Vodacom 'clouds' teaching skills for teachers

Vodacom has set up an information and communications technology centre that offers educational resources to schools throughout the country using cloud technology so that teachers can upgrade their mathematics and science teaching skills.

Business Day says that the Department of Basic Education has conceded that about 15 000 teachers and under-qualified. Vodacom says it is building these educational centres in all provinces and the first one has already been opened in Pretoria as part of Vodacom's Mobile Education Programme.

Major software and education resource companies, including Microsoft, Cisco and Mindset Learn have joined the programme to provide the centres with software, programme content, certification and training as well as curriculum content for teachers.

Gauteng's MEC for education, Barbara Creecy said that teachers often feel intimidated by technology and are reticent about using the technology at their fingertips to improve teaching skills, particularly in the field of mathematics and science.

Meanwhile Vodacom's head of corporate and social investment, Mthobeli Tengimfene said the centre in Pretoria would serve as a "case study" for how teachers use information and communications technology in the classroom.

He says that once these benefits have been demonstrated, centres would "create a demand" in other regions prompting greater use of teaching aids via the Internet.

Read the full article on www.businessday.co.za.
For more on the Vodacom Mobile Education Programme, go to http://digitalclassroom.co.za.