Wonderful Wordstash

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This is a guest post from Lisa Gair who is the Technology teacher at the Rock Academy in Fish Hoek. She originally placed this post on her lovely ICT blog: <a href="http://icteducator.blogspot.com/" title="http://icteducator.blogspot.com/">http://icteducator.blogspot.com/</a></i><i>, and since Lisa is a keen SchoolNetter I asked her if I could use her post on the SchoolNet blog. Thank you again Lisa!</i></span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A friend recently introduced me to <a href="http://www.wordstash.com/">Wordstash</a>.  (The Wordstash website has changed since this blogpost was written and is now found at <a href="http://flashcardstash.com/">http://flashcardstash.com</a>/).  It's very easy to sign up for and just as easy to use. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have introduced it to my Grades 4- 7 already and will be introducing it to our Teachers early next month. My desire is that the Teachers will bring their classes into the ICT Centre and allow them to create their lists each week, and the learners will be able to log on at home and either use the site to assist in learning or else create their own lists.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another thing I enjoy about Wordstash is that it also automatically gives various definitions of the word, and allows you to either choose which definition you would like, or, alternatively, to add your own. In this way, the child is not just learning how to spell a word, they are also learning the definitions of each word. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One also has the choice of adding an image to the word. The site automatically sources images from either Wikipedia or Flickr for the learner to choose from.</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When playing, they are presented with a variety of games and ways to test their Spelling.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzpUVL3yt5QX2KqZTKWdcdzelv439t1VdsYzMrJN_O40cJbCdwcBH_Lec8B3AluZnSBi94AFbCPZCSufsiXHEZC2CaHrmk3B9p-Xnj9oSFTqfUr5-TpodNignG1s3cqQhSRdFPDLHqVg/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidCgObFl9SfqmRCH0ZFhFomm0RcWrzsHgtjruLqetmMaRICKddHD2QR088V4vAmgpxzel7iIIiVZ1kavOIBzXJCVbHF_9waHyaeZcRuqTbJphPNoIMhOEvUdU4vow30sHBKdv2HjFbFSQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another way that this site could be used is just for learning definitions. I am thinking specifically of things like in English that one needs to know for language or poetry. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMMk2y9skI4ds8EYCdZ65LhTVBAFlkq-FpN1GHCFYn3XmmNsN2-ihe1bEadg_IFXvthtvCODKbK3VZE3xrj58F9U_66ShAQXuxSbsuOOBxGLYO9ENJwL7-WM8Cizt4WDOru1lfw1EC1A/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpygSv9dSUOgJ4gl7Qaj2IhmXOjbmDMul6T5bZhrSgRxzMkByxK2prVUYPBhKi5Vk-XTkqo7WQZtotyMRF3Lb3DdVchWcAR07SWFOb9TSSCk7QtkfvV4n7mJlWTzCnIPhm6R_OlA1rvzE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Enjoy! </span></div>

Guest post Web tools Wonderful Wordstash

This is a guest post from Lisa Gair who is the Technology teacher at the Rock Academy in Fish Hoek. She originally placed this post on her l...

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Ten traits of the teacher I would like to be...

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: small;"></span>  <br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>This is a guest post from Sean Hampton-Cole who teaches Geography to senior students at Crawford College in Lonehill, Johannesburg.  When I read this post on his blog </i><a href="http://ideasoutthere.posterous.com/"><i>http://ideasoutthere.posterous.com</i></a><i> I really liked his thoughts and asked him if I could use it on our SchoolNet blog as a guest post. I have never met Sean, but it must be great being a student in his classes. </i></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I would consider myself a good teacher if I were able to get even most of these right…</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Sets up an atmosphere of trust, openness, supportiveness and collaboration where ideas and opinions can be exchanged without fear of failure or ridicule.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Leads by example by being passionate about the learning experience.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Inspires and nurtures innovation, creativity, critical thinking and individual expression.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Possesses a general knowledge of other fields of study and incorporates this knowledge into lessons, encouraging connections between different fields of knowledge.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Has an original and unique style of teaching (follows a spontaneous, intuitive and original methodology).</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Encourages students to learn experientially by exploring, manipulating, researching, questioning, finding connections, experimenting, thinking, and reflecting.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Knows the importance of fun, humour, personal stories, relaxed / informal / open-ended instruction and games in the classroom.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Makes good use of learner-centred activities in order to get them interested, thinking and innovating.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Treats students with respect, integrity and care.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Allows students to fail safely.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div></div>

Guest post Inspiration Ten traits of the teacher I would like to be...

  This is a guest post from Sean Hampton-Cole who teaches Geography to senior students at Crawford College in Lonehill, Johannesburg.  When ...

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How to send photos by email

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>This is a guest post from Lisa Gair who is the technology teacher at the Rock Academy in Fish Hoek. She originally placed this post on her school blog: </i><a href="http://rockacademynews.blogspot.com/"><i>http://rockacademynews.blogspot.com/</i></a><i>, and since Lisa is a keen SchoolNetter I asked her if I could use her post on the SchoolNet blog. Thank you Lisa!</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With us making increasing use of technology for class related projects, we are encouraging children and parents to take their camera's on outings and to special school events, and then to email their photographs to school which can either be used for their work or for the Blog. However, when emailing high quality photographs of sometimes up to 4MB per photo, it can become a long and tedious event!  Below is one way of reducing your photographs to send to school in an email format that is quick and easy.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Step 1</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">:</span></b></span><br /></span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Select the photo's you would like to email by holding down your CTRL key and selecting the photo's.</span></span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Click on : "File". Select "Send to". Select "Mail Recipient".<br /></span></span></li></ul><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Pgr0AMhLMwu1fZ-JxMFMdYSbcxFOzl8zdRuo2iH07ts-kIQnLzNb_i0tGEiPVhO1y1JMkl1y0pcK4fGo9pR6j33XX0diQsUCDKjb5u0DT2zwldTphUXMMZwp2024jBUfMV1vNAK0eSc/s1600-h/image%25255B15%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJvcNfXjKF0z1LNWXKn2bI-wihaZnOU27Xws-PT9MVc-o_L4lzQyj3xih4UpzUtVD-GX-wUotvUEQvkMTnoVjAxMe984_R52NoXwAwr1eBMQmoI4CHdWdfoOR4i8YVi-oQph6ZGtTerWM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="260" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Step 2</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">:</span></span></b> </span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click the Dropdown Arrow in the Dialogue Box that appears.</span></span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Select the recommended size.</span></span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Click on "Attach".<br /></span></span></li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6tB3iUBhu1r97LIinSpYqtXp4P5YD_cL4iNkzlv5vm997JOHxUQBhTOilEwfnIvRTWVJ1R9V6xfLu4hsafuvoZk_2Mh9O8lAf8Dc9oCUydSfuKeX9ulM-TD38wMUAWWvm1FBg7nHIpJs/s1600-h/image%25255B19%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1lD5naFUCBafJj2yB-Moml7JbNyadNk9Y4E7hyV8rjhzIM-jfVRSBEM7F_mvFYWc48KdhlX2A7Hto2d2Zw3MHA2uimrsGEbkHa0lnOB6P_u3e6oUshAtJH7_WW6yTPiOjY3PPpnkph8U/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="260" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Step 3:</span></b></span></span><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"> Your email window will automatically open with the selected photo's attached and ready to send.</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"> Proceed as normal.</span></li></ul><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAmPsHZRIIeNFGBiQQFslayEEnRPXWuxT3v3uXaDEswCqNUTnLGBseFv1r9Kxy9QEVRPCF90cSakMbG4YoBnNZHJOJOGGOTKuuZXmryzdbVfaJYYrnRDTAi7w6oixIPd35JfkmcpqYx4/s1600-h/image%25255B23%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ryHVE9JhgfFmpXa6JcpdKjYcChm3R8PPRy6Ve5efuZAbBWnqo03zL6o-feGV8cscb8NcKiA5dE4MvgbdYZRnjMyaA50-aYK3saov_ED3vVFFlmxup-tRp6j_RlBXX9AOS8sJZ-KrVyQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="260" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Editor: Once again, thanks you to Lisa!</span></div></div>

Guest post Tutorials Web tools How to send photos by email

This is a guest post from Lisa Gair who is the technology teacher at the Rock Academy in Fish Hoek. She originally placed this post on her s...

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Schoolnet completes a study on the use of Xbox Kinect to improve literacy scores – interesting findings…

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><i>This report is given by Janet Thomson the Executive Director of SchoolNetSA in South Africa. The study used Microsoft Xbox Kinect gaming in a primary school in deep rural KwaZulu-Natal to investigate its effect on second language English Literacy. The results are extremely positive.  </i> <br />  <br /><h3 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Findings of evaluation study released - 'Using gaming to improve second language English Literacy'</span></b></h3><h3 style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"></h3><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Research findings have just been released from a year-long study conducted by Mindset Learn and Verbeeks Education Specialists that investigated the impact that gaming had in improving second language literacy in primary school classrooms in Lakeside Primary in rural KwaZulu Natal. SchoolNet SA was commissioned by Microsoft to install Xbox 360 Kinect technology in each of the Foundation Phase classrooms and to assist teachers to effectively integrate this techology into their lesson plans in order to improve literacy levels. The research supports the premise that the effective use of innovative technology can impact on literacy levels of learners. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5BzAFv2RN88mxLn3n_3RnfnEbkSvbVleQ3lwSkJ_rItP4RkXL0SKAwpoLq2kypLPXadnIcoWBlf4FRWpojkfKnHNlGwLFIuzCRGudxrWSmb35yjgCGyTDsK8DO68vZXeXg-ZCLivW2Q4/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFXiKbz-jbSYNGU_MsGsju0IvNYnP-XFVrlPu_biF_L-25Jo-89OoHTaL5MYS1pln1_pMsNIKnkb83BL9hWLzL6ehU0-1Ny9SXQSLG-xVBa_wshYM_DR3ZIfvzSjJQ-fzrEOvR34S9fs/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="291" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Over the December holidays of 2010, Microsoft commissioned SchoolNet to install six fifty-five inch television screens above the traditional chalkboards in six junior primary classrooms at Lakeside Park Primary in KwaZulu-Natal. These television screens were connected to the Xbox 360 Kinect gaming console. Teachers spent their January 2011 holidays becoming familiar with Kinect technology and devising learning experiences that were designed to engage learners and enhance learning.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7B9dqJsv6q4vIS7T1DMH2UfAVGGbvYK_pxxhRCoM7eMfL68TwcB9nPfwsPvmdz8VKgiaHSJIseWyCTR5PSCk5huq-hYLW0Vg-HApM96EO18ouDY88GgyQyPVrWL9IgIDj5cDLAZOsXM/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoCudwqM6OyEMRoZGPvhcADm5Jb7b3K99Yg99LefJ_B-7SJjiibfwjgTnwUYhTXoQGGJ1NmWAyzq_RBdwBluM1eq6ZCbShnti4YkdH22xY_xmWg4K9_Ly0vh-N4_tZK1qtpzHsDVZ7MwM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Teacher training requirements</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This Microsoft Xbox pilot project called for the development of specialist training materials for Foundation Phase teachers to focus on second language English acquisition for use with new technologies of this genre. The teacher training workshop that SchoolNet conducted in January 2011 encouraged teachers to mediate learning in relation to the curriculum while learners would be using XBox Kinect gaming technology. Lakeside teachers had already mapped out their schemes of work for the following year so for 2011 the new activities had to be infused into existing lesson plans. The course materials for this workshop were developed by Peter de Lisle of Hliton College, a former winner in the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum competition, who deliberately focused on language supportive pedagogy and grounded this within a specific approach to education, the learner-centred approach, which is of particular relevance to gaming because it requires teachers to do the following:</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Create environments in which learners are encouraged to discover and explore concepts and skills;<br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">2. Adopt an approach which recognises the need for cognitive development, through encouraging thinking, problem solving, fantasy and creativity;<br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">3. Accept that learners are all different, that they prefer a variety of ways of learning and expressing themselves, and that merely listening to the teacher does not work for many learners;<br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">4. Develop ways for learners to be active, physically, cognitively and emotionally by creating activities that are fun, challenging and relevant to their lives in the real world outside of the classroom;<br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">5. Encourage motivation in learners through their own enthusiasm and involvement, and through creating activities which are naturally engaging.</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOSTo6AGefde-yl2wfrS7F6lK_C3YlaqFbcrdqkaZbJY7zmwXUvYxn4NWaM7QNdijQpYTaak3iz6UNtw0jjZJiamGFtU8bjNfpU_P6sSGznVNMzU9JZuRr3YlYbzlZ5unqterVbG-qco/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuTG4e8TaoLmvXhtZETdnC0KcE9cyoCMDmde4n3K_yRgqfyoH9EAPjh0oYiyRO4JACg2Yd0M1buPyolvmIAekAj392RkMmVQMPbYB05x1xukPLdhv55LXTmXyMDRItm1EOvWi1_wgGkrU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="331" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />Learning through play</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The dedicated teachers at Lakeside guided by their Deputy Head, Karen Kirsten and their Foundation Phase Head, Dian Ogle, readily addressed these challenges throughout the 2011 academic year and found numerous ways of enlivening the learning experiences that they developed for their classrooms. Teachers and senior management reported that learning through play is the most effective for this age group and that, “… <i>this learning increases their intrinsic and cognitive understanding of aspects of the curriculum. The use of this gaming technology has aroused their interest and it has energised the classroom atmosphere</i>.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftn1_6776" name="_ftnref1_6776">[1]</a></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNUmg6PVRZ9_ys_9NBTJhas-9j-Dt2Vt8Xi4wYzJ4Oza5wKYQb0Q7twzz4sbuG_ZgAJztXBzyFjv1yh6UrxS9Em7IcdJlywSqbJZ_KoW7EwuCjSoR6XTqWAQuaV0yA1QLh2bbmTwNib7Q/s1600-h/image%25255B11%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuK3s1o7qDphS6s1cy-nod5Cw_CY3Lv7hfhU-GL8H3QGq7bsp4NrXpax4_QV8UB900p57SEL_d9_dRnpX6ATFMUfcZezluCohlxnEycCSiOuWpYUxI10Wjkpq6eapzMzDhlhYP1E9v_FY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="301" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The reason why this pilot project chose to focus on improving second language English literacy was because the use of English as the language of teaching and learning (LOTL) is problematic in South Africa, a country with eleven official languages where low levels of English language competence characterise many rural primary schools. SchoolNet SA was commissioned by Microsoft to test the hypothesis that English language skills of primary school learners could improve through exposure to English while using Xbox Kinect gaming technology.</span></span> <br /><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Language concerns at rural schools</span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There are two language concerns at Lakeside Primary. Firstly there is a dissimilarity </span><span style="font-size: small;">between the formal LOTL and the language used for social interaction. In contrast to formal language used in the classroom which in this school is English from Grade 1, the language used in the playground is isiZulu and this is mainly oral and informal. Secondly, and obviously, proficiency in formal cognitive academic language  takes longer to acquire than it does in informal social discourse.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvlHhWWCaC2LEFDboGq3KrVvLxyx-60nrKcJGY25PHi1gW6qmCzetGFZuLx8ljd1Du2l26DqxNj4v_16vT0pjfQjJf6r9czy4drJhyphenhyphenFIXBSWfs99YiLMKR8z2XKx1XiAuXZKhnORtGMg/s1600-h/image%25255B14%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJdYIq_h1QexRFt1myDs1cTCXyrb3jR1ip-zrlr1T7xX92DFWI22vq-CyBf3JiCYlW9Cj3k26EZ4szWfZtJPZwR9-apq4Yn9GbYWCzf-tG8-h-gW8mOGw5_Gpa8iCUTyB_pWb7wli5sQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="273" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Findings  </b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">1. The evaluation for this project used a mixed method approach combining quantitive as well as qualitative instruments. One might be forgiven for assuming that the games played by learners could only affect their oral use of English and not impact on levels of reading or other literacies, especially as there is very little reading involved in the playing of most of the Kinect games. On the contrary the evaluators found that the reading age of all learners improved during the course of the year.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftn2_6776" name="_ftnref2_6776">[2]</a></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> While this might be expected the study surprisingly found that it was not only the language and literacy skills of learners that improved but numeracy levels as well as their understanding of general knowledge were reported as having also improved. </span><span style="font-size: small;">The study noted:</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <i>“There is a marked change in the levels of competency of the foundation phase learners. A comparison between assessment aggregates of 2010 and 2011 shows that there is a distinct movement of learners away from Level 1 (Not Achieved). This concerns both numeracy and literacy irrespective of grade.” <a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftn3_6776" name="_ftnref3_6776"><b>[3]</b></a></i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b> </b></i></span> </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Microsoft’s Xbox used at Lakeside Primary video</b></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qsZ-SYZtwos?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2</span><span style="font-size: small;">. Teachers who specialise in reading skills readily appreciate that the more opportunities learners have of hearing words and being able to sound them out aloud the more benefit there is for their actual reading skills. The evaluation report notes that some teachers who focused on phonics teaching at Lakeside were able to harness the potential of the technology, and noted that “increased word recognition filters into improved sentence structures which increases their self-confidence and eventually intensifies their willingness to read a book and join the library.” <a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftn4_6776" name="_ftnref4_6776">[4]</a></span></div></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>  <span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. The researchers documented another finding over and above the impact on literacy by reporting that an increase in general knowledge assisted the learners to “unlock the curriculum”. The study found an that an important additional benefit of the Xbox was <br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>“an increase of general knowledge of learners, a very crucial factor taking into account the socio-economic background and the limited access that most of these learners have concerning multi-media…. Through this improved general knowledge, learners gain a better grasp of what the content of the curriculum is trying to teach them.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftn5_6776" name="_ftnref5_6776"><b>[5]</b></a></i></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">4. The evaluation report further documents that teachers detailed “<i>the enthusiasm that learners were showing for the learning process, their eagerness to improve their general knowledge so that they could understand the context within which the curriculum was implemented.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftn6_6776" name="_ftnref6_6776"><b>[6]</b></a></i></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">5. Kinect allows learners to play a variety of sport, “edutainment” and instructive games using body movements and voice. Unlike other gaming consols such as the Nintendo Wii there are no remote controls with Kinect. Instead sensors replicate motions via an on-screen avatar – the player’s ‘mirror image’. Teachers had reported that learners, especially shy learners, normally take many months to speak even in their home language whereas while playing the Xbox games within a short period learners were calling out without inhibition - and in English. </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">6. If a school has connectivity then the Xbox Kinect console allows the TV screen to become a normal internet browser that can be used for an infinite range of activities of educational value. The cost of an Xbox and a TV is not high when one considers that six classrooms can be equipped with Xbox Kinect technology for the same cost or less than one traditional computer lab. </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">7. The evaluation study records an overall marked improvement in vocabulary which in turn impacted on comprehension and overal literacy skills, </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>“The incorporation of the XBOX within the literacy curriculum focuses on improving the vocabulary of the learners. Through this improvement, learners can express themselves better which results in an improved comprehension which in turn influences the grammar and the sentence structure of the learners.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftn7_6776" name="_ftnref7_6776"><b>[7]</b></a></i></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">8. At the end of 2011 there was an announcement that National Geographic, Microsoft and Sesame Street had partnered on creating specifically tailored episodes of <b><i>Kinect Nat Geo TV</i></b>, and <b><i>Kinect Sesame Street TV</i> </b>for Xbox Live. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of these educational games in South Africa as we believe that they could further enhace the use of the Xbox as an educational tool.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Further needs for this project</b></span> </div><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">SchoolNet South Africa believes that a courageous and innovative funder could make a significant impact on the educational environment in some of the poorest and most under resourced primary schools in the country by sponsoring the scaling of this Xbox pilot project to other schools. The impact on teacher and learner morale is immeasurable.</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftnref1_6776" name="_ftn1_6776">[1]</a> Mindset Learn and Verbeeks Education Specialists cc <b><i>Impact Evaluation Report</i></b> November 2011 <br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftnref2_6776" name="_ftn2_6776">[2]</a> Ibid p.6 and p.55 <br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftnref3_6776" name="_ftn3_6776">[3]</a> Ibid p.6 and p.55 <br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftnref4_6776" name="_ftn4_6776">[4]</a> Ibid p.32 <br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftnref5_6776" name="_ftn5_6776">[5]</a> Ibid p.7 <br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftnref6_6776" name="_ftn6_6776">[6]</a> Ibid. p.9 <br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Fiona/Dropbox/1%29%20A%20SCHOOLNET/ADMIN/#_ftnref7_6776" name="_ftn7_6776">[7]</a> Ibid.p.50 </div>

case study Guest post Literacy Microsoft Schoolnet completes a study on the use of Xbox Kinect to improve literacy scores – interesting findings…

This report is given by Janet Thomson the Executive Director of SchoolNetSA in South Africa. The study used Microsoft Xbox Kinect gaming in ...

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Guest Post by Joel

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpTpdWyFc5OGwPCXSQNtzc0k4XWI01YhDez8BBbuUVB2-Wui6fPGcrVDcNUp8ay-GFzeK0gABqPLyz7r00oIh6uQaeG4LZ61pWJgDx1x2x9pTCfexJomEfhSvl4siVMrQ8jBtBQGZWRs/s1600/hiljoelfacebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpTpdWyFc5OGwPCXSQNtzc0k4XWI01YhDez8BBbuUVB2-Wui6fPGcrVDcNUp8ay-GFzeK0gABqPLyz7r00oIh6uQaeG4LZ61pWJgDx1x2x9pTCfexJomEfhSvl4siVMrQ8jBtBQGZWRs/s320/hiljoelfacebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">September 2011</td></tr></tbody></table>My name is Joel, future husband to the future Mrs. Hilary Busbee.  Hilary has asked me to write a guest post about my weight loss journey.  I’m at a loss of how to go about this because I’m not very detail oriented.  I could simply say I’ve been eating better and losing weight and that would suffice; but, I know Hilary wouldn’t have it.  I will try and draw this out as much as possible for God, country and Hilary!<br /><br />Making better food choices and staying mobile has been my cause for success.  I’m very lucky because there are only a handful of foods that I won’t eat.  I can even eat that mislabeled rabbit food of a cereal, Fiber One, and enjoy it!  Instead of putting the trash in my car and driving it the 1/8 of a mile to the dumpster I walk it.  Even though it seems small, that stuff adds up.  Here’s the big secret folks, I rarely, <i>rarely </i>eat fast food anymore.  Shocker, I know!  Who would have guessed that refraining from a steady diet of McDoubles would help someone lose weight?  <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQDyhL5FUZPvWGh6L0jJnrm_DlyFWde2QKk2V6TsnsvgFlu86YyeJ6IDIjB_HUFqxFTa0foJJfKttf510ooPevxq13YlZVaYDBDyoUOrzicnQQElXvp8XelGtE0v_BpxQWGgBgoCmPePE/s1600/Paw+Paws+80th+Birthday+069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQDyhL5FUZPvWGh6L0jJnrm_DlyFWde2QKk2V6TsnsvgFlu86YyeJ6IDIjB_HUFqxFTa0foJJfKttf510ooPevxq13YlZVaYDBDyoUOrzicnQQElXvp8XelGtE0v_BpxQWGgBgoCmPePE/s400/Paw+Paws+80th+Birthday+069.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">November 2011</td></tr></tbody></table>Even though I know you’re growing more intrigued with each word you read, I have to say that’s it and wrap this up.  I eat better and feel better.  I also want to quickly say how grateful I am for Hilary doing this with me.  She’s the reason this is happening.  Love you.

Guest post Joel Weight Loss Weight Watchers Guest Post by Joel

September 2011 My name is Joel, future husband to the future Mrs. Hilary Busbee.  Hilary has asked me to write a guest post about my weight ...

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Thinkquest training in Ghana

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is a guest post submitted by Claire Dean from Stirling Primary. Claire has been a Microsoft Innovative Teacher finalist twice. She has been a world-wide winner of the Thinkquest projects competition along with Brenda Hallowes from Port Elizabeth in 2009. Claire is also a trainer with SchoolNet SA.</span></i> <br /><br />The Ghanaian Ministry of Education requested training on “Getting started with ThinkQuest Projects”. Claire Dean (from East London) and Shirley-Ann Oldnall Jansen (from Irene) facilitated these workshops in Accra, Ghana at the beginning of October 2011. They also had a meeting with Mr Charles Aheto-Tsegah, the Deputy Director General of the Ghana Education Service. He would like to put ThinkQuest in all Ghanaian schools with internet connectivity. All went very well and it was a great experience.<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Below you can see Claire, Richmond Atta-Williams (of the MoE), Shirley, and Harry Tetteh (former ThinkQuest competition winner as a student in front of the National ICT and Science Resource Centre where the training was held.</div></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6qnbGGTVpEBSYtNHC8_M_PAUqADY-Yyu3eys6PoMpU3qYKcJ5NvYAlpQUR0Q37sMhS-meigxhTdRrxmAnfOCE1asIAIwT3oUZy1ZRLOfOFlglOeRIjbgT3qHDnpLlRgOWYucl0U5_jw/s1600/100_3655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6qnbGGTVpEBSYtNHC8_M_PAUqADY-Yyu3eys6PoMpU3qYKcJ5NvYAlpQUR0Q37sMhS-meigxhTdRrxmAnfOCE1asIAIwT3oUZy1ZRLOfOFlglOeRIjbgT3qHDnpLlRgOWYucl0U5_jw/s400/100_3655.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption"><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYQgGH0HTWTLEckBpSBfjuE2ktK5rJ87RtoUQHK5Jg5RV_Dw-qZGtMi5hBzr17QFBEkiBe2MOFeDoHNDUB7iU-yBCK5qQKz3qSPiIMwCFiPBLGC03j6UWjd63kAZz2XpD52u0TptitASk/s1600/100_3661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYQgGH0HTWTLEckBpSBfjuE2ktK5rJ87RtoUQHK5Jg5RV_Dw-qZGtMi5hBzr17QFBEkiBe2MOFeDoHNDUB7iU-yBCK5qQKz3qSPiIMwCFiPBLGC03j6UWjd63kAZz2XpD52u0TptitASk/s400/100_3661.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shirley and Claire relaxing on the hotel's private beach</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div>

Guest post profiles Training Thinkquest training in Ghana

This is a guest post submitted by Claire Dean from Stirling Primary. Claire has been a Microsoft Innovative Teacher finalist twice. She has ...

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Evaluating the impact of technology integration at St Cyprians School in Cape Town

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>This is a guest post written by Nina Adams who is Head of ICT at St Cyprians in Cape Town. She plans, implements and manages all things ICT, from infrastructure to staff training.  She also heads up the Microsoft Innovative Schools programme which means she is responsible for researching, implementing and documenting best practice in the areas of innovation and ICT integration. St Cyprians is passionate about technology and innovation, and its impact on 21st century teaching and learning. Nina has recently evaluated their move to technology integration and has allowed us to use this post she posted on the St Cyprian’s Blog that she is responsible for maintaining -</em> </span><a href="http://techblog.stcyprians.net/" title="http://techblog.stcyprians.net/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://techblog.stcyprians.net/</span></a> <br /><br /></div>In an effort to evaluate the impact of ICT integration into our school curriculum, we recently conducted an informal case study consisting of student and teacher interviews. These interviews are based on seven projects with ICT components, ranging from Grade 4 to Grade 10 students, across a range of subjects, and were conducted by a representative from SchoolNet South Africa. (All projects have been posted on our school blog.) Although our initial findings are by no means conclusive or irrefutable, the responses from students and teachers highlighted the following interesting trends:<br /><ul><li>Many students who usually achieve average to below average marks in ‘traditional’ projects such as essays or posters have shown significant improvement with the inclusion of an ICT component for e.g. Movie Maker or Glogster. They ascribed this to the fact that different types of projects engaged different learning styles, as not all students are good at writing or exam-taking. They also reported an overall increase in confidence and interest due to their higher marks and additional creative elements of the project.<br /></li><li>Students who usually achieve relatively high marks for ‘traditional’ assessment projects, such as essays, tests or exams, reported that they found the integration of ICT quite challenging. They felt this was due to the fact that these projects often included a high degree of collaboration with students of mixed level abilities. That meant that they had to learn patience and team work, both important 21st century skills.</li></ul><ul><li>Teachers have reported that students with special learning needs also benefit from ICT tools, for e.g. Mouse Mischief, reading software tools and others. In many cases, collaborating in groups with their peers has given students the opportunity to learn from and assist each other, with some amazing results. </li></ul><b>From the interview responses, we have learned some important lessons:</b><br /><ul><li><b>Technology should not be the driver: </b>ICT integration often overemphasises the need for digital literacy skills whilst ignoring important basic skills, such as reading, writing and maths. We have found that successful ICT integration involves a balance; technology should enhance and support teaching and learning, rather than drive it.<br /></li><li><b>Separating ICT from other subjects:</b> In the past, ICT has usually been viewed as a separate subject, often taught in separate IT labs. Teachers have reported increased engagement and interest in their subjects by integrating ICT as a supportive mechanism or creative addition to a project, rather than as a separate learning outcome. We have also piloted mini ‘break-away’ labs in classrooms with increasing success; teachers can then access computers during class instead of booking an IT lab which often breaks the flow of a class.<br /></li><li><b>The best project ideas are usually the simplest ideas:</b> In the case of our award-winning Grade 4 project, students still had to complete a creative reading and writing assignment as they usually would. Then one new element was added, which in this case was the creation of a multi-media movie based on their written stories. In the case of the Grade 10 book blogs, traditional book logs simply evolved to an electronic blog version, allowing increased visibility and the ability to comment on each other’s work.<br /></li><li><b>Some of the best ICT tools are free: </b>Find out more under the ‘Resources’ section of the school blog.<br /></li><li><b>Rapid technology changes:</b> We often worry about rapid changes in technology and are therefore constantly looking ahead at the ‘next best thing’. In our experience, there is value in concentrating on what you already have and making the most of it before moving on to something new.<br /></li><li><b>Teacher collaboration and sharing is essential for success:</b> This can be through teacher show ‘n tell, by sharing lessons during staff meetings or by joining online learning communities. We cannot encourage 21st century skills in students if we don't practise them ourselves and we have found teacher collaboration to be a wonderful source of ideas, lesson plans and inspiration.<br /></li><li><b>Teacher training and support is key: </b>Professional development needs to be part of school culture. With the right training, support and encouragement, even resistant staff can be motivated to try new methods or technologies.</li></ul>Here is a movie in which some of the students and a teacher at St Cyprians are interviewed about the AIDS awareness project they completed using Windows Movie Maker.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PcN_hf5wESc" width="420"></iframe></div>

Guest post Evaluating the impact of technology integration at St Cyprians School in Cape Town

This is a guest post written by Nina Adams who is Head of ICT at St Cyprians in Cape Town. She plans, implements and manages all things ICT,...

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SchoolNet's Adobe Youth Voices programme sends a team to California

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="132" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div closure_uid_gwx7rf="128"><span style="color: black;"><i><span closure_uid_gwx7rf="122" closure_uid_kzol4l="115" style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is really worth participating in SchoolNet’s Adobe Youth Voices programme as Hlengiwe Mfeka discovered. Hlengiwe took part in the programme, and she and 2 of her learners from Mconjwana High School in rural KZN were selected to go to Santa Clara, California on the 2 August 2011 to attend the Adobe Youth Voices Summit where their very thought-provoking and moving movie on Street Children was screened. </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span closure_uid_gwx7rf="124" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Let me tell you a bit about Hlengwie. She</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span closure_uid_e3uywh="125" closure_uid_g9a3w6="129" closure_uid_gwx7rf="125" style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> is currently working for SchoolNet SA as an ICT Support Specialist who is responsible for mentoring educators taking part in the KZN Midlands SITA project.  She is also responsible for a range of ICT training initiatives of teachers in the province. In 2009 she won a Microsoft Innovative Teacher’s Award in South Africa for her project </span></i><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">entitled My community, My Place, My Pride, and she </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>went on to</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><i><span closure_uid_g9a3w6="130" closure_uid_gwx7rf="126" style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">represent South Africa at the Pan African Finals with her project. </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span closure_uid_g9a3w6="131" closure_uid_gwx7rf="127" style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later in the same year Hlengiwe and two other SA educators along with one learner each were invited to participate in a live conferencing event with Nigerian educators which was attended by the Education Ministers of both South Africa and Nigeria in Microsoft’s Offices in Johannesburg. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2010, she was featured in Destiny Magazine February issue as one of the South African women on the move in the Education field.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Here is Hlengiwe’s guest post about her visit to California </span></i></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="132" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><span style="background: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i>  <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">2011 AYV Summit</span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span closure_uid_g9a3w6="133" style="font-size: small;">Sadness was written on the face of the parents and friends when we left them at the international boarding gate of King Ushaka airport late on the 1^st of August 2011 Monday; of course they were happy for us but anxious. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand both Nontobeko and Mpumelelo were over the moon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="134" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">The duration of our flights from Durban to Dubai was almost 9hrs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>We waited for +2hrs to connect the next flight to San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We then left Dubai at 9h00am on Tuesday and arrived at San Francisco the following day at 13h30pm; amazingly it was Tuesday there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We discovered that California is behind South African time by 9hrs. </span></span></em></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn9eE2RyIXFrkJ2c_JuGSH1nOzD5901xUZq0fon9g0bI1ZnJfNl4u1FQtkXfo6kUzg0vP5hPFfmvd2f11xxAAu8m6LUyLY1_49v8CEEMbxlqODmG4MYsiQXzbk6XCnpLkZkDKeN0Iwb2k/s1600/depart+at+King+Ushaka+airport.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn9eE2RyIXFrkJ2c_JuGSH1nOzD5901xUZq0fon9g0bI1ZnJfNl4u1FQtkXfo6kUzg0vP5hPFfmvd2f11xxAAu8m6LUyLY1_49v8CEEMbxlqODmG4MYsiQXzbk6XCnpLkZkDKeN0Iwb2k/s400/depart+at+King+Ushaka+airport.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_g9a3w6="221" style="text-align: center;">Departing from King Ushaka Airport</td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="134" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="134" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tuesday, August 2</span></span></b></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span closure_uid_g9a3w6="222" style="font-size: small;">We met the other team from Nigeria at the airport who were also Summit attendees; we then stick to each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We arrived at Santa Clara University something to 5pm; it is about 45 min away from the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Kate Goddard who is a Summit Event Manager warm welcomed and assisted us with the registration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We thereafter check in to our rooms; teachers were allocated on the same block while students were allocated on a different block which was away from ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>It was dinner time already at 5h30pm to 6h30pm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We were instructed to assembly at Benson Center after dinner for Orientation and Welcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>When we arrived we thought we will have time to rest after a long travelling to our surprise there was no such.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">We were welcomed by EDC and Adobe staff members where they shared the slogan of the week which was ‘extraordinary’; saying each day of the week will be an extra ordinary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Youth were introduced to their Media Mentors and counsellors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Media Mentors were to facilitate a collaborative project with Youth production crews while counsellors were to take care of each production group (act like boarding masters or matrons).</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span closure_uid_gwx7rf="133" style="font-size: small;">Youth production groups consisted the following: </span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="132" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-collapse: collapse; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; mso-border-insideh: none; mso-border-insidev: none; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody> <tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #f0f0f0; border-left: #f0f0f0; border-right: #f0f0f0; border-top: #f0f0f0; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><div closure_uid_gwx7rf="132"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span closure_uid_gwx7rf="131" lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Human Rights (which South Africa team belonged to) </span></em></div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Community</span></em></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Environment</span></em></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Education</span></em></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #f0f0f0; border-left: #f0f0f0; border-right: #f0f0f0; border-top: #f0f0f0; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Identity </span></em></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Culture</span></em></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Relationships </span></em></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Change</span></em></div></td></tr> </tbody></table><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Youth groups had to create a media project that represents the group’s diverse global perspective and inspires audience with a positive vision within two days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>On the other hand Lead Educators (that is how educators were called) had their programme which included sharing of innovative curriculum ideas and ways to facilitate and encourage high quality Youth produced media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our main task was to create a short instructional video on a given topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We were also divided into eight teams of four members each.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span closure_uid_gwx7rf="134" style="font-size: small;">The teams were given their topics: </span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="132" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="223" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">After the orientation we had an evening activity which aimed at attendees get to know each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Each participant was given a paper with prompts where they had to find people who are able to do what is written on the prompt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This activity was led by Deidre Searcy, EDC Senior Associate who was also a Lead Educator Instructor or Facilitator for the week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>After the activity Youth and Educator met with their collaboration groups to create a motion or animated slogan of their group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All groups thereafter shared their slogans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="223" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div closure_uid_gwx7rf="148"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wednesday, August 3</span></span></b></em></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Everyday breakfast starts at 7h30 to 8h30am, Lunch at 12h00 to 1h00pm and Dinner at 5h30 to 6h30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Those were the only times I will get to see Nontobeko and Mpumelelo. </span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="224" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the morning we all attended an opening session at the Recital Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We were addressed by Ms Laura Ling; an American journalist who is a correspondent for Current TV which is a political and youth-orientated channel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>She is also a Vice President of Current TV Vanguard Journalisim Unit, which produces the Vanguard TV series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>Laura shared her experiences where she was held a prisoner for twelve years hard labor for doing her work as a journalist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>She talked about what sustained her throughout that painful period and how she was able to maintain hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>She offered advice on how to create projects that are personally meaningful to youth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I was deeply inspired and moved by her talk which motivated everyone to go back to their countries and speak out using media creation as an instrument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></em></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoBEMlFaQiy4F0iVHB5PIpTVjAqLv2lnqbpObCpDN2tMv8Pf4StVvNJIwX7wu20YMqGND3HnJu6Be98TVpEmYa-CjS5CGy_Heu3NjIENiKemthhW2m4iSXsIYZTgEV994cH3mQE2PLo64/s1600/Laura+Ling+a+political+journalist%252C++keynote+speaker+at+the+summit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoBEMlFaQiy4F0iVHB5PIpTVjAqLv2lnqbpObCpDN2tMv8Pf4StVvNJIwX7wu20YMqGND3HnJu6Be98TVpEmYa-CjS5CGy_Heu3NjIENiKemthhW2m4iSXsIYZTgEV994cH3mQE2PLo64/s400/Laura+Ling+a+political+journalist%252C++keynote+speaker+at+the+summit.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_g9a3w6="292" style="text-align: center;">Laura Ling a political journalist</td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="224" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">There was a breakaway workshop for Youth Media Collaboration (Youth) and Lead Educator Training (Educators).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Groups brainstorming, planning pre-production and taking photo shoots for their videos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">In our Lead Educator Training; educators introduced themselves and I was happy to meet two of my mentors from my AYV online course – Ivo and Svetlana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I also met in person with Lisa from IEARN who was also happy to meet me, she is very humble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Communication was a bit of a problem as some of the educators had difficulties with speaking English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>There were interpreters organized for other teachers and learners to sit next to them e.g. Columbia, Japan etc. </span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my group I had teachers from San Francisco – Jorge Goncalves, New York – Sarah Moore and Argentina – Federico Waisbaum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I felt that our skills complimented as we were working together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>There was a lot to do in a short space of time as we were only given two days to complete our video.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span></span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nontobeko and Mpumelelo seemed to cope well in their groups from the conversations that we had during breaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>They appreciated their group members whom they say were very welcoming and warm but crazy (very noisy, talk their minds, hyper active etc) out of all the participants. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing Mpumelelo as a shy person; I was surprised to observe him slowly adapting to their craziness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>When their group learned that his second name is Gladman they said he is indeed a glad man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thursday, August 4</span></span></b></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">The morning started with an opening session where participants were given an opportunity to share key learning experiences from the previous day.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Youth Collaborative Media Project and Lead Educator Training continued where everyone was working under pressure to finish the video.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Educators groups were to showcase their videos other educators at 14h00pm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>As we were chasing time it was not easy to learn new advanced media skills from team mates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Nevertheless I had an opportunity to explore more techniques in premier elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I enjoyed the showcasing time; videos created by educators were dynamic.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="294" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span closure_uid_g9a3w6="293" style="font-size: small;">Late in the evening students were finalizing their projects as they were to be showcased on Saturday morning before Youth Live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Nontobeko told me that together with Mpume were tasked to edit their group video; she mentioned that they were managing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I was relieved but anxious since editing is very challenging stage.</span></span></em></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGm4AqxIDiZavYumibbXgAk2-leqFqfpfe9eFituhSEjLeZQjUUW1iylUyQ_b995K20DPtK-UPbyxituI_TJ-OhqVtFvXDU0Nni5DjXJj71hHVIc7hyphenhyphenuWCnmZQG6oaA3hOQvR_FD2HyQE/s1600/Left-Temitope%2528Nigeria%2529%252C+Tanga+%2528India%2529+%2526+Hlengi+%2528SA%2529+at+the+theatre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGm4AqxIDiZavYumibbXgAk2-leqFqfpfe9eFituhSEjLeZQjUUW1iylUyQ_b995K20DPtK-UPbyxituI_TJ-OhqVtFvXDU0Nni5DjXJj71hHVIc7hyphenhyphenuWCnmZQG6oaA3hOQvR_FD2HyQE/s400/Left-Temitope%2528Nigeria%2529%252C+Tanga+%2528India%2529+%2526+Hlengi+%2528SA%2529+at+the+theatre.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_g9a3w6="361" style="text-align: center;">Temitopi (Nigeria), Tanga (India) and helngiwe (South Africa)</td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="294" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Friday, August 5 </span></span></b></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tour to Adobe Headquarters at San Jose, Carlifornia</span></span></b></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Breakout sessions were planned for educators to take place at Adobe Headquarters as follows:</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Motion Graphics with After Effects:</span></b></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Learn to incorporate motion graphics titles or animations for video projects.</span></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Photoshop and Design:</span></b></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Learn the design, layout and create composite collages that can be incorporated into AYV program.</span></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Connect, Captivate, and Presenter:</span></b></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Learn how to create tutorials to collaborate more easily with youth and educators globally with Adobe Captivate, Connect and Presenter.</span></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">My first choice was to attend After Effects session but it was already full then I attended Photoshop and Design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I found the workshop interesting and it refreshed my skills in using Photoshop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We only had two hours session which was not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I wished we had more workshops of that kind spread over the days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>After the workshop we explored Adobe building, different departments and cool features of the building which includes: gym, laundry, massages room, inside restaurants, diet health advisors, computer labs, tennis ground and lot more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All these facilities are available to staff for free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Adobe has 2000 staff in total.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Youth gathered together at one common venue where they participated on planned activities for them.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="362" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">After lunch we visited San Francisco attractions to name a few; Beach, Golden Gate Famous Bridge, Museum, Botanic Gardens etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This time educators were united with their youth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We had 2hrs of our own at Pier 39; a very long street in San Francisco. This was a more relaxed day for all of us.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div closure_uid_gwx7rf="149"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Saturday, August 6</span></span></b></em></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="363" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">This day was spent on exhibition of work created by both educators and youth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All eight videos created by educators were screened for everyone to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Youth videos were specially screened at the main hall where youth had to first present how they created their piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Nontobeko and Mpumelelo well presented their piece and further answered questions from the audience which were specifically directed to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>They were very confidence on stage such that other teachers commented that they seem to be familiar with public speaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>They made South Africa proud especially that when we came I was uncomfortable with the fact that educators seemed to be highly skilled and most of them teach media in their schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I felt like I don’t fit in and it was a mistake for us to be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>That was cleared though on day two of our arrival during discussions and media creation.</span></span></em></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcim926ALNBtPcIAGQJcH5qvFIWoe-4dSEmgIym_aF4QMy2CgllKyW1pn4QhzLOwQTSsrIia6vE2fkhYxcKZzlQTkcmD6HN9q-luKJzse1ihZT5CIyaJ_X-Z46EXHwt1DdvWkEiTqNr8/s1600/Mpume+responding+to+a+question+from+the+audience+as+they+were+presenting+their+collaborative+video.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcim926ALNBtPcIAGQJcH5qvFIWoe-4dSEmgIym_aF4QMy2CgllKyW1pn4QhzLOwQTSsrIia6vE2fkhYxcKZzlQTkcmD6HN9q-luKJzse1ihZT5CIyaJ_X-Z46EXHwt1DdvWkEiTqNr8/s400/Mpume+responding+to+a+question+from+the+audience+as+they+were+presenting+their+collaborative+video.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_g9a3w6="393" style="text-align: center;">Mpumi responding to a question from the audience</td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="363" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Adobe Youth Voices Live </span></span></b></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the afternoon we went to San Jose Theatre to attend Youth Voices Live which was also attended by local residents and other people of high profile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Black Eyed Peas was one of the prestigious guest who both entertained and motivated the audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Youth Collaborative Videos were to be screened at this event including other selected videos from AYV Media Jam.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Highlight </span></span></b></em></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nontobeko shared a talk with all Summit Attendees about their experiences when creating their own video and the impact that it had on their lives personally and other people who had viewed it.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">         </span></span></span></em><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our video, Children’s Rights in South Africa was one of the seven videos selected to be screened at the theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We didn’t know about this until we were sat at the theatre browsing the programme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>That was a WOW moment and great honour for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>After the show we were ‘celebrities’ interviewed by local people and media crew about our video and experience at the Summit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>South Africa was on the spot light again! </span></span></em></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6lrry8tFNHjZWK9Ve5_5XPcoBCEejlL1ju9WIv79OpqM6T3SDKg8jcimM77MujRAwObKol6MArybpQ58p8rbXBhuYQeYKtHbA7vFNCTFO_DAC5BDVNvRCjzaBSAnSO2BoJy1H49HDKYs/s1600/Nontobeko+interviewed+by+a+media+crew+after+a+Youth+Live+show+at+San+Francisco+theatre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6lrry8tFNHjZWK9Ve5_5XPcoBCEejlL1ju9WIv79OpqM6T3SDKg8jcimM77MujRAwObKol6MArybpQ58p8rbXBhuYQeYKtHbA7vFNCTFO_DAC5BDVNvRCjzaBSAnSO2BoJy1H49HDKYs/s400/Nontobeko+interviewed+by+a+media+crew+after+a+Youth+Live+show+at+San+Francisco+theatre.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nontobeko being interviewed by a media crew</td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="394" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">General</span></span></b></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was a phenomenal week; lots of collaboration, exploring, sharing, Innovation etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It was indeed an extraordinary week.</span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have learnt that in other countries educators actively work with youth to produce lots of media projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>They also organize exhibition where educators and youth are invited to share their work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I am inspired to work with teachers in South Africa to create media projects and to also conduct face to face trainings for them when necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The software that is used is challenging and one can easily give up if there is no strong support or assistance on how to use it. </span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="445" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><em><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thank you to SchoolNet. </span></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="447" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span closure_uid_g9a3w6="446" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Here is the movie on streetchildren called 'Children's Rights in South Africa'.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="448" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gQJuBMfYo4Q" width="420"></iframe><br /><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_g9a3w6="132" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div></div>

Adobe Youth voices Collaboration Guest post Project-based learning SchoolNet's Adobe Youth Voices programme sends a team to California

It is really worth participating in SchoolNet’s Adobe Youth Voices programme as Hlengiwe Mfeka discovered. Hlengiwe took part in the program...

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What about getting involved in SchoolNet's Adobe Youth Voices programme?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_xnwjbj="167"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="576"><span closure_uid_1y7c86="171" closure_uid_e15aav="106" closure_uid_e4bohe="106" closure_uid_xnwjbj="166" style="font-size: 10pt;">Submitted by Warren Sparrow</span><br /><em><span closure_uid_1y7c86="171" closure_uid_e15aav="106" closure_uid_e4bohe="106" closure_uid_xnwjbj="166" style="font-size: 10pt;">SchoolNetSA offers the Adobe Youth Voices programme to interested teachers. This is an exciting way of using video meaningfully with your learners to highlight issues in society. If you are accepted into the programme Adobe (via SchoolNet) sends you Adobe Premier and Adobe Photoshop Essentials with enough licenses for the group of learners you will use. They offer  free online training in a group setting along with educators from around the world, and then require a project in the form of a movie. Warren Sparrow's movie is entitled Super Veggie Man and was selected to represent South Africa at the recent Adobe Youth Media Conference in Taiwan. Warren writes this guest post about his experience in Taiwan. Just to tell you a little more about Warren, he teaches at </span></em><span class="apple-style-span"><i closure_uid_xnwjbj="154"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Rondebosch Prep,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.rondebosch.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">www.rondebosch.com</span></a>,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span closure_uid_e4bohe="575" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">where he is the</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> H</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span closure_uid_e15aav="120" closure_uid_xnwjbj="170" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">ead of Information Technology. He</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span closure_uid_e15aav="121" closure_uid_xnwjbj="169" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> was a winner of the Microsoft Innovative Teacher competition in 2010 in South Africa and in Pan Africa and participated in the World Finals event in Cape Town with his project "Who wants to be a millionaire” <span closure_uid_e4bohe="108" closure_uid_xnwjbj="165">which can be found at</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i closure_uid_xnwjbj="171"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><a closure_uid_xnwjbj="157" href="http://www.wsparrow.co.za/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">www.wsparrow.co.za</span></a></span>. <span style="font-size: x-small;">This year</span></i></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">he won</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span closure_uid_xnwjbj="174" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">the 21st century classroom project of the year, for the most  innovative use  of technology for enhancing learning in schools in South Africa.  His school has recently been admitted into the Microsoft Innovative Schools programme - the third South African school to receive this distinction.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span closure_uid_xnwjbj="175" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">He is currently working on a mathematics outreach program called “Maths is Fun” which can be found at</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.wsparrow.co.za/maths" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">www.wsparrow.co.za/maths</span></a>.</span></i></span></i></span></div></div><div closure_uid_xnwjbj="167">  </div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_xnwjbj="176" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span closure_uid_xnwjbj="177" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">I have written a brief synopsis of the conference below:</span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7oLMDptoxywuAvzrDyYmorYq_585mar3vdYTI2NY7QcWW4uQZd9DKoo0s5AkSUjPt-a14Ql4NQEmIre8o-SneIqTD0z1UOrZa3foE50a6hUn6_ANe8iITfj2Xo7J-j4PbxKUtrXY_lc/s1600/The+group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7oLMDptoxywuAvzrDyYmorYq_585mar3vdYTI2NY7QcWW4uQZd9DKoo0s5AkSUjPt-a14Ql4NQEmIre8o-SneIqTD0z1UOrZa3foE50a6hUn6_ANe8iITfj2Xo7J-j4PbxKUtrXY_lc/s400/The+group.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The group</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_xnwjbj="176" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span closure_uid_xnwjbj="178" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">From the Opening ceremony I was immediately impressed with the vision of how important collaboration is between both other teachers, as well as other learners from different countries.   This was one of the underlying themes through the conference.  Although there were many other themes, like peace, etc, I think this is what sets it apart from many of the other conferences that I have attended.</span></span></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4e1qQa4n-FDQKY8iQXXVvy4BuDeJKJwAJRNxIFmyhMaAMRrCqxRhZwCTiZTNM7YdOJ3M2HVMlofyzN3SmNz2lfupItZiLeAuoiJJBddCuLUMsaUEeQFO1M3swo8h7V6yPPI1EdgH0B4/s1600/everyone+at+conference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4e1qQa4n-FDQKY8iQXXVvy4BuDeJKJwAJRNxIFmyhMaAMRrCqxRhZwCTiZTNM7YdOJ3M2HVMlofyzN3SmNz2lfupItZiLeAuoiJJBddCuLUMsaUEeQFO1M3swo8h7V6yPPI1EdgH0B4/s400/everyone+at+conference.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everyone at Conference</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_xnwjbj="176" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="110"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span closure_uid_e4bohe="109" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">I found the workshops most worthwhile.  I was v</span></span><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">ery happy to attend the learning – circles workshop that gave me an overview of the entire project approach.  They also explained how each project was divided into 6 categories and went through the phases of each learning circle which would stretch over a period of 16 weeks. </span></span></div><div closure_uid_e4bohe="110"><br /></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_e4bohe="165" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWrW27NlTvVFgnIn5eQm3Lf6PgFpw3BgMITa-XVkPS4LSGdsWMfB1udoPJ4Dt2hyGNOZmKmX3-nQjZxJdXBWZQrXIj-UJU_XfUArap2OGoS-A4rXz9TigniWpPVsU1Jm3zc87GBzuyTI/s1600/opening+cermony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWrW27NlTvVFgnIn5eQm3Lf6PgFpw3BgMITa-XVkPS4LSGdsWMfB1udoPJ4Dt2hyGNOZmKmX3-nQjZxJdXBWZQrXIj-UJU_XfUArap2OGoS-A4rXz9TigniWpPVsU1Jm3zc87GBzuyTI/s400/opening+cermony.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_e4bohe="110"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="166"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The  talk by Lara Nietzer covered some of the same content, but she gave very good examples of some of the projects have been integrated into their school curriculum.</span></span></div><div closure_uid_e4bohe="166"><br /></div><div closure_uid_e4bohe="166"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The workshop that Rowena ran was one of my favourite.  Her passion and knowledge of her subject was very evident in her talk and she had very good ideas on how to implement different things that I found very worthwhile.  I was amazed at her knowledge across the different topics that she discussed.  I will be implementing the solar cooking project with the learners at my school and her talk on the vegetable garden was obviously a topic very close to my heart.  She also dazzled us with the UV beads and gave us lesson notes on how we could implement this into our class.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="253"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="476"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The talk by Sergi and Ramon from Spain where they linked everything that they have been doing with Web 2.0 tools with the growing and producing of wine was very entertaining.  They emphasised how important it was to have a whole school approach and not just an individual that runs the program.</span></span></div></div><div closure_uid_e4bohe="253"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_e4bohe="540" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigX4ffm4MqbFyWnSjBzpGsUzuYoEPreIM1RC0DxthbIAXszet-kHnL6fxoCtvIplKd5FI1UUBpH6sdFN1kAbxblXWof2Zd5maxpghoJAGHgTuXske7NGD_6U1uQZOxrhRo59pLwOgQpGM/s1600/Some+workshops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigX4ffm4MqbFyWnSjBzpGsUzuYoEPreIM1RC0DxthbIAXszet-kHnL6fxoCtvIplKd5FI1UUBpH6sdFN1kAbxblXWof2Zd5maxpghoJAGHgTuXske7NGD_6U1uQZOxrhRo59pLwOgQpGM/s400/Some+workshops.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the workshops</td></tr></tbody></table><div closure_uid_e4bohe="474"></div><div style="border: currentColor;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The My Hero Project that was presented by the facilitator and 2 learners from Iraq was very good and they gave a very detailed presentation of the different videos that the learners had created, which allowed us to see the finished product and how the project was developed.  I was so impressed with this project that I immediately e-mailed a member of staff at my school and asked her to download the manual and go through it and she has agreed to run this project later on during the year.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="197" style="border: currentColor;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">I was blown away by Toni Casserrrass’ OpenSims talk.  Although I think that I might be a little way off doing something similar and it is also more suited to high school learners, I would really like for my learners to experience this.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /><div style="border: currentColor;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The  Film festival was another favourite of mine.  It was very enjoyable seeing what other learners had created and what their messages were.    I was amazed at some of the levels of proficiency of  the videos that were created.  </span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="574" style="border: currentColor;"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="542"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">There was also a very good cultural stand and exhibition which gave us the opportunity to talk to other teachers and talk to them about their project or country.</span></span></div><div closure_uid_e4bohe="542"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWegAOyDQOv4mngjipxyhYkmFM95YunhTZraxcqIlsCrvR4UouUYEeJaCqsQMevBRC3FQjDwoZGb0sYkPxqtiTwC2_9xulR0hKa6_Dc-J8CkRYQcuqmrAMaRXIQglvkJT3keGRqb67PM/s1600/Taiwan+city+life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWegAOyDQOv4mngjipxyhYkmFM95YunhTZraxcqIlsCrvR4UouUYEeJaCqsQMevBRC3FQjDwoZGb0sYkPxqtiTwC2_9xulR0hKa6_Dc-J8CkRYQcuqmrAMaRXIQglvkJT3keGRqb67PM/s400/Taiwan+city+life.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_e4bohe="573" style="text-align: center;">Tapai city life</td></tr></tbody></table><div closure_uid_e4bohe="542"><br /></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><div style="border: currentColor;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span closure_uid_e4bohe="541" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Our outing to Taipei on the speed train, going to the night markets , seeing the largest Buddist temple in Taiwan, as well as going to a few museums was incredible.  It was a surreal experience and it was amazing seeing the hustle and bustle of the city life.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /><div style="border: currentColor;"><div closure_uid_e4bohe="495"><div closure_uid_fon4xb="108"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span closure_uid_fon4xb="109" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">I must admit that I had a great time and I thought it was an incredible experience.  I have come back with so many ideas that I am using in the school and showing other staff members.  It will take me a little while to go through all the projects from website and manuals.  I am starting by giving short feedback sessions over 3 days every week to the staff and hopefully this will continue for the rest of the year!</span></span></div></div></div></div><div closure_uid_1y7c86="158" closure_uid_xnwjbj="167" style="border: currentColor;"></div><div closure_uid_xnwjbj="167" style="border: currentColor;"><div closure_uid_1y7c86="159"><div closure_uid_fon4xb="117">Here is Warren's movie entitled Super Veggie Man</div></div></div><div closure_uid_eqn44c="136"><iframe frameborder="0" height="375" src="http://www.schooltube.com/embed/58be1f70e1973c694fad" width="500"></iframe></div><div closure_uid_eqn44c="125"><div closure_uid_fon4xb="106"><a href="http://got.im/4Lm6">http://got.im/4Lm6</a></div></div></div>

Adobe Youth voices Collaboration Guest post profiles Project-based learning What about getting involved in SchoolNet's Adobe Youth Voices programme?

Submitted by Warren Sparrow SchoolNetSA offers the Adobe Youth Voices programme to interested teachers. This is an exciting way of using vid...

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