The seminar of the year 2013 was centred on action research and the use of ICTs in the classrooms. The seminar was organised by the Association Helping Our People (www.helpingourpeople.net) in collaboration with Microsoft Indian Ocean and French Pacific Ltd.
75 educators attended the one-day workshop which was graced by two foreign guests. Professor Jack Whitehead talked on action research and the principle of researching, inquiring on and improving one's own practices while Prof Noel Conruyt from University of Reunion spoke on the living labs concepts in the context of teaching and learning.
Three students (educators) who have recently graduated from the University of Mauritius course in the BSc (Hons) Educational and Instructional Technology and the MSc in Educational Technologies also presented their research projects and findings to their peers.
The key difference of this year's edition with respect to the 2012 edition was that in this edition the focus was rather centred on the humanist side of the ICT in the Classrooms while the previous edition focused primarily on the technology side of the concept.
This workshop was a followup on the training sessions conducted in April 2013 by Helping Our People under the funding and support of Microsoft on the Partners in Learning Network (www.pil-network.com) program. Educators were trained to develop their own interactive learning materials and to use the Partners in Learning Network as a common educational social network and sharing platform.
The presentations of research work done by educators demonstrated the work being done at grass-roots level in the schools that would definitely have a much wider impact in the longer term especially at influencing and informing Government's policy on education.
For instance, the presentation on Tablet PCs revealed a number of elements that are important to address from the stakeholders perspectives prior to the introduction of tablet PCs for students in the secondary schools. The workshop demonstrated ability of the University and the VCILT to do high level research in education technology and to ultimately bring this to the community at large to benefit through knowledge dissemination initiatives and application in the real world context (the schools).
For instance, the presentation on Tablet PCs revealed a number of elements that are important to address from the stakeholders perspectives prior to the introduction of tablet PCs for students in the secondary schools. The workshop demonstrated ability of the University and the VCILT to do high level research in education technology and to ultimately bring this to the community at large to benefit through knowledge dissemination initiatives and application in the real world context (the schools).
The event was held on the Saturday 22nd June 2013 at the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre in Bell Village, Port Louis.
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