Celebrating our Alex teachers' success

On Friday night the teachers of Alexandra High School were taken to a new "high" when we celebrated their success in the #ICT4RED course at The Venue with a spectacular view over Johannesburg. Thirty four teachers completed the course successfully and 86% of them did so with Merit! This is the best result for any iteration yet. As a result they all achieve 45 SACE points.

The project and graduation was sponsored by MARSH insurance and they made sure that it is indeed a glamorous affair with not just an amazing view, but wonderful entertainment as well as gifts for all the teachers. Errol Masinga, the transformation manager at MARSH gave a brief overview of the BOOST a SCHOOL initiative

Maggie Verster explained how the the ICT4RED project has impacted on the teachers' professional development and 4 of the champion teachers explained how they used the learner centered strategies in their classrooms.

Fiona Wallace, from the Coza Care Foundation, explained how they went about the accreditation of the 45 SACE points for the course. The teachers received their certificates with jubilant support from the dignitaries and their peers. The evening concluded with an ICT4RED song and jubilant singing and dancing.

Alex Final Badging- A jaribaaa Experience

Last week we did our last badging in Alexandra High school and we really did have a Jaribaaaa time! The most rewarding element of the #ICT4RED training course is to see how the teachers are implementing what they are learning during the course into their classroom practice despite having to cope with their school being rebuild around them, hectic teaching deadlines and other training demands.

As the whole course is gamified, accreditation is also done through awarding the teachers badges for milestones achieved after every training session. We don't believe in "dumping" tablets that won't be used as teachers do not know how to integrate them into their classroom practice.  We rather propose that teachers have to change their classroom practice in order to enhance students learning experiences with or without tablets. Our modules are therefore designed to encourage active participation by learners in a learners centred (not teacher centred) environment. The technology (tablets) is therefore lightly embedded into every hands-on module and by the conclusion of the course most teachers as confident not only to use their tablets, but also to innovate their classroom practice with the support of mobile technologies.

The teachers have to earn 13 compulsory badges in order to "earn" their tablet. This means that they have to prove that they have implemented the learner centred strategies at least once in their classrooms. There are also 5 challenge badges that require the use of the internet, which is not always available.

To achieve all the badges take hard work and determination, but our Alex teachers showed us that they can do it in style! On completion the teachers will be awarded a Certificate that entitled them not only to earn their tablet, but also 45 SACE points towards their Teachers Professional Development. The graduation will take place in August were we will officially celebrate our wonderful teacher's success!

A big thank you MARSH Insurance for making all of this possible and supporting the teachers throughout the implementation! Also to Milford and the CoZa Care team who provided training and badging support. You guys rock!!!!

Some of the Jaribaaa badging moments form last week..... See here: https://goo.gl/GPzvGX

Alex Final Badging