ICT to Become an Everyday Occurrence

On the basis of its technical equipment alone, Roshnee Primary School can be seen as outstanding. Through its community efforts, the school situated in the Vaal Triangle was able to raise funds and purchase a large amount of ICT equipment. Today the school has various resources at its command: textbooks, the media, internet, computer software, books and magazines, and further digital and electronic devices, to enhance teaching and learning and to facilitate effective school administration. Roshnee Primary School has been providing basic computer literacy to learners from Grade 1 to Grade 7 since 1997. Continuing on this path, it will certainly become a model for other schools in the course of the coming years, and all the more so as the South African Department of Education has defined the goal that all South African learners from grades 1-12 should be ICT-capable by 2013.

“There is an urgent need for South African schools to integrate their use of ICT into a coherent framework at the school level. An essential emphasis must be placed upon curriculum delivery. Strategies for implementation must be discussed and explored by the people involved. Educational practitioners and planners need to anticipate and collaborate among themselves, as well as with students and parents,” says Kanagamberry Mestry, teacher at Roshnee Primary School.

Many field trials at Rosnhee Primary show how it works: In the learning area ‘English’, for example, teachers use a video programme entitled ‘Earth Day Special’ as a form of ‘show and tell’. The DVD player is used to show this programme in the library or through the learning site Gauteng-On-Line Lab. This Lab is equipped with audio-visual aids. The teacher may also use the whiteboard as an interactive aid to explain certain difficult aspects of the viewed programme. Teachers and pupils also worked on a “Careers Exhibition” and designed a brochure on various careers. This project depicted a good example of an interactive display – the use of multimedia (internet research, posters, and actual tools/equipment from the ‘real world’).

Beyond the classrooms, Roshnee Primary also started several community projects, acting as a contact point for people who are interested in eLearning. Computer literacy classes are offered after school hours to the school support staff and to taxi drivers who are members of the Vaal Scholar Transport Association. The interest shown, especially by the taxi drivers, has been overwhelming. Kanagamberry Mestry: “It has opened up a whole new world in communication for them”. ICT is also used in parents’ meetings such as curriculum advocacy meetings, budget presentations, and parent workshops on improving learners’ reading skills and skills in mathematics.

In the foreseeable future, Roshnee Primary will look for exciting new possibilities to be explored in the area of international communication: Teachers have expressed an interest in the Teachers’ Online Blog – which is a teacher’s diary where educators share their teaching experiences. Finally, this school envisions a computer in every classroom, to be used as a teaching and learning aid.

Nic Wolmarans, one of the presenters at eLearning Africa 2007, envisions the development of affordable software to enhance eLearning in the classroom. He is responsible for the computer centre at Rosettenville Central Primary School, and at eLearning Africa, he will deal with simple Excel and other Microsoft applications to improve school structures. Nic will give a demonstration on how to use Excel to create your own programmes to suit your school’s specific needs. With three hours of training, an educator can create and customise programmes to enhance education processes in all learning areas.

This is his extract of an assessment on the impact of the above-mentioned programmes in the Rosettenville Primary School:

• Our grade one learners benefited extremely well from this programme.
• It not only gave them some basic skills on the computer, like finding and entering numbers and using the arrows to move around the screen, but also helped to teach them to compute at a faster pace.
• Some learners progressed to a level where they completed sums on their own level and then went on to a grade two level.
• Individual learners completed up to 400 calculations in +/- 45 minutes.
• This practice has had an astounding impact on their class work. They know their bonds better. Mental calculations rates have increased the learners’ confidence to work with higher number ranges. Their self-esteem has been boosted with positive feedback.
• Word recognition was also introduced. With the computer giving immediate feedback, the learners were able to self-correct.
• All the programmes have built confidence, which has cascaded into their class work.
• Research has become a pleasure because learners are computer literate, and they work with pride on their projects.
• Learners use and don’t abuse the computers because they realise the value of our computer centre.
• The programmes and the whole project tell a success story.

Presentation

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 09.00 – 10.45
African Showcase: Creating Online Learning Opportunities in Africa

Nic Wolmarans, Rosettenville Central Primary School, South Africa Support Structures through Simple Excel and Other Microsoft Applications Activities and eLearning Kanagamberry Mestry, Roshnee Primary School, South Africa Technology-Enhanced Learning: The Effective Use of Electronic Media in Curriculum Delivery

Link
http://www.gautengonline.com/gol_schools.htm

Newsportal: Articles