Sam Christie is excited about the GeekRetreat and it's interesting to know why. 'I am based in Philippi on the Cape Flats and this is often difficult to reconcile with the "hip San Fransisco dinner party" side of education debate,' he says. 'I hope to navigate the divide between the achingly real world I work in and the more idealistic, philosophical one of the bulk of the participants and come away with new skills, contacts and renewed energy.'
Sam's project, PSP (Primary Science Programme) aims to help teachers use ICTs more effectively in the classroom.
Sam believes that problems with online education in South Africa are widespread. 'We are doing very little right as far as online education goes. In the Western Cape technical infrastructure continues to be deployed - over 1000 schools have Khanya labs, over 1000 Smartboards have been installed. Training to teachers on how to use these potentially valuable resources remains scant. Where teachers do receive training - it tends to be technical and focused on using the equipment and not on how to enhance teaching through the use of technology. The vast majority of teachers report that equipment sits unused.'
This is where PSP comes in. Sam says that although online resources are increasing in accessibility and quality, for most teachers poor bandwidth and complex user interfaces hamper uptake.
Sam believes that this is due to a lack of clear focus and needs assessment coupled with poor coordination which leads to wasteful and inefficient work being done. 'With 350 000 teachers, 30 000 schools and 580 000 learners writing NSC 2009, interventions need to be designed with systemic implementation in mind to be broadly effective,' he says.
The work of PSP involved three key areas last year:
* Loading our own materials online - teachers guides and texts provided free on scribd.com. (PSP recorded 1898 downloads of this material)
* Incorporating online resources into our work YouTube science clips to support experiments etc - modelling effective practice for teachers to reapply in their classrooms
* Providing digital copies of teaching materials to all teachers.
Sam says that PSP has 25 years experience working with township teachers and with growing experience working with new technologies in the classroom. He says that 'This project sits at the cusp of new technology and teaching practice and little other SYSTEMIC interventions are in place in this space.'
Sam has a background in engineering and ICT project management and hopes to develop new approaches to collaborative working, PR, fundraising and organisational operations at the retreat.
