Siyavula

Our workshop for high school educators at Vuyiseka Secondary proved somewhat of a sobering experience!
Firstly, only fifty percent of the delegates were present as others were forced to re-prioritize their lives due to other commitments. Of the five educators who attended, two were new to Siyavula.
The session had just gotten underway when we discovered a failure in the Internet connection. The school had run out of caps! Fortunately the facilitator had brought along his mobile unit so we were at least able to demonstrate some of the functionality on the site. But educators soon became aware that they needed more of a hands-on experience and suggested that we abort our efforts to enlighten them and reschedule the workshop for another date.
In view of some of the comments that were voiced by the participants, it became apparent that none had become actively involved with the site since our workshop in October last year. Some remarked that they hadn’t even used any of the resources available. The lack of technology at schools and the difficulties experienced in accessing such technology elsewhere were once again raised as reasons for not being active on Connexions.
Educators’ apathy was also revealed in statements such as “we do not have time for yet another hi-tech tool” and “we are still sticking to the old way of doing things”. One individual even remarked that there was “no time to plan” after I showed them how collaborating on Siyavula would save them time!
No date has yet been set for a follow-up session but would most likely happen during March.