Britehouse, a leading supplier of digital, automotive and SAP solutions, has introduced Hello tutor, an Internet-based platform through which teachers and tutors take videos of their lessons and upload them into a system for learners to download on to their computers, mobile phones and laptops.
This platform was officially unveiled last week at Sunrise Secondary School in Diepsloot.
Sunrise Secondary School and Kwena Molapo Secondary School in Lanseria are the first to have access to this system after the teachers of Grade 11 and 12 learners at the schools were trained to impart their skills for use by the programme.
The platform is an open education environment, where teachers are able to reach hundreds of thousands of students from all walks of life though one lesson.
Hello tutor is about connecting people, tutors and learners and education for everyone in any language, says Britehouse. The system is supposed to bridge the gap between upmarket and government school education.
It enables teachers and learners from well-resourced upmarket private schools to share lessons and methodologies with less privileged schools in informal settlements, townships and rural areas.
The platform carries lessons in all official languages. The lessons are done by teachers, tutors, undergraduate students and graduates who are verified and tested by Hello tutor's team before uploading any information.
According to James West, founder and inventor of Hello tutor, the platform began as a conversation about the state of SA's education system and how learners in townships and rural schools were receiving substandard education.
Also, it was created due to the concern that learners in SA are still to a large extent learning in their second language 21 years into democracy, he added.
"It is really disturbing how there appears to be very little on the horizon which could dramatically improve the quality of education accessible to learners from all walks of life, and this is something we aim to address."
According to the Web site, recent advancement in technology has meant almost everyone has access to a laptop, LAN, tablet or smartphone. Also data coverage is better than ever - wireless data has become cheap and freely available, it adds.
In addition, SA has an underutilised pool of potential tutors who demographically mirror the learner population who have extra time on their hands and could do with some extra income, says Hello tutor.
Although corporate businesses and donor community are contributing more and more each year to education initiatives, they are frustrated by conventional avenues and red tape, it notes, adding Hello tutor provides the means to channel resources to those who need them the most.
Sunrise Secondary School Principal Nozi Ramokgotswa says the technology will help improve the quality of teaching and learning in the school as both teachers and learners will be exposed to different ways of approaching subjects.
"Sometimes you find a situation where learners do not connect with a particular teacher or cannot adapt to their approach to a subject, this will help them as they can also access the lesson in their own languages," Ramokgotswa said.
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