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from the Advisers
John Cuthell
Ikanyegeng Combined School, Ratanang
Ikanyegeng is a combined school: Grades 1-12.
Ikanyegeng: “Be trustworthy, and believe in yourself”
Follow this link for
a display of over 60 pictures from this school
Monday October 25
Bloemfontein. 0730. A blast of heat when you walk out into
the sun. Not quite the normal October Monday morning for me.
That Monday morning I went with Thato Moekwena, the ICT
co-ordinator for the Xhariep district in Free State Province,
to meet officials in the district education office: after
that we spent the next hour and a half in travelling the long
and empty roads to the town of Jacobsdal in Xhariep District.
The area has suffered from lack of rain during the past year,
and the farmland, and animals in it, certainly appeared to
need more rain to develop the vegetation.
As we drove into the town of Jacobsdal, however, things
changed: the guest house in which we were staying is surrounded
by vineyards, made possible by an irrigation project. Surrounding
farms all looked in a far better condition than those on the
road we had just travelled. In a nearby field ostrich craned
their necks to peer at us as we drove past to the township
of Ratanang, a mile or so outside Jacobsdal.
The road to the township is dirt: hard corrugations reduced
our speed to a crawl until we arrived in the township itself.
The school is located next to a church and the Little Professionals
Playgroup: it’s at the centre of the community, and
takes learners from Grade One to Grade 12. In other words,
it caters to the learning needs of the community, and as such
is an extremely successful school, with continually improving
examination results. More than 94% of its Grade 12 learners
passed their school certificate last year.
The Head of the school, Reuben January, greeted us and introduced
us to the staff. We gave a brief introduction to the project,
its aims, outcomes and outputs. There was a high degree of
excitement: the school had only been informed the previous
week that it had been chosen to participate in the project,
and the computers only installed two days previously. There
was still work to be done: some of the equipment had yet to
be supplied, and come connections and the network remained
to be completed. Needless to say, in a project like this Internet
connectivity is the last thing to be put in place!
Despite this, Thato Moekwena and I ran an initial workshop:
all of the educators completed an ICT skills analysis questionnaire
and a concept map exercise. Thato then gave an introduction
to the computer lab, the computers and components. The majority
of staff had little or no prior knowledge or experience of
computers. They practised mouse and keyboard skills, and we
provided an introduction to Paint and PowerPoint, which reinforced
mouse and keyboard skills as well as familiarising the educators
with commands, icons, the taskbar and the Windows environment.
 The
workshop concluded at 1730 with a re-statement of the three
project aims: the development of the school ICT policy, the
creation of e-learning materials; and learner creation of
the Celebration content, covering Sights and Sounds of Free
State and ‘How we made a difference’.
The following day we arrived at the school at 0730 and,
after meeting with the whole staff, we were introduced to
all of the learners in a school assembly. The Head presented
the team and the project to the school pupils – all
of them, from wide-eyed seven year-olds to the Grade 12 learners
about to start their school certificate examinations.
During the morning we worked with Grade 8 students: they
produced concept maps, we explained the project and ran a
number of workshops, providing an introduction to computers
and facilities.
The afternoon saw another skills development workshop for
the educators. We planned work with students, identified curriculum
materials and discussed contributions for the e-Lapa website.
‘What is e-learning?’ was the theme of some
presentations I made, which was followed by a lively discussion
about the ways in which these materials could be created and
integrated into the Outcomes Based curriculum. This was followed
by group work and materials planning. After another long day
we all staggered out at 1730.
And so it went on: we held discussions with staff and conducted
a needs analysis that was integrated with curriculum work.
There was ongoing discussion and planning with the Head on
staff development and ICT implementation. Materials development
and staff training presentations were an integral part of
the work Thato and I carried out.
Mornings were spent working with learners in workshops and
with individual educators. Afternoons were spent in workshops
with the educators. By Wednesday they were combining skills
development with the creation of e-learning materials using
PowerPoint. By the end of the afternoon they were able to
present their first drafts to their peers.
The staff workshop on Thursday afternoon saw considerable
strides in educators’ skills and the materials they
had developed. By the end of the session they all presented
the materials they had created to their colleagues and explained
how they would use them with a class. The materials ranged
from a presentation on HIV/AIDS, through materials for Economic
Management Science, Geography, Science, Life Skills, Language
and Mathematics, through to Dance.
Except that it wasn’t the end of the day. In the evening
the school hosted a celebration of the e-Lapa project, the
school resources and future development to groups from the
community: churches, Heads and staff from other schools, business
and community leaders and the full school staff. The e-Lapa
staff participants presented their e-learning materials to
assembled group. By 2000 that evening everyone had been working
in school for twelve and a half hours, and was more than ready
for the snacks and socialising that followed.
The final day saw a flurry of activity. Apart form the regular
work with the learners we developed a spreadsheet for use
with data from the attendance registers, discussed the location
of the new interactive whiteboard and how the staff training
would be managed.
And then the SmartBoard was installed in its classroom.
After which the whole staff gathered for a brief overview
of what could be done. And, amazed, rushed from that presentation
into their new computer room to further develop their skills.
By the time we had to leave for Bloemfontein at the end of
the afternoon even more e-learning resources had been produced.
Five days was never going to be long enough – and
it all passed in a blur. There was so much I wanted to do,
and all that I’d seen of the area was on the drive to
and from school – apart from two short visits organised
by one of the teachers, to a farm, and to the local winery
and bottling plant. But Ikanyegeng Combined School, in the
township of Ratanang, Jacobsdal, has launched itself into
a new era. With its committed learners, enthusiastic educators
and visionary Head teacher it will transform lives and learning.
With the help and support of Thato Moekwena and
his colleagues from Xhariep District and the Free State
Province, there will be no stopping its learners and educators.
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
Article in the Volksblad, October 28th
2004
World ECitizens Newsletter
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