SchoolNet SA - Starting a module - process at a glance

Starting a module - process at a glance

The following process refers to organised, project-related school participation in EDN modules. For accredited modules it is assumed that students are competent computer users and the introductory course is not offered.

The process at a glance

Friday / Saturday / Sunday - Week 1	Introductory course - one and a half days at the school
Sunday evening Week 1	Mentor co-ordinators create groups and allocate a mentor to each group. Mentor is informed by e-mail. Educators in the groups are informed by e-mail.
Monday Week 1	Mentor and group send introductory messages. Mentor explains how to start module.
Tuesday/Wednesday Week 1	Module starts. All groups begin with the "Hello Activity" which is designed to get group members "talking" to each other. The aim is to develop a solid basis for meaningful interaction as early as possible in the cycle.
Wednesday/Friday Week 1	Mentor provides quick individual response to each educator as they send introductions and encourages them to respond to one another's introductions. This is a vital stage of the module, and it is hoped that the mentor will set the tone of friendly interaction. As soon as a mentee has responded to at least 2 group members, he/she may begin with the first activity.
Week 1-6	Each mentor will draw up a suggested schedule of milestones for the activities in their module and send it out to the group. The group then starts moving through their course activities. The Friday of the 6 th week is the last day on which activities can be submitted, and module evaluation and self-assessment forms should have been completed.
Week 7	Mentors complete their tracking. Mentor co-ordinators verify all activities. Each mentee receives a report generated by the database showing which activities they have been credited with, and the group's mentor receives a report of the whole group's record. A one-week period of appeal starts, in which mentees and mentors check their reports and query any discrepancies.
Week 8	At the end of the week of appeal, final (amended) reports are sent out and the groups are closed.

The training process starts with a one and a half-day face-to-face course.
SchoolNet has trained trainers in each province to conduct these courses.
The training materials for this course are on the CD. They have the same look and feel as the modules.
Educators register with the Educators' Network on or before the introductory training day.
During the introductory training the educators are introduced to the modules and given some advice in choosing a suitable module. The educator then selects a module online and received an e-mail confirmation of this selection.
After the introductory training the mentor co-ordinators create groups of up to 15 educators and allocate a mentor to each group.
SchoolNet has trained experienced educators to act as online mentors.
The group is assigned an identity (a group number) and a mailing list address (e.g. group234@schoolnet.org.za. This group address is recorded in the database. The database re-directs mail from the individual to the group and mentor
Each educator in a group receives an automatically generated e-mail message with information about who is in the group and who the mentor is. The educators are invited to introduce themselves to the group. The mentor receives an e-mail message with the same information.
The "Hello Activity" starts and the module is underway.

Research and Evaluation

Accreditation

The CD

Week 1-6

Week 7

Week 8