Developing a digital literate society: IIPGH launches Digital Design and Creative Coding Hub

The Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH) with its partners Codie it!, and TinkerToys, from Leipzig, Germany on 3^rd May 2021 launched its Digital Design and Creative Coding Hub in Accra.

The event had a splendid setup, hosting about 35 children with their parents, and other invited guests. The launch was live on zoom and on Facebook, which saw over 300 participants connecting across the country and beyond.

At the launch were dignitaries including Hon. Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, Deputy Minister-Designate for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, MP-Mampong; Prof. Fred McBagonluri, President Academic City University College, Board Chair Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana; Mr. Ronny Zienert, Head of Unit, Saxon State, Ministry for Regional Development, International Cooperation, Germany; Dr. Peter Kettner, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany; Mr. Prince Sefa, Deputy Director-General Operations, National Communications Authority (NCA), Board Member of Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana; and Hanna Schlingmann, AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development Cooperation.

Summary

The “Digital Design and Creative Coding Hub” is meant to be a showroom for tools and concepts for digital learning and creative work – for innovative and creative projects and a center for national and international exchange. The tools and concepts will be accessible to everybody who is interested and will be taught through training and other events to educators and multipliers. The project is supported by the "Creative Resources" program of the German Federal Foreign Office.

Background

The new digital revolution presents amazing prospects. Emerging technologies such as 5G, robotics, artificial intelligence, Internet of things (IoT), big data, cloud computing, mobile applications, and 3D printing, offer enormous opportunities to improve societies.

However, every revolution comes with its challenges. One is the emerging skill gap. New technologies are disrupting industries and changing how we work and socialize. For people without digital skills, it is getting harder to thrive in the workplace irrespective of their chosen career. Thus, there is an urgent need to learn new skills ranging from basic to advanced digital know-how.

To address this skill gap, we need to tackle several challenges associated with the development of a digital literate society and a digital economy. The challenges include affordability, scalability, and sustainability of training; lack of qualified instructors; lack of infrastructure; relevant curriculum, etc. It is also crucial to look at issues of inequalities associated with gender, geographical location, and persons with special needs.

The idea of creating a Digital Design and Creative Coding Hub is to tackle those challenges, to improve the digital literacy in Ghana and to instigate an international knowledge transfer. In Ghana, there is currently a great need and interest in digital tools and new technologies, for art production, for education, for the development of new business models and for the development of new markets.

To make digital skills like coding and digital design available to everybody, access to digital tools and new approaches to teaching and learning are needed. In Ghana, the digitization of education is still in its early stages. There is a lack of technical infrastructure - Internet access and hardware, effective pedagogical concepts, and qualified teachers. For such reason, the hub will be a showroom in which all who are interested can get to know and try out digital tools (hardware and software) and learn how to use them in schools, for creative projects or in business contexts.