Microsoft and the Africa School Technology Innovation Centre (STIC) aim to address the education gap, as grad students don't necessarily acquire the technical skills required for the workplace, according to Angela Schaerer, Africa STIC manager.
The Africa STIC, unveiled last year, is based at the Central Johannesburg College, in Troyeville, and facilitates research and development, practice sharing and innovation in education. Schaerer says: “The initiative is supported by technologies, processes and pedagogies for teaching and learning in schools, towards skills development and employability.”
Partners in Learning (PIL) is a Microsoft initiative that drives the global STIC network. PIL focuses on education transformation and building employment readiness through the use of technology. According to Schaerer, STIC works closely with its partners in a collaborative approach to provide ICT solutions for the education space.
STIC has numerous programmes and is working closely with the government, Schaerer says: “STIC works with the Accredited and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, which is focused on skills development. Our focus is to look at innovative technologies, processes and the teaching methodologies to implement those technologies.”
Some of STIC's plans include proof of concept projects such as the Compujector - a projector with a built-in hard drive in one mobile unit. In addition, STIC is working with the Lesotho Ministry of Education to roll out ICT in 100 schools. STIC is also developing solutions and working with partners such as Smart Technologies, to assist special needs schools.
The Innovative Teachers Forum, an annual Microsoft event, awards teachers for their initiatives. Last year, a South African teacher came first in the world for the Innovation in Communities category. This year, four winners from SA have been selected to participate in the global finals of the event, which will be held in Hong Kong this week.
The Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum is an online solution to teach and assess basic computer concepts and skills. It is available is many languages. STIC uses this solution and also offers teacher and principal training. “We've trained 17 000 teachers in SA and they have access to open content learning resources. Each teacher has specific needs in their classroom and the objective is to create resources for their teaching environment,” Schaerer says.
PIL has reached 11 694 874 students across the Middle East and Africa since it launched in 2003, according to a Microsoft document.
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