AFRICA TREND

SchoolNet Conference goers in 2017 will remember the valuable contribution made by our overseas presenter, Peter Rafferty and his infectious enthusiasm for innovation in teaching. He has taken the time to write this article about his visit to South Africa. Even more interesting is the way he relates his experiences in South Africa to his own experiences as a learner when he was at school and as a teacher now in England and somehow Peter manages to subtly highlight the impact that technology has had on teaching and learning. Peter writes: "In 1966 Francis Chichester became the first person to sail single handed around the world by the Clipper route and in doing so became the fastest circumnavigator in nine months and one day. I remember his journey pretty clearly, because as a pupil at St Anne’s Primary School (Ormskirk, UK) we followed his journey as a class project on a great big map on our classroom wall. The thing I could never quite understand, at the time, was that Francis ...

The SchoolNet Conference 2017 has been and gone but the memory lingers on... This post brings you a handy list of links including links to presentations from some of our presenters. Only 24 of our presenters have shared their presentations to date, and we are very grateful to them. But first, a quick recap!  Over 400 delegates attended the 2017 SchoolNet SA ICT in the Classroom conference held at Brescia House School in Bryanston, Gauteng between 5 – 7 October 2017.  It was a conference to remember with amazing international keynote speakers and a great assortment of local speakers as well.  The conference was opened by Deputy Minister of Basic Education Enver Surty who also sat down with SchoolNet’s executive director, Janet Thomson, to define the national Department of Basic Education’s plans for digital learning.  SchoolNetSA also celebrated its 20th Anniversary at a well- attended cocktail function at the SchoolNet Conference - and what a celebration it was! Her...

Before opening the SchoolNet SA 2017 ICT in the Classroom Conference, the national Deputy Minister, Mr. Enver Surty, sat down with Janet Thomson, Executive Director for SchoolNet South Africa to discuss the DBE’s approach to digital learning.     The Deputy Minister thanked Thomson for “the enormous contribution by SchoolNet in the ICT domain” asserting that “ICT is becoming more critical and central to the facilitation of teaching and learning”. Surty then demonstrated the department of education’s holistic approach to digital learning by describing the various streams of the Operation Phakisa framework as well as government’s efforts to digitise content effectively and in an interactive format. In relation to the vital teacher development component of Operation Phakisa,  Surty noted  the vital role of education centres, stressing that ICT was central to the future development of educators.  He pointed out that The Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Te...

Submitted by Megan Rademeyer Over 400 delegates attended the SchoolNet SA ICT in the Classroom conference held at Brescia House School in Brynaston, Gauteng between 5 – 7 October 2017. The conference was opened by Deputy Minister of Basic Education Enver Surty who also sat down with SchoolNet’s executive director, Janet Thomson, to define the national Department of Basic Education’s plans for digital learning. (See here for more on this interview – http://bit.ly/2gUwRcb ) The opening keynote speaker was Stephen Reid from Immersive Minds, based in Scotland. In his keynote, Stephen explored a variety of emerging technologies and discussed how they can be merged to create blended learning and cross-curricular experiences for students. Across the three days of the conference, Stephen presented various hands-on workshops which gave delegates practical experiences of using Minecraft, 360 Cameras, and virtual reality headsets to provide opportunities for their learners to make, create, visit ...

SchoolNetSA celebrated its 20th Anniversary at the SchoolNet Conference - and what a celebration it was! This 20th Anniversary was celebrated on Friday 6th October at a well- attended cocktail function at Brescia House School in Johannesburg. The Telkom Foundation not only made it possible for a large number of teachers to attend the conference but also funded the birthday celebration. Telkom was one of the very first funders of SchoolNet back in the 1990s - so it was most appropriate that they were able to attend together with delegates and friends of SchoolNet to reminisce over the past 20 years. During the event a number of dignitaries associated with SchoolNet during the past 20 years reminisced about the history of SchoolNet and its effect on equipping teachers around South Africa.  This fitted in well with a n anecdote from Janet Thomson’s article ‘ Standing Room only @SchoolNet 2017 Conference ’ where she mentions an interesting exercise that Sarietjie Musgrave conducted ea...

Mr Enver Surty, Deputy Minister of Education and Mr Nathi Kunene of the Telkom Foundation  The Deputy Minister wowed delegates with his opening address at the 2017 ICT in the Classroom Conference held at Brescia House School in Johannesburg at the weekend. SchoolNet South Africa proudly hosted the national ‘ICT in the Classroom’ conference at Brescia House School from 5 – 7 October 2017. Over 400 hundred delegates from around the country attended the conference, including educators, provincial and national educational department officials, sponsors, as well as representatives from other development and training organizations. Shafika Isaacs facilitated the opening ceremony for the 2017 ICT in the Classroom Conference. Shafika Isaacs is currently with UNICEF and working in advisory capacity to the National Department of Wducation. She was therefore well placed to introduce the Deputy Minster to make the opening address. Shafika walked delegates through the context of digital lear...

Yes, we are excited about our four international keynote speakers who will be presenting at the SchoolNet ICT in the Classroom Conference on 5-7 October at Brescia House in Johannesburg. The draft program is downloadable on our Conference page: http://www.schoolnet.org.za/conference2017/  We are also very excited about our many local presenters who will be delivering really exciting sessions,  but this post focuses our four keynote presenters, all international speakers, three of whom are from other countries.  Stephen Reid from Scotland Let’s start with Stephen Reid from Scotland. Stephen is the Director and creative genius of Immersive Minds . He presents on Minecraft: Education Edition all over the world. On his Facebook page, Stephen Reid says, “This week I am returning to my beloved South Africa to attend and present at three separate events over 11 days. I will be working with teachers from across all of the African continent to show them how they can use #Mi...