awarenet

GET INVOLVED

There are many ways to help us make our vision of knowledge through IT for everyone true

I LOVE AWARENET

About us

Learn more about our mission of bringing knowledge through IT for everyone

We believe, everyone should understand the Internet and have access to knowledge

awarenet is an eLearning platform and social media tool that offers our learners a personal networking space, tools for blogging, online discussions and project work in wiki style incl. multi media. They learn how to present themselves online, how to connect and communicate responsibly in a secure and safe space. Groups meet on a weekly basis and work on various projects about culture, health, music, science, history and social services, whereby online and offline work is combined. Projects lead to major local activities and events such as public concerts, sport days, newspaper articles and social engagements. We further offer to install awarenet servers in existing computer labs and give combined introductory workshops for teachers, in which we train general IT skills and showcase how to integrate awarenet into the curriculum or co-curriculars. The platform is developed in such a way that remote schools without or interrupted Internet access can use it as well as it also functions when offline. The awarenet software is free open-source. The awarenet programme offers many opportunities to learners and teachers as well as partnering NGOs in the educational sector.

The awarenet Open Lab
The awarenet Open Lab is a project that was established in May of 2017 in cooperation with Rod Amner, a VSA board member and Rhodes lecturer. The goal of the Open Lab is to give free Internet access to the members of the Joza community and educate them in ICT through the method of "learning by doing". The project has so far been very sucessful, as there are more than 450 members registered with us. In addition to just giving access to the Internet for free, we also offer specific courses, focused on computer education. So far we had a course involving Blockly, a variant of the scratch computer language, and a video editing course which has the goal of producing a short movie in which the participants appear as actors and cut the movie themselves in the end. We hope that we can continue the project for a long time, however it is dependent on donations. If you want to support the Open Lab feel free to donate items or visit our betterplace.org site to support us financially.
The awarenet Teachers course
The awarenet Teachers course is another project that we have been working on. As part of the course, teachers from local primary and high schools are being educated about how they can use ICT to enrich their lessons. This means that we show them how to do reliable research on the Internet, how to design presentations which can be used in addition to writing content on blackboards and how to use email. The aim of the awarenet Teachers course is to improve the quality of the education which the learners receive through helping the teachers to adapt their lessons to the present.

OUR TEAM

We are a group of very different people united in the believe of a better future for everyone through IT

Clement Simuja

Trustee
IT and Educational Advisor

I became a trustee for Awarenet because of my commitment to the provision of ICT practices that contribute to eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities and develop environment-friendly society where everybody can exercise their rights and develop their full potential.

Our Testimonials

What others say about us

The English teacher was greatly impressed with the learners’ improvement expressing themselves. There was also another improvement in putting their thoughts in writing through awarenet blogs and activities. It further improves their readings as they had to read others blogs and share experiences. Our school has greatly benefited from the programme and we would love to continue with the programme and hope that it could expand.

Mrs Mene

Former Principal of CM Vellem Higher Primary School – In Memoriam

awarenet has provided wonderful opportunities for our learners to expand their IT and writing abilities as well as co-operate with learners from other schools leading to a cross-pollination of ideas and experiences. The one-on-one attention, as well as the positive intranet environment is something that schools would struggle to provide. We are extremely grateful for the opportunities that they provide.

Nicci Hayes

Principal of Nombulelo High School

My experience with awarenet is a story of success. The computer classes were like an adventure to me, because they were fun as well as educational and taught me lots of things. I learnt how to type fast and how to use the basic computer functions. In addition, I made use of the courses that awarenet offers, such as a video editing course where I worked with other learners and a Rhodes University lecturer. I was also able to increase my self-esteem which led to me being more confident while speaking publicly. Computers play a huge role in terms of communication and business all over the world. I am thankful for awarenet giving me the opportunity to educate myself and achieve big things once I am out of school.

Sive Teyise

Grade 9 learner

Awarenet is a fantastic organization for the community of Makhanda. It offers the only possibility to access free Internet in the surroundings. Teaching IT skills is incredible valuable for all sort of things. With the help of awarenet learners can find information for school projects and students can improve their skillset. I am proud to be part of the history of the project and hope it will develop further and grow successful.

Meike Krauss

weltwärts volunteer