BELLVILLE NORTH PRIMARY – SNA TRAINING

Bellville North Primary is the latest addition to the list of Khanya East schools, who received computer technology. We could see how proud Mr. Gerrit Nel and his staff are of having a state of the art computer lab. During our visit the school had an open day for the Grade 1 learners and their parents. Parents where shown the computer lab where their little ones will be equipped for the future. The integration of ICT with the curriculum was stressed as parents moved through the lab.

Mark Carolissen gave SNA training to Mr. Julian Heesen, working through the different facets of being a School Network Administrator. Virtual server, Backups, registration of users, troubleshooting and networking – Julian could absorb a lot of information and start implementing his newly acquired skills because of his own technical experience.

SNA training is very important as this is for most of our schools first line of defense against technical problems. The SNA is expected to do maintenance and troubleshooting of the network and to give support to educators in the beginning. SNA’s often have to work after school hours in the lab as they still have their normal duties as educators and very seldom are given time for their lab administration.

So here is a big thank you to all the SNA’s (LAN) who is doing a brilliant job and seldom receive a word of appreciation for the hard work behind the scenes.

Spot the difference with Geogebra

Spot the difference between the first and second pictures.

In Picture 1 Faeeza, the maths facilitator, jumps into action when asked about drawing pictures in Word. Quickly she opened Geogebra and drew the graphs the teachers requested. Afterward, she imported them to Word.

In Picture 2 Ms Mnisi, maths educator later followed Faeeza's example and drew the shapes she wanted. This was a good example of the instructor being modeled by the students. The maths HOD, Mr Fass and a Maths literacy educator were impressed with the outcome. These images (graphs and shapes) will now take the place of cutting and pasting (with a pair of scissors and glue). "What about using this with the Interactive Whiteboard?" Mr Fass asked. Not a problem!

Keep up the good work Chris Hani Maths educators!

Big plans for Malibu

It did not take long for Malibu Secondary to use their newly installed lab. Sporting new computers with flat screens, the school is excited about installing new technology so that educators and learners can benefit educationally. Learners were already registered to the Maths software. A group of grade tens visited the lab doing some financial maths problems on their own. Mr Wyngaardt, the Maths and Science teacher kept a watchful eye as the learners worked through the Master Maths material.

Science software must still be installed so that the room is optimally used by mainly Maths and Science learners. It seems as if the school has big, big plans. Other hardware is waiting to be installed so that the school is an example of ICT is used in teaching.

Khanya ICT support photo Album

KHANYA/MEED - presented Electronic Whiteboard Curriculum intergrated sessions to MEED officials.

Kleinvlei Secondary is boasting with a new CAT Lab

The staff of Kleinvlei Secondary took the initiative to look for sponsorships to make their dream come true and could manage to get Standard Bank on board who paint the room, put in some blinds, did the infrastructure and even organize that they could have an air conditioner in the room.
Mr Bezuidenhoudt is very excited about this venture, because now he can teach CAT by using a data projector to show the learners exactly what to do and where to click on their computers.

Mr du Toit, Physical Science and Mathematics educator is using the EIAWB. He mentioned how he enjoys the technology to enhance the curriculum. Every morning it is the responsibility of a learner to connect the equipment in the EIAWB room. What a wonderful way to empower our learners.

Well done to Kleinvlei for their efforts in making a dream come true and to the Mathematics team for using the technology at their school.

Faeeza Farao

Isikhokelo Primary takes part in CAMI Speedtest Challenge Competition

Isikhokelo Primary has taken an initiative to motivate learners in Maths. The school decided to participate in the CAMI Speedtest Challenge Competition which was open to any school to partake. The initiative was spearheaded by Maths educators at the school. Internally, the school started by identifying 10 learners per grade from grade 4 to grade 7. Learners with highest Performance Indicator ( PI) were chosen for semi-finals. The internal competition has yielded good results as two learners were identified to represent the school in the CAMI Speedtest Challenge finals to be held in Garden Route Mall, George on the 08 October 2010. The two learners are Thandokazi Hlwele ( Grade 6) and Odwa Mateyisi ( Grade 7). Ms B. Kwazayo (Maths educator) indicated that this initiative aimed to motivate love of Mathematics in all learners at their school in so much that prizes will be awarded to first three learners who had highest Performance Indicator(PI) among 10 learners initially chosen in each grade.

EIAWB + Data Projector cable issue - 180x

Due to the DAILY attachment operation between a data projector cable and the laptop, things will go wrong and bend ! The "heavy" black data cable also can contribute to the following set of photos. A quick calculation is that in one week the cable get plugged in 5x; in a month 20x times and in a year more than 180x !!! Question is : "Will in last these thin needle poined copper pins ?

Strike! while the iron is hot

Kwamfundo High school took every opportunity to get in as must tutoring and revision as possible. Here grade 11 learners are being put through their paces. "We must get these learners to learn as much as possible. Now!" Ms Gungqisa, maths HOD says. "We must strike while the iron is hot" is her belief. Throwing everything at the learners that she can muster, she feels that ICT can still help the learner to improve their understanding of difficult concepts.


At Zola, the maths software was reinstalled. Mr Matwa did not wait for anybody else and lead by example. He registered his grade 12 mathematical literacy learners and got them to work immediately. From here the maths programme was extended to his classroom where he will teach with it using a data projector. The rest of the mathematics educators will undergo more training to become more effective users of this resources in their classroom.

The GIS educator at Chris Hani is an avid user of ICT in her lessons. Most of the time she uses her Interactive Whitboard. This time she brought he class to the lab to use the GIS software. Opening up maps of South Africa, she got learners to navigate to the relevant information that they required to complete their task on various aspects of the South African socio-economic conditions.

At Malibu, a different type of excitement is evident. Mr Wyngaardt managed to get the Starboard working again. Being a man of persistance, he does not give up easily when something does not work. "I want this thing to work today still. " he told the Life Sciences Educator. While Mr Esbe was taking weaker learners through their paces with the maths software, Mr Wyngaard remarked how the Applets on Electrodynamics and Diffraction will work on this board.

Are we now starting to see a conversion from traditional teaching methods such as chalk-and-talk sage-on-stage to more interactive e-learning experiences? I think so, but it is a very slow process.

ICT - WHAT'S THE POINT?

ICT across the curriculum - is a key aim for all schools. The use of ICT in the classroom is not an optional extra; it SHOULD BE a National Curriculum requirement.

ICT - Information Communication Technology - is the technical term given to the use of computers in education. The 'Communication' part is a fairly recent addition to take account of the connected nature of the Internet.

As teachers, ICT can bring enormous benefits to the class. From an educational aspect, the use of computers brings dynamism to lessons, putting pupils more in control of their learning, permitting independent progress and development. If used effectively, ICT can be an incredible tool for every single subject. From the pupils' aspect, the response can be seen immediately.

Whilst such keenness is a welcome benefit, if pupils are entering a lesson with such a positive attitude the learning potential is already increased. The interactive nature of computers allows pupils to become more involved, permitting effective and active learning

Yet it is vital to see ICT as another tool available for the teacher - it is not the answer for everything. ICT should be used in combination with more traditional teaching techniques. Similarly the chosen ICT activity is also vital - just sitting a child in front of a PC and expecting them to teach themselves is useless.

INTERACTIVITY - effective use of ICT in the classroom makes pupils feel they are in control. Not of the class, but in terms of independent learning. They can see the results of CAMI and KHANYA LTSM immediately in front of them.

SUITABILITY - see ICT as another additional tool available to you - yet an interactive and dynamic tool. With sensible use, the educational benefits are immense.

BACKUP PLAN - always have something just in case things go wrong. A paper based activity that can be given out. Problems are bound to occur if you don't plan.

Brooklands Primary still on the go!

Brooklands Primary school learners are using CAMI Maths SpeedTest to sharpen their Mental skills. This Mental skills activity was followed by basic operations acivity in CAMI Maths ( Keystrokes: 1.3.8.3; 1.4.6.1). The educators and learners of Brooklands Primary have been using the lab to its fullest potential for a number of years now. The Principal ( Mrs H. Links) is very much involved with implementation of curriclum integration in the lab through her diligent ICT committee led by Mr Earl Norman. Educators at this school feel that they are ready to embrace any new technology or software available on the market. They boldly yearn for Electronic InterActive Whiteboard to use it for Literacy and Numeracy consolidation activities.

Interactive Whiteboard is an ideal tool for teaching at schools

Our world is changing, and information and communication technology (ICT) is central
to this change. These advances in ICT have dramatically changed the learning and teaching process, and have expanded new learning opportunities and access to educational resources
beyond those traditionally available.

Researchers have concluded that ICT has become one of the main building blocks worldwide as it permeates the business environment, underpins the success of modern corporations, and provides governments with an efficient infrastructure. ICT is viewed as a tool bringing dramatically changes in organisations and departments. The introduction of ICT to our schools has created new possibilities for learners and educators to engage in new ways of information selection, gathering and teaching.

Educators in Khayelitsha seem to agree with the above statements as they embraced the new technologies at their schools. Educators are showing the variety of activities that can be done using the Interactive Whiteboards. Technology is not there at schools to replace nor threaten educators but it is seen as one of the tools/resources to enhance teaching and learning.

Joe Slovo on the road?

Today, after many attempts, training started at Joe Slovo Secondary school. It was a good day. We found the back containing the remote control and pens. Keke, the maths educator, took easily to the board and was quite excited to make some waves. We opened and closed some installed software on the board.

The English educator who is stationed in the library, like the idea that learners will be visiting the room frequently to have a different learning experience. She navigated through the Mindset library to view what was available for English First Additional language.

During next week more educators will join the Interactive Whiteboard training. Till then they promised to practice, practice, practice.

Sometimes the old are still useful - To tech or not to tech?

If the newer technology fails what alternatives are there? If help is not so easily available and your technology is sorely needed? Who do you call? Ghostbusters.....oops!.....facilitators.

A year-old laptop would not communicate with the data projector. After much fussing about and calls made we decided to go back to older technology. The school provided a desktop PC from a

previous lab the school had. When the data projector was plugged in, it immediately sprung to life. Hallelujah!

We installed Geogebra, Java Runtime Environment, Java Applets, Physics Simulations and Smart Software. All went well except that the desktop PC does not communicate properly with the board. This leaves another problem to be solved. Back to the drawing board.....or is it the whiteboard?

ACCESS and IMPRESSIONS

We always think that technology is not being used at schools, but they are. It's just not used in the way we think it should be used. While visiting a school this week, I found a constant stream of learners and educators visiting the computer lab. I decided to walk a round to find out what they were doing.

A pair of younger learners were visiting some dubious site. I addressed this with them and the educator-in-charge of the lab. Other learners were busy searching the Net for information on the Haber process, a project they got during last term as was due soon. I came to realize that these learners did not have access to a nearby library for research. Their textbooks had sparse information. (I have an older textbook with loads of information in it). There school has internet, but access to it was limited during the five week holiday. Also, these learners were involved in a Winter School programme as well as an additional tuition programme. The time was too limited to do any research.

What is wrong with this picture? I invite some comment. But here are three issues I want to raise :
(a) Are we not killing our learners with too school? There must be a balance here. Teenagers are teenagers and they must have the freedom to do teenager things. I am not against a Winter school, but for three to five weeks? And this is done all in the name of grade 12 matric results?
(b) Learners do not have access to information, be it at a library or internet. The local library where I live have a reasonable set of books, but it also has about four Linux computers that are connected to the internet. You have to book time. Where is the access to these resources for a township community. Their school has internet which learners are allowed to use during intervals and after school for about 30 minutes. And then.....?
(c) Learners want access to information, maybe not in a structured way we expect them to have it. I loved the idea that learners, although under pressure searched for information. They seemed knowledgeable, but they should have been guided through the process of doing an assignment. This is the job of a teacher. I am sure that many learners would just plagiarize.

The other thing I saw was that a learner with a CD he bought for R20 from a museum. It had some Geography stuff on it. He used the teacher workstation to move through the what was a jacked-up Powerpoint presentation with smart multimedia in it. Other learners joined him as he explained a few things pertaining to what looked like plate-tectonics. Now I love this. These learners took initiative to use ICT in their learning. They do not have a single computer at home, but at school they do. The thing is that learning goes on in different ways. It is fluid network of different things. Also, ICT should be used in a similar fashion, not a rigid, boring, unimaginative way (There is place for that too).

I also met their Physics teacher, a young man that knows his Physical Science and is eager to use ICT in his lessons. We conversed very easily as I tutored his learners during the holiday and I had the opportunity to complement him on well they know their work. As I sat down to show him a few stuff he indicated that he will use it to revise many concepts with his learners. He even made me excited. There are some stumbling blocks but he is willing to overlook them.

ICT usage may not be as our project would like it to be, but it is being used......just not the way we think it should be used. Variety is the spice of life and we should encourage it.

EIAWB Notebook 10 Lessons in AFRIKAANS !!!

See the video on wiskunde les in Afrikaans. Zelda Villet @ Glen Elgin PS het al heelwat lesse in Afrikaans vertaal vanaf die Notebook 10 website. Wie gaan haar voorbeeld volg ?

You've just missed it!

Mr Dyers was teaching his usual grade 12 class when I entered his room. "You've just missed it!" he said excitedly shoving his activity on Motion under my nose. His grade 10s just did an investigation on Motion with Constant Acceleration. They had to do the research question, the hypothesis, planning etc, etc. Instead of using equipment, they used the Java Applets by Walter Fendt to collect data. The visual graphs made learners think about its construction and interpretation. It went well.

"If we have more software like this, just imagine how far we can go!" he mentioned, trying to twist my arm for more software. He is very grateful using the Freeware provided, but he is setting his eyes on something bigger. As they are using TRAC from Stellenbosch University too, maybe other instructional devices to get his learners to do even better.

DUST - Enemy no ONE !!

On a recent visit to a school, the D U S T inside the ws box was very VISIBLE. Cleaning a ws box once a term can be recommended to extent life expectancy and eventually sustainability through regular maintenance.

D = Dirt

U = Undermining

S = Sustainable

T = Technology

Albie

EIAWB @ Paarl School Learners to the Board !!

The Paarl Specialized School in Brackenfell
Khanya has become involved at Paarl School with a view towards introducing Smart Board Technology. Today, this technology is elevating the learning experience at the school and is helping learners to overcome many of the difficult learning barriers that exist at the school. Nevertheless the obstacles, the learners @ Paarl school is using the EIAWB, despite whatever physical or other disability they might have. James (diagnosed with dyslexia) and Mienkie (in a wheelchair) demostrated how to use the EIAWB with success during an EIAWB Cluster workshop to some educators attending the training session !!