August 2014

Here we are in August already with the year racing on rapidly! South Africa is a busy place right now with so many initiatives to improve the lot for our learners and teachers. One such initiative is a content market place, called Intel® Explore & Learn. It offers a one-stop for quality digital content aligned with the education system. All the current content is free, one can easily access a wide variety of content including text books, set books, revision books, interactive past exam papers and rich multimedia (audio, video and animations) through the platform. Paid for content will be available later this year.

Intel is encouraging members to register onto their platform and stand a chance to win two complimentary tickets to the One Direction concert in Cape Town during 2015. Click on the banner below to register:

I have noticed recently that there has been a sharp rise in the number of technology conferences that are taking place in South Africa compared to previous years. It seems that there is an e-revolution hitting our schools and this could be the start to closing the digital divide that exists in our country. Technology can never replace a good teacher in the classroom but it can change the way we teach and take it to a whole, new dimension.

Google is running an amazing Doodle4Google competition just for South African learners with big prizes and they’ve asked me if I would include a message from them in my newsletter.

“Dear Teacher

Would you like your student’s artwork to be viewed by millions of South Africans on the homepage of www.google.co.za? Would you like your school to benefit from a R100 000 technology grant? Then we would like to invite your school to take part in the Doodle 4 Google ‘South Africa of My Dreams’ competition, which offers school children across South Africa the chance to design a Doodle to appear on Google.

At Google we use the homepage logo designs, Google Doodles, to celebrate different people, events or special dates. These Google Doodles are usually created by our web designers and represent important cultural occasions. However, this year we would like to open this space up to the designs of South African school children between the ages of 6 – 17 years.

As we celebrate 20 Years of Freedom in South Africa this year, we are asking learners to create a Doodle around the theme ‘South Africa of My Dreams’. We have a host of local celebrity judges lined up to shortlist their favourite Doodles, followed by the South African public casting their vote for the final winner. This Doodle will then be shown on the 2nd December 2014 on the homepage of Google.co.za for all South Africans to see!

To take part, visit the Doodle 4 Google website, download the competition entry form, get Doodling and send your entries to us no later than 22 October 2014. You will find an introductory brochure, which provides more information on the competition, online at www.google.co.za/doodle4google. On the website you’ll all find inspiring lesson plans that will make it easy to integrate the initiative into your daily teaching. We look forward to seeing your Doodles portraying our beautiful country.

Good luck!
The Google Team ”

I believe that Google has plans to start their Google Educator groups in South Africa this month. Be on the lookout for that announcement as well.

You’ll notice that, in keeping with the e-revolution mentioned above we are starting to include CAPS-aligned textbooks in e-book format on our website. We are making a start with Learner Books and Teacher Guides for Social Sciences, Grades 4 – 7.

Once again I would like to thank my many sponsors for their funding of the many resources you enjoy using every month. And I would like to thank you, teachers, for making good use of our e-classroom worksheets and lesson plans.

In closing, we encourage you keep entering for the Old Mutual ‘Tell me your dream and win’ competition. Entry details are available on their website and our competition page: https://e-classroom.co.za/old-mutual-dream-competition/ where scholars can win R 5000.00 and R 10 000.00 for their school.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our Facebook page.

Until next time.
Serving you in education,

Natalie