Wednesday 8 February 2012

SchoolNet's webinar and podcast programme now in full force


This is the time of the year where SchoolNet and Microsoft combine to prepare interested South African teachers for the upcoming Partners in Learning Forum. This competition used to be known as the Innovative Teacher's Forum. There are amazing prizes up for grabs for successful teachers, the most valued being a week long trip to participate in the Pan African and Middle East Finals in Morroco, and/or a week long trip to participate in the World Finals in Greece, for successful teachers. This year SchoolNet is running an online support course from  a wiki (http://partnersinlearningforum-sa) to prepare teachers. We are also running, alongside this, a webinar and podcast programme of past winners sharing their successes.

Past finalists and winners group 1

These three past finalists and winners shared their projects in the same webinar

Lyneth Crighton from Brescia House in Johannesburg
Lyneth Crighton is from Brescia College in Johannesburg. She ran a workshop in which Grade 10 learners explored the novel “Cry the beloved Country” using Web 2.0 collaborative tools. The girls collaborated on a wiki, participated in an online discussion forum, created a pod-cast and developed a word cloud. Colleagues across learning areas got involved in the workshop to show that the themes in the novel were applicable to a range of learning areas.
Lyneth was a winner in the South African Finals, and they went on to represent South Africa at the Middle East and Africa Finals in Jordan. She won again and were able to participate in the World Finals in Washington DC.


Louise Clark from St Cyprians in Cape Town
Louise Clarke and Kim Jackson are both Grade 4 teachers at St Cyprian's School in Cape Town. Their combined project for Grade four learners involved reading the first chapter of book called ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ and predicting what adventures the main character would have in “The Lands Beyond”. Learners produced artwork and scripts describing what they thought would take place and they then narrated their predictions using Windows Movie Maker. This project only used free software – and its true success was in the way it promoted collaboration and creativity amongst young learners. Louse and Kim were winners in the South African Finals, and they went on to represent South Africa at the Middle East and Africa Finals in Jordan. They won again and were able to participate in the World Finals in Washington DC.


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Natalie Meerholtz from Holy Rosary in Johannesburg
Natalie Meerholz is from Holy Rosary School in Johannesburg. Natalie and her Grade 6 learners aimed to encourage the school and surrounding community to address the issue of e-waste. Activities included creating e-posters and e-advertisements; reusing e-waste in the form of sculptures; and holding an e-waste launch. An e-waste bin has been set up to encourage responsible e-waste disposal and recycling. Natalie 
was a winner in the South African Finals, and she went on to represent South Africa at the Middle East and Africa Finals in Jordan. She achieved a winning place and was able to participate in the World Finals in Washington DC.

Watch and listen to their presentations

Here is a Slideshare containing the webinar presentations of the first three past finalists who shared their stories recently. These webinars were converted into YouTube videos. Slideshare now has an amazing feature where you can insert a YouTube video after a slide! Take a look!

Listen to their podcasts

Natalie Merholtz (mp3)

Louise Clarke (mp3)


Lyneth Crighton (mp3)
South African teachers - we encourage you to participate - this year could be the adventure of your life!

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