Learners at Diepsloot Combined School (DCS) have received not only a R10 000 cash donation, but also a much-needed R150 000 technology boost into their classrooms.
This is thanks to Participate Technologies, a small business based in Fourways, and the organiser of the Future Ed expo being held at the Coca Cola Dome later this month.
Participate's involvement with DCS started at the 2012 Future Ed expo. Exposure Marketing, organiser of the Mama Magic Baby expo, launched an annual education show aimed at inspiring and developing educators in South Africa.
At an evening event held for the Future Ed exhibitors, renowned South African artist John Adams created a canvas of Madiba through performance art. The canvas was auctioned off with the full proceeds going to DCS.
David Wilson, Participate's MD, is passionate about education in South Africa. Wilson believes "education is the window to our country's future", and saw this as the perfect opportunity to give to a school in need. His bid of R10 000 ended the auction.
During the formal hand-over assembly at DCS earlier this year, the Participate team was so moved by the learners and their desire to be educated, they decided their cash donation was not enough for this community. Participate pledged a hand-in-hand partnership with the school to enhance the technology in their classrooms, thereby improving both the learning and teaching environment.
Participate's donation included 150 of its TurningPoint clickers and three laptops for the English, Maths and Science classrooms. The clicker technology is a student response system whereby each learner is given a clicker, they are then able to interact with the teacher by answering questions using the device. Their responses remain anonymous to their peers, but are tracked by the educators; allowing the entire class to be fully engaged and the teacher the ability to accurately gauge each learner's level of understanding immediately. This technology offers a range of benefits to both the educators and learners, including: reduced marking and administration hours, improved learner grades, continual assessment, comprehensive reports and so much more.
The team from Participate continues to work with the teachers, not only training them on how to use the system, but also assisting with the lesson plans. "It's been so rewarding being able to assist in developing the teachers and creating a more interactive and exciting environment for the Diepsloot learners," says Wilson.
Participate will again be exhibiting at The Future Ed Expo taking place daily from 09h00 at the Coca Cola Dome, Thursday 25 July to Saturday 27 July 2013. Entrance is free, educators and visitors are asked to register before the show at http://www.future-ed.co.za or on the day at the registration kiosks.
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