Andrew Moore

The details of the teacher laptop initiative are out. The initiative, which was devised by the department of education’s innovation in teaching directorate, was published on May 8 in the Government Gazette.

Recently I got a peek into the world of teenage communication via social networking services and sites. Because of the hard economic times, I thought I should start using the MXit service (www.MXit.com) to check out the super-low costs of text messaging.

Does your school’s IT policy state that the institution is committed to creating learners who are proficient and comfortable users of information?

As a young history teacher I was guilty of hoarding my stuff. Now that I’m older I consider it a terrible waste. I remember being particularly proud of a "Middle East Conflict" worksheet that contained numerous pieces of historical evidence: political cartoons, quotes from politicians of the time, diary entries, lyrics from a Palestinian song and some photos from a feature film.

I recently became an addict. Not to alcohol or smoking but to a particular console game, Bioshock. I have looked at computer games on several occasions in the past – and even bought a few for my PC – but they always failed to engage me.

Last year we looked at TeacherTube and some other teacher tools available on the web. Before we leave this topic, however, I want to introduce you to my favourite "waste of time" … Google Earth.

This month I review a number of web tools for teachers, websites made for teachers and often by teachers to help other teachers. Some offer resources, others templates to help you create lesson plans. Some allow teachers to upload materials and share them more widely.

One advantage of information gleaned from the internet over that available in school resource centres or libraries is the currency of the data. Instead of using statistics from an old set of encyclopaedias you can provide your class with the latest data. Yet this very advantage can sometimes also be the internet’s most frustrating characteristic.

MP3 players are becoming ubiquitous. Even the latest cellphones are being promoted on billboards around the country as multimedia centres that happen to have a phone attached to them. The must-have attachment is a shiny set of earphones that gives the phone the ability to provide a soundtrack to our lives.

Have you ever wondered why the government doesn’t just produce a generic set of teaching resources for each subject and share it with us?

Blogs, blogs, blogs! The term has been getting a lot of attention lately. Everywhere you go people try to get you to look at their blog. I must confess I loved the recent TV advert where an "internetless" person misunderstands her suitor’s intentions when he asks her to take a peep at his blog. Slaps ensue.

I have read that the national department of education has revised its priorities and has moved Thutong beyound being predominantly a supplier of teaching resources.

Popular belief about rising rates of teen pregnancy in South Africa is not supported by statistics gathered over the past two decades.

This column has championed the use of computers and the web for quite some time now. When used correctly, internet-connected computers offer teachers and learners an enormous store of knowledge – larger than any library – and a number of tools to manipulate and use the information.

By the time this first edition of the Teacher is out, most readers will be battling to get the syllabus under way.

Expectations and more expectations. Sometimes it feels as if everyone is demanding a teacher’s time and attention. We teachers sometimes feel as if there is something – or someone – coming at us from every direction.

Can mobile learning (m-learning) really make a difference to teachers and learners? On the face of it the question seems a "no brainer".