The name Khanya is derived from a Xhosa language word meaning "to let the light shine", "to brighten", or "to illuminate". The Khanya project was established in 2001 by the Western Cape Education Department in South Africa to provide computer technology to schools. The objective was to use the technology as an illumination tool during the curriculum delivery process.

I had the privilege of being involved in this project from the start. Over the years I had many illuminations regarding the potential benefits of ICT in education. In e-culture terms, I received many e-luminations. The purpose of this blog is to present my personal e-luminations to all who have an interest in education, technology, or both. You are invited to add your comments and insights.

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  • 2010
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      • Which laptop should I choose?
        11/30/08
        Choosing a laptop is not a simple matter because there are many good brands of laptops on the market, and each one of them has several models available.

        If you are not an expert in the field of laptops, how do you know which one to choose?

        This is the same type of question as:

      • Making the African Century a Reality
        11/28/08
        Making the African Century a Reality – that was the theme of the summit meeting taking place in Gauteng at the plush offices of Microsoft on Thursday, 27 November 2008 – it was part of the annual African ICT Achievers Awards event programme.

        The event was attended by a number of Mini

      • The case of the hidden laptop
        11/26/08
        There are many things that could go wrong with a laptop:

        • It could be stolen
        • The hard drive may crash
        • When dropped it will break
        • A virus could destroy your files
        • And so the list goes on

        Since there are so many things that could go wrong with a lapto

      • Let them eat cake ...
        11/24/08
        There is some dispute as to whether Marie-Antoinette really said, "Let them eat cake" when she was told by a messenger that her people were starving because they had no bread to eat.

        Perhaps we will never know if she used those words, but it seems like a good line to use – part

      • What happens if my laptop is stolen?
        11/21/08
        Laptops are highly desirable to thieves – they are easy to carry away and there is a ready market for them.

        Even if you take reasonable precautions to protect your laptop against theft, you may still become a victim.

        How does one deal with the situation?

        If the lapto

      • How can you prevent your laptop from being stolen?
        11/19/08
        Losing a laptop through theft is a common concern in our crime-ridden society.

        An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

        Use the following guidelines to prevent the theft of your laptop:

        Do not
        • Flaunt the laptop
        • Leave it unattended i

      • Sunflowers 4 Africa
        11/16/08
        Sunflowers are amazing! If you look carefully at the seeds in a sunflower head, you will notice spirals crossing each other, forming the most fascinating pattern.


        Credit for this image.

        One sunflower may carry between 800 and 2 000 seeds. For the sake of simplicity

      • Filtering skills for travelling on the information highway
        11/14/08
        You have heard the expressions:

        saved by the bell

        dead ringer and

        the graveyard shift

        What do they mean? The following explanation is offered on the internet:

        England is old and small and (in the 1500s) they started running o

      • Email in the classroom
        11/11/08
        The last posting concluded with a suggestion: A good start [towards developing global citizens] would be to make sure that every learner is using available email facilities.

        How extensively is email used by learners in our schools? Getting all our learners to use email is certainl

      • Global communication skills required
        11/09/08
        Learners in Africa must acquire global communication skills – fast. If they do not, they'll be left out of the loop, and we simply cannot afford that.

        The significance of this was brought home to me through an experience I had on Friday night. Let me give you some background.

      • Why are we not integrating technology in schools?
        11/07/08
        When technology is installed in a school and it is not used by teachers, the question is: Why? Or perhaps the question should be: Why not?

        This topic has been discussed many times on this blog.

        It seems to be a phenomenon that is not localised to South Africa – app

      • Tangled headphones
        11/04/08
        Earlier today I attended a presentation of Talking Stories, a software product used in sixty Khanya schools. The product consists of a number of story books – geared towards foundation phase learners – which come in three languages: Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. The books are presented in hard

      • Alternative search engines
        11/02/08
        What search engine do you use?

        What a silly question – Google, of course!

        Google has become synonymous with internet searches. Google is to search engines as Hoover is to vacuum cleaners.

        If you want information on any topic just google it – yes, its spelling has d

      • Measuring the impact of ICT in schools
        11/01/08
        What metric should be used to gauge the impact and value of computers in schools?

        One could be tempted to use statistics or implementation figures to show how well one is doing. The following facts may be very impressive:

        • Number of schools in a district/province/country havi

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