Meraka’s Code-Sprint Toolbox for download: providing learnings on how to run a code sprint

Filed under ICT and Education, SAFIPA capacity building by Kerryn on 17 January, 2012 at 11:46 am {no comments}

The insights, steps and tips on how to run a successful code-sprint have been made available in the form of a user-friendly, Creative Commons licensed toolbox to assist other organisations and companies in using the methodology that was developed during the Meraka Institute’s very successful series of code sprints.

What is a code sprint?

A code-sprint is a dedicated training event aimed at empowering tertiary students with software development skills to improve their work-readiness and enhance their opportunities for uptake in the industry. A small group of students contribute to a real-world programming project under the guidance of a skilled technical leader. Through the close collaboration between the group and the technical leader, programming skills are shared and transferred, whilst key deliverables are achieved within the target project.

The Meraka Institute’s code sprints

The Meraka Institute (supported by SAFIPA donor funding) has successfully executed two phases of code-sprints, 2009 and 2011. 2009 consisted of two and 2011 having three code-sprints. The programme was a resounding success with 26 code-sprinters (tertiary students) participating over the two phases. The code-sprints programme has a well developed methodology to measure the growth of each student as well as other outcomes. The results extracted through the measurement methodology were extremely positive with clear indicators of the success of the code-sprint programme.

The first two code-sprint phases were hosted at the Meraka Institute. An opportunity exists to host the code-sprints at other development “hotspots” while following the code-sprints methodology. An example of a potentially viable hosting environment is the newly created “African Regional Mobile Application Laboratory” where the code-sprints targets are those of importance to the Laboratory at that time. Another potential code-sprint hosting environment can be a Living Lab, as it already contains the basic elements (various stakeholders such as students, communities and community innovators within a real life context containing multi-disciplinary challenges to be solved) required for the execution of a code-sprint. Tertiary education institutes are also well positioned to host code-sprints. With the addition of the code-sprints methodology, a technical solution can be developed, while significant knowledge and skills transfer are taking place.

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Part 3 “This is what we’re doing”: SAFIPA projects talk ICT support for access to education

Filed under ICT and Education by Kerryn on 23 November, 2011 at 4:49 pm {no comments}

Learners trying out MoMaths at SAFIPA conference 2011

In the third parallel session Nokia’s MoMaths, the CECS Maths Portal and CampusNet find innovative ways of providing ICT support to enable access to education.

NOKIA’S MOMATHS

Jacqueline Batchelor, an independent consultant who works with Riitta Vanska’s team on the Nokia MoMaths project, talks about the hugely successful uptake of the MoMaths initiative by school students in South Africa and Finland.

Overcoming the Maths crisis
“There is a crisis in mathematics in South Africa. It is imperative that the South African secondary school educational system produces the kinds of results that will deliver scientists, engineers and the like.   Learning needs to be embedded in the learner’s every day life.  The value of the MoMaths project is that it goes where the learner goes.  Almost every youth in South Africa has MXit on their phones and that is why MoMaths leverages this platform.
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With SAFIPA’s support, the CECS Maths Project launches dynamic Maths portal for Grade 12 educators

Filed under ICT and Education by Kerryn on 18 July, 2011 at 11:21 am {no comments}

The Community Education Computer Society (CECS) has the distinction of being the oldest national computer training non-profit in South Africa, having been established in the midst of South Africa’s political turmoil, in the mid-80s.  The intention of CECS was to support and empower historically disadvantaged South Africans by providing them with skills to which they would have had minimal opportunity – if any – to gain.  It is, perhaps, quite extraordinary that this non-profit organisation has weathered the storms of political instability, the financial crises, and also the difficulties experienced for local non profits when many large donor agencies slowly began withdrawing, or reducing, financial support in the early 2000s.  However, CECS has remained a viable organisation, and this year it is in the process of successfully completing a bold, widely-scoped project that aims to provide tools and resources for Grade 12 Maths educators.

A tool for every teacher:  a mixed bag of tools and resources

The project, which is supported by SAFIPA, seeks to provide a fully comprehensive offering for Grade 12 educators, by including the promotion of ICT training for teachers to enable them to both use and create digital Maths resources; by establishing a central dissemination network through which free and open Maths content can be uploaded and accessed; and to develop a multi-platform Maths application that will be web- and mobile-based.  It is envisioned that the Maths Portal will also serve as a collaborative platform for educators, NGOs, education authority decision-makers, teacher training service providers and digital resource service providers and content developers.  This portal will be the preferred, central repository for Maths education resources.

The project’s goals have been achieved by training workshops, train-the-trainer interventions, the production of training videos for educators, the production of screencasts, an investigation into the development of a dissemination channel for the Communal Maths Basket (CO.M.B), gathering FOSS applications and including these on a CD-Rom for educators, facilitating networking for educators, and creating and promoting the Maths portal.
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Listen to Chisimba: launch of podcast

Filed under ICT and Education by afakier on 24 May, 2011 at 12:37 pm {no comments}

Photograph by Mild Mannered Photographer, CC-BY

Chisimba is pleased to announce the launch of our podcast.   The aim of the podcast is to bring together the Chisimba and South African FOSS communities by sharing our stories, insights, challenges, ideas and opinions.  We hope to talk to people who use Chisimba, develop Chisimba, spread awareness around Chisimba and learn from Chisimba.

Our community includes FET lecturers and students, UWC and the Free Software Innovation Unit (FSIU) staff and students, FOSS developers and users, and public and private sector stakeholders as well as civil society.

Chisimba can also be regarded as the ‘offspring’ of the AVOIR network, so we are proud to include this network as being part of our Chisimba community.

The launch episode of the Chisimba podcast includes interviews with Sunday Adewumi and Enver Ravat who are the AVOIR chairperson and co-ordinator respectively.  Sunday shares with us his knowledge on, and objectives for, the AVOIR network and Enver talks about AVOIR’s coverage in Africa and beyond and also tells us about some of the ground-breaking African FOSS initiatives that we should be looking out for.

Mbombo Maleka from the Department of Communication shares the reasons why his department supports the Chisimba initiative and also talks about government’s FOSS policy and the inroads that have been made to date.

Charl van Niekerk and James Scoble are both developers who have worked on Chisimba (and its forerunner, KEWL) and have developed more than software … they’ve developed an affinity for the Chisimba initiative and its burgeoning community.  Both Charl and James talk about their involvement in the project.

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S@ID combining innovation, education & social media

Filed under ICT and Education by Kerryn on 11 April, 2011 at 8:14 pm {no comments}

“The Educational Cluster initiative is an innovative response, one that is based on collaboration and ‘new media’ to link together interested stakeholders from Government departments and educational agencies, academic institutions, FET colleges, content developers, content providers, infrastructure providers, donor organisations, NGOs, regional business as well as local community leaders.”

The S@ID cluster met in late January with interested stakeholders to plot a way forward for what is still an informal grouping.  Fifty-five people, some of whom came from the Eastern and Western Cape, gathered at the CSIR Meraka Institute for the meeting, despite the major thunderstorm that had descended on Pretoria that morning; according to Dave Lockwood of Naledi3d, a good omen for the organisation!

Diversity of participation – reflecting a real need

A wide range of people, from diverse backgrounds and sectors were represented at the workshop, including stakeholders from large corporations such as Intel, SAP, Microsoft and Vodacom, and over twenty companies representing the SMME sector such as Naledi3d, Learnscapes and Moveecom.  Similarly, non-profit organisations were also represented by organisations such as the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), Mindset, Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa (YESA), CampusNet, and Digi-Connect.  Donor agencies, such as the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, were also at the meeting, and government was represented by national and provincial departments such as the Department for Public Service and Administration (DPSA), the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), and the Tshwane Municipality respectively.  Academic institutions were visible at the workshop such as the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), and government agencies were also present.

The workshop hoped to build on the purpose of the Educational Cluster initiative which is, as outlined in the invitation to stakeholders, to provide an essential link between the private sector and Government agencies in the form of public-private dialogue and partnerships, to address skills shortages at the national level and also to address the needs of regional economies and businesses more effectively.  Thus the workshop’s main objective was to build upon these aims by providing partners with a space to actively engage and begin dialogue around how to collaborate in new ways to
nurture improved skills development in the country.

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Nokia’s MoMaths adds up to success

Filed under ICT and Education, Uncategorized by Kerryn on 11 April, 2011 at 5:50 pm {4 comments}

A Dinaledi learner engages with MoMaths

For decades, Maths teachers throughout the world have been grappling with the problem of how to make the subject of Mathematics an interesting and relevant topic for kids. Now, Nokia’s mobile maths project appears to have found a winning solution. The project, which is now in its third year of existence, has gathered evidence that overwhelmingly points to successful uptake and ownership by local learners who indicate a newly acquired enthusiasm and enjoyment of Maths. These results are astounding researchers involved in the evaluation of the project, one of whom claims that in twenty years of research into how to harness technology for education and knowledge transfer, this level of positive learner response has never been experienced.

Talking to Riitta Vanska, the project lead of MoMaths, enthusiasm for the project is certainly contagious. Riitta, who is based in Finland and works as the Senior Manager of Mobile Learning Solutions within the Sustainability Operations of Nokia’s Corporate Social Responsibility arm, has almost single-handedly steered the project. Her passion, drive and commitment are boundless. Riitta stresses that this project is not a ‘content push’ but rather aims to build learners’ confidence in order for them to harness their own capabilities and, in a way, manage their own learning destinies.

Yet how has MoMaths achieved this? The answer is beguilingly simple: MoMaths awakens the competitive spirit. Learners are encouraged to compete – but here is the interesting catch – with themselves. This ‘solution’ came largely through having to think out-of-the-box: without being able to use smart phones and the more sophisticated mobile applications, due to the pilot learners using low-end phones, the team had to think about what would be at the core of getting children excited about learning. They stripped it back to a sense of personal fulfillment and achievement. Thus, learners are encouraged to better their scores on quizzes, practice exercises and tests. Of course, there is also competition amongst their peers; this is only natural, but the self-improvement and self-actualisation that the project awakens in each learner is a personal achievement.

Harnessing learner enthusiasm via MXiT

Another plus to MoMaths is that it happens where the learners are to be found, namely on the popular mobile chat channel called MXiT. This is not unique: a number of other learning initiatives use MXiT to connect with learners, recognising that this popular mobile platform is where learners spend a great deal of their free time.

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My YESA Passport: Upcoming developments for Scifest

Filed under ICT and Education by rbeyers on 7 April, 2011 at 8:43 pm {no comments}

The digital divide brings back the harsh realities of the inequalities of society especially for learners in South Africa. While the internet is bringing untold benefits to those few schools who have access, the vast majority of learners in this country are being left behind. This is compounded by the current crisis in education where technically Grade 12 learners are being certificated as unemployable as their qualifications does not provide them with sufficient skills to enter the job market. They are relegated to become yet another lost generation and have to be trained before seeking meaningful employment if they are fortunate enough.

The original alpha version of the My YESA Passport was funded by SAFIPA. This served as an important working model of what could be achieved in terms of the tracking system to identify individuals with talent. A recent development has been the commissioning of BSmrt and Every1Mobile to develop a MXit version with some exciting prospects. Though funding has been a limitation, YESA can no longer afford to wait for a significant investment to launch this important tool. Based on limited resources a stripped down version has been commissioned and should be available in time for the SciFest in Grahamstown early in May 2011.

The core essentials will include:

  • Free registration for all users as part of their ‘visa’ for 2011
  • Opportunities to assimilate Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Innovation (STEMI) stamps for
    o   Formal activities (Expos, Olympiads, competitions, etc)
    o   Informal activities (on-line science experiment, SciFest, presentations, etc)
  • Access information on simple science experiments online and earn stamps
  • Be provided with bite-sized chunks of educational material

Over the next 6 months FabKids training will also take place in all the FabLabs around the country for which learners can earn unique stamps. Additional training will take place in association with the Mobile FabLab in the Port Elizabeth region during this period. The total number of FabKids to be reached during this period will be approximately 500. Through the association with BSmrt it is anticipated that the YESA community could grow in excess of 50 000 registered users during this period. The goal is to establish a community of practice of over 500 000 active users per annum. YESA will continue to strive to source further funds to achieve a self-sustainable system within 5 years.

Given the prospects of learners being able to interact with this portal literally from the back seat of a taxi 24/7, the My YESA Passport is poised to make a significant difference in the lives of many learners. They will receive quality educational content, be kept up-to-date with many STEMI-related activities, be able to operate in a vibrant social network, while developing a longitudinal profile over their school career. It is this data that can used to identify individuals with talent who can be fast tracked through the system.

Watch this space!

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The SAFIPA Newsletter

The final SAFIPA Newsletter, Spring 2011

This is the final edition of the SAFIPA newsletter. The month of November 2011, marks the conclusion of this dynamic initiative.



This newsletter pays tribute to the SAFIPA programme in the form of commentary and insights gathered during the very successful SAFIPA 2011 Conference. Project partners from the MFA, DST and CSIR Meraka Insitute applaud the programme. And SAFIPA supported projects have a final opportunity to showcase their innovations and processes.



[Download the PDF version ]



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