Enabling Education for All: E-Learning Solutions for Equality and Empowerment

2. “Knowledge is like light, weightless and intangible; it can easily travel the world, enlightening the lives of people everywhere. Yet billions of people still live in the darkness of poverty, unnecessarily”. World Development Report 1999

3. Overview

4. White Paper on e- Education Developments in ICTs can: • Improve systemic efficiency • create better access to information and learning opportunities • redress inequalities • improve the quality of learning and teaching • support lifelong learning

5. Broad Principles • Improve systemic efficiency • Redress inequalities • Widening access to high quality, relevant and diverse resources and learning opportunities to all teachers and learners • Exposing all learners, in advantaged and disadvantaged areas, to enriched educational experiences • Provide to all learners and teachers the means of communication and collaboration to enhance teaching and learning • Give all learners the opportunities to excel in a 21st century environment

6. Six Pillars of the White Paper • Infrastructure in all schools and for all support personnel including maintenance, sustainability, security, technical support and initial training • Connectivity to all schools, FET Colleges and district offices to a closed network linked to the Internet • Ongoing professional development (teacher training and teacher development programmes) for teachers, principals and support personnel • Maintenance and further development of the Educational Portal and content development • Research, monitoring and evaluation • Appointment of Human Resources (National, Provincial and Districts) to drive, manage and support ICT in Education

7. Operational principles • Long-term growth • Responsive to curriculum and teacher/learner demands • Relevant, quality learning and teaching support material • Content is relevant to the lives and learning context of South Africa - content for learners and educators from disadvantaged schools and particularly rural areas • Safe space for communication and collaboration • At no cost to end-users

8. National Curriculum Critical Outcomes • Problem solving, decision making, critical and creative thinking • Work effectively in a team • Organise and manage themselves and their activities • Collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information • Communicate effectively • Use science and technology effectively • Understanding that the world is a set of related systems • Variety of learning strategies

9. Kind of Learners envisaged: Principles of the National Curriculum • Social transformation • Outcomes-based education • High knowledge and high skills • Integration and applied competence • Progression • Articulation and portability • Human rights, inclusivity, environmental and social justice • Valuing indigenous knowledge systems • Credibility, quality and efficiency

10. 21st Century Skills Digital-Age Literacy Basic, scientific, economic, ICT and technological literacies Visual and information literacies Multicultural literacy and global awareness Effective Communication Teaming, collaboration, and interpersonal skills Personal, social, and civic responsibility Interactive communication High Productivity Prioritising, planning, and managing for results Effective use of real-world tools Ability to produce relevant, high-quality products Inventive Thinking Adaptability and managing complexity Self-direction Curiosity, creativity, and Risk taking Higher-order thinking and sound reasoning

11. Chaotic learning: the learning style of the Net generation • Enjoyment and love of learning - fun, and learning is almost incidental • Individuality and self-control - no teacher determines what they learn • Self-learning - a preparedness to do things for themselves • Constructivist or enquiry based approach - learning prompted by discovering • Multitasking - random vs traditional structured linear approach • Being holistic and integrated - not defined by “subjects” • Collegial support - they ask each other • Networking - international boundaries are crossed • Responsiveness to change and a willingness to push the boundaries • Authentic vscontrived experience Mal Lee http://www.csuhttp://www.csu.edu.au/cstl/community/isis/pubs/isis2000.html.edu.au/cstl/community/isis/pubs/isis2000.html

12. What is the Thutong Education Portal ? • Provide teachers, school managers and administrators, and national and provincial education officials access to high quality resources and information of direct and specific relevance to the South African National Curriculum Statement and associated education policies. • Ensure ease of use, enabling users to find what they need in the most intuitive ways possible. • Create strong and vibrant online communities of practice amongst the above target audiences. • Facilitate discussion and sharing of information and ideas amongst peer networks. • Encourage South African educators to develop and improve education by sharing the country’s common intellectual capital.

13. New vision and Web 2.0 • Dedicated spaces in ways that are intuitively logical to the primary target audience of teachers • Communication tools • Comprehensive search facilities • Resource sharing opportunities

14. Communication

15. Collaboration

16. Creativity

17. Home Page and registration

18. Curriculum and Examinations

19. Typical Learning Space

20. Communication tools

21. TOPIC SEARCH This facility displays a list of main topics for that learning area/subject, with the ability to view results for that topic or filter further by selecting a sub-topic to view linked resources.

22. RESOURCE TYPE SEARCH Users have the option of choosing one of the resource types to filter results, after which the search moves on to searching by Topics.

23. KEYWORD (TAG) SEARCH This searches keywords defined for individual resources. It uses what is known as a ‘folksonomy’, or collaborative tagging, where users can collaboratively create and manage tags to annotate and categorize resources.

24. OUTCOMES SEARCH This search facility displays a list of outcomes specific to the subjects/learning areas in an identified learning space.

25. SEARCH RESULTS

26. RESOURCE COLLABORATION Only available to Learning Space Manager

27. Professional Development

28. Education Administration

29. Education Management

30. Other spaces • Enviro Space • Kids Space • Foundations for Learning Space • Matric Help Space • Dinaledi Schools Space • School Safety Space • Enrichment Space • Reading and Literacy Space • Rural Schools/Multigrade Classroom Space • 2010 Space • Correctional Services Space • Early Childhood Development Space • Subject Advisors ICT Space • Curriculum Management Committee Space • School Governing Body Space • Partnerships Space • Gallery Space • Non-Official Languages Space • Special Days Space

31. So… please become part of the Thutong Community