How Can ICT in Education Excite Girls and Boys?

Look at any ICT-enabled school classroom, and there is often a greater excitement for the technology with boys than girls, which by middle or secondary school, can translate into ICT tools being an exclusive domain of boys, excluding half the learning population from their benefit. How can technologists and educators design more gender neutral, or pro-female ICT-enabled learning experiences?"

Learning online

In today’s world, many adults find themselves unsatisfied with their jobs and wishing for something more. Many people wish that they could gain more job skills and make more money, but demands on their time and schedule make this seem impossible. The good news is that the Internet has many online learning opportunities available that will allow you to gain a higher education, learn new skills, and become more marketable. And the great thing about online education is that you can get an education according to your own schedule and can do it from the comfort of your own home. In fact, thousands of working professionals have been able to increase their knowledge and jobs skills without ever having to enter a classroom.

ICT Staff benefits

Department of Education documents on ICT

D.O.E. Documents of Interest RE ICT in SA Schools
There are two documents on this link which would interest Principals and school leadership on ICT in schools.Doc 1: 2005 Managing ICT in SA Schools for PRINCIPALS (PDF 136 pages) (Have a look at page 44 for an excellent case study - THIS was four years ago!!!)Doc 2: 2001

Strategy for Information and Technology in EducationIt's also interesting because of their age. The one is 2001 and the other is 2005. There age shows how little has change in school ICT inovation, by comparison to the rest of the world. I believe our "Digital Divide" has grown.
tags: D.O.E., ICT, Policy, documents
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e-Learning make easy: Games

What is JumpStart World?

JumpStart World is the leader in adventure action games based on virtual and interactive 3D worlds. JumpStart World turns learning into an adventure for your 3 to 10 year old child.
Build ConfidenceJumpStart World incorporates academic fundamentals into a vibrant world where kids can control their learning environment.

Reward AchievementsThese adventure action games are tailored to your child’s personal skill level and learning style. Your child’s preferences and abilities customize the 3D challenge-based games, allowing your child to both succeed and learn new skills.

Stimulate CreativityJumpStart World is the perfect way to allow your child to immerse themselves in a highly creative and fun learning environment.

International Forum of Educational Technology & Society

e-Learning is a cross discipline artefact that spans e.g., philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, anthropology, artificial intelligence (e.g., Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED)), and human computer interaction (HCI) (cf. Issroff & Scanalon, 2002). e-Learning artefacts should be more than just a technical solution; for example, a web-based e-Learning site (however sophisticated it may be) containing stylish multimedia assets, Java applets, and dynamic database bindings that engage users in multiple ways including prompting interaction at cognitive, behavioural, and physiological levels. e-Learning artefacts are probably compared most appropriately with information artefacts as known by the cognitive dimensions framework (cf. Green, 1996; Green & Petre, 1996) which describes the “system under investigation” as “something that has been built for the processing, storage and communication of information. Every information artefact provides one or more notations in which the information being manipulated is encoded … The environment used to manipulate the notation is equally important” (Blackwell, 2001; also, cf. Green & Benyon, 1996).

e-learning in S.A schools

EDUCATION-SOUTH AFRICA:From Blackboard to SMARTboardBate Tabi TabePRETORIA, Sep 15 (IPS) - The electronic board in front of the class flickers, and a periodic table is projected onto the screen. "Do you all know what this is?" booms a voice from the loud speaker. "Yes!" the students chorus, as any typical class would. Except that this class is far from typical. While the students are seated in a computer laboratory at Gatang High School in Mamelodi, a poor, black residential area outside the capital of Pretoria, teacher Ron Bayers is located several kilometres away at St Albans - a well-to-do private school in the city. The class talks and interacts seamlessly through a wireless broadband connection, which allows for high-speed transmission of sounds, images and other information. Web cameras situated at both ends of the Gatang laboratory give Bayers a clear view of the class on a screen set up at his school, while the students can also hear him and see what he does, as he does it. Both teacher and pupils make use of electronic "SMARTboards" that enable instant displays of what is written on them. In the past, students from several Mamelodi schools were bussed to St Albans to take extra lessons in a variety of subjects: there simply aren't enough teachers to instruct them in their own schools, especially in the sciences. These shortages of staff - also of teaching facilities and textbooks - are a legacy of apartheid. Under the former system of white rule, little investment was made in education for black children, who were seen as destined for the unskilled labour market. However, the bussing system limited the number of students who could be assisted. This set the stage for the electronic learning - or "e-learning" - project, which got underway in 2003 in five schools (the first class was given in 2004). The 'Mamelodi E-learning' initiative was spearheaded by Bayers.