Online education company GetSmarter and the University of Witwatersrand School of Education (WSoE) have entered a partnership to offer a new online short course - Strategic Implementation of ICT Integration in Education.
The course aims to develop the technology skills of teachers in classrooms across SA and increase access to top-tier university programmes in education.
"We believe South Africa's future economic prosperity hinges directly on improving the quality of the teachers already working in our schools," says Rob Paddock, chief academic officer at GetSmarter. "To this end, WSoE and GetSmarter have forged a partnership to offer online teacher development programmes for in-service teachers throughout Southern Africa."
The short course is designed for teachers currently practising in the primary, secondary, tertiary and higher education sectors, and is also suited to teachers and trainers in the formal and informal sectors and teaching professionals such as education developers and instructional designers.
The course focuses on the development of effective teaching methods using technology. Students must achieve a minimum of 50% to pass the course, and on doing so will receive a certificate of competence from WSoE.
GetSmarter's virtual learning environment promises to bring students of the course together to swop ideas and debate teaching methods with the support and guidance of the course's head tutor, Kobus Van Wyk.
"Our vision is that the partnership will allow WSoE to extend and diversify the reach of their current offerings through GetSmarter's online education competencies. By leveraging the unique competencies of these two respected institutions, it is our hope that this partnership will prove a new model for effective, accessible and research-driven teacher education in Southern Africa," said Paddock.
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