Teaching is evolving and teachers and their learners are more welcoming to the changes in teaching and learning methods.
Teaching is evolving and teachers and their learners are more welcoming to the changes in teaching and learning methods.
The Advanced Certificate in Education (Ace) course offered by the Rhodes University Department of Education focuses on the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education.
The course was initated by Dr Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams and since 2008 it is being co-ordinated by Dr Lorenzo Dalvit, who will do so until th end of 2009. The course is aimed at upgrading teachers’ qualifications social aspectsin Grahamstown and surrounding areas. Dalvit believes “it is a good course to build a foundation on how teachers can use ICT in areas such as administration, teaching and learning, it also helps them to become ICT co-ordinators in their schools," he said.
Course participant Nomalungelo Lukwe, a Grade 8 and 9 teacher at Nombulelo High School agrees with Dalvit. “I do not have to rely on our secretary for some administration work as I can make my own class lists”, she said.
Fortunate Gunzo a tutor in the course, added that "Teachers sometimes are required to use computers to teach learners about social issues such as HIV and Aids", she said. Dalvit also explained that "the course has a strong emphasis on localisation as it is also about being relevant to the teachers here, relevant to their context and the kind of learners they teach" he said. "We are planning to run this course here in Grahamstown and in Dwesa, a rural community in the former Transkei", he said. Lukwe, who teaches isiXhosa, explained that they have to do different projects related to computer use in their various schools and she decided to teach computer literacy in both English and isiXhosa. "We had Saturday classes at Rhodes, School of Languages, because we do not have enough computers in our school," she said.
The course is somehow also aimed at building a relationship between the university and the community.
"Strategically the course builds a link between the university and the people in the schools", said Dalvit. “The link can be used to support things like research and outreach programmes that are very important.” As an academic course, the teachers have to pay registration fees every year. They also write assignments, tests and get assessed at the end of each year. With 200 hours of contact per year, they get together only during holidays and long weekends.
