Apple Technology Pilot Project

The Western Cape Education Department and Apple Computers launched a pilot project in February 2008 that will see the installation of Apple technology into the Music and Design departments of the 10 Focus Schools as well as in six primary schools in the Province.

The project will run over a period of three years and is aimed at determining:

• the total cost of ownership of Apple technology in comparison with existing technologies currently employed by the Education Department;
• the suitability of Apple technology in an educational environment;
• the effective and creative support of curriculum delivery in primary schools and specialised curriculum areas in high schools using Apple technology;
• the processes of virtual remote teaching between these schools.

Who is involved?

A group of six primary schools – Grove Primary, St Anthony’s Primary, Amstelhof Primary, Paarl Boys Primary, Cypress Primary and Turfhall Primary will receive Apple technology in the form of MacBooks.  These will be deployed in the Grade 4 classes where learners will use the technology for three years until they reach grade 6.  Literacy and Numeracy Learning Outcomes and Assessment Standards as indicated in the Revised National Curriculum Statement will be the focus of the pilot project in primary schools.

The Design Schools – Alexander Sinton, Belhar, Cedar, Chris Hani, Eerste River, George, Schoonspruit, South Peninsula, Worcester, Wynberg, Oudshoorn High Schools as well as the Frank Joubert Art Centre – will be supplied with i-Macs as well as appropriate software for Graphic Design according to the Learning Outcomes and Assessment standards of the National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10 – 12.

The Music Schools – Alexander Stinton, Belhar, Bergvliet, Cedar, Chris Hani, Eerste River, George, The Settlers, Schoonspruit, South Peninsula, Tygerberg, Worcester, and Wynberg High will receive 5 i-Macs each.  These classes will be able to play, manipulate and compose music according to the Learning Outcomes and Assessment standards of the National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10 – 12.

A Phased Pilot

A first phase, which targets Grove Primary, Settlers High, South Peninsula High and Schoonspruit High, will allow the pilot project to experiment and determine the correct procedures and ways to roll out the rest of the pilot effectively.

Training

An orientation training session during 2008 whet the appetite of the educators, WCED and Khanya staff.  Other software training by Adobe and UCT will be co-ordinated by the Curriculum Planners in future to develop and to sharpen the newly acquired skills of the educators in the target schools and five ADE (Apple Distinguished Educators) will be identified to receive further Apple training in order to support and train the schools for the next three years.

Installation

Installation for the pilot project is co-ordinated by the Africa Apple engineer, Oliver Graff.  Khanya staff – Denric Blaauw and Malcolm Seegers – are very involved in the development of the servers and images.  Deployment and installation have been done at the first phase schools and the four schools are now guided by the different Curriculum Overseers.

Status

(February 2009)

The Grove Primary  

The MacBooks have been installed and configured for use in the Grade 4 classes.  Educators in these classes also use Electronic Interactive Whiteboards to complement the creative, innovative and exciting teaching and learning activities offered by Apple.

The Settlers High

Installation is complete.  Mr Hugo Smuts – HOD for Music – enthusiastically engages with his learners in Sibelius and Cubase.

South Peninsual High

Learners and Mrs Gordon were the first to receive their i-Macs and launched into new dimensions of music production and composition.

Schoonspruit Secondary

The design educators and learners probe the creative horizons that Apple offer using the Adobe suite that the Design Industry use as a benchmark.