in Kenya, because what we offer is very vital in teaching and learning in higher institutions,” Bekere added.
The training was facilitated by Mr. Billy Otieno and Mr. Desmond Muriu, both from Oracle and covered sub-topics such as Cloud Computing, Tech Trends and Teaching in the Cloud. The duo took the participants through: Introduction to computing, cloud computing concept, deployment models, Oracle cloud Infrastructure, significant of teaching in the cloud, top trends in technology and career opportunities in cloud computing. The platform was also shared by Mr. David Owino, Oracle University Principal Consultant, who focused on the free training they offer dubbed CSL Explorer. They were also able to respond to questions and recommendations from the lecturers, regarding the services and facilities that Oracle can avail to them, apart from the training of the day, especially on how to register as a member.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Daniel Juma Omondi, Global Peace Foundation Kenya Country Director, expressed his contentment on how the training was conducted and appreciated each and every one who worked tirelessly to ensure the planning was finally actualized. “As an organization, our focus in promoting peace and coexistence is rooted on education, as a pillar of liberation and civilization. This can be achieved if we make learning and teaching an innovation driven process,” he expressed. He added that the organization will keep the good working relationship with Oracle Academy to regularly organize such events.