E-Lapa Learners at Chafford Hundred Campus, UK
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African partners log on fast and furious
Article in the Guardian Newspaper, March 15th 2005
By Sean
Dodson
E-learning
International links
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African partners log on fast and furious
A hi-tech Essex school is linking up with teachers and students
from a poor South African province who, for the first time,
are getting to grips with technology thanks to a £12m
scheme to promote e-learning
Sean Dodson
Tuesday March 15, 2005
The
Guardian
Looking up from the laptop computer, Nathi Kubheka, a 14-year
old from South Africa, ponders the future of education. "I
think, in the future, people will not use pens anymore,"
he says earnestly. "Using a computer in class is a lot
easier than going to the library - and you never run out of
ink."
Kubheka is sat in his blue tracksuit and matching beanie
hat in a shiny, new classroom in Essex. He is among a group
of pupils and teachers on an exchange programme from South
Africa and he clearly adores the idea of having his own laptop
in class. Something in his expression tells you he still can't
quite believe it.
We are in Chafford Hundred school near Thurrock in Essex.
The school is hosting a three-day "expo" in ICT
and has invited a 56-strong group of pupils and teachers from
10 different schools in Kubheka's province in South Africa,
Free State. They are here to see how far the internet and
computer technology can transform classroom teaching methods.
Named E-Lapa (lapa meaning meeting place), the aim of the
£12m scheme is to help spread the development of vocational
computer skills in the province's 1,500 schools. Free State
is in the early stages of an ambitious, five-year plan to
fit all its schools with a component of e-learning by 2010.
Their main hurdle is that practically none of the kids - including
Kubheka - had ever handled a computer until last September.
Exchange programmes are always two-way streets. Participating
UK schools get to fulfill citizenship requirements and gain
invaluable experience of another culture first-hand.
"In most cases, it was their first experience of an
international visit," says deputy head Mark Bennison.
"Our pupils were paired up with South African children
and acted as mentors. In many ways, there was a lack of equality
between the children because the SA children had rarely touched
a computer." He pauses, and then adds: "It was a
bit worrying at the start."
Indeed, Kubheka couldn't be in a more different classroom
environment than the one he's used to. Chafford Hundred is
a high-tech showroom of a school. Featuring an open-plan reception
area housed in a light and lofty atrium and nested with glass
and steel gantries, it is a bold attempt to redefine the school's
place in the local community. The school library doubles as
the local branch. Classrooms and sports facilities are similarly
available for community bookings.
The campus, surrounded by Barratt-style housing on a new
estate near the M25, is flooded with CCTV coverage and everyone,
from the dinner ladies to the teaching staff, wears an identity
badge on campus. Each "swipe in" every morning and
can also use their ID badge to book library books, order photocopies
or even store payment for the canteen. The secondary dining
room acts as a cybercafe - open to all - and the whole site
is fitted with wireless internet access. Each pupil has their
own laptop funded by a combination of business and parental
donations.
"Free State is the second-poorest province in South
Africa. It is also the largest and has the smallest population,"
explains Bennison. "Introducing e-learning could make
an enormous difference because of the vast distances between
the schools."
The 10 Free State schools have been selected to represent
the diverse range across the province. Most are found in the
flat, boundless plains of South Africa's interior, although
the delegation also included three pupils from a "black
middle-class" academy situated in the state capital,
Bloemfontain. What the different schools have in common is
that - essentially - they mark the first generation of black
children to be taught by computer in South Africa.
"We are working with the South Africa teachers [to
enable them to mentor] in their own schools," explains
Christina Preston, who developed E-lapa along with Free State
teachers. Once the South Africa teachers learn ICT know-how
from their UK mentors, they take up the mentoring mantle themselves.
To Preston, founder the MirandaNet Fellowship, an organisation
that has been promoting ICT as a catalyst for change as far
back as 1992, crossing the so-called digital divide is as
much about crossing oceans as it is about levelling inequalities.
MirandaNet promotes an unashamedly internationalist agenda
that promotes mentoring links between developed and developing
countries in a world pulled apart by global politics. "I
feel very strongly that in developing societies, not only
does it help them vocationally with jobs, but it provides
a means of democratic participation," she says.
"We are not missionaries - it's not a case of us teaching
them. We also have an awful lot to learn. How to manage life
when you have few resources."
Projects like E-lapa, she says, also encourage collaborative
thinking. "Which more closely equates with the way human
beings talk and communicate than writing, say, linear essays.
Therefore, it's an exciting opportunity for people who have
had a deprived background and a poor education to suddenly
have an opportunity, not only to get stacks of information,
but to participate by publishing and sharing ideas online."
It is is Saturday morning back at Chafford Hundred and Bennison
is looking a lot less worried. Sure, there is still a great
gulf between Kubheka's computer know-how and that of his English
mentors, but it's now a lot smaller. Both groups of children
are back at the school for a "missing people investigation
workshop" - a kind of interactive drama with clues to
solve and a report to write before final goodbyes.
"Our children took a lot from it," says Bennison.
"They were able to practice their computer skills through
teaching. And there's no better way to consolidate your learning
than that."
Guardian
Newspaper
London
15th March 2005
Reports from the Project Advisory Team
Here are some reports from the MirandaNet team: more will
follow.
- Andree Jordan,
e-Lapa Adviser for Retief High School
- David Thomas,
e-Lapa Adviser for Heilbron School, Heilbron
- Mara Chrystie,
e-Lapa Adviser for Gelukwaarts School, Van Stadensrus
- John Cuthell,
e-Lapa Adviser for Ikanyegeng Combined School, Ratanang
- David Jordan
, e-Lapa Adviser for Marallaneng School, Ficksburg
- Mara Chrystie,
e-Lapa Adviser for Unitas Welkom
- Tom Rank,
e-Lapa Adviser for St Bernard’s High School, Motheo
District
- Lawrence Williams,
e-Lapa Adviser for Retshedisitswe
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