Report to Vodacom Foundation onICT Integration Training and Support for ICT Resource Centres

January 2014 – March 2014

CONTENTSContents................................................................................................................................................................1

Introduction..........................................................................................................................................................1

Centre Status Reports...........................................................................................................................................2

Eastern Cape – Lady Frere.............................................................................................................................2

Mpumalanga – Emalahleni...........................................................................................................................3

Northern Cape – Upington............................................................................................................................4

NorthWest – Ganyesa...................................................................................................................................5

Free State - Thaba Nchu................................................................................................................................5

Limpopo – Makhado.....................................................................................................................................7

Western Cape – Worcester...........................................................................................................................8

KwaZulu Natal – Pinetown.........................................................................................................................10

Gauteng - Sunnyside...................................................................................................................................11

SchoolNet SA Facilitated Training Sessions........................................................................................................11

Intel Getting Started...........................................................................................................................................11

KwaZulu-Natal - Pinetown..........................................................................................................................11

Microsoft Partners in Learning ICT Leadership for Education Managers...........................................................14

North west - Ganyesa.................................................................................................................................14

Limpopo - Makhado....................................................................................................................................14

Support for Centre Managers.............................................................................................................................15

Challenges...........................................................................................................................................................16

Plans for 2014.....................................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION

The first quarter of 2014 started smoothly in most centres. In other centres the planning took place from January to February which made it difficult to continue with training as planned. Some Centre Managers were on leave for the first two weeks in January while others were writing exams. Most centres started operating smoothly as from March. In the NorthWest the centre will only start normal operation from 31st of March due to the electricity being cut off.

In spite of all these hiccups some centres were trying their best to arrange training. In KwaZulu-Natal Intel Getting Started was held in March 2014. Two Microsoft Leadership workshops were held in

Vhembe, Limpopo and Thabanchu, Free State. TeachMeets and other workshops are scheduled for March and April 2014 as the Centre Managers were not able to arrange these during the first quarter.

The ICT Leadership for Education Managers training in North West and Limpopo was attended by all 30 principals. This is a good sign because they will probably encourage their educators to use the centres. The challenge, though, is that educators are not enthusiastic about attending courses during weekends and holidays, and they are not allowed to leave their learners during working hours in order to attend the courses.

The statistics for the provinces for March can be viewed below. Please note that SchoolNet did not receive stats for Limpopo and North West. Ganyesa Vodacom Centre in North West reported that their programs could not start due to challenges beyond their control while the Limpopo Centre Manager is yet to update his training statistics.

The above training statistics indicate that the ICT Skills for Educators workshops have been offered to 140 educators this quarter which is encouraging considering that not all stats have been recorded. It should be noted though that this does not mean that 140 teachers have completed the course as training takes place slowly to accommodate the hours teachers are available much intervention is needed. The statistics for Internet users indicate that 1 809 people have made use of the internet across the centres – this is a pleasing improvement from the last year’s figure which was +-1200 at this stage.

CENTRE STATUS REPORTS EASTERN CAPE – LADY FRERE

Cisco Academy training Two facilitators, Lahliwe Ntuthuzelo and Matiwane Jabulile, were trained by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in the A+ course as part of the CISCO programme. The training started on the 3 February 2014. 15 unemployed youth with Maths and Science qualifications were selected to attend the classes. All participants received the pack of textbooks, toolkits, T-shirts, caps and other resources.

Sizanani ICT Skills for Community Members From 10 February 2014, the Sizanani ICT Skills for Community Members course took place to benefit unemployed youth. This program will run for three months and 28 participants will attend for three days a week. All participants will be awarded a certificate from SchoolNet upon completion.

ABET On the 24 February 2014, 20 learners were trained on the ABET-ICT Computer Skills course. These ABET learners attended from Mondays to Wednesdays from 13h00-15h30.

ICT IntegrationThe subject advisors are receiving training on ICT integration – a course offered by the Department of Education. They are expected to attend twice a month from 09h00-15h00. This will help the advisors link with what is happening in the schools since the schools are receiving the same training.

TeachMeet7 schools have been invited to attend the TeachMeet which will take place on 8 April 2014.

Teacher Development in 30 SchoolsThe training for educators will be held in five schools namely Lady Frere JSS, KwaMhlontlo SSS, Cacadu SSS, Anako JSS, and Dordrecht SPS. This training will be conducted on their school premises. The five Vodacom schools received training in ICT integration. The Centre Staff decided to visit the schools after discovering that champion teachers didn’t have the time to help educators after they received their training. All 30 schools will be visited by the Centre Staff for 3 hours each on chosen dates. The five schools visited were shown all the websites that will help them in Maths and Science, and they were also taught how to use a data projector, an Interactive White Board and a laptop.

MPUMALANGA – EMALAHLENI

Some of the highlights of this quarter are summarized below:

114 out of school youth attended the financial literacy course. They were excited after receiving their certificates

Educators from the ThanduXolo Specials School attended the Clicker 6 programme

IT Essentials students on their last day

A Grade four learner locating the centre using Google Maps

40 departmental officials attended the “fingerprints” training.

Schools that visit the centre are from different locations, which is noticeable Grade 12 learners create e-mails and visit the institutions of their choice online.

Schools that visit the centre are from different locations.

Grade 12 learners creating e-mails and visiting the institutions of their choice online.

Curriculum Implementers (CIs) were registered on the digital portal. They were also orientated on educational sites and on how to use YouTube as a teaching and learning tool.

During the month of February the ICT Centre hosted 200 learners through the support of the Programmatic Support Grant Initiative (PSGI) from SAASTA. The grant paid for the learners to be transported to the ICT centre.

From February 2014 fifty-four out-of-school youth have been trained on basic computer literacy skills.

Anglo-American Thermal coal selected our centre as a model from which they could model a centre they intend to build for a school in Alexandra (Johannesburg).

Professional Development in 30 SchoolsIn Mpumalanga there are challenges for Mathandi Mokumo to visit the schools because of transport. The Centre does have a car but it is used by Acting Centre Manager to visit career events. Mathandi sometimes receives calls from schools and she can only provide help over the phone. She recently received a call from a principal who offered to provide transport for her to come and help them at their computer centre. Educators visit the centre to receive specific training, for instance, if they want to do spreadsheets only. That happens when different schools visit the centre for specific programs.

NORTHERN CAPE – UPINGTON

Highlights In February the Directorate of Education, Karas Regional Council officials from Namibia, visited this centre. They came to organise a twinning agreement with the district. Their visit started at the Resource Centre where Bennet Johannesen demonstrated the Interactive Whiteboard and its applications. The delegates were very impressed with the Resource Centre and the implementation plan of teacher development.

Johannesen was invited by the Directorate of Education to train all the school principals of Southern Namibia. The first workshop was held in Karasburg where 39 principals and senior teachers attended the workshop. The second workshop was held in Luderitz, a small coastal town 800km from Upington. There were approximately 35 principals in attendance. The last workshop, held in Keetmanshoop, had the largest attendance. The skills

level was from Beginner level to using Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. more efficiently.

Timetable TrainingJohannesen assisted two primary schools and one high school in developing their timetable for 2014. These schools attended two workshops at the Resource Centre.

Interactive whiteboard trainingAll Learning Area Managers availed themselves of an Interactive Whiteboard training session. They were divided into two groups so that the training could be more interactive. Due to the short term only one session could be done and other sessions will be done next term.

Resource CentreThe existing voluntary trainers have applied for and been employed elsewhere. As a result of this centre manager Bennett Johannesen is am unable to keep the Resource Centre operational when he is conducting school visits or when busy with training and development. Between 30 and 55 learners visit the centre daily to make use of the Internet for research purposes. Job seekers usually visit the centre in the mornings to type their CVs. It will be unfortunate to close down the centre since it has proved to be a success. Johannesen is in the process of requesting assistance at the Resource Centre.

Teacher Development in 30 SchoolsA planning meeting was held at the Resource Centre to discuss teacher development. Members present were managers from the Foundation, Senior, GET and FET phases. The 30 Vodacom schools will be considered for teacher development and teachers will be identified according to the importance of their subjects. Lessons will be developed using computers and the Interactive Whiteboard. The Getting Started course and a TeachMeet will be included in the teacher development.

NORTHWEST – GANYESA

Mr Avhashoni reported that he could not update this centre’s training statistics as there was no electricity at the centre. The lack of power is a major issue at this centre as it has forced them to stop operating. There has been no power from 13 of January to the end of March 2014. When the power came back in March educators were busy with their exams and could not attend any of the training. Mr Avhashoni mentioned that electricity issues are beyond his control and the centre does not have a budget for electricity. The centre can only rely on the Area Office Manager for such services. Because of this there is nothing much happening at the centre.

Prior to the power cut Mr Avhashoni was busy running the outreach program with another school and this will resume when the Centre starts operating again on the 31st of March 2014.

FREE STATE - THABA NCHU DigiStudents workshopWhen technology tools used in the real world are put into the hands of students, the students can better see themselves as problem solvers and can also more fully communicate their capacity to solve problems to the world community. By giving students access to technology, a wide range of problems that would ordinarily be beyond the reach of students to solve can become achievable.

It is against this background that on the 29 January 2014 a workshop for DigiStudents was held at Motheo Vodacom ICT Centre. It was conducted by a Microsoft facilitator Mr. Victor Ngobeni. The workshop was only one hour.

Thirty learners from Grades 10-12 at six local schools (five learners from each school accompanied by one educator) were invited to attend the workshop. The schools were Totlanang, Phetogane, Strydom, Christian Liphoko, Goronyane and Albert Moroka Secondary School. The purpose of the workshop was to equip learners on Windows 8 Applications that would assist them to better execute their school work such as homework, assignments, and projects. Mr Ntsieni Mphuti reported that the educators who accompanied the learners were impressed and excited when the facilitator introduced them to the Photo Story software to create digital storytelling to enhance classroom instruction.

Partners in Learning – ICT Skills for TeachersThe ICT Skills for Teachers workshops were held on the 24 and 25 January 2014, and from 31 January to 2 of February 2014. Goronyane Secondary School staff attended one of the workshops where Mr Mphuthi conducted the training. About 25% of the trainees were beginners. This was obvious when they couldn’t open the word processing application or understand the basic functions of the computer such as shutting down the computer in the correct way. Despite their lack of expertise in ICT skills, they were highly motivated and displayed a high level of eagerness to learn more.

According to the trainees, the coursework was designed in a manner that it conforms with their daily normal routine in their classrooms. More emphasis is put on how they (teachers) can best deliver the content to its intended recipients (learners) through integrating ICT in their classrooms. The coursework is also designed in such a way that modern classroom instructions are enhanced through including technology.

More ICT Skills for Teachers workshops were held on 7 and 8 January 2014, and on 14 and 15 February 2014. Thirty three educators from Strydom Secondary School staff attended the workshop that was facilitated by Mr Mphuthi. The purpose of the workshop was to equip educators with the necessary basic ICT Skills that would enable them to enhance their teaching methods. About 34% of the trainees were beginners. This was the biggest group of educators of all the sessions of that nature ever conducted at the Motheo Vodacom ICT Centre.

Partners in Learning - ICT Leadership for Education Managers A workshop for ICT Leadership was held at Motheo Vodacom ICT Centre from 10 to 12 February 2014. The workshop was facilitated by Ms Elna Marais. The purpose of this workshop was to capacitate managers on ICT leadership skills which will assist them to gear the utilization of ICT equipment in their schools. This was a successful workshop as most of the principals from the 30 Vodacom schools attended.

Highlights this quarter The centre staff is very proud to report that our centre registered 22 youths for IT Essentials and they sat for the final assessment on 19 February 2014. 81% passed the assessment and 4 four learners were absent on the day. This shows that this centre is heading in the right direction. In view of this,

the centre recruited 15 new youth entrants who attended an orientation on the 21st of March 2014. On 24 March 2014 formal tuition resumed for this new intake.

Successes and Challenges Whilst almost all organised ICT trainings took place without too many hiccups no one responded to the invitation to the TeachMeet invitation. It has become a norm in the Department of Education that whenever educators have been invited to a workshop, telephonic follow ups should be done to remind them about attending. At this centre this will always be a challenge. The TeachMeet workshop was unsuccessful because teachers said that they forgot about it. Mphuthi could not make any telephonic follow ups due to a lack of connectivity. The TeachMeet workshop will be rescheduled in April 2014, after the re-opening of the schools in Term 2.

In conclusion, the Motheo District Teacher Development Centre acknowledges and appreciates the generosity shown by Vodacom and its partners through providing us with the necessary resources that will improve classroom instruction. We strongly believe that the learners will reap the benefits of this.

Teacher Development in 30 SchoolsVisiting the 30 Vodacom schools was a major problem this quarter since the officials from the Education Department were grounded as a way of cutting down on expenses. However the educators from the 30 schools attended two sets of training conducted by the Centre Manager. In addition to this the ICT Leadership training adminstered by SchoolNet also took place and all 30 managers attended the training.

LIMPOPO – MAKHADO

In January no real training took place at this centre as preparations and plans were being made for the year.

Sizanani ICT Skills for Community Members In February the Centre registered a group of 32 Community members for Sizanani trainings. They all completed the course. This was thirteenth group so far and was the first one for this year.

ICT Leadership for Education Managers he trainings for the managers were held from 3-5 March 2014. 30 Principals attended the training. The training was conducted by Estia Warmenhoven on behalf of SchoolNet.

DigiNet for LearnersOn the 14th March 2014, 37 learners from 10 different schools attended the workshop that was being conducted by Mr Victor Ngobeni. They had a very fruitful and successful day where they could design projects and show their creativity.

Partners in Learning for EducatorsOn Saturday, the 15th March 2014, 28 Educators from the 30 schools participated in the 21st Century Educators Project workshop. The facilitator was Victor Ngobeni. Valuable information was shared.

Teacher Development in 30 SchoolsApart from the Partners in Learning for Educators training conducted by Victor there was no other training for educators that took place at the centre.

In February 2014 The Centre Manager visited two schools namely Mphephu High School and Waterfall High School. These two schools also benefited from the Telkom project. The aim for the visits was to check whether the equipment was delivered. Masuluke did some follow-up visit on teachers who were trained for TARMIIfp and also visited three schools that did not attend any follow-up training.

WESTERN CAPE – WORCESTER

Cisco IT Essentials courseFrom 03 February 2014, the group of new intakes started their classes. The class runs from 09.00 – 13.30 Monday to Thursday. Currently the Centre has 17 matriculated and unemployed students. This group will complete the course end of June 2014.

The CASME ICT Integration training for FET and GET MathematicsCASME workshop was held from 6th-10th January 2014. This training revolved around the use of Geogebra as a tool in GET and FET Mathematics. The training for the FET Mathematics educators was so successful that the training took only six full days (48 hours) which made it possible for the Centre Manager to invite the GET Mathematics educators of the participating schools to do the GET Mathematics training in the remaining four full days (32 hours). The facilitator was one of the FET Mathematics educators who had completed the course in the six days.

Moodle Basic and Moodle Course Creator From 9-10 January 2014, this training was provided for the curriculum advisers of the district on Training in the navigation and management of the Moodle platform. As previously stated this is an initiative of the WCED (Western Cape Education Department) which has been endorsed by the DBE (Department of Basic Education) as the platform through which online teaching and learning will take place in all schools nationwide.

Moodle Training the TrainersThe programme took place on Saturday 8 March 2014 at the Vodacom Centre and Leonard Cloete conducted this training.

Microsoft Office 2010 Training took place once a week for the officials of the provincial government departments. The training was initiated and conducted by the CEI from the Office of the Premier (Centre for e-Innovation) ICT Integration Training unit. The training included the district administrative staff.

Community Computer Literacy The training takes place from 17:00 – 19:00 daily, in the evenings, for members of the broader community in and around Worcester. Members include ECD practitioners as well as farm labourers from the surrounding area. This programme was initiated by a staff member from the Centre for e-Innovation on a voluntarily basis. Groups of 35 participants, some who are 50 years and older, attend these classes twice a week. One of the spin-offs of this voluntary programme is mentioned later in the report.

The CPTD-MS training for principals and deputy principals From 11 – 17 March 2014, the training of principals and deputy principals was held. They were trained and then registered online for receiving professional teacher development for their schools. These participants also realised that the (ICT Integration) training needs would be serviced by the Vodacom Mobile Education Centre, and the upcoming ICT for Management training is based on this assumption.

Star Schools Saturday classesThe programme also hosts the Gr. 12 (Math and Science) students in the Vodacom Centre every Saturday to give learners access to the Centre.

EventsThe Vodacom Mobile Education Centre, Worcester, received a donation of 30 mice and mousepads, well as a a multi-purpose printer from Mustek, Cape Town, as a contribution to the Community Computer Literacy program for adults. Venelee Wilson, one of the facilitators at the Vodacom Centre, received the donation from Tilly Webb of Mustek. This donation was made possible by Derrick Booysen, an IT technician working for the Office of the Premier, who facilitates in the program voluntarily. Participants in the Community Computer Literacy classes arrive two hours earlier to practice what they have learnt the previous session. That is DEDICATION!!

CWED director, Mr Juan Benjamin, addressing and motivating the participants in the Community Computer Literacy programme

Mr Lee Adonis, a teacher who benefitted from the Mobile Education Programme, presented the Geogebra course for the GET Mathematics teachers.

Our newly appointed FET Mathematics curriculum adviser also benefited from the Geogebra training which was presented by one of his Math teachers

Officials from the provincial health department participating in the Office 2010 training

Our FET curriculum advisers are trained by a primary school teacher to navigate and manage the content on the Moodle 2.4 platform

HighlightsThe entire above-mentioned events indicate the progress shown by the Centre. The Centre Manager mentioned that they are seeing the fruits of their sometimes thankless efforts and he felt he had to acknowledge the hard work of one of the IT Essentials instructors, Keenan Berry. He said he also

acknowledges the positive impact that their new district director, Mr Juan Benjamin, has had on the Vodacom Mobile Education Centre. The Centre hosted the CASME training during the first week in January 2014. This took place in the educators’ school holidays.

ChallengesThe Youth Development ProgrammeThe Cisco Academy IT Essentials course is up and running and many youths are reaping the benefits of the programme. The Centre Manager is very frustrated with the lack of commitment of the ITSETA in terms of some remuneration for the instructors. He said they have been toiling away without any compensation for their huge effort and mentioned that some of the instructors have left for greener pastures and no-one can blame them! He suggested that the Cisco Academy should be run like a business so that income can be generated through class fees etc.

The Centre Manager vs. eLearning Adviser Conundrum:Cloete mentioned that as long as the position of Centre Manager is not established on the Education Department’s payroll, the Centre Manager’s duties will always be an add-on. He said that combining both jobs, the Centre Manager position and the eLearning Advisor position, without consideration of one’s workload, is a burden which one can only tolerate up to a certain point.

Infra-structure support from Department of Public WorksThere is no support from Department of Public Works for the maintenance of the building where the Centre is housed.

Teacher Professional DevelopmentThe issue of the Centre becoming a hub for teacher professional development is still a challenge as all teacher professional development programmes are hosted by the Cape Teaching and Learning Institute (CTLI) in Kuilsrivier.

KWAZULU NATAL – PINETOWN

HighlightsE-learning platform meetingThe eLearning team of the Department of Education had a three-day meeting with the aim of implementing the plan that they were going use to conduct workshops at the Centre. Their meeting was held on the 13th and 14th of February 2014. The meeting was followed up with the training of educators that on the 20th and 21st February 2014. 18 educators attended this e-learning workshop.

SAWEN booked the Centre for three day workshop where they were training educators on basic ICT Skills. 26 educators from Umlazi schools attended this training.

Challenges The new site is not conveniently situated for communities around Pinetown to attend. The new centre space is very small. The centre was not offered the laptop to conduct practical skills for Cisco training.

Solutions Vodacom to provide refurbished desktop computers.

The centre to be expanded. The centre should employ one at least one admin staff member but preferably two.

Upcoming Activities Cisco Final Exams for the Cisco Community N+ Cisco training ICT Leadership training

GAUTENG - SUNNYSIDE

The Centre Manager informed Mathapelo Sehume from SchoolNet that there would be no training activities at the Centre for the remainder of 2013 and that they would resume training in 2014.

SCHOOLNET SA FACILITATED TRAINING SESSIONS

INTEL GETTING STARTED

KWAZULU-NATAL - PINETOWN

From 27th to 28th February 2014 Nomty Gcaba (a SchoolNet trainer) presented this course to 25 participants from 30 Vodacom schools. 28 Educators attended this session of Intel’s Getting Started Train the Trainer session. The training took place from 09:00-17:00 for two days.

ParticipantsMost participants who attended this training had basic skills but there were 5 educators who could not

hold the mouse. It should be noted that this was a Train the Trainer session and the trainer was not expecting to train teachers who are computer Illiterate. Unfortunately they could not be sent home as they needed the skills. Having educators in this low level completely disturbs the flow of the training and it becomes difficult for the trainer to present tasks that demand advanced skills.

VenueThe venue provided sufficient laptops and desktops for all the participants. The data project is very fuzzy making it very difficult for participants to see the screen - this needs attention. The Internet, which is very fast, was working well.

Course work The session started with a discussion on the whole course, the aims of the course and what is expected

from the participants. The trainer started with the first section which covered 21st century skills. Under normal circumstances the trainer wouldn’t have given the participants time to explore 21st century skills. The participants followed in this session using a handbook, and all 21st century skills were discussed. Most participants could not log in to the Internet due to a lack of skills so we left the Internet search section and

instead went on to 21st century skills and hope to do it at a later stage.

The trainer discussed ways of assessing the level of participants by asking them questions on what they know about computers and whether they know how to use a mouse etc. After they have

assessed their participants like this they would be in a position to see where they could start with their modules without wasting time talking about how the mouse works etc. There were no advanced users in this session. Two participants had already attended an ICT Skills Train the Trainer course but their skills were still a low level and they could not be selected to become trainers.

The training session was intended to prepare these educators to be trainers for the Intel Getting Started course, so the trainer had to teach them how to work independently and how to use the Help Guide. The Help Guide was discussed in details and trainees started working through it. Some were able to find their way around the Help Guide but most participants struggled. Teams were formed. The trainer tried to group them according to their skills; for example those who were first time users had to sit with the ones who were computer literate.

All participants started by creating folders as well subfolders. The subfolder contained Microsoft Word, Spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentations. During this activity the trainer noted that all participants were creating folders for the first time and gave assistance. The trainer wanted three activities at least to be finished, and one of these activities was on annotating images. This did not take place as the pace was too slow and the participants were not skilled enough.

The trainer introduced all the activities step-by-step, and spent time in the session helping the participants to apply word processing skills as a necessary skill. The trainer did the first activity together with the participants and then later told them to choose any activity and work on it. The participants spent a good few hours doing one scenario and they enjoyed working on their tasks. Some of the participants were very helpful and were able to use the Help Guide effectively.

The trainer allowed an opportunity for the participants to register to the Partners in Learning Network and the Vodacom Digital Network. The trainer explained and demonstrated these sites to the participants. On the second date the participants continued with the activities on using spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations but unfortunately they were very slow and could not finish the required three activities for each session. The training ended at 3:00pm after the trainer had discussed the facilitator folder and evaluation.

Major challenges and successes The challenge faced during this training was that trainees had minimum skills which would be

a problem if they were trainers. Even though some were computer literate they were few and far between. They all needed to have support from the trainer or from other participants to achieve anything during the training.

There was a problem with the data projector – it did not project clearly. The training was a success in that educators enjoyed the skills, benefitted from what they had

learned and they were willing to help each other. The atmosphere was very good. The trainer was impressed with the growth that she notices amongst the participants.

Comments from the trainees

I would like to have more training on using Internet since my school does not have Internet resources and my Internet skills are outdated. Our facilitator was very nice and well prepared for us and the LANs managers were very helpful to us. The LAN/place was user friendly.

I learnt a lot of things during the two days. This was the first time I have been trained on using PowerPoint which is a very powerful tool for making presentations to learners. I think every teacher in South Africa should get an opportunity to be trained on this software.

I learnt something and I really appreciate the efforts that the Department is making on our behalf.

This course was enjoyable and easy to follow. The facilitator is patient and explains like a teacher.

The course was useful for improving my PowerPoint and my spreadsheet skills. The teachers enjoyed this session. Another session soon will be appreciated. I was impressed by the manner in which the training was conducted. The trainer was patient.

She knows the computer well. I was as impressed with the course as a whole. The facilitators were so kind and patient. They

were willing to help us. I feel like attending the course again. I think more teachers should be trained on this course. I would like to become more computer

literate. I have developed my computer skills in the two days that I’ve been here and I will be able to facilitate whatever skills I have learned.

I am more confident with PowerPoint and Excel and enjoyed combining these two skills to enhance my facilitation.

I am grateful for this initiative and will be able to share my experience effectively with my fellow educators.

The course was well organised and the facilitator’s work was well prepared. This was really a good course and I gained many skills…the facilitator was very good at

explaining the programmes. The course was informative, and my skills have improved. This has boosted my confidence. The

facilitator was patient and was able to guide the mixed group to the level of understanding. I am looking forward to attending more workshops to improve my skills

The course CD is a very useful tool that I believe can be used by Computer Application Technology teachers in the classroom. I especially liked using the Help Guide. If the Help Guide is downloaded on to each computer that the learners use then they would have access to it when completing class activities and for practicing for practical exams.

The course was very interesting. The way the facilitator did all the aspects was good. We did everything in a short period of time.

The course was well-planned and very informative. The facilitator presented the programme well and had prepared her lesson well. I feel the training was rather short. I wish we could have at least three days.

ConclusionWhile this training was enjoyable to both participants and trainers, but trainees did not meet the criteria to become trainers for SchoolNet.

The following trainees were assessed as possible future trainers as they were computer literate and promising. They could be mentored by centre staff with a view to possibly being reassessed as trainers in the future. They should also be encouraged to attend other courses at the centre.

Zanele Zuma from Zwelinjani High School is a hard worker and possesses some good skills. She struggled with Spreadsheets however. With time she will become an asset to this centre. Her attitude is excellent. I recommend that she work with other trainers at the centre.

Mthunzi Gabela has good ICT skills. However you only get to know him after a certain amount of discussion. He is the type of person who is shy. After talking to him one notices that he is very good at explaining and his ICT skills are good. He has been advised to make a start by helping at the centre.

MICROSOFT PARTNERS IN LEARNING ICT LEADERSHIP FOR EDUCATION MANAGERS

NORTH WEST - GANYESA

ParticipantsThe training took place from 10th to 12th February 2014 with 29 principals. On Day two Mr Mohale joined the training and all 30 were principals were present. The training ended with 28 principals as Mr Mohale and Mokate did not attend on Day 3. The principals attended enjoyed the activities that enhanced their ICT skills as this would help integrate ICT at their schools.

LIMPOPO - MAKHADO

TimesThe training for Managers was held from 3rd - 5th March 2014. The training started at 09:30 and finished at 14:00. 20 Principals from the Vodacom schools attended this training. Another 10 joined the group on the 2nd day.

Training VenueAll the equipment at the venue was working well. The trainer, Estia Warmenhoven, reported that they only had a power outage on the afternoon of the second day but this did not affect the training because they did that part of the course with pen and paper.

TraineesAccording to Estia the principals were a bit negative at the outset of the course, but they soon started seeing the benefit of the course. They worked very well with the trainer and with their groups. Most of the participants were not computer literate. The course was done in such a way that it included using pen and paper so that the principals could focus on evaluation and planning ICT at their schools without worrying about what buttons to press. The principals all asked if they could do the ICT Skills for Principal’s course. The trainer thinks this will be a very good idea so to keep them positive about ICT in their schools.

CourseworkOn Day 1, more than 50% of the participants showed that they were computer illiterate. They really enjoyed the activity about considering the roles principals can play in ICT. They were very excited to find they could still play a leading role in ICT in their schools even if they did not currently have good computer skills. They loved the videos shown in Module 2.2 and 2.3. They did not have good computer skills and the trainer decided to rather go the pen and paper route and only introduce the principals to computers on the morning of the second day.

The principals watched the videos one by one on the white board and then did the small group and big group activities. They were very excited to see what is possible at schools and could identify what

would work for them in their schools. In Module 3.1 the principals liked working on their budgets and they identified different ways of generation money to support ICT at their schools.

They also realised that the hardware is a very big chunk out of the budget and they decided to start buying a few computers every year instead of trying to replace all computers at the same time. In Module 3.2 the principals did a pen and paper activity again and came up with good solid planning regarding access to ICT and the use of information in the classroom. Module 3.3 and 3.4 were done on Day 3. Since all the schools only received computers this year the focus was changed a bit. In Module 3.3 they focused a lot on how they would like teachers to use ICT for admin as well as teaching and learning. They also came up with activities the learners could get involved in to enhance learning. The principals completed Activity 3.4 on their own computers and they were very proud to go home with a planning and evaluation document regarding their schools ICT activities.

Training EvaluationThe trainer was very impressed with the enthusiasm of this group of principals. This training was done at the right time when they were receiving computers at their schools, and it enabled them to plan how they would like to introduce ICT in their school

ConclusionThe group would really like to participate in the ICT Skills for Principals training. They also asked for a conference on the use of ICT and tablets for teaching and learning at school to be held in Vhembe.

SUPPORT FOR CENTRE MANAGERS

On the 3rd of March Nomty Gcaba from SchoolNet SA organised a conference call for the five Centre Managers who will be arranging TeachMeets at their centres, namely: KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Free State and Northern Cape. The participants were taken, step-by-step, through how to plan a TeachMeet even right up to the day the TeachMeet would be held. Nomty further designed the invitation templates for all the Centre Managers. She also designed the templates that will be used by the educators who will be presenting their ideas. This was the second session held to explain to centre managers how to go about organizing a TeachMeet after a similar session was run at the end of 2013. Sadly the TeachMeets have yet to take place although some are now scheduled.

The Centre Managers were encouraged to attend the SchoolNet webinars that take place most Thursday afternoons in order to get more ideas on how technology can be used in innovative ways in the classroom and tools and tips that they can show to teachers who visit the centres. Centre Managers are also asked to encourage teachers in their districts to attend these webinars and to watch them at the centres if they need to make use of the connectivity. If centre staff want to discuss an idea further then Nomty is available to give them step-by-step guidance in the form of conference calls or Skype calls. It has been pleasing to note that most of the weekly SchoolNet SA webinars have at least one or two centre managers in attendance.

Nomty Gcaba has continued with the task of supporting the Centre Managers and is available to provide telephonic or email support when required. Templates for statistics and the year plan were updated so that centre managers could capture their information as early as in the first week of January. It is a pity that some of managers have not been updating their year plans or statistics on time, despite being reminded to do so. To date eight Centre Managers have updated their stats for

this quarter, but not Gauteng. Whilst all centres (with the exception of Gauteng) provided information for this report, getting information from centres by the deadlines that are set remains a challenge.

CHALLENGES

Leonard Cloete from Western Cape mentioned that as the Centre Manager he is truly grateful for the opportunity afforded in the Winelands district by the Vodacom Foundation. He acknowledges the challenges that the Foundation faces and he is equally committed to the vision. He is, however, mindful of the fact that things are not quite moving at the pace that was anticipated. It was noticed that Leonard Cloete’s centre seems to be busier than most other centres this year. The centre is usually not busy and Leonard says this new activity is a step in a good direction.

It is worrying to note that Centre Managers still have other jobs to do which disturbs the flow of training at these centres. In most cases centres still do not have a dedicated full-time manager nor do they have trainers who work full-time at the centres. In some cases, centres have made use of volunteers or interns, but sadly many of these have left to seek alternate employment. In the case of the Upington Centre, for example, this loss means that the centre is no longer open as often as it was just when it was gaining momentum as a community resource. In other cases, interns or volunteers who were trained as trainers have since left the centres because they were not being adequately compensated for their efforts. This means that now the centres are not only without assistance, but also the capacity to train others that was developed in the centres has also been lost. This capacity will now need to be rebuilt if courses are to carry on being offered by the centres.

Whilst training sessions organized directly by SchoolNet SA (or other service providers) that use the centres as venues work well, training sessions which the centres are supposed to organize themselves – such as on-going ICT Skills for Teachers or Intel Getting Started courses – are not organized as regularly as was hoped. This is an indication that there is not adequate training staff at centres; and as people who are able to train are not compensated for working over weekends on in the evenings there is no incentive to work overtime. In many cases the Sizanani ICT Skills course seems to be the most popular offering at the ICT Resource Centres – and whilst this does not achieve the primary aim of the centres which was professional development for teachers – these courses happen because they can take place during regular office hours when staff is available. Training for teachers cannot take place during school hours so weekends or school holidays or later afternoons are the only times that teachers can make use of the centres – yet centre staff are not available or willing to train over weekends or to keep the centres open later than 4pm.

Resources such as electricity, access to a telephone and transport are not available in some centres – or there have been challenges around securing these resources. The NorthWest centre has offered hardly any training this quarter as it has been without electricity. The Mpumalanga trainer has no transport to visit schools and in other provinces the travel budget has been cut and staff have been grounded. This makes it almost impossible to visit schools to check on their progress or to provide on-site support for using equipment such as the Interactive Boards. Setting up training sessions or reminding teachers of sessions without a phone is also difficult as teachers forget about sessions. It is also impossible to support schools without a phone to call them or a car to visit them. For SchoolNet SA organized training sessions the trainer is paid; his or her travel costs are covered; a project administrator phones the invitees and sends reminder SMSs; catering is arranged – centre staff do not

have the budget to do these things so in many cases they simply do not run training sessions after the initial training of trainers.

PLANS FOR 2014The following sessions still need to take place this year and are in the process of being arranged:

Peer Coaching– Eastern Cape; Mpumalanga; Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal ICT Leadership for Education Managers – Gauteng and Western Cape TeachMeets - KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Free State and Northern Cape

In addition to conducting these sessions SchoolNet SA also hopes to be able to offer some additional training in ICT Integration – possibly by adapting some of our existing courseware to get teachers using the resources that are available on the Vodacom Digital Classroom platform to create classroom resources or to integrate technology into their lessons.

We still believe that many of the challenges experienced at the centres could be overcome by having at least one dedicated staff member at each centre. To this end it would be worth employing and training one intern per centre to be able to offer some courses under the guidance of the centre manager. We hope that the Vodacom Foundation will consider this plan as it will help to ensure that the investment in the infrastructure is really used by the community. It might also be worth Vodacom Foundation considering whether it is in a position to cover some travel and overtime pay for centre teams to make it possible for them to both visit schools and conduct training over weekends. This incentive will help to ensure that the programme is more effective as it would take away the major stumbling blocks preventing more training and better support.

We believe that there are some stories to tell where teachers or community members have really benefitted from the Vodacom ICT Resource Centres. An additional proposal would be to send a senior staff member to visit selected centres and schools supported by that centre to interview teachers and school leaders who have benefitted from training. These case studies would provide good news stories that could be shared to demonstrate the value of the centres. At the same time information on how the centres could be improved and what some of the challenges are could be gathered and shared with the Vodacom Foundation.

SchoolNet continues to be excited by the possibilities that the ICT Resource Centres present to create hubs of excellence within the districts that they are situated. We hope to remain a part of the ongoing development of these centres. We further hope to have the opportunity to be of service in some of the other newly established resource centres.

Nomty Gcaba and Megan RademeyerSchoolNet SA: March 2014