BECA got its hands on a video camera -- thanks to BECA director Suzanne Bourne.
All together we did four video profiles of new sponsorship candidates. You can check them all out on our spanking new Youtube channel.
Special thanks to BECA student (and ambassador) Sorania Davila. Sorania did the filming.
I like the idea of having videos filmed by the students for the students.
You like?
Aside: My niece Serena would be so proud. You see, it was only six months ago that I called it "the youtube."
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Course One 2009 Results
Okay, now that BECA Course One is officially over for 2009, I have some numbers for those of you who pay attention to that kind of stuff.
That's a lot more than I expected.
The next step is to sort through all of these applications and start putting them on the Web. We're doing that now and we expect to start posting profiles at the end of August.
- 123 students started Course One in 2009
- 97 (or 79% of them) finished
- Of those 97 graduates, 65 have applied for a technical career (phase two of the BECA program)
That's a lot more than I expected.
The next step is to sort through all of these applications and start putting them on the Web. We're doing that now and we expect to start posting profiles at the end of August.
Friday, August 14, 2009
BECA Non-Desertion Day
One of the biggest challenges BECA faces is minimizing student desertion. We've heard that desertion in other post-secondary programs in Nicaragua ranges from 40 to 60 percent in Nicaragua.
This made me really nervous because I didn't think BECA would fly if we encountered those kinds of drop-out rates. I mean, who would want to sponsor a student if there was such a good chance that they would quit?
Here is a breakdown of the last 50 BECA Course One students -- some of whom you can see smiling below. (More pictures here.)
Monday to Friday course: 25 started and 22 finished. 88% completion rate. Not too shabby.
Sunday course: 20 started and 17 finished. 85% completion rate. Still pretty good.
Now here's the ugly one.
Saturday course: 20 started and 11 finished. Yuck. 55% completion rate.
BECA response: We are doing away with the Course One weekend courses -- at least for now. In 2010, all BECA Course Ones will be 120 hours over three months.
Standardized and simpler to administer.
It is still way too early to get excited about the good results we experienced. I think we might be on the right track, though.
This made me really nervous because I didn't think BECA would fly if we encountered those kinds of drop-out rates. I mean, who would want to sponsor a student if there was such a good chance that they would quit?
Here is a breakdown of the last 50 BECA Course One students -- some of whom you can see smiling below. (More pictures here.)
Monday to Friday course: 25 started and 22 finished. 88% completion rate. Not too shabby.
Sunday course: 20 started and 17 finished. 85% completion rate. Still pretty good.
Now here's the ugly one.
Saturday course: 20 started and 11 finished. Yuck. 55% completion rate.
BECA response: We are doing away with the Course One weekend courses -- at least for now. In 2010, all BECA Course Ones will be 120 hours over three months.
Standardized and simpler to administer.
It is still way too early to get excited about the good results we experienced. I think we might be on the right track, though.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
BECA has a Baby!
Well, sort of . . .
Congratulations to Arlen Obando!
Arlen just had a baby. She has been taking "Course One BECA" every Saturday for the last six months and finishes up this weekend.
Arlen hasn't chosen a name for the little guy yet. "Waltercito" sure has a nice ring to it, though. :)
Congratulations to Arlen Obando!
Arlen just had a baby. She has been taking "Course One BECA" every Saturday for the last six months and finishes up this weekend.
Arlen hasn't chosen a name for the little guy yet. "Waltercito" sure has a nice ring to it, though. :)
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