AFRICA TREND

On Saturday 17 February 2018 The Department of Basic Education will honor some of South Africa's most dedicated teachers at the 18th National Teaching Awards. SchoolNet SA staff staff members and invited guests are looking forward to attending this prestigious event to celebrate the achievements of these exceptional educators.   SchoolNet SA is especially proud to be associated with the Excellence in Technology Enhanced Teaching and Learning category. SchoolNet SA Programmes Manager Megan Rademeyer has been the specialist adjudicator for this category since its inception and had the privilege of listening to each provincial winner of this category present his or her work. Megan says, "the standard of entries was especially high this year, with provincial winners in this category having been involved in a range of activities and projects to engage and inspire learners whilst using technology. It was heartwarming to see how teachers from across South Africa were using digital to

The Pinetown Rotary Club has invested in providing schools in the KwaNdgenezi area of KwaZulu-Natal with harddrives containing educational resources, but they also wanted to offer teachers from their focus schools professional development and support to ensure that the resources are used to their full potential. SchoolNet SA was engaged to provide a comprehensive professional development programme for teachers to build their skills, knowledge and confidence in using digital resources in their lessons. In turn they will provide learners with access to the resources, thereby transforming teaching and learning and contributing to improved learner performance. The project includes three phases: a three-day professional development course on Using Digital Resources,  on-site visits to support and mentor teachers as they implement what they have learnt at the workshop, and  further training focusing on curriculum integration in the classroom. The first training intervention, aimed at the ad

Tuesday, 6 February 2018 is Safer Internet Day . This year's theme is "Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you". At SchoolNet SA we encourage teachers to create communities of digital learners, but we also want to ensure that teachers and learners are safe online. We encourage teachers to play their part in creating a better internet for everyone, especially learners. At the 2017 SchoolNet SA ICT in the Classroom Conference, Omashani Naidoo presented a session on "Cyber Wellness and Digital Citizenship". In this presentation Omashani stressed that individuals are their own biggest threat on the web and challenged the audience to Google themselves and to see what came up. She advised that before posting anything you should ask yourself "Is this something I can show my parents or my Gogo or my Principal?". Here is some guidance for keeping yourself safe online. Ensure you don't do any of these things: Don’t publish inform

Congratulations to the following educators who were selected to participate in the E2 Education Exchange taking place in Singapore between 12 and 15 March 2018: Amanda Calitz - Curro: Riverside  Charmaine Roynon - EDU 365 SA  Jonas Letsoalo - Kgetsa Primary School  Margaret Tracey - Hillcrest High School  Paula Barnard - eFundanathi & eZone at Wits  Xoliswa Mahlangu - Future Nations College  Charl Bloomberg - Curro: Waterfall  Noxolo Mongwe - Curro: Clayville These teachers were selected based on their active participation in the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Program; their sharing of learning activities on the Microsoft Educator Community; and their commitment to continuous professional development in the field of digital learning.  They will be joined by Phuti Ragophala - a Microsoft Fellow and the former principal of Pula Madibogo Primary in Limpopo. Phuti, who has retired from the traditional classroom, will be speaking at E2 about using online collaborative platforms to