Friday 30 March 2012

IBM Kidsmart program

 IBM’s KidSmart makes learning fun
IBM Team operates in the Eastern Cape to improve access to quality education. The International Business Machine (IBM) Corporate Services Corps (CSC), an initiative of the global Information Technology (IT) Company IBM placed a team of consultants in the Eastern Cape Department of Education, during the month of March to deliver multiple findings, templates and products.

In October 2011 IBM started negotiations with the Eastern Cape Department of Education around improving the quality of education and improving the access to education, which is education’s core function.   A few of the outcomes were to:
1.    Install the Kidsmart machine at certain schools, based on certain criteria,
2.    Educate teachers on the machine,
3.    Monitor the progress of the learners and
4.    Identify and advise on ways to significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy to collecting and processing statistical data from schools for planning purposes.
They arrived with the objectives of developing a monitoring support and evaluation system to assess the effectiveness of Kidsmart Early Learning Programme implementation in the Eastern Cape, and to develop a set of strategic solutions to improve the effectiveness of the Education Management Information System (EMIS).

Prior to their arrival, IBM South Africa had already installed 1200 Kidsmart units in 9 provinces, including 100 of these attractive learner friendly computer workstations in 50 rural Eastern Cape schools in the King William’s Town and Uitenhage districts.

The Kidsmart units are interactive computer facilities loaded with interesting software that uses games to reinforce and teach fundamental core skills to learners, and that supplements and aligns with the curriculum being presented in the classroom.

During March IBM also donated a further 10 units to the University of Fort Hare, who decided to use two of these units for teacher training, and to place the other eight units in schools in the East London district. The IBM team assisted with the installation of some of these units.

The Kidsmart machines are currently being used by learners, and in the near future their performance will be monitored and compared to that of learners who do not have access to these machines.  The benefits will be assessed and if it is positive, IBM will consider donating more units to more schools.
- Eastern Cape Department of Education The team will provide an assessment and recommendations on a holistic ICT strategy for the education department in the Eastern Cape that incorporates teachers, schools, and the administration. This would include assessment of short-, medium- and long-term plans on, for example, technology infrastructure, school information (management) systems, hosting curriculum materials, home-school communication systems, Learning, professional networks/teacher collaboration, standard communication procedures, IT support requirements and more. The primary purpose is to formulate a framework for progressively practical implementing these solutions. This programme KidSmart that was implemented by  IBM is an advantage to learners that are not familiarised with technology  and it is meant for learners that are deeply from the rural areas.

Friday 23 March 2012

Student dies after borched education

UJ STUDENT DIES ON CAMPUS




A University of Johannesburg student found dead in her residence room is thought to have developed complications after a botched illegal abortion, Beeld reported on Monday.
Ayanda Masondo, 20, a second-year student in public relations and communication from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, was found leaning against the door in her room, in the Benjemijn hostel, on Sunday morning.
Paramedics were called, but they pronounced her dead at the scene.
Brixton police station spokesman Constable Michael Kgatle said there would be a judicial inquiry into Masondo's death.
"At this stage an illegal abortion would appear to be the reason for her death. There was a lot of blood at the scene," Kgatle said.
UJ registrar Professor Marie Muller confirmed suicide had been ruled out as a possible cause of death.
According to Masondo's friends, she had been ill for about a week before she died.
Her body was removed from the hostel on Sunday afternoon.
UJ registrar Professor Marie Muller confirmed that suicide was not being investigated as a cause of death.
Campus security prohibited visits to the hostel on Sunday morning and groups of students congregated outside the hostel. Students were told not to speak to the media after several students expressed their shock on Twitter.
Masondo’s friends said she was a quiet girl. She had felt sick a week or so before her sudden death. “The girls in the hostel are still emotional and very shocked,” said a friend.
“We are in our semester exam period. Most students are writing tests on Tuesday and what happened is making it difficult for everyone, especially those who were closest to Ayanda.
“A few days ago I wished her happy birthday. It’s really very tough.”
- This is the second time in three years that a resident of Benjemijn has died in her hostel room. In 2009 ShandrĂ© van Tonder, 18, was found dead in her bed.  This issue was critical to most of the people because the girl should have gone to the clininc to consult for abortion procedure and its for free.  

Friday 16 March 2012

Social networking service

A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks. Using social network it’s a privilege because people get to interact with different kind of people around the world.
 The main types of social networking services are those that contain category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook, Google+ and Twitter widely used worldwide.
Social impact
Web-based social networking services make it possible to connect people who share interests and activities across political, economic, and geographic borders. Through e-mail and instant messaging, online communities are created where a gift economy and reciprocal altruism are encouraged through cooperation. Information is particularly suited to gift economy, as information is a nontrivial good and can be gifted at practically no cost. Facebook and other social networking tools are increasingly the object of scholarly research. Scholars in many fields have begun to investigate the impact of social-networking sites, investigating how such sites may play into issues of identity, privacy, , youth culture, and education. Social networks are also emerging as online yearbooks, both public and private. One such service is My Yearbook, which allows anyone from the general public to register and connect. A new trend emerging is private label yearbooks accessible only by students, parents, and teachers of a particular school, similar to Facebook's beginning within Harvard. Social network helps in variety way like education pupils can research their assignment on Google, it also helps in business.

Friday 9 March 2012

Downfall in Education



http://www.carla247.typepad.com/


KNOWLEDGE IS POWER has been a quote made from generation to generation to help build the youth and know that without education there is no success and that education holds the key to the future.
South Africa spends the largest amount of its GDP on education compared to other countries in the continent, yet its results are among the worst. : http://www.southafrica.info/about/education/education.htm#ixzz1odw9XkqP
Despite all the efforts made by government to improve the country through education, many pupils still drop-out before their final matric examination and some don’t even have good enough marks to get into university while those who do don’t even complete with their degrees.
Although the matric pass rate has increased in 2011, the education department still has the problem of a decrease in key subjects like mathematics and mathematical literacy which play a vital role in South Africa’s development. This poses the question “if matric results are improving then why is the youth suffering with unemployment”. http://www.info.gov.za/speech/DynamicAction?pageid=461&sid=24287&tid=53112
Education is important in South Africa, especially for the youth as they are the future of this country, yet they are the individuals suffering the most from unemployment. The unemployment levels is rising rapidly putting pressure on the youth and the countries development through poverty which also leads to other problems like
  • High crime rate
  • Social Issues(HIV/AIDS)
  • Low literacy levels
With all the efforts put in and the poor outcome of education in South Africa where does the problem lie?