Chinese content area
Westcoast inspires technology integration at conference
Khanya’s Westcoast EMDC hosted a very informative and highly
successful conference on Friday 18 April 2008 at the Groenvlei
Conference Centre in Riebeek West.
The conference, entitled ‘Successfully Integrating Technology in
the Curriculum Delivery Process’ was attended by representatives
from all schools in the Westcoast EMDC, Khanya representatives and
representatives of the Education Department.
Kobus van Wyk, Programme Manager of the Khanya Project,
addressed delegates at the start of the conference. He highlighted
the need for schools to commit themselves to the integration of
technology in to the curriculum delivery process and he stressed
the pivotal role that principals played in ensuring that this was
indeed a reality at their schools.
The conference addressed frustrations experienced by schools
when faced with technical problems, and sought to point out
appropriate ways to approach and address these. This session’s
success was easily gauged by the buzz among delegates during the
tea break. As is generally the case at conferences held by Khanya,
the programme was designed to ‘keep it real’ and to ‘keep it
relevant’ and the demonstrations by Khanya facilitators Albie
Smith, the Electronic Interactive White Board; and Jacques Fontein,
a virtual lesson on prefixes and suffixes from another location and
an interactive assessment task, gave the delegates some insight
into just how successfully technology can be integrated.
Principal of Paarl Boys’ Primary, Henk Arnagies, provided some
insight into how technology can benefit the administration of a
school through demonstrating his use of a central management system
to co-ordinate curriculum lessons and content. The conference
opened the minds of many to the possibilities presented by
technology, possibilities that they already have access to through
their Khanya facility but are perhaps not utilizing. In this vein,
Mariaan Bester, ex-Khanya facilitator and educator at Punt High in
Mossel Bay provided some insight into the use and value of the
Mindset Project in learning areas such as science and business. Her
insights and practical tips and advice convinced delegates that
time needed to be spent exploring this programme with their
learners.
Another such opportunity available to schools thanks to
technology and yet highly underutilised is the forging of
partnerships with other schools and the creation of learning
opportunities across the borders of country and culture. Here the
conference drew on the experience of Groendal Secondary School in
Franschoek who has a dynamic partnership with Rochester High in the
United Kingdom, thanks in no small part to the leadership of the
two headteachers, Melvin Kulsen and Roger Mathew. Schools were
encouraged to be proactive in the procurement and stimulation of
partnerships as these could only be of benefit for the learners and
educators.
The programme also allowed for the discussion of technology
issues relevant to all institutions dealing with children – MXit,
Skype, blogs and websites. The input from the speakers as well as
the response of the delegates suggested that these were both
pertinent and well covered.
A programme jam-packed with valuable information and practical
advice ensured that delegates left the conference on Friday evening
feeling that their time had been well-spent and their enthusiasm
for technology integrated curriculum delivery reaffirmed. This
conference was organized in conjunction with iNet South Africa.