The North-West University (NWU) recently hosted the annual EdTech Summit for Sub-Saharan Africa. This was the first time this summit was held in South Africa.
This professional development conference serves as a teacher-learning opportunity geared towards improving best practices through exposure to creative technology-rich strategies and solutions for teaching, learning and assessment. Teachers from several provinces as well as several international guests attended the two-day conference.
Prof Robert Balfour, deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, said at the official opening that the NWU has a long-standing and close relationship with the Department of Education and Training. ”We should grasp every opportunity and nurture the relationship with you.”
He said technology in the classroom should be the focus to prepare the learners for the future.
The EdTech Summit Africa seeks to provide free and high-quality professional development that is hands-on. It aims to incorporate meaningful experiential learning that is inquiry driven and designed to equip attendees with the skills, preparation and confidence to adapt and employ newly learned methodologies into their schools, classrooms and learning environments.
Some of the workshop titles for the conference included indigenous knowledge mathematics in the classroom, high-impact literacy using local and digital resources, teaching maths using technology, successful technology integration for teaching, learning and assessment: finding and using strong apps to engage learners at every level, and creating a culture of reading.
Prof Robert Balfour, deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, ceremonially unknots the ribbon at the official opening of the summit.
From left are Dehlia Coetzee, operations manager of the Unit for Continuing Education (UCE), Dr Pentacost Nkhoma, acting director of the School for Mathematics, Science and Technology, Prof Robert Balfour, deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, Ria Nel, operations director of the UCE, Prof Lloyd Conley, executive dean of the Faculty of Education, Karen Paige, founder of EdTech Africa, and Simon Malindi, director of teacher development at the North-West Department of Education.
