ICT Manager: Mr Graeme Broster ICDL Co-ordinator: Ms Janine Myers
“Any sufficiently advanced, smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic.”
Technician: Mr Clement Schlosz
“Technology is everything invented after you were born, everything else is just stuff.” (Alan Kay)
(Arthur C. Clarke)
There were times when we created magic in the ICT department at Rustenburg in 2011, and times when we barely managed to make the stage at all. The year began on a low note, with an upgrade to the server during the holiday taking much longer than we were promised. This left us with little time to prepare for the start of the academic year and much frantic chaos as a result. As the year progressed, these upgrades began to bear fruit and, besides the occasional Eskom power failure, we have had a very stable and smoothly functioning infrastructure. The Computer Server Room was also upgraded with the creation of an IT office for the IT Manager and Technician to work. This allows the servers to remain in a locked and air-conditioned space which has added to the network’s stability.
“Any teacher that can be replaced by a computer deserves to be.”
The people in the know are saying that email has reached its zenith and that other communication forms, such as Twitter, Facebook and whatever social media are still to come, will replace it. We launched a Rustenburg Facebook page as well as a Rustenburg Twitter account in 2011 to try and expand the available streams of communication with which we tell the world what’s happening at our school. The aim is to share the news of Rustenburg’s many successes instantly, rather than well after the event or activity has transpired.
“Much education today is monumentally ineffective. We are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.” (John W. Gardner)
(David Thornburg)
The IT department installed, this year, three new Smartboards in classrooms and two data projectors in two further classrooms. Two document cameras were also installed, as was a fibre optic connection running from Erinville boarding house to Charlie’s Hope. The intention was to ‘connect’ to the school network the tuckshop, music classrooms and the home of the School Campus Manager. New computers were purchased and the subsequent effect was that nearly every computer on the campus was replaced with a newer, faster machine. As always, technology is provided only as a tool that can aid and improve the quality of teaching and learning that takes place in the classroom.
2011 also saw the re-introduction of the Computer Monitresses, a group of trained learners who helped with the supervision of the Computer Laboratories at break and after school, and acted as a first line of support around the campus, and solving computer problems that arose in classrooms. Hopefully these girls have provided a valuable service to the school and have learned some practical skills in the process. We look forward to a growing team in 2012.
Computer Monitresses
Second row, from left: Gugulethu Hlope, Layla Kamedien, Michelle Madell, Mr Graeme Broster, Saira Ahmed, Onele Ngwendu, Caitrin Llywellen Front row, from left: Kim Cranfield, Zoë Tobie, Aisha Najjaar, Kate Gaskin Absent: Mary-Ann Mowatt, Bianca Ford, Ni-Shaat Chafeker
RGHS 2011
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Societies and Societies Services
From the Computer Centre
