Hello Librazhd
Today marks the first course day in Librazhd, a small town in eastern Albania with about 13,000 residents.
With my mobile office (=backpack) packed, I leave the hotel and head to the course room. The laptops were set up the day before, everything is ready for the first course day. One by one, the children arrive. After labeling their name tags, their personal memory sticks are also labeled.
According to the list, 13 children were registered. Some did not show up, but others came, so we ended up with 14 children, aged 8-12, which delighted me. I introduced myself with a few pictures and also explained how iSTEP was founded. I also mentioned iSTEP's goals and the five rules we work by. Then we turned on the laptops and got started. First, we created a simple folder structure on the memory stick to save course documents in an organized way. Then came the first steps with Calc, the Excel variant of Libre Office. We use Libre Office to avoid paying licensing fees and to work offline.
The first course block lasted 2 hours, and by the end of this first session, everyone could create an addition in Calc and save the worksheet for the next course day on the memory stick. I am very pleased with the children's interest and motivation. Thanks to the support of three helpers, the kickoff was a complete success. I am writing this first post at 33 degrees in front of the hotel and now seek some relief in the air-conditioned hotel room.
