Annual Report to AGM

25 November 2010 - Executive Director

1. Overview of 2010............................................................................................................2

2. Project highlights in 2010................................................................................................2

2.1. Intel Teach...............................................................................................................2

2.2. Microsoft Partners in Learning.................................................................................4

2.3. INSPIRE....................................................................................................................7

2.4. Commonwealth of Learning.....................................................................................8

2.5. Teacher Laptop Initiative........................................................................................10

2.6. Academy for Educational Development: New Futures............................................11

2.7. Other SchoolNet SA projects..................................................................................11

3. SchoolNet SA Finances...................................................................................................15

4. SchoolNet SA Staff.........................................................................................................15

5. Summary of projects.....................................................................................................18

6. Projects 2010.................................................................................................................21

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1. Overview of 2010

SchoolNet was commissioned to undertake a number of new projects during the course of 2010; some had been in the pipeline for many months such as the Vodacom initiative and the AED New Futures Youth Employability programme, some were continuations of existing interventions such as training for KZN and Free State Departments of Education and some were completely new initiatives such as the Mlambo Foundation project with Intel and a range of new work from The Commonwealth of Learning. In 2010 SchoolNet has been far from short of work. Another bonus was that early in 2010 the Limpopo Department of Education paid their debt to SchoolNet which had been outstanding from 2007. This provided a great deal of relief for SchoolNet SA.

2. Project highlights in 2010

2.1.Intel Teach

Intel Teach: Getting Started

Intel Teach Training of Trainers at Wits

Intel requested that SchoolNet introduce Intel Teach: Getting Started into South African schools in 2010. This course has been rolled out in other African countries but South Africa has only ever offered the higher level, more pedagogically-focused Intel Teach courses.

The localisation of the Getting Started course was negotiated by Gerald Roos with the Intel curriculum team in the USA during the latter part of 2009 and some positive amendments were made that resulted in a more balanced basic ICT literacy course. Senior trainers from all provinces attended a training course at WITS University in April 2010. Since then Intel has devoted a considerable amount of budget to the Getting Started roll out. We have managed to train the following numbers of teachers in their respective provinces but the teachers’ strike and catch up programmes have hampered our progress: a total of 1429 teachers have completed training: The provincial breakdown is as follows: Eastern Cape -360; KwaZulu-Natal - 211; Limpopo - 420; Gauteng - 90; Mpumalanga - 184; Free State - 95; North West - 56; Western Cape – 13.

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Intel® Teach: Teachers Engage

Intel® Teach: Teachers Engage is an online interaction space that is used by senior Intel® Teach trainers worldwide. South African senior trainers have been participating and have received some interesting interaction with other countries, particularly the USA.

Intel® Teach Evaluation

This year is the first year since 2003 that we have not contracted an external evaluator for Intel Teach. Instead the evaluation team in the USA has instigated an online evaluation using an interactive online evaluation tool that is completed by teachers after training. SchoolNet had to customise the online survey for South African teachers and then request them to complete it online. At present this evaluation instrument is only designed to evaluate participation in the Intel Teach Essentials course.

Intel® Teach Elements

Intel® Teach: Elements is a new range of flash-based materials introduced by Intel that are designed to be self study materials. “Project Based Approaches” was the first course that was developed and a few thousand copies of the CD were distributed to teachers in South Africa. SchoolNet felt that the model for delivery for South Africa should not be completely self study but rather be a blend of face to face and online support with courses spread over longer periods of time than recommended by the USA model.

Two new courses have now been released in this Elements series and SchoolNet hopes to include these as from 2011. They are called Collaboration in The Digital Classroom and Assessment in 21st Century Classrooms.

All Intel Teach as well as Intel Learn courses are going to be made available by Intel on a DVD. This is a new and positive departure for the Intel curriculum team who have always preferred to distribute materials only to teachers during training.

Intel® Teach ICT in the Classroom Conference

Although SchoolNet SA did not run a conference in 2010, E-Schools Network ran a conference in September 2010 where SchoolNet staff and trainers presented sessions. Financial assistance was provided by both Intel and Microsoft to this conference although the main funder to

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ESN was Uniforum. In July 2011 SchoolNet SA will be holding a conference in Gauteng at St John’s College, Parktown. SchoolNet is indebted to Intel who will be the main sponsor of this conference again, as they have been for the past several years.

The Intel management for Middle East, Turkey and Africa would like SchoolNet SA to organise a curriculum roundtable conference for the region in 2011 which will focus on the various Intel® Teach curricula. SchoolNet SA will be tasked with sensitizing other countries to the more advanced Intel® Teach ICT integration courses because most of the other countries have only conducted Intel’s basic course, “Getting Started”. The strategic learning pathway to reach Intel Teach Essentials will be one of the main objectives of this curriculum conference.

2.2.Microsoft Partners in Learning

SchoolNet has now trained more than 25 000 teachers through the Partners in Learning programme in South Africa as well as a further few hundred in Lesotho. In some cases Microsoft has funded the training of teachers, but increasingly provincial departments of Education and corporate sponsors such as Vodacom and Multichoice are commissioning SchoolNet SA to conduct training using the Partners in Learning teacher training materials, often as a result of successful interventions that Microsoft has sponsored.

We are grateful to Microsoft for continuing to provide funding for enhancing and adding to the training materials and for building capacity amongst our growing pool of trainers. We are further grateful to Microsoft South Africa and particularly Angela Schaerer, Reza Bardien and Vis Naidoo for continuing to recommend SchoolNet to other corporates and indeed to other divisions of Microsoft.

Microsoft Innovative Teachers/Education Forums

This year, SchoolNet once again project-managed a range of Innovative Teachers Forum events for Microsoft. The first of these events was the Lesotho Innovative Teachers Forum which took place in June at the Lesotho School Technology Innovation Centre. Ten teachers presented projects at the Forum which were of an impressive standard considering the lack of access to resources faced by many of the participating teachers. It was pleasing to note that most of the participants had been through training at the Lesotho STIC – a centre that SchoolNet supports through offering training and logistical support.

The South African Innovative Teachers Forum took place at the Africa School Technology Innovation Centre in Newtown in August. At this event, twenty innovative projects were presented, with one winning project being presented by a group of four teachers from the Free State, pictured right with

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the MD of Microsoft SA, Mteto Nyati – who spontaneously pledged to find sufficient funding to send the team of four to Mombasa for the Pan African finals. Almost all of the winning teachers had been through an Innovation workshop and / or other Microsoft or Intel training and whilst this proves the effectiveness of these courses our challenge remains to get more teachers to integrate ICT at the level expected of an Innovative Teacher.

At the end of August SchoolNet SA coordinated the Pan African Innovative Education Forum in Mombasa, Kenya. This event took place at the Aga Khan Academy, a Microsoft Innovative Mentor School and combined tracks for both Innovative Teachers and Innovative Schools. In total sixteen different African countries were represented at the Forum. All of the participants enjoyed the opportunity to network and learn from their colleagues, and the Southern African teachers performed exceptionally well in the judging process.

In October 2010 the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum was held in Cape Town which meant that we were both participants and hosts for the event. In addition to the 10 Southern African teachers who qualified to participate in this event through the Pan African Innovative Education Forum, Eunice High School participated as an Innovative Mentor School and St Cyprians was selected as an Innovative Pathfinder school. SchoolNet was delighted to be asked to help coordinate the entry and judging process for this event and to coordinate a series of school visits for delegates.

Mouse Mischief Competition

SchoolNet administered another competition for Microsoft in which teachers from throughout Africa were invited to develop a lesson using Mouse Mischief (a PowerPoint add-in that enables teachers to set up interactive lessons using more than one mouse). This involved developing a scoring template, selecting winners and distributing prizes. The overall winner was a South African teacher who attended the Pan African IEF as part of her prize. Left is Hafeeza Mayet the winner of the Mouse Mischief Competition

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Microsoft Partners in Learning Materials Development

SchoolNet SA continues to be involved in developing courseware for the Microsoft Partners in Learning courses. In 2010 new scenarios were developed for the ICT Skills for Teachers and One Step Further courses to show teachers how Microsoft offerings such as Auto-Collage and Worldwide Telescope, to name just two, could be integrated into teaching and learning. The HelpDesk course was updated to reflect the Master Trainer’s experiences of what worked well during training sessions and to be in line with evolving technology. SchoolNet SA has developed materials to help schools provisioned with Live@Edu accounts to use the Windows Live features more effectively. SchoolNet has also been involved in developing a presentation on the Microsoft Learning Suite of free resources for schools and making teachers aware of these through presentations at the University of Pretoria and at conferences.

Microsoft – Case Studies and Evaluation

After the 2009 Pan African Innovative Teacher event, SchoolNet SA was asked to develop two case studies that showcased two African innovative teachers or success stories. Case studies were subsequently written documenting the journey of the Lesotho teacher who won the educator’s choice prize at the Brazil WW IEF as well as a former Ugandan WW IEF winner who is now mentoring other teachers. In 2010, SchoolNet was commissioned

to conduct a review of the Partners in Learning Network and how it is being used and perceived by African teachers. SchoolNet also conducted a review of materials developed by Mindset that had been commissioned by Microsoft. We were excited to be involved in these projects as the assignments extended beyond South Africa and our usual role of developing materials and conducting training.

Support for the Microsoft School Technology Innovation Centre

In 2010 the move from the original STIC location at the Johannesburg Central College to the Sci Bono centre in Newtown was completed. SchoolNet assisted with the setting up the new centre and we are delighted to have such an exciting space so close to our own offices.

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SchoolNet has benefitted from the STIC in that we have been able to use it and its resources for a number of projects, most notably the AED New Futures project. We continue to support it by helping to coordinate training events at the STIC, and overseeing the ICT Skills for Teachers training that is conducted by Sci Bono. The centre manager, Victor Ngobeni provides expertise and support to all SchoolNet programmes run at the centre and has been one of SchoolNet’s best trainers since 2005.

Microsoft Xbox and Kinect

An interesting project to be started in 2010 in a rural junior primary school in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal emerged from Microsoft headquarters in Redmond. The intervention aims to find out whether the use of gaming using Xboxes and Kinect technology has any effect on English language acquisition in junior primary learners. It is evident that the teachers at the school are a very dedicated group and it is clear that they are excited but somewhat apprehensive about this very technological pilot. SchoolNet has been tasked with end to end project management which includes installation of security and hardware in 6 classrooms, development of a teacher training guide, training of teachers and management of the evaluation. This initiative is an exciting departure from the norm and we are all eager to scrutinise the findings.

Microsoft Peer Coaching

In 2010 Peer Coaching took place in clusters in Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Pretoria. Whilst it is challenging to attract suitable teachers and to get teachers to commit to a programme that lasts nine months, Peer Coaching remains a highly successful professional development model that makes a sustained impact in the schools that participate. Peer Coaching also helps to get clusters of teachers involved in other training opportunities and works well with the approach of offering a range of courses to teachers in selected areas and to thereby build up pockets of excellence as opposed to spreading the training budget thinly across more schools.

Microsoft Teacher Training and Provincial Capacity Building

The Microsoft Partners in Learning funding model works on the assumption that while Microsoft will fund initial training and capacity building, it is hoped that Provincial Departments of Education will pay for mass training rollouts. During 2010, Microsoft sponsored selected training opportunities to showcase the courses and to offer provincial officials the opportunity to experience training. A number of meetings were also organised with provincial officials to discuss possible roadmaps for training.

2.3. INSPIRE

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The Limpopo Office of the Premier and Provincial Information Society Strategy Development Programme in the Republic of South Africa (INSPIRE) in collaboration with the Limpopo Department of Education and funded by the Finnish and South African governments wished to establish an information society strategy and model. The intention was to roll out a pilot in one district of Limpopo with a view to replicating the model in other districts, other provinces and ultimately in other SADC countries. SchoolNet was contracted to conceptualise the project, to appoint and train facilitators and to monitor the quality of training. The implementation of the project was the responsibility of the district officials. Although this project was intended to build capacity within the district a range of problems arose with infrastructure, software, connectivity, capacity of the district based project staff and poorly selected district schools. Many lessons were learnt and many teachers and trainers were trained but further analysis has to be conducted before the model can be replicated or scaled.

2.4.Commonwealth of Learning

Qualification in ICT Integration

In January 2010 the Commonwealth of Learning approached SchoolNet with a proposal for reviving the Advanced Certificate in Education that had been offered by the University of KZN after being adapted by SchoolNet from the Educators’ Network materials. Meetings were held with the various stakeholders including the University of KZN and the content of the qualification was revised by Gerald Roos to constitute a new qualification, the Commonwealth Certificate for Teacher ICT Integration (CCTI). The model of delivery is via distance with the materials on CD and tutor support using various online collaboration tools. This qualification is being made available to all universities in the Commonwealth to adapt and use as they wish. Already SchoolNet and primarily Gerald have been involved with requests to the Commonwealth from the following countries: Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas and Seychelles.

Dean’s Forum: ‘Transforming Teacher Education – ICT for Teaching and Learning’

In order to address ICT integration in pre and in-service teacher education as well as for universities to become aware of the new qualification, the Commonwealth of learning requested SchoolNet to convene a forum for Deans of Education. The invitation was quite specific that only delegates with decision-making capacity should attend the forum. The

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invitation was opened to all universities in South Africa as well as universities in ten neighbouring SADC countries and the South African national Department of Education. The attendance was excellent and the discussions were most worthwhile. It became apparent that few Deans in South African universities were aware of their national policies on ICT integration in their qualifications and many lacked knowledge about the requirements concerning teacher ICT competences.

Prof. Rudi Laugksch, UCT; Prof. Maureen Robinson, CPUT; Prof. R K Auala, Dr Richard Tabulawa, University of Botswana; Prof. Gawie du Toit, University of the Free State; Dr Whitfield Green, Director: Initial Professional Education of Teachers, Department of Higher Education, South Africa.

The Commonwealth of Learning generously included their own speakers in the programme, their president, Sir John Daniel, Ms Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic and Zeynap Varoglu from the UNESCO Higher Education Quality Assurance and Dominic Savage from the British Educational Suppliers Association who all gave valuable contributions. Both Intel and Microsoft contributed towards the hosting of this seminar and coincidentally Microsoft was in the process of launching a Toolkit for Teacher Education Institutions. This was presented to the Deans’ forum by Angela Schaerer. Later in the year an exploratory workshop was held with the University of the Free State but further exploration will be undertaken in 2011 with a larger number of universities as part of Microsoft Partners in Learning Innovation programme.

Tanzania – women’s empowerment workshop

Unrelated to the work on the ICT qualification, the Commonwealth of Learning requested SchoolNet to conduct a workshop in Morogoro in Tanzania in the use of ICTs for The Institute for Adult Education in Dar es Salam in November 2010. This workshop was to include an element of women’s

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empowerment because ICTs were regarded as a man’s domain in this institution. Dezlin Jacobs undertook this assignment and appears to have had great success. The group consisted of 25 ladies and two gentlemen with a range of skill levels. It was admitted by participants that the lack in practising their skills in their office environment was the cause of their problems. The vision of the women taking ownership of their development was successful in that they were able to identify barriers to their learning, apart from the poor infrastructure that they faced. It was also encouraging that no matter how learned these women were, they were willing to explore, make mistakes and closely collaborate to improve each other’s work.

2.5.Teacher Laptop Initiative

This initiative appears to be close to lift-off after a few years of false starts. The ELRC must be commended for drawing all stakeholders together and for managing an arduous process of negotiation and arbitration between the various teacher unions, the many laptop vendors, the connectivity suppliers, the national department of education, the implementation partners who comprise insurance companies and Dimension Data, and the strategic partners who consist of Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe, Symantec and SchoolNet.

SchoolNet was involved in 6 different consortia early in the process when the tender was being handled by the Department of Education. Once the ELRC took responsibility, SchoolNet was no longer involved. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to be named as the service provider for training without any tender process having been followed. SchoolNet’s Chairman of the Board saw parallels with our previous experience of being appointed without a tender process and therefore insisted on a formalisation of SchoolNet’s position. The ELRC was quick to draft an MOU so that SchoolNet could continue to provide services to the initiative. Those services include the provincial launch events where SchoolNet has played a major role in designing the programme and in providing insight into how laptops can improve teaching and learning. SchoolNet is responsible for the professional development offerings and Mindset is taking responsibility for the image. We have developed and adapted courses, some additional short courses specifically for the laptop initiative and we are liaising with Dimension Data who are responsible for the national registry in order to establish online tracking of teacher progress.

The budget that SchoolNet has submitted to the national Department of Education to cover the training for the first 128 000 teachers is for R 95 866 224.17. If the expectations from the provinces and Dimension Data materialise then we will need to run approx 6500 workshops between now and April next year and will require approximately 600 trainers. Both Intel and Microsoft have pledged large tranches of funding towards the training of trainers

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which will be the key factor in sustaining effective quality training. The teacher laptop initiative may prove to significantly change the way SchoolNet operates but at present very little preparation can be made until confirmation of funding is received from Treasury.

Related to the Laptop Initiative is the allocation of Professional Development points by SACE. There has been no movement whatsoever on this from SACE in almost two years but we are optimistic that the ELRC may be able to motivate some progress on this vital issue.

2.6.Academy for Educational Development: New Futures

SchoolNet SA formed a partnership with the American-based NGO, Academy for Educational Development (AED) and Microsoft to implement an ICT-based employability learning programme for South African youth. We are very grateful to Microsoft not only for the funding but also because the project was partly housed at the Microsoft STIC at Sci-Bono in New Town. We owe thanks to Sci-Bono for providing us with a teaching space and forming a mutually beneficial partnership. The course content focused on technical

support. An insightful and thorough evaluation of the programme was carried out by SAIDE. This has been widely circulated among all stakeholders and funders. A large percentage of both groups of students have now since found employment. It was a great pity that further funding was not forthcoming for such a worthwhile programme, particularly as we had the offer of a free venue in Durban that included computer facilities and connectivity.

Another partnership with AED has been formed with their division working in Kenya and Tanzania that relates to USAID funded projects, although at this stage there is just a commitment letter from SchoolNet forming part of the AED proposal.

2.7.Other SchoolNet SA projects

Vodacom

The Vodacom Foundation is partnering with Microsoft and SchoolNet SA in a three year programme aimed at enhancing initiatives in education. The project consists of two components: providing Microsoft Partners in Learning training for teachers and providing training and support for Vodacom ICT Resource Centres.

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In the first year of running the programme, teachers in 70 schools in two provinces were trained on the following Partners in Learning courses: ICT Leadership for Education Managers, ICT Skills for Teachers, Student HelpDesk. In the second year of the programme teachers will receive training on the following courses: Peer Coaching, Innovation workshop, One Step Further WebQuests. The launch of the Vodacom project was held at the Vodacom ICT Resource Centre in Ganyesa, NorthWest. Training in the resources centres will commence in December 2010 and will roll out as each of the centre managers is appointed by the respective provincial education departments.

SITA (State Information Technology Agency) SITA GovTech - Pinetown Schools

This project started in 2009 and was scheduled to finish by October 2010. The two schools in the project Albini Girls’ High School and Buhlebemfundo were selected to receive training rather than the need arising from the schools themselves. Fortunately staff at Albini Girls is enthusiastic but the attitude from Buhlebemfundo is one of disinterest. The schools were scheduled to receive ICT Leadership for Educations Managers; Peer Coaching; ICT Skills for Teachers; ICT Integration One Step Further, WebQuest, Intel Thinking with Technology, Intel Teach Elements: Project Based Approaches and Sizanani. A support specialist was initially

appointed to provide technical and professional assistance to the school however this failed to sufficiently motivate teachers to participate and the recent Industrial action provided a convenient excuse to not complete the requisite courses. A camera team from SABC Morning Live interviewed teachers and learners at the school during the GovTech conference in Durban and all spoke favourably about the successes of the project at Albini Girls.

SITA Midlands

The SITA project running in the KZN Midlands has been well managed by Omashani and the full time support specialist, Hlengiwe Mfeka. The midlands project has seven schools that are to receive training over two years. A range of courses were planned to ensure that schools have continuous support. Hlengiwe’s role is to brief teachers and management about courses and encourage and motivate effective use of ICT in the schools. This has been a successful initiative to date with the teachers really benefitting from the individual attention. Two teachers from the Midlands project presented their learning experiences of the project at the Cape Town Innovate Conference in 2010. Three teachers from this project are currently participating in the Adobe

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Youth Voices project and some have entered the Innovative Teachers Forum awards. The fact that these teachers can now reach these advanced levels reflects the effective support that teachers receive using this model.

Despite the many successes in the SITA projects, there have been issues with payment of invoices not being received within 120 days. SchoolNet has been communicating regularly with SITA about this but has now informed SITA that the projects will be suspended if payment is not received before the end of November 2010.

I*EARN (International Education and Resource Network)

I*EARN is a non-profit organization made up of over 30,000 schools and youth organizations in more than 130 countries. iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and other new communications technologies. Over 2,000,000 students

each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide. SchoolNet SA has worked with I*EARN in the past – and co- hosted an international conference in 2000 – Millennium Minds. We have re-established a relationship with iEARN and have decided that we will promote its projects and calls for support as much as we can. Where possible SchoolNet SA will apply for grants and funded projects that will further South African teachers’ reach into the global community. Adobe Youth Voices is one such project.

Adobe Youth Voices

AYV is a global philanthropic initiative that empowers youth worldwide to comment on their world using multimedia and digital tools to communicate and share their ideas, exhibit their potential, and take action in their communities. The initiative engages youth in exploring and commenting on their world using video, multimedia, digital art, web, animation, and audio; enhance the skills and knowledge of educators to use these tools more effectively with youth; and widely exhibit the resulting youth work in community, broadcast, and online forums.

In 2010 SchoolNet SA’s project manager Omashani Naidoo, attended the I*EARN conference in Toronto, Canada to work with other AYV coordinators to showcase projects that South African Teachers had produced. Once again, SchoolNet has now been given the opportunity to implement this project in 2011 and we currently have 10 teachers working through the online course on designing and producing media using Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premiere Elements. Once Teachers have completed the course they

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will be required to work with their learners to design media projects around a social problem or an issue that youth in their community feel they need to highlight.Oracle SA

The work we undertake for Oracle is limited to running workshops aimed at promoting ThinkQuest projects. The intention to develop an Oracle learning institute after the pilot that was conducted in 2009 does not seem to have been carried through. SchoolNet still firmly believes that the ThinkQuest projects and ThinkQuest competition are extremely worthwhile initiatives in which teachers and their learners should engage and in 2011 we are hoping to extend the work we do with Oracle.

Higher Education Institutions

The University of KwaZulu-Natal suspended the ACE ICT integration during 2010. However they have now received offers of bursaries from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and intend to resurrect the qualification as from June 2011. In the interim aspects of this qualification have been modified and extended.

SchoolNet SA continues to provide input into ICT curriculum design for teacher education qualifications at a number of higher education institutions. We have been involved in 2010 with Wits and the development of content for their new ACE. Previously we have been included in re-curriculation discussions with the University of Johannesburg and we engage with smaller projects with both Rhodes University and the University of Fort Hare.

We have been working closely with the University of the Free State due to our relationship with Sarietjie Musgrave who is one of our best trainers nationally, is one of our most successful innovative teachers winners and who since January 2010 has been the Director of the Unit for ICT Innovation in School Education – ICTISE.

GDE e-maturity Survey

SchoolNet SA partnered with SAIDE, Neil Butcher and Associates, and Outsourced Insights to undertake the evaluation of the e-maturity and e-readiness of schools in Gauteng for the Gauteng Department of Education. The overall objective was to obtain data upon which to base a future professional development strategy but it appears that the report has not yet been widely circulated. SchoolNet SA welcomed the opportunity to be involved in this study and is disappointed that the GDE has not consulted further about future ICT professional development strategies or learning pathways related to our findings.

Other research

It is worth noting that apart from this study with SAIDE, SchoolNet conducted a range of evaluation work during 2010. SchoolNet was requested to evaluate professional development materials designed by Mindset and to review the usage and perceptions of the Microsoft Partners in Learning Network. The Peermont group requested that we audit the status of ICT use in their schools and to make recommendations for future professional development strategies. We were also requested to write up case studies of teachers in

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Lesotho and Uganda. Microsoft in Redmond have commissioned SchoolNet to manage an assessment process which will explore whether the use of gaming using Xboxes and Kinect technology has any effect on English language acquisition in junior primary learners in Vryheid. It is testimony to SchoolNet’s reputation that we have been considered for these types of contracts and therefore that our opinions are widely valued.

3. SchoolNet SA Finances Limpopo

The litigation process with the Department of Education in Limpopo was completed in 2010 and resulted in SchoolNet not only receiving payment for legal costs but also payment for all outstanding invoices plus 10.5% compound interest back dated to August 2007. This has provided a reasonable buffer of reserve funding for SchoolNet. Ironically at the same time as the lawyers were finalising this settlement, the Limpopo Province, Office of the Premier contracted SchoolNet to undertake a further project. This action indicated that SchoolNet and the Limpopo province maintained goodwill and good relations throughout the legal proceedings. I wish to thank the board for bearing with us throughout this protracted legal issue and for providing feedback on the legal advice and the long submissions and affidavits.

As a consequence to the Limpopo debt being honoured, SchoolNet has been in a position to invest surplus funds. The SchoolNet board members felt strongly that we invest in a conservative fund and only in large investment houses.

Audited Financial Statements

The audited financial statements were not always regularly completed before the AGM in past years. I am delighted to report that Douglas and Velcich have managed to complete the audit in time for the AGM for the second consecutive year. We are very grateful to the representatives from D & V for attending the AGM in order to field any queries that may arise from their audited statements.

4. SchoolNet SA Staff

For all staff at SchoolNet SA, 2010 was a very busy year. Despite the appointment of some new staff, the workloads for the SchoolNet project staff did not decrease and in fact the number of projects increased so much that we could be described as having a staff that is lean – and mean.

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Gerald Roos continues to provide specialised educational ICT expertise to SchoolNet that is highly valued by all staff at SchoolNet; Gerald has been working to capacity in 2010.

Zodumo is the most experienced administrative assistant at SchoolNet and regularly manages a range of projects with ease. It has been pleasing to see Zodumo take increasing responsibility for projects, and the fact that Multichoice has continued to ask SchoolNet to train more and more schools is testimony to Zodumo’s effective handling of this project.

Omashani has been the person tasked with all operations management. She has recently therefore had to take responsibility for the logistics and the budgeting for the Teacher Laptop Initiative. This task coincidentally fits well with another of Omashani’s duties, that of upgrading the SchoolNet database. These two responsibilities alone can account for many late nights and overtime but in addition to these Omashani is responsible for a range of other projects such as Microsoft Peer Coaching, all provincial projects, SITA projects, Adobe Youth Voices, Rhodes University project, Sci-Bono and the INSPIRE project. When Omashani made a presentation on curriculum uses of a laptop at the Western Cape Teacher Laptop Launch she had a visible impact on both the MEC for Education and the SG who subsequently made repeated references to Omashani’s presentation in her speech. We are blessed to have staff of Omashani’s calibre in the SchoolNet family.

During 2010 SchoolNet experienced a number of changes in personnel. Dezlin Jacobs joined us in March this year and took responsibility for Intel Teach programmes, she had to hit the ground running in order to convene a seminar for Deans of Education from all universities in South African and from ten SADC countries. She handled this with aplomb; not only was the forum a great success with an unusually high attendance but in the final session when Deans were reporting back from their groups Dezlin thought nothing of jumping up to the podium and capturing their feedback projected on the overhead as she typed. Dezlin has continued to work in this energetic and courageous manner and has enthused everyone who comes into contact with her.

Mathapelo Sehume joined the fold full time as from March this year. She came highly recommended as one of the most competent students from the New Futures project. She took responsibility for the Vodacom project administration and while this has not been the easiest project to work with, Mathapelo has now established her presence well within the organisation.

The increased volumes of Intel Teach Getting Started training suddenly required additional administration work. Therefore Phindile Mavundla was appointed to take on the role of scheduling training. She had also been recommended as a graduate from the New Futures programme and although she was appointed in a temporary capacity, she has now proved herself worthy of having her contract extended.

As mentioned above Hlengiwe Mfeka was appointed to be responsible for the SITA project in the KZN Midlands. She started the project by planning carefully with the principals, senior management and all departmental officials including the District Manager, the Ward Manager and the provincial personnel responsible for e-Learning. Her careful planning and

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excellent facilitation skills have resulted in higher volumes of teachers trained as well as a wider range of courses than would be the case without this hands-on specialist support.

Nomty Gcaba relocated from Gauteng to KZN and adapted from being an office-based project coordinator to being an almost full time trainer. Nomty fulfils a similar role to Hlengiwe in that she liaises closely with schools and provides a great deal of valuable support. She covers a range of additional projects as well as SITA Pinetown. Nomty is such an experienced and competent facilitator that she has developed excellent relationships with schools and teachers and has made SchoolNet’s image sparkle in KZN.

When one considers the extent of SchoolNet’s involvement in Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Programme itemised in the tables below, it is clear that Megan Rademeyer has gone far beyond the call of duty as the SchoolNet manager responsible for the PIL programme. Not only has Megan generated and managed this expanding programme herself but for the past few years she has almost single-handedly organised the national and Pan African Innovative Teachers Awards Forum events and in 2010 was responsible for a range of highly successful aspects of the worldwide event in Cape Town. James Bernard, Microsoft’s Partners in Learning worldwide Director described Megan’s work as “Fantastic!” and told us that he really hoped to commission SchoolNet to undertake the same responsibility for the worldwide event in Washington next year. In between her international exploits Megan finds the time to oversee all SchoolNet budget proposals and makes such a significant and carefully considered contribution to all SchoolNet decision-making that she has to be recognised among many other things as being the person responsible for SchoolNet’s current strong financial status.

Our bookkeeper, Melody Theobald has also played a great part in maintaining the health of SchoolNet finances. She has now streamlined the payment and budgeting processes in order to produce accurate and regular management accounts. Melody is a valued asset at SchoolNet SA. SchoolNet contracts approximately 250 trainers on a part time basis - we could not exist without them and

their expertise is highly valued!

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The New Futures AED Youth Employability team left at the end of the project in June 2010: Sally Cruickshanks - Project Manager Sophia Kousiakis - Learning Facilitator and e-Mentoring coordinator. Violet Chisulo - Learning Facilitator Beauty Shabalala - Administrative Assistant.

Themba was the mainstay of the AED New Futures initiative but once it was completed he moved onto a contract basis because there was insufficient full-time project work in the area of technical support training. He has continued to provide the office staff with technical support and to conduct Help Desk training sessions on a regular basis when required. He has now taken responsibility for managing the Microsoft Kinect project in Vryheid.

A review of staff job descriptions has been completed by Averile Ryder for the purposes of benchmarking. An analysis of tasks mapped to job descriptions will be undertaken in order to identify gaps with a view to appointing new staff. Thereafter we intend to engage with a company that specialises in personnel analysis and capacity building.

Once again I would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the SchoolNet SA board. The Board has been a great source of wisdom throughout the year and have providing excellent guidance to the organisation applying their expertise to a range of areas.

5. Summary of projects Summary of projects as at 25.11.2010

Completed Microsoft Projects paid for in full MS - Peer Coaching in 6 Clusters in 2009

Peer coaching happened in East London, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban

MS - Pan African ITA - Mauritius SchoolNet coordinated the programme for the Pan African ITF.

MS - African participants to WW IEF (Brazil)

Travel arrangements for African delegation to the WW IEF in Salvador, Brazil in November 2009.

80 Sessions - Miscellaneous Projects Mbazwane training of trainers, Fort Hare CDs and Certificates and Carnarvon ICT Skills training

MS - FY10 - Innovative Teachers - Coordination and Logistics

Travel arrangements for the South African teachers to attend the Pan African ITF in Mauritius and the WW IEF in Brazil.

MS - FY10 - Innovative Schools - Planning Workshops

An Innovative Schools planning workshop - Bloemfontein. Waiting for final version of toolkit from corp. Local toolkit to be adapted and implemented with cluster of schools around Bloemfontein.

MS - FY10 - Capacity Building in Lesotho

Various expenses for the Lesotho STIC as & Lesotho STIC manager's expenses to attend the Pan African ITF in Mauritius.

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MS - Ten sessions of One Step Further (80 Sessions)

Ten sessions of OSF took place in various provinces to give new trainers an opportunity to each run a course.

MS - FY10 - PiL Curriculum Update PiL materials were incorporated into WITS ACE course

MS - Innovative Teacher Case Studies Case studies written on the Ugandan and Lesotho Innovative Teachers

MS - FY10 - Review of PiL Network SNSA completed a review on the Partners in Learning Network incorporating feedback from users throughout Africa as well as staff member experiences.

MS - STIC Relocation and Establishment

STIC move to Sc-Bono. SchoolNet SA taking management fee on all invoices processed through this project.

MS - FY10 - PiL Teacher Training A range of training events e.g. Willow Park / Pefferville. The balance was spent on Innovative Teachers 2010.

MS - FY10 - PiL DoE Capacity Building Various provincial meetings and interventions to make provincial officials aware of the PiL training options. Balance spent on Innovative Teachers 2010.

MS - 2010 Innovative Teachers Seven innovation workshops took place. The ITF finals event took place on 2 and 3 August.

MS - ESN Conference Sponsorship Travel expenses for 4 Bloemfontein teachers and 1 E Cape. Balance transferred to ESN for general sponsorship of teachers.

Completed Provincial Projects that have been paid for in fullGauteng - Ekhuruleni North - ICT Skills

One round of ICT Skills for Teachers training

Eastern Cape - Port Elizabeth - ICT Leadership

Completed training of 35 principals end of 2009

Gauteng - North - WebQuests (Mpho)

WebQuests training for teachers who had done well at ICT Skills for Teachers training.

Free State 20 Schools 20 rounds of ICT Skills for Teachers training.

WCED CEI Intel Assessment of portfolios and provision of certificates

Free State - HelpDesk and One Step Further

5 rounds of Help desk and 10 rounds of OSF completed

WCED - Trainer Payments (ICT Skills and WebQuests)

Payments made to WCED trainers on behalf of WCED.

WCED - Certificates and WebQuests Assessment

Certificates printed and WebQuests assessed for training conduced through Centre for e- Innovation, WCED

Completed Corporate Projects that have been paid for in full

Oprah Winfrey Little Angels - ICT Training

One day of ICT Skills training in three venues.

UKZN –ACE Not offered in 2010 – re starting in 2011 with bursaries from KZN DoBE.

Sci-Bono 13 Schools ICT Skills for Teachers training complete.

Multichoice in Further Three Schools

ICT Skills and OSF complete.

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Multichoice in Three KZN Schools

Three rounds of ICT Skills training completed Easter 2010

SAIDE - GDE Gauteng Schools ICT e- Maturity Research

case studies - input into research methodology, design of instruments and made recommendations.

WITS - ACE

COL - HEI Seminar Seminar organised for African and South African deans; Cape Town in April.

KZN - Three Circuit Training ICT Skills Training in 3 Districts. +-330 Principals and HODs trained.

Review of Microsoft Materials developed by Mindset

Review of CD complete. Review of first draft of training programme complete.

Sci-Bono - Balance This funding was used to pay for CDs and certificates at SciBono training sessions.

INSPIRE - Pilot in 15 Schools This project involved running a range of courses, developing capacity within the department and monitoring and evaluating new trainers.

Current Projects (excluding Microsoft)Vodacom Foundation - Teacher Training

Vodacom Foundation - ICT Resource Centres

Oracle - Think Quest Project Workshops including ThinkQuest case studies

Free State - 30 Schools

Free State - One Step Further

Free State - Help Desk

Free State - Leadership for Education Managers

Free State -WebQuests

AED - New Futures

WorldLinks

Intel

UCT - Help Desk

SITA - Pinetown

SITA - Midlands

Adobe Youth Voices

Teacher Laptop Initiative

Multichoice - EC, NC and FS

Microsoft Projects – current MS - Ten Case Study Schools

MS - Peer Coaching in 5 Clusters

MS - Live@Edu Training

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MS - Marketing Support for Laptop Initiative

MS - Mouse Mischief

MS - FY11 - PiL Teacher Training

MS - FY11 - Lesotho STIC Master Training

MS - FY11 - Innovative Schools

MS - FY11 - PiL Materials Upgrade

MS - FY11 - SA Teachers to WWIEF (Cape Town)

MS - FY11 - WWIEF - STIC Contribution

6. Projects 2010

POTENTIAL ProjectsLinks to Language – Chicago Sister Cities with Durban

Bloodhound project in Northern Cape For Intel Getting Started

Mindset - Standard Bank - Whole School Development Project

Meraka - Mobile Learning Course Development and Training

Peermont - Research into 7 Schools

GDE - MTN

KZN - ICT Training for Senior Management

MS - X-Box English Language Research

MS - Peer Coaching in 5 Clusters for 2011

In conclusion it can be seen that 2010 has been an eventful but most rewarding year for SchoolNet SA; we have increased our scope, number of projects and financial stability. Our hope is that 2011 will see us building on these successes and continuing to find more ways of empowering teachers to use ICTs effectively.

Janet Thomson, Executive Director 25/11/2010

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