Lab Assistants Workshop

The lab assistants who have now been working in the PSSP fixed computer labs for over a year attended two workshops recently so that they can play an even greater role in the PSSP Programme.

The first workshop, held at and facilitated by the Resolve Group was held in order to orientate them with the RESOLVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME. The second workshop, held at the Core Group headquarters and facilitated by iSchoolAfrica, was held in order to train the lab assistants in how to sync iPads so that they can play a greater role in the PSSP ISCHOOLAFRICA IPAD LEARNING PROGRAMME.

The Resolve workshop, held at the end of the first quarter was convened so that the lab assistants can play a greater role in data collection and management insofar as it relates to the Resolve School Leadership Programme. One of the core focus areas of the Resolve programme is improving the strategic planning and review processes across the schools. This includes:

  • Setting realisable but still stretch targets in a school “scorecard”;
  • Planning strategic initiatives that will enable the school to reach its targets;
  • Establishing simple but effective monitoring and evaluation systems to raise accountability and improve collective learning and improvement amongst school stakeholders; and
  • improving data-collection and analysis.

 

The lab assistants have been an enormously useful resource in the running, maintenance and reporting on the PSSP fixed computer laboratories. As such, it was felt that the lab assistants could perform an additional important role by assisting with the collection and inputting of data for the school’s “scorecards” as mentioned above. This will be an enormous help to schools in monitoring and evaluating their achievement of their targets from both an academic perspective as well as in terms of practices and programmes that the schools implement. The Resolve workshop therefore had two main objectives:

  • to familiaraise the lab assistants with the objectives and basic structure of the Resolve School  Leadership Programme, and in particular the school “scorecards”; and
  • to provide the lab assistants with basic Xcel and data inputting skills in order to input and manage school data.

The workshop held at Core was held with the specific goal of teaching the lab assistants how to manage the syncing of iPads so that this doesn’t have to be done by school educators. iPad syncing is the process by which new iPad applications which have been requested and downloaded onto each high school’s “mothership laptop” are then put onto each of the iPads in that particular school’s “cluster” (each high school and its feeder primary schools forms one school “cluster”.

Having the lab assistants play an active and consistent role in the syncing process will take a huge weight off the shoulders of educators and iPad manager for who iPad syncing is a very time-consuming process.

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