ICT4RED Champions go Google!

In the first week of July four of our ICT4RED Cofimvaba champion teachers, Mandlakazi Bikitsha, Sindiswa  Mwanda, Nomonde Tyembile, Wisiwe Mvandaba and 1 district e-learning facilitator, Sindi Sibawu, were invited by the Google Edtechteam to attend the Google Summit at Dainfern College in Johannesburg.

Here are some thoughts from our champions:

Sindiswa Sibawu
Cofimvaba ICT Champions were honoured to be invited to Google Summit by ICT4RED, CSIR & SCHOOLNET teams. The event was well organised especially the presenters in every session were well prepared.  We are looking forward to keep in touch with every one we met in Google Summit for professional development especially Karen who was kind to E.C. delegates in all aspects.  We're willing to share the ideas and information with all our educators in the Eastern Cape.

Nomonde Tyembile
The summit was an activity that was well organised and we thank the Edtech team, Schoolnet and all other stakeholders who made the summit a success.As the team Cofimvaba ict4red champs, we had a great time in learning that teaching and learning can be a fun, great and also be a success for the learners in South Africa, through the use of technology and the internet. We wish, as the Cofimvaba team,  that the summit we attended, be organised locally so that all the educators out there are well informed of how teaching and learning can be enjoyed by learners and how it can change their attitudes towards their everyday teaching.

We are prepared to change the situation at our schools through the information we got at the summit to produce "LIFE LONG LEARNERS WHO WILL BE ABLE TO COMPETE WITH THE REST OF THE LEARNERS WORLD WIDE"

Mandlakazi Bikitsha

Wow! The 2nd Annual Google Summit was another round of professional development for 5 delegates from the Cofimvaba education district. It was a huge success, for we came back capacitated and ready for action! It was so uplifting.

The sessions I attended were awesome. I saw how social media in my class can impact on learning, for it is also another platform where writing and collaboration takes place- a way to engage learners. I came back empowered and motivated to use social media as one of the effective tools to facilitate learning. Problem based strategies really make learners think out of the box. It makes them own their learning as they explore solutions to the problem. However, Chrome books, Netbooks and Tablets are just technological tools invented to bridge the gap in the digital divide and teachers need not shift their focus, for the integration of technology in teaching and learning is part of preparing our learners for a socially networked workplace.

When defining the word` TECHNOLOGY ‘we say, it is the use of knowledge, skills and resources…The knowledge I gained from the summit when shared with learners will unleash ideas on the learners, for they can also be the source of information. We need to get them exposed to google apps, for they need to acquire skills in preparation for the workplace tomorrow and use the resources at their disposal which in our case as Cofimvaba Education District, is mobile tablets. Attending the Google summit has made me foresee the attainment of the 21st century goals in education whereby teachers and learners are to be technological savvy. I HAVE GONE GOOGLE!!!

Some fun learning moments:

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