A home-grown educational resource has attracted the attention of educators in Finland, a country credited with one of the best schooling systems in the world.
With Finnish learners outperforming many of the worlds 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science, not just any educational tool will be considered good enough to enhance scholastic attainment in this Scandinavian country.
For Sarie Vorster, managing director of Cami Education Software based in Johannesburg, this amounts to a vote of confidence in the products it develops.
And, said Vorster, this is why some of the software she and her team have developed in the areas of mathematics, language and perceptual skills are available in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa — and Finnish.
She attri-butes the success of the products to the time spent, first on researching the exact nature of the problem areas learners face in a specific subject. This allows the programs to address real needs. Second, Cami tries to ensure that its operating systems are as user-friendly as possible.
Camis mathematics programme, for instance, emerged after 10 years of hard work. Developing graphics can take up to a year and programming up to three years for one program alone.
This explains why Cami is one of only a few local companies that develop educational software. Most of the products with which it competes come from abroad.
Vorster, formerly a business analyst in the corporate sector, embarked into unchartered territory in the mid-Eighties when Cami started. She wanted to do her own thing, but the only expertise she felt she had was in the areas of mathematics and computers.
She thought of starting her own school, but what emerged subsequently was combining her knack for mathematics and understanding of computers to develop educational software, which could be used to offer extra lessons to learners.
Initially we attracted a mix of learners, both those who performed poorly and those who were doing well. After a few years about 60% of our learners are achievers who want to do even better, she said.
Following the mathematics program Cami developed a language and reading program and later a foundation phase program to develop young childrens perceptual skills — that is colour recognition, shapes and concepts, such as above and underneath.
Charl Vorster, the technical director of the company, says one program led to the next one.
We developed the language program because mathematical problems and learning difficulties are often rooted in language skills, such as reading and vocabulary. Similarly, young children were battling with maths and we discovered they had gaps in their perceptual skills. The next step is to develop a science program.
Sarie Vorster said schools love the perceptual skills program.
I know a high school where the geometry teacher puts learners through the foundation phase perceptual skills program first because it helps the learners to get to grips with their mathematics.
Another anecdote that reached Sarie Vorster is of a South African teacher in the United States who was called in by the principal because children in her class were passing maths for the first time in their lives after she introduced the Cami mathematics programs.
We are breaking down the psychosis of kids who do not want to do maths, said Sarie Vorster.
The approach Cami uses is a dynamic interactive tutoring system. This means that all the programs follow an approach that allows learners to practice their skills thereby securing mental retention.
It is like playing tennis. You dont read a book first before you play. You just play, said Charl Vorster.
In addition, he said, the programs are structured to focus on one theme, but allow the learner to call up supporting sections when necessary.
The careful planning of each program, the efforts to develop the best possible content and easy usage have not only attracted the attention of the Scandinavians.
In addition to the teachers in South Africa, educators in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom are also using the software.