Short Course on Advanced Computer Skills for Scientists in Malawi

I thought I should share the following information with fellow scientists in Malawi:


The Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Malawi Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi is pleased to announce a short course under the theme "Advanced Computer Skills for Scientists in Malawi". The course has been designed to equip Malawian scientists with necessary skills in this modern world of computer technology. The course runs for five days from 23rd February 2009 to 27th February, 2009.

Some of the content for the course include:

• Scientific information in the Digital Age
  
• An African scientist in a dynamic scientific world
  
• Scientific document preparation using LaTex and BibTex tools
  
• Advanced internet search skills for scientific research work
  
• Utilizing digital libraries for scientific research work
  
• Collaborative networking techniques with fellow scientists around the world
  
• Scientific Talk presentation: Microsoft PowerPoint vs. the Latex Beamer class
  
• Using weblogs to disseminate scientific information and improve scientist profile
  
• An overview of scientific computer packages
  

Course fees: MK40000.00 including lunch and snacks. However the fee does not include accommodation.

For more information email maths (at) poly.ac.mw or phone 04188893/09771807/08747059

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Announcing a Secondary School Mathematics Software Package for Malawi ...

Alinune Musopole, an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Sciences Education programme at the Malawi Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi, has developed a mathematics software package for secondary schools in Malawi as his final year project. As with the localized word processor project by Edmond Kachale, I also share with you esteemed blog readers a synopsis of this project. Also watch out this blog for more featured projects!



Project Title: A Secondary School Mathematics Software Package for Malawi
Project Author: Alinune Musopole (nune_musopole (at) yahoo.co.uk)
Project Supervisor: Bennett Kankuzi (bfkankuzi (at) gmail.com)
Project Location: Dept of Mathematics & Statistics, Polytechnic, University of Malawi

Abstract:

There are many challenges that secondary school students in Malawi are facing in the learning of Mathematics in Malawi. Examples of these problems are lack of confidence, lack of practice and lack of motivation by students.

One of the ways through which problems faced by secondary school students in the learning of Mathematics can be alleviated is the use of the computer. Computer software, particularly Mathematics software packages, can help reduce problems faced by students in the learning of Mathematics in Malawi as practicing tools, hence we developed a software package that shall be used by secondary school students in the practicing of Mathematics. The software package is based on the Malawi Senior Secondary School Mathematics curriculum and the package is called a Computer Package for Secondary School Mathematics (CPSSM) for Malawi.

The algorithms and user interface for the program have been implemented using a Turbo C++ compiler and the Object Windows Library (OWL).

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An executable of the project can be requested via the given emails. Full LaTex and pdf reports of the project can also be requested via the same.
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