“I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user.” Bill Gates

 Information and communications technologies (ICTs) play a significant role in today’s education and society (Surty, 2010).  The past 15 years “in South Africa has been characterised by major transformation at all levels in the education system.” (Parker, 2006:59).  The introduction of ICTs in education “represents an important part of Government's strategy to improve the quality of teaching and learning” and deliver lifelong learning “across the education and training system.” (White Paper on e-Education, DoE, 2004:19)

 Establish South Africa as an advanced Information Society  Access, cost effectiveness and quality of education; and  Integration of ICTs into the learning and teaching process

“Every South African learner in the General and Further Education and Training bands will be ICT capable (that is, use ICT confidently and creatively to help develop the skills and knowledge they need to achieve personal goals and to be full participants in the global community) by 2013.” (Department of Education, 2004:17)

 Infrastructure: To provide access to ICT infrastructure for administrative and teaching and learning purposes  Professional development: Educators, managers & administrators knowledge, skills & support needed to integrate ICTs in teaching and learning  Content: Software, electronic content & online learning resources  Connectivity: To support an online learning environment  Community  Research & development: Explore various innovation in ICTs in education

 Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in ICT (2007)  Teacher Laptop Initiative

 The Thutong Education Portal provides over 14,000 digital content resources, has registered users and averages 80,000 hits a month  There are 84 learning spaces on the portal including a Support for Matric Space

 Central to connectivity is the creation of a Virtual Private Network (VPN)for Education  The VPN would be connected to schools by available last mile connectivity  The VPN would provide an environment of educational resources (Thutong) and administrative purposes (SA-SAMS/LURITS/NEIMS)

 Computer literacy classes  FET subjects IT and CAT  Teaching & learning support resource  SA-SAMS, e.g. administration & finance  LURiTS

 South African School Administration and Management System  Pat Bulling, Director of Education Management Systems  “will provide the standard for all school data and school administration systems at ground level” (Gibson, 2009:18)

 Learner Unit Record Information And Tracking System  Went live for first time in 2009 & still being rolled out across the country  Expected to be fully populated by October 2010  Already, about 4-million learner records captured (30% of the information input)

 National Education Infrastructure Management System  Houses all the data about school infrastructure required for planning purposes, including e.g.  number of classrooms,  condition of buildings,  water supply,  type of electricity supply

Gauteng (Online)  67% (1 493) of Gauteng’s schools already have “access not only to computers, but to the wider world as well through Internet access.” (Gibson, 2009:46). “The Gauteng Online project, which was first conceived back in 2002, … aims to provide every school in the province with a computer laboratory, giving every learner in the public schooling system access to the Internet and to .” Free State  80% of FS’s 1550 schools linked to SA-SAMS  Makes principals’ jobs easier, e.g. timetabling; puts their school on par with others  Prov. dept. can watch learners’ & schools’ performance for trends & problems Western Cape (Khanya)  1136 schools have been helped to use technology effectively  Another 118 schools are in various stages of preparation for the next wave of implementation  A total of computers are used in Khanya schools (of these have been funded by Khanya or its donor partners, and the balance of have been procured by the schools themselves)  Educators are being empowered to use technology optimally for curriculum delivery  learners are already reaping the benefits of the project

 ICT “is one of the key things that we are committed to”. “We need to tap into the potential of ICT to maximise the work we are doing in education.” (Gibson, 2009:40)  Proof of Concept  Aims to demonstrate that it is possible to implement the ICT in Education initiative  1 unit of implementation per province  Unit of implementation = geographically adjacent district/circuit(s)  135 – 200 schools per unit of implementation  Carried out over a 3 year period, including planning & implementation stages  All provinces involved, most in early planning stage; NW starting to implement

 The ICT Resource Centre in the Mpumalanga province was launched on 1 June 2010  The ICT Resource Centre in the North West Province will be launched in October 2010

 High mobile telephony penetration rates in Africa  Majority of population are Youth  Emergence of undersea cables in Sub-Saharan Africa (Seacom, West Africa Cable System (WACS), and the EASSy Cable)

Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators

 Innovative application of mobile telephony to support teaching and learning  Focusing mainly on Mathematics  Promote sharing, collaboration, and exchange of learning resources and content

Content hosting Learning management system Online support Delivery Channel

Mr. Edward Mosuwe Acting Deputy Director-General Department of Basic Education Tel: +27 (0) ICTs are not about the hardware… ….or the software… but about the WARM-ware Batho Pele! (People first)