{"id":2026,"date":"2011-07-29T09:29:50","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T13:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/?p=2026"},"modified":"2012-09-27T10:39:02","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:39:02","slug":"schoolnet-sa-is-learning-from-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/teacher-professional-development\/schoolnet-sa-is-learning-from-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"SchoolNet SA is Learning from Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SchoolNet SA<\/a> is a not-for-profit NGO, operating in South Africa since 1997. In the early days we attempted to cover all aspects of ICT in schools by sourcing and providing hardware and software as well as training teachers. Our mission has always been to create communities of teachers using ICT to enhance teaching and learning. These days we concentrate on teacher development with a particular emphasis on ICT integration and on underserved schools. These two areas often appear to be incompatible, as I will try to explain. <\/p>\n

What we do<\/b><\/p>\n

Our most supportive funders are Intel and Microsoft but we also have other partners such as Oracle, Vodacom, Commonwealth of Learning, SITA, Nokia, Multichoice, Peermont, Adobe, Uniforum, provincial departments of education, and a number of universities. We could claim that SchoolNet has trained vast volumes of teachers, which we have, but we do not like to fixate on numbers. We would prefer to consider how effective our initiatives have been. Hit-and-run interventions are not our style; we like to prolong our relationships with schools. <\/p>\n

Sadly we often fall into the trap of chasing numbers to satisfy funding targets, sometimes losing contact with schools after training. This is the reason why we have recently embarked on a SchoolNet SA premium membership drive with the intention of engaging with individual teachers and encouraging them to stay in touch with each other. Our focus on social networking through our Facebook page<\/a>, newsletter, blog<\/a> and twitter (@SchoolNetSA<\/a>) accounts all contribute to this aim. <\/p>\n

The biggest challenge we face is in encouraging teachers to improve the way they teach. This applies to teachers across a range of schools. At the e-Learning Africa conference, Tom Power from the Open University UK said that the only way there could be any hope of changing existing pedagogies was to provide new classroom activities involving new technologies. This is a philosophy to which SchoolNet SA has always subscribed. <\/p>\n

Our strategy for growing teachers into more advanced stages of ICT use is an incremental one. Teachers are often unable to make the leap from their own ICT literacy to its classroom application where they engage learners in the use of ICT in the curriculum. To combat this, we designed a range of courses to cover each stage of maturity with ICT, from basic literacy to project-based learning and the higher levels of innovation. <\/p>\n

The 3 key pillars that uphold this strategy and that should be in place from the moment that technology is introduced to the school are leadership, technical support, and a culture of professional development. The Partners in Learning ICT Leadership for Education Managers<\/a> course introduces school leaders and local ICT government officials to a range of crucial educational ICT issues.<\/p>\n

The Partners in Learning Student Help Desk<\/a> course is an effective course for computer clubs of learners. This is relevant to schools where there is no option for first-level trouble-shooting other than costly companies which are even more expensive if the school is remote. <\/p>\n

Schools that work hard at staff development find that the most effective method of sustaining teachers\u2019 motivation in ICT integration is through peer coaching<\/a>; pairs or small groups of teachers planning lessons together and sparking off ideas has an instant and positive effect on the quality of teaching and learning. <\/p>\n

SchoolNet SA is just beginning to venture into m-learning, training teachers to track students who are participating in the NOKIA MoMaths<\/a> project using MXit and Moodle. We see a viral uptake of any new project using MXit – e.g. HIV 360<\/a> had 39 000 teenage users within a couple of months. <\/p>\n

SchoolNet has always tried to contribute towards national ICT discourse and policy and we are grateful that South Africa does have in place the e-Education White Paper (2003) and the Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in ICT (2007). Implementation of these policies on the other hand has been slow. <\/p>\n

Lessons learned <\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Educational Technology interventions often forget about the \u201ceducational\u201d part and consider it to be completed once they have installed the technology. This results in teachers not being trained and consequently hardware remaining unused. <\/li>\n\n
  2. We must split training sessions and revisit schools to allow for a period of practice and self study before the trainer returns to the school to consolidate. <\/li>\n
  3. Teachers complain that training sessions are too short and that they do not have enough time for training or for practice. <\/li>\n
  4. Cascaded training, where multiple training of trainers takes place, does not work; it dilutes learning and quality is jeopardised. If a project requires a high degree of scale, trainers should be trained by a national master trainer and thereafter train directly in schools themselves. <\/li>\n
  5. We are not reaching the knowledge deepening level of the UNESCO Framework<\/a>. Intel Teach project based courses are at this level, where the emphasis is on higher order thinking skills. Insufficient teachers are completing Intel courses; only two provinces have invested seriously in Intel Teach. If we study the TPACK<\/a> theory (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) it becomes clear that teachers in many of our schools have challenges in each of the 3 separate knowledge areas let alone in the 4 sections where these areas intersect.<\/li>\n
  6. Teachers are unaware of what is available. From the Gauteng Department of Education evaluation we conducted with SAIDE, it became evident that not only do teachers have little knowledge of what resources are available to them online, but they are unaware of the array of educational software provided on their own school networks. This is directly due to insufficient teacher professional development in initiatives that are technology driven. <\/li>\n
  7. Access for learners in high schools is reduced when schools decide to offer external exam subjects such as IT and CAT because these monopolise the computer rooms. Only schools with alternative access such as two computer rooms or a mobile lab should consider offering these subjects. <\/li>\n
  8. High school teachers often argue that they cannot integrate ICT because they have to complete their syllabus, instead of realising that ICT can greatly assist to achieve this.<\/li>\n
  9. The disconnect between teachers and learners is growing. Schools need to be connected and pedagogy has to adapt. Children are online and becoming more connected, living in an exciting world of communication and \u201cinstant\u201d everything. Then in classrooms, teachers say, \u201copen your books and turn to page …. \u201c A high dropout rate should not be a surprise. As the saying goes, \u201cIf children do not learn the way we teach then we must teach the way they learn.\u201d <\/li>\n
  10. Beware of Interactive Whiteboards (IAW). IAW have proliferated in schools despite the expense and yet in many instances this has resulted in teaching methodology reverting back to being teacher-centred. <\/li>\n
  11. Sugata Mitra\u2019s TED Talk, Child-driven Education<\/a>, illustrates through the cognitive studies that he has conducted. that children learn more effectively through discourse in groups. Mitra takes \u201cchild-centred\u201d one step further to become \u201cchild-driven\u201d. <\/li>\n
  12. At SchoolNet we are sceptical of educational software that does not require 21st Century learning skills<\/a> and wary that some m-learning projects use merely drill and kill content.<\/li>\n
  13. It is important to commence ICT initiatives with the school leadership because they have great influence over the future take-up of technology by teaching staff. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What we recommend <\/b><\/p>\n

    We recommend sustainable plans for staff development in schools; ICT planning that is focused on the teaching and learning needs of educators. Teachers require lifelong learning opportunities.
    \nConnectivity in schools has to be provided and at a reduced, or no cost, to the school. <\/p>\n

    We are seeing the value of android handheld and mobile devices with charging trolleys because these satisfy the need for learners to be involved, hands on and not just one learner at a time; they have to share the technology and share ideas, just as Mitra advocates. <\/p>\n

    Mobile phone use in schools has to be accepted. Teachers can collect second hand phones and allow working in groups to ensure that learners without phones are not excluded. <\/p>\n

    Obviously the one recommendation that SchoolNet is going to make time and time again is that there has to be greater investment in teacher development. The business community has to be strategically involved; they must specify the skills they require school leavers to have so that teaching is forced to adapt to developing those skills. <\/p>\n

    \n

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    \"\"<\/a>
    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SchoolNet SA is a not-for-profit NGO, operating in South Africa since 1997. In the early days we attempted to cover all aspects of ICT in schools by sourcing and providing hardware and software as well as training teachers. Our mission has always been to create communities of teachers using ICT to enhance teaching and learning. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[783],"tags":[1022,27,1018,1017,1015,843,1021,1016,1020,1014,1019,1000,1525],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2026"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2698,"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions\/2698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}