Teachers Encouraged to Enter National ICT in Education Competition

8 March 2019

The nonprofit Digital Education Institute (DEI) has issued a call for the country’s teachers to enter the 2019 ISPA SuperTeacher of the Year Competition by visiting www.ispasuperteachers.co.za.

Registration for one of South Africa’s longest-running annual ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) in education competitions is open – and will  close on 3 May 2019.

Following registration, competition hopefuls must then apply cutting-edge ICT thinking to lesson plans and submit their final award entries by 28 June 2019.

ICTs are bringing a new age of education to South Africa. A new era of Open Education Resources (OERs) is dawning to supplement the use of textbooks as learning resources in the classroom. This worldwide OER movement is rooted in the human right to access high-quality education.

This year, for the first time, the ISPA SuperTeacher of the Year Competition requires educators to create innovative curriculum-aligned ICT-infused lesson plans. This is to showcase their prowess in using technology to enhance classroom teaching and learning.

The prestigious ISPA SuperTeacher Competition is funded by South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) while The Mighty Pen Education Magazine (www.themightypen.co.za) is the media partner for the competition. This digital magazine can be viewed across a range of devices.

Held every year since 2001, the ISPA SuperTeacher of the Year Awards have emerged as a much-anticipated fixture of the annual iWeek Internet industry conference and exhibition. The iWeek event takes place around September each year and this year’s conference and exhibition will be hosted in Johannesburg.

According to project manager Milford Malunga at DEI, “The ISPA SuperTeacher of the Year Awards are well-respected in education circles, both for their longevity and for the huge role they have played in encouraging teachers to pioneer ICT.”

ISPA’s project has equipped over 5 000 teachers with ICT skills thanks to continued support from ISPA’s members who pledged their further support at iWeek in 2018.

In previous years, only educators who had participated in ISPA’s ‘Train the Teacher’ ICT skills programme were eligible to submit projects for adjudication by the ISPA SuperTeacher judging panel. Opening the competition up to all educators currently teaching at schools throughout South Africa recognised that tremendous strides have been made in equipping local teachers with the kind of ICT skills that they may want to showcase, even though they may not have received these skills through ISPA and the DEI’s ICT in education interventions.

There are two competition categories this year and each of the ISPA SuperTeacher award-winners will receive a trophy as well as various sponsored prizes.

Please visit www.ispasuperteachers.co.za to register for the competition. You will find more information here on the two award categories as well as detailed competition entrance requirements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact Sharon Ries
Digital Education Institute
M:  074 743 8984