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.