Our Teacher Professional Development course:A brief reflection and thank you

So proud. Finally our ICT4RED teachers professional development tablet course is ready for general consumption. After 2 iterations we are confident that it works well and we have piloted it across 3 continents in different contexts. 

I should not say that it is a tablet course. Our goal was to change teachers practice from teacher centered to learner centered using innovative hands on teaching strategies, so the focus is definitely not on the technology. We used a "Trojan horse" technique of practically getting the teachers to experience learner centered strategies while the technology was casually embedded into everything they do. It gently takes them from paper based to mobile enhanced teaching and learning. 

This version is based on the premise that our teachers (rural teachers in Cofimvaba) have no or very little connectivity. We wanted them to experience the magic  mobile technology could bring into their classrooms while implementing learner centered strategies. We learned so much from them in this collaborative project and this manual is the culmination of their input and enthusiasm into our instructional design process. We thank them for their input and support.

I want to thank my co-writer and critical mirror, Adele Botha, for her "quirky" inspiration,  despite sometimes hitting rock walls and having to build airplanes in flight. This design process has been one of the most rewarding journeys I have ever undertaken with so much collaboration and support. I have to admit that when Adele decided to implement Badges for teachers I thought that it will never work. After all we are dealing with adults here! But it has added the impetuous that teachers need to take the big step of implementing something very new (new strategies and new technologies) into their classrooms. 

The teachers has been so proud to prove to us how they are using the strategies in their classrooms and badge collection has become a celebration of success. Not to mention that they are waving their ever present mobile devices around like pros and totally seamlessly engage with it despite us never teaching them :"how to use it" specifically. 

Lastly I want to thank the dedicated #ICT4RED team (Meraka, CozaCAres, Schoolnet, Afrofusion, district, facilitators and stakeholders). All of you are truly inspirational. This is not just a course it is a team effort. Thank you for all the logistical and emotional support, enthusiasm, fun and collaboration. Every Cofimvaba journey has been a treasured experience of learning and camaraderie. 

This course will now go into its third iteration with a new group of teachers and will remain a "living course". We have also written a Course facilitators manual which, once piloted, we will also publish under the creative commons license. 

We would love some feedback. Ict4red@gmail.com