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| Leanne Bishop (left), Khatija Osman (centre) and Matema Malatji (right) |
During the professional development part of the event there was no time to actually present our projects to one another. We were asked to submit written entries saying what our projects were about for the Digital Institute blog which is where I have retrieved the information that follows. Only seven of the finalists actually described their projects, so I am adding the information from those seven below.
The ten finalists
The ten finalists who competed for the three titles were: Leanne Bishop of Grantleigh College, Mabore Lekalakala of Mapudithomo Primary School, Matthew Hains of Saheti School, Fiona Beal of The Rock Academy, Matema Jacobeth Malatji of Diopong Primary School, Peggy Jona of Bakuba Primary School, Dimakatso Sefora of Saron Primary School, Khatija Osman of Durban Girls’ College, Nombuso Precious Thobela of Vulamasango Primary School, and Cyril Nkosana Nkabinde of Zonkizizwe Secondary School.
The ten finalists who competed for the three titles were: Leanne Bishop of Grantleigh College, Mabore Lekalakala of Mapudithomo Primary School, Matthew Hains of Saheti School, Fiona Beal of The Rock Academy, Matema Jacobeth Malatji of Diopong Primary School, Peggy Jona of Bakuba Primary School, Dimakatso Sefora of Saron Primary School, Khatija Osman of Durban Girls’ College, Nombuso Precious Thobela of Vulamasango Primary School, and Cyril Nkosana Nkabinde of Zonkizizwe Secondary School.
Matema Jacobeth Malatji
Matema was the overall winner. She is a Foundation Phase educator at Diopong Primary School in Gamakanye Village in Limpopo. She taught Grade 1 learners phonics using tablets. She also taught
Grade 3 learners Maths using technology to transform the negative attitude of learners towards the love of Maths.
Matema was the overall winner. She is a Foundation Phase educator at Diopong Primary School in Gamakanye Village in Limpopo. She taught Grade 1 learners phonics using tablets. She also taught
Grade 3 learners Maths using technology to transform the negative attitude of learners towards the love of Maths.
Leanne Bishop
Leane is from Grantleigh College in Kwazulu-Natal. She was awarded the ISPA Tech Teacher for 2018 title. Leanne says: "My project demonstrated the creative and efficient use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning in the 21st century. My project involved a fairly ordinary section in Geography (Population), and with the help of ICT, I made the content come alive. I was not teaching. I was guiding the learners to be at the centre of their learning. I used an augmented reality application to make words on a seemingly boring, blank A4 page, come to life. From there, there was discussion, thought, the asking of questions and…great learning. All learners were actively involved and this project was an absolutely wonderful journey to embark on."
Khatija Osman
Dimakatso is from Saron Primary School in NW Province. Her project was about 'Teaching with Mobile Technology' with the Grade 7 E-FAL learners. She says, "Our school is situated in a rural village of Bafokeng where we don’t have resources."
Peggy Jona
Peggy is from Bakuba Primary School in Tabankulu, in the Eastern Cape Province. Her project was about the effective use of teaching and learning strategies to improve learners performance in Mathematics so that they can reach the International benchmark (TIMSS - Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). They used smartphones and desktop computers.
Fiona is from the Rock Academy in Fish Hoek. That's me! My project is about how I have changed the way I teach! I called it: ‘Using blogs empowered by badging as digital portfolios in a 21st century classroom'. My goal was to increase the motivation of my learners, and bring fun along with excellence into all our lessons. I thought of some of the 21st Century teaching approaches that are trending at the moment such as the paperless classroom, gamification, digital writing, and e-portfolios, and I put them all into the mixing bowl and came up with my project idea. I got my Grade 6 class to do the term’s work in ICT lessons, using a variety of applications, in a gamified way. They used blogs, which we called e-portfolios, to display their work. I used gaming terminology in the lessons and awarded badges for work well done. My learners loved this new approach. My project is ongoing and will be expanding continually.
Matthew Haines
Matt is a well-known CAT teacher in South Africa. He is from Saheti School in Johannesburg. His project was called Learning critical thinking and problem-solving skills through the creation of a mobile device application. He used Microsoft Teams, OneNote and Thunkable. Matt has since turned his project description into a well-presented video, so I will add here that instead of the written information.
Enter the ISPA competition in 2019
Think about entering this ISPA competition in 2019. You will start seeing adverts for it on the Internet in February/March 2019. Take a chance and enter - you might get a big, wonderful surprise like I did and be selected as a finalist!
Leane is from Grantleigh College in Kwazulu-Natal. She was awarded the ISPA Tech Teacher for 2018 title. Leanne says: "My project demonstrated the creative and efficient use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning in the 21st century. My project involved a fairly ordinary section in Geography (Population), and with the help of ICT, I made the content come alive. I was not teaching. I was guiding the learners to be at the centre of their learning. I used an augmented reality application to make words on a seemingly boring, blank A4 page, come to life. From there, there was discussion, thought, the asking of questions and…great learning. All learners were actively involved and this project was an absolutely wonderful journey to embark on."
Khatija Osman
Khatiya is an intern at Durban Girls College. She was awarded the ISPA Mobile Tech Teacher for 2018 title. Her project was called Y-NOT? / PROJECT V and it was all about vlogging using Flipgrid.
Dimakatso Sefora
Dimakatso Sefora
Dimakatso is from Saron Primary School in NW Province. Her project was about 'Teaching with Mobile Technology' with the Grade 7 E-FAL learners. She says, "Our school is situated in a rural village of Bafokeng where we don’t have resources."
Peggy Jona
Peggy is from Bakuba Primary School in Tabankulu, in the Eastern Cape Province. Her project was about the effective use of teaching and learning strategies to improve learners performance in Mathematics so that they can reach the International benchmark (TIMSS - Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). They used smartphones and desktop computers.
Fiona Beal
Fiona is from the Rock Academy in Fish Hoek. That's me! My project is about how I have changed the way I teach! I called it: ‘Using blogs empowered by badging as digital portfolios in a 21st century classroom'. My goal was to increase the motivation of my learners, and bring fun along with excellence into all our lessons. I thought of some of the 21st Century teaching approaches that are trending at the moment such as the paperless classroom, gamification, digital writing, and e-portfolios, and I put them all into the mixing bowl and came up with my project idea. I got my Grade 6 class to do the term’s work in ICT lessons, using a variety of applications, in a gamified way. They used blogs, which we called e-portfolios, to display their work. I used gaming terminology in the lessons and awarded badges for work well done. My learners loved this new approach. My project is ongoing and will be expanding continually.
Matthew Haines
Matt is a well-known CAT teacher in South Africa. He is from Saheti School in Johannesburg. His project was called Learning critical thinking and problem-solving skills through the creation of a mobile device application. He used Microsoft Teams, OneNote and Thunkable. Matt has since turned his project description into a well-presented video, so I will add here that instead of the written information.
Enter the ISPA competition in 2019
Think about entering this ISPA competition in 2019. You will start seeing adverts for it on the Internet in February/March 2019. Take a chance and enter - you might get a big, wonderful surprise like I did and be selected as a finalist!
