Teachers embrace tech

By Alex Kayle for Microsoft

Johannesburg, 01 Jul 2009

Local teachers are realising the importance of embracing ICT in teaching by using Web 2.0 technology to drive interactive learning.

Four teachers, out of 20 finalists, were honoured yesterday as the South African winners of the fourth annual Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum Awards, in Bryanston.

“The awards represent the pinnacle of work done to create local communities of teachers who can share challenges, ideas and best practice solutions with their peers, supported by ICT,” said the Department of Education's national director of curriculum innovation, Trudi van Wyk. She commended the teachers, adding that their hard work will give the future leaders of SA the skills they will need for employability.

The teachers designed learning projects using Web 2.0 multimedia technology, which includes content from social network sites such as Facebook, as well as blogging, video streaming, video conferencing, online network groups, virtual classrooms, cellphone photography and DVD compilations.

Teaching through innovation

Fiona Beal, of Fish Hoek Primary, in the Western Cape, was the winner of the Innovation in Community category, for teaching Grade 4 and 5 learners how to blog and, in turn, the learners taught the local elderly community to blog as well.

Cheryl Douglas, of Bishops High School, in Cape Town, won the Innovation in Collaboration award for teaching her learners how to use social networking to promote sustainability around climate change.

Rae Gagiano, of Eunice High School, in Bloemfontein, was awarded the Innovation in Content prize by showing her learners how to create a virtual reality art museum using digital imagery.

Hlengiwe Mfeka, of Mconjwana High School, in Pietermaritzburg, took home the Innovation in Context prize by allowing her Grade 10 learners to address community problems using Web 2.0 technological tools.

The winners were chosen from a host of entries submitted by teachers around the country - all of which used IT to make teaching in urban and rural schools more effective. The projects were independently judged on innovation in the use of technology and training methods.

Skills development

Microsoft SA CEO Mteto Nyati said ICT can enhance teaching and help teachers to drive skills development, despite working in areas with limited resources: “Innovation in education is at the centre of driving change in SA. The Innovative Teachers Forum Awards has become a key event for the Department of Education. Through the programme, the teachers are starting to become policymakers and are driving critical thinking.

“In the past, learning has been a one-way process, with the teacher presenting content to the students. ICT and the Internet are driving the learning experience to become more of a collaborative process.”

Microsoft has a longstanding relationship with the Department of Education, and in a 10-year period, has donated software to South African public schools amounting to around R2 billion, according to Nyati.

Microsoft's global Partners in Learning programme has trained up to 19 000 teachers, which are responsible for 20 million learners. In addition, earlier this year Microsoft rolled out a global initiative called DreamSpark, which is about addressing software development in tertiary institutions.