Siyavula

Invitation to prospective Siyavula OER content facilitators

Mark Horner — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:28:41 +0000

Background

Siyavula is a non-profit education initiative which originated within the Shuttleworth Foundation. It grew out of an earlier project by Mark Horner, the Shuttleworth Foundation fellow for Open and Collaborative Resources, which used a group of volunteers to write a set of FET mathematics and physical sciences textbooks and released it under a free and open copyright license. The open copyright license under which the Free High School Science Texts (www.fhsst.org) were released allows anybody the freely and legally copy, change, reproduce and distribute it as opposed to most publishers’ material which cannot be legally copied, distributed or changed.

This is part of a greater vision of a comprehensive set of free and open SA curriculum aligned resources for all subjects and grades, in a similar manner way that FHSST did for FET Mathematics and Physical Sciences. In pursuit of this, the Shuttleworth Foundation acquired the rights to a set of workbooks for Grade R-9, Afrikaans and English, for all learning areas and also released it under an open license.

Siyavula searched for a digital platform to make these two sets of resources, the FHSST books and Siyavula workbooks, as well as other open content contributions available on-line. Connexions out of Rice University in the United States developed an excellent platform that not only allows educators to download the material, but also edit, mix and share it as well. Subsequently Siyavula partnered with Connexions and made all these resources available on-line at http://siyavula.cnx.org/lenses/siyavula for educators and learners.

In South Africa most of the educational material still gets consumed in printed format, which remains expensive, even though the content is free and open. Siyavula is hoping to address this through OpenPress (http://qa.openpress.co.za), another initiative which allows interested educators to aggregate their printing orders and drive printing costs down significantly. By way of example, when OpenPress prints more than a few thousand copies of the 280 page firm, colour cover FHHST book, the price drops to below R35 per textbook.

Through the on-going work with educators and encouraging the sharing of teaching resources, Siyavula received enquiries about the sharing of assessment items. In response this need Siyavula developed an open and free assessment bank called FullMarks (www.fullmarks.org.za which will be officially launched on the 27th of August), which gives educators access to a database of open questions and answers that can quickly and easily be compiled into a test or exam paper and memo.

Assistance required to source and uploading more open resources

At the moment Siyavula is working at spreading the message among educators to share their materials and helping them to upload it to the Connexions and FullMarks repositories. In order to speed up the sourcing and uploading of open content we are looking at hiring two more people for the rest of 2010.

As OER content facilitators they will:
- source and upload educational resources to FullMarks (www.fullmarks.org.za), Connexions(siyavula.cnx.org) and other tools like Slideshare.net;
- manage additional uploaders;
- facilitate school-based afternoon workshops to ensure educators are able to maintain their resources on the various websites;
- help organise a series of evening community building events (2 per month) for educators in which we showcase open resources and seed local communities;
- help to re-establish the FHSST (www.fhsst.org) hackathons * (4 per month) to incorporate feedback and ensure comprehensive model solutions;
- follow-up with all feedback contributors for FHSST /Siyavula /FullMarks to connect educators and ensure that they are aware they can make derivative works; and – give presentations about content, sharing tools and online
communities at meetings at schools.

These activities will ensure that:
- a wide variety of resource types are shared and available for all educators;
- high profile educators are sharing content, that they are able to maintain;
- and that the community of educators is being exposed to the shared resources.

The candidates will need to be:
- computer literate,
- enthusiastic about education and effecting change in the world,
- comfortable running small workshops on their own,
- good at explaining technology
- open to learning about:
– new technology,
– community development,
– software,
– open educational resources and figuring out how to fix
– keen to help education in a sustainable way.

Individuals interested in finding out more about the Siyavula project and exploring the opportunity of joining the team can contact us on 082 3343 259 or e-mail neels AT siyavula DOT org DOT za

ISKME Research Update on Siyavula

neels — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:48:55 +0000

As the evaluation partner for the Siyavula initiative, ISKME has been conducting research on Siyavula’s activities and those of its teacher users to increase understanding of factors that contribute to the creation, use and localization of Siyavula’s resources in the South African context. As part of this research, ISKME seeks to inform the ways that Siyavula (and open educational resources more generally) can support existing and new practices toward enhanced teaching and learning.

So far, the ISKME team research has conducted a baseline survey of teachers, observations of Siyavula’s professional development workshops, interviews with workshop facilitators and participating teachers, as well as school site visits and examination of analytics data on the use of Siyavula’s online resources. High level findings from this work, specifically around the benefits of incorporating Siyavula to the teaching and learning process, include the following:

Siyavula resources reported by teachers as integral to the teaching process. Teachers indicated their use of (or plans to use) Siyavula to find materials to fill existing gaps and meet curriculum needs, localize and adapt materials to match learners’ needs, build a searchable archive of effective resources, and communicate with other teachers around curriculum challenges and approaches.
Siyavula’s online communities (workgroups) reported as a mechanism for collaborative problem solving and knowledge sharing. One teacher, for example, reported that she started an online Siyavula workgroup called Literature Circle so that she could share her approach to teaching literacy with other teachers. Another teacher reported an interest in participating in a Siyavula workgroup to get ideas from other teachers around classroom behavior problems.
Siyavula as a way to support teachers as subject matter experts. Teachers indicated an interest in sharing their own resources or materials with other Siyavula users as a way to disseminate the body of work they have created and to elicit feedback from other teachers on that work. One teacher also reported that Siyavula, by providing access to resources in a specific topic area, allowed for the control and access needed to fully explore her own subject area.

Although the findings above are promising, continued data collection and analysis will explore the emergent themes further—as well as other themes specifically around what participants view as the challenges to the Siyavula model. ISKME’s next steps include analysis of a recent survey conducted with curriculum advisors in South Africa to explore the potential alignment of their roles to the Siyavula model. ISKME’s final data collection activity will be a survey of participating teachers in mid-July to assess the impact of Siyavula on their teaching practices as well as supports needed to further incorporate Siyavula into their classrooms.

These and other findings were presented by ISKME at the Open Education Resources 10 (OER10) Conference held at Clare College, Cambridge, UK from March 22-24, 2010 (http://www.ucel.ac.uk/oer10/).

Full marks for AMESA uploading session

Davis Quinton — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:07:50 +0000

Our second session with the mathematics educators of AMESA on Comrades Marathon day, Saturday 29 May, commenced with the screening of three talks by international ICT innovators. These clips did well in riveting the focus of our delegates on the power of many collaborators making a small contribution. Many requests by educators for copies of these talks ensued, leading to discussions about where similar materials can be found online.
It was Full Marks, the project revolving around an open source assessment bank for South African teachers, which stole the limelight at our uploading session, however. Twenty-one mathematics educators tapped away at their keyboards with verve to add their resources to the assessment bank once a short demonstration around site mechanics had been delivered by Dr Mark Horner himself. All uploaded resources can be viewed at www.fullmarks.org.za.
With a few minor site hitches needing attention, Full Marks is promising to be a hit with teachers. Siyavula is transforming! Watch this space.

Siyavula workshop for AMESA in Durban

neels — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:53:47 +0000

Siyavula Presentation and Uploading session on the 29^th of May

We are excited to announce that we are presenting another Siyavula session for the AMESA educators in KZN. At the previous Siyavula AMESA workshop we managed to upload a number of worksheets, lesson plans, notes and exams into the AMESA KZN workgroup on the Connexions site. At this workshop we would like to deliver an exciting presentation, provide an opportunity for connecting with AMESA colleagues and friends and upload more of the AMESA member’s content onto the Connexions platform.

Details

Date: Saturday the 29^th of May 2010

Venue: Southern Sun Hotel North Beach, 81/93 Snell Parade, North Beach, Durban

Times: 08:30 to 17:00

Costs: Free. Includes teas, coffees, snacks and lunch

RSVP: Before Friday the 21^st to neels@siyavula.org.za , confirm if own laptop Y/N

Bring along: Laptop (those who have) and lesson plans, notes, worksheet

Agenda for the day:

08:00 to 08:30 Arrival, registration and coffee

08:30 to 10:00 Presentation : ‘The Mathematics of Connectedness ’

by Dr. Mark Horner

10:00 to 10:15 Tea and snacks

10:15 to 11:30 Reconnecting and community building session

11:30 to 13:00 Uploading session

13:00 to 14:00 Lunch at the Restaurant

14:00 to 15:30 Uploading session

15:30 to 16:00 Afternoon tea and snacks

16:00 to 16:40 FullMarks open assessment bank preview

16:40 to 17:00 Wrap up

Presentation

The purpose is to deliver a stimulating look at innovate tools, techniques and technologies being used around the world to enhance teaching and assist educators. Dr. Mark Horner will examine and demonstrate the use of video tutorials and simulations in teaching maths, creative tools and extra-ordinary stories from around the world.

Community Session

We hope to provide an opportunity to reconnect with AMESA colleagues, strengthen relationships and compare notes on specific issues.

Uploading session

We kindly request that you bring a selection of your notes, worksheets, lesson plans and questions papers which you authored and are willing to share with your fellow AMESA educators and the rest of the teaching community in the country. The intention is to link the content to AMESA’s own lens, build the AMESA presence on Connexions and assist educators in other parts of the country by sharing much needed teaching resources.

FullMarks open assessment bank preview

We will present a tour of the beta-version of the FullMarks site. FullMarks is an open assessment bank where educators can rapidly find and share questions, create tests and analyse learners results. The
project is in the beta-testing stage with a launch likely in July.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you again soon.

More Siyavula Excitement at Christel House SA

Davis Quinton — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:37:32 +0000

We were met by a lively, jocular and excited group of 45 educators, including the primary school principal, Mr Milton-Greene, at Christel House for their third training session on Monday 29 March. The group represented nearly the entire teaching staff across all grades R-12.
We were able to skill educators in creating a CNX account, as most had lost their original passwords, using MS Word correctly in creating a module, uploading their work to Connexions, creating work groups, participating in discussion forums and finally publishing their work. Their learning created a buzz of excitement we’ve rarely experienced in training sessions before as teachers commented positively on how Siyavula would advantage them in areas such as planning and workload reduction.
We wish the educators of Christel House much success in their future experiences with Siyavula.

Third support session for Philippi/Nyanga Primary Schools

Davis Quinton — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:56:34 +0000

With the focus on the uploading of content to CNX, our workshop venue was abuzz with excitement yesterday. Our delegates were delighted at their new learning in using MS Word correctly and most attendees experienced success with the uploading process, albeit that nothing significant was published. Due to time constraints, we were unable to cover all the content we had originally intended to but delegates felt confident about uploading content around their particular learning area on their own. Some, however, indicated their insecurity about putting their content into a public arena since they feared it may not be good enough and expose themselves to negative criticism as a result. Their fears were soon allayed when we introduced them to the personal workspace and work group area where they could get the opinion and input of colleagues before publishing. I was asked whether we would be willing to support them in the future with the uploading process.
Three of the eleven participants, including the school principal, had previously received Siyavula training but all the participants had been introduced to the CNX platform in one way or another by their trained colleagues. Our workshop lasted roughly two hours.

The Icey Grip of Reality

Davis Quinton — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:24:19 +0000

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.

Second Support Workshop for Edunova Primary Educators.

Davis Quinton — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:33:47 +0000

Makhanyiseli Primary School hosted our second support workshop for primary school educators yesterday 16 February.
Present were ten educators of whom six previously received Siyavula training. The four new members from Mzamomhle Primarywere all invited by their colleague who had already experienced the Siyavula message.
Having Connexions accounts prepared beforehand for the attendees helped much to maintain a smoothly flowing session allowing us to cover most of the content we had prepared. Although much of the session was a reinforcement of prior learning, educators were excited when shared the brand new component, the uploading of resources to Connexions.
Collaborating via online work groups was a hit, once again, although half of the participants continue to lament the shortage of technological resources at their schools and once again appealed to the team for help in this regard.
With four new members added to the Siyavula family we cannot but tag our experience yesterday as being very successful.

Siyavula Foundation layed at CHSA

Davis Quinton — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:42:57 +0000

Nine foundation phase educators from Christel House were added to the Siyavula family as a result of a training workshop conducted at the school computer lab. Although only fifty percent of the invitees were able to attend, the group we worked with were a sheer pleasure to work with. We were also very excited by the attendance of a Swiss educator, Sandra, volunteering at CHSA until May this year.

Educators responded with enthusiasm to the new learning they were able to garner and were thrilled at the idea of being able to collaborate online.

CHSA educators were trained in conceptulising the Connexions terminology, locating and downloading resources and participating in work groups.

The team has been invited back to train at their teacher development program during the June school vacation,during which time we would also need to conduct a follow-up workshop with the high school educators whom we introduced to Siyavula last year, and train a new group of intermediate phase teachers at the school.

Siyavula Workshops: Growing Active, Teacher-Led Communities

Cynthia Jimes — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:18:44 +0000

Since March of this year, ISKME has been studying Siyavula’s workshops, documenting the project’s model for teacher professional development and community building as a way to shed light on the formation and engagement of Siyavula’s OER communities. Through workshop observations and interviews with workshop facilitators and Siyavula project leaders to date, our work has revealed the following:

Workshop participants viewed the ability to share and collaborate as a key benefit of Siyavula and OER, and expressed interest in ways that they could increase collaboration at their schools. Teacher comments from the workshops included, “Wow, this is really a paradigm shift – we are sharing and can collaborate,” and “How do we move this [concept of sharing] into our school sites?”

During the workshops, observers noted that communities of teachers began to organically form groups around subject-specific content areas; however, participants and facilitators indicated that additional support is needed to help the groups sustain momentum. They also cited limited Internet access on behalf of teachers as potential hindrance to sustained communities.

Several participants expressed their intention to take concrete next steps to implement or share information about Siyavula in their schools, and two have already emerged as advocates for Siyavula, training their own colleagues on the model with help from Siyavula’s facilitators. Several requests for additional professional development sessions have emerged out of Siyavula’s initial workshops, many of which are existing communities seeking to contribute and upload their existing content to Siyavula on Connexions.

ISKME’s next steps include expanding on the community-building themes that have begun to surface from the research through analysis of data collected during its November 2009 workshop observations, school site visits and teacher interviews. During the spring of 2010, ISKME will continue its data collection efforts to document and assess the ways that individuals and communities of teachers are sharing, using, reusing and localizing Siyavula content, and how participation in Siyavula has potentially impacted teaching and learning practices and perceptions on behalf of teachers.