What has the greatest potential to enhance student achievement? Enhancing teacher effectiveness through professional development.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has found that the Covid-19 crisis highlighted the need to develop teachers’ digital literacy in that while the use of digital tools is an integral part of the professional skills expected of teachers and many teachers have already been using these tools such as video, many of them still lack the required knowledge, skills and tools to design quality online learning material.
In a White Paper focusing on a national “Digital and future skills strategy for South Africa” published in 2020, South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has stated that extended initiatives over the next decade will be required to advance teacher’s digital skills to the point where they are major contributors to digital literacy. This means that large numbers of teachers will need to be trained to teach subjects in which learners at early childhood development, primary and secondary schooling levels learn to become digital citizens.
In their quest to offer access to world-class ed tech solutions, OneConnect, a multi-faceted technology solutions and specialist professional services consulting company headquartered in South Africa and operating throughout the continent of Africa, has partnered with Blackboard, an internationally recognised leader in Education Technology provider to produce the eTeacher Training series. This is designed to help educators become well-versed in digital teaching, learn new teaching strategies that effectively deliver course material and assist learners get the best experience out of online or blended learning.
Presented by Blackboard Academy, the internationally recognised training programme Digital Teaching and Learning Series (DTLS) delivers world-class professional development and certification for lecturers, educators, and associated support staff in the use of digital learning technologies.
As part of the DTLS Learning series, OneConnect and Blackboard have brought out a digital training and learning course for teachers, the K-12 Blackboard Learn Ultra, and Blended Learning and Online Strategies for K-12, in which participants work through a series of interactive content modules and practical collaborative exercises and assessment tasks, resulting in a seamless transition to online or blended teaching and learning — and confident educators.
About the learning series:
Blended Learning and Online Strategies for K-12 (Grades 0-12) provides teachers with strategies for designing their online classroom. Whether teachers plan to use a blended or a fully online classroom, this course will help ease the transition in creating an online class environment that meets the needs of both students and teachers. The course content is not tied to any specific Learning Management System.
K-12 (Grades 0-12) Blackboard Learn Ultra course provides teachers with the competencies required for teaching with Blackboard Learn Ultra. Participants will learn the key features of Learn Ultra and the best practices for using it to create a digital classroom.
For further information, contact OneConnect today.
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