For little more than the cost of a loaf of bread, a leading technology group believes it can provide a South African learner with the hardware, software and the know-how to learn more effectively.
The iSchoolAfrica iGnite project is premised on fact that the digital divide can be overcome if disadvantaged learners are given access to the most advanced technology as tools to learn with. This has been proved by the multimedia projects created by learners during the pilot phase of the project.
“We have already had great success with Apple solutions in private schools and we now want to extend this success into public schools,” says RJ van Spaandonk, executive director of the Core Group, the official distributor of Apple products in South Africa and the company driving the iGnite project.
The initiative, which has already been tested in 13 schools in three provinces, involves dispatching trained facilitators and mobile labs to schools. The mobile labs are lockable carts containing 10 MacBook laptop computers, 10 digital cameras a projector and a wireless router. Whereas Van Spaandonk underwrites the Apple philosophy that you don’t have to teach children as “digital natives” on how to use computers, facilitators trains and support teachers as focal points in the learning process.
The pilot phase of the project provided a glimpse into the potential it has to transform the way children learn. The learners involved with the pilot produced several curriculum-aligned multimedia projects — some after as little as twelve hours’ exposure to the technology.
Van Spaandonk hopes the project can be rolled out through a public and private partnership. The model provides for a corporate sponsor to foot R1.5 million bill for the cost of the mobile lab, and provide a computer savvy employee to facilitate at the schools. This amount will cover the costs of the project at five schools for a period of five years, and includes the cost of the hardware, technical support, maintenance and insurance.
“In this way, by providing a facillitator, the company gets more involvement in the initiative, rather than just channelling money to education,” he says.
The facilitator will be responsible for a cluster of five schools, and will visit one school each day of the week for learner and teacher training.
“We are hoping to have at least 100 schools involved by the end of 2009, and if you take that on an average of 35 learners per class, per school, over the next five years we hope to reach plus-minus 9800 learners. So if you break it down the cost of providing this cutting edge technology to each child is just R10,80, a bargain by anybody’s standards.
“We are hoping to start the rollout of the program by August this year, after the successes we noted in the pilot phase that was run in 13 schools in Gauteng, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal,” says Van Spoondonk.
“Technology is the great leveller,” he adds. “This project has the potential to level the playing field between privileged and disadvantaged communities, giving South African learners the confidence and digital savvy to compete with their contemporaries around the world.”
“We have already received favourable responses from the national education department and hope to fund the initiative through public/private partnerships,” says Van Spoondonk.
A series of multimedia projects created by learners during the pilot phase can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/ischoolafrica