Five educators have been recognised for their contribution to improving learning in South African schools through the use of technology at the annual Innovative Teachers’ Forum Awards held in Johannesburg this week.
The winners’ projects allow learners to use Information Communication Technology to become more aware of global issues through a networking group; to teach the elderly community in their area how to blog; a virtual reality art museum; interact with their local governing bodies to solve local problems via the various online media; and sharing maths and science lessons with underprivileged schools via video conferencing and desktop sharing.
The winners were selected from a group of 20 entries received from around South Africa. The projects were judged on their fresh approach to using technology to improve classroom learning, and bode well for the innovative streak amongst the country’s educators.
In the community category, Fiona Beal, of Fish Hoek Primary in the Western Cape scooped the award for her ‘Bonding through Blogging’ project.
The project allows for grade four and five learners connect with the local elderly community, teaching them how to blog. Learners were also able to interact with their peers from around the globe in collaborative writing projects,
Cheryl Douglas, of Bishops High School in Cape Town, walked away with the collaboration category prize for her project, ‘Teaching for the Future’.
This ongoing project involves using ICT to encourage learners to be aware of global issues with an emphasis on sustainability, by defining how to increase awareness of global issues in the classroom by creating an extramural Global Issues Network group.
In the content category, Rae Gagiano of Eunice High School in Bloemfontein was honoured for her project entitled ‘Anytime Anywhere Art — bringing art wherever you are’.
The project introduced learners to visual literacy through a diverse range of visual images by means of a virtual reality art museum.
Learners work in groups to investigate art through interviews, studio visits, Skype, WebPages and internet. The combination of resources that are gathered forms a virtual reality art museum that is accessible for educators and learners via the distribution of CDs.
Hlengiwe Mfeka of Mconjwana High School in Pietermaritzburg walked away with the context category prize for her ‘My Community, My Place, My Pride – can I make a difference?’ grade 10 life orientation project.
The initiative encouraged learners to identify problems in their own communities and seek solutions using various technological tools. These strategies were presented to local community and government leaders, community members, educators and learners from other schools. It is hoped that the municipality might implement some of the suggestions through their department planning programme. One of the groups developed a DVD to be used in life skills by other schools.
A fifth educator, Frans Kalp of Ligbron Academy of Technology in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, was named winner of the peer review category for his ‘Teaching and Learning from a distance’ school community project.
The project allows for mathematics and science lessons to be shared with rural, disadvantaged and underperforming schools by using video conferencing and desktop sharing.
Now in its fourth year, the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum awards are a joint initiative between Microsoft South Africa and the national department of education.
Other partners include the Africa School Technology Innovation Centre (STIC), Dell SA Development Fund, Smart Technologies and its local distributor VastraTech, Learn things Africa, School Net SA, Mindset and the Teacher.
“The awards represent the pinnacle of work done to create local communities of teachers who can share challenges, ideas and best practice solutions with their peers, supported by ICT,” said Trudi van Wyk, the national director of curriculum innovation at the department of education.
“They are doing great work to give the future leaders of this country the skills they will need for future employability – and to become productive citizens of our knowledge economy and information society.”
This view was echoed by Microsoft South Africa’s education head Reza Bardien.
“South African teachers are increasingly embracing technology as a tool to enliven and enrich their teaching environments, and overcome historical and socio-economic disadvantages to give their students the best possible education,” he said.
The four category winners each received a laptop, while the peer review winner received a SMART Board interactive whiteboard, a projector and teacher training.