“The future of the world is in my classroom today” (Van W. Fitzwater).
This quote is all about teaching the youth, but what about teaching the adults who are mostly in charge of the youth? Well that is why we created the awarenet teachers’ course with a group of teachers from nearby schools Nombulelo Senior Secondary and Archie Mbolekwa Senior Primary. The course was made possible by a generous donation from the HCI Foundation.
The awarenet teachers’ course was first held on the 9th of September 2017 in the Joza Youth Hub with 13 teachers who were all enthusiastically looking forward to what ICT could offer them in their professional practise as educators.
Our teacher course coordinator Kjetil opened the course by introducing our e-learning platform awarenet. He also gave the teachers an overview of the state of computer labs and internet access in Eastern Cape schools. He thereafter outlined the central ideas the course will pursue the next weeks; besides the basics such as being more familiar with the intricacies of the keyboard the teachers will be introduced to the use of both online and offline ICT resources in an educational context.
The teachers were really patient and attentive straight from the beginning. Following the short presentation they were all glued to the computer exploring our social network awarenet and the many opportunities it offers.
During the first course day we discovered that many of the teachers did not have their own email accounts; we therefore created accounts for them and showed them how to use their new accounts.
The next course session the following Thursday 16th of September Rod Amner from the Rhodes University School of Journalism was invited as a guest lecturer. He showed the teachers how they could use social media in intelligent ways to widen their professional network and access additional educational resources.
The focus of the sessions the next weeks will be on how to use PowerPoint and Excel and similar Linux – based programs. We will practise how online educational resources can be integrated in the teaching of the regular curriculum in a classroom setting. We look forward to seeing this cheerful and curious bunch of teachers many more times, they have been a pleasure to work with!