MiET http://www.miet.co.za/ and Umoya are working together to help improve education in Kwazulu Natal. MiET is a well established and respected NGO which has been operating in KZN for about 14 years. Umoya Funda will be deployed in education centres and schools in KZN to assist with improving the quality of teaching and ultimately helping children learn better, achieve better marks and be well equipped for life after school.
Umoya Funda will host e-classroom educational worksheets on our "lessonbox" which we install in the classroom giving teachers and learners easy access to the materials. Please check out the e-classroom website http://e-classroom.co.za/ and register to receive their newsletter.
Sun Valley Primary School have appointed Umoya Networks to build their campus wide network consisting of a fibre backbone and Cat5/6 to each classroom. WiFi access points will be installed in each classroom.
Our staffroom software was developed at Sun Valley school over several years by Lead Developer Tim Keller who assisted his Dad, Gavin Keller, the headmaster.
Like many schools, Sun Valley used to struggle with many spreadsheets of marks and data being emailed about. Often spreadsheet formulas would get corrupted and time was wasted correcting these problems.
When it came to school report time, these were manually produced and each teacher would spend many hours preparing the reports. The worst was when progression schedules had to be prepared for the WCED. It literally would take up to two weeks for a dedicated person to prepare a huge spreadsheet of all the marks of all the subjects for each learner. Now, with staffroom, one click and a report is generated in seconds. The same goes for a progression schedule. Teachers say that they now have extra hours each day to focus on teaching.
Umoya Funda includes our staffroom software, and has many more components. Some of the additional features of Umoya Funda have been on trial in Amy Keller's classroom. This is what she says:
From:Amy Keller Date: 02 November 2011 2:05:37 PM SAST Subject:Thank you
Dear Peter and the Umoya Funda team,
Thank you so much for the opportunity to "test drive" your software. It has been a fantastic opportunity.
I have found that it has enhanced my teaching. I have been able to make use of videos, music, media and colour to keep my class' attention and make learning fun. The class have loved all the interactive games provided and feel exceptionally privileged to have kept the board for so long.
I feel that this product will be of great use to schools in South Africa. The whiteboard and projector are easy to use. The affordability of the equipment is also great.
Thank you again for allowing my class to use this software. I pray that you will be blessed with many schools coming on board with this fantastic project.
Umoya is delighted to be partnering with Norman Henshilwood High School in Constantia, Cape Town to deliver our advanced interactive school management, teaching and learning solution called Umoya Funda.
Umoya Networks are installing a structured cable network throughout the entire school. Each classroom receives multiple LAN connections and a wireless access point for both teachers and learners to access the network.
Each classroom will have an interactive networked data projector installed which turns a standard whiteboard into an interactive teaching surface. The networked data projectors are centrally managed and also offer the ability to have messages broadcast from a single location to every classroom. The projectors have adequate sound capability allowing for a full multimedia teaching experience.
Umoya Funda "lessonbox's" are being installed in each classroom. These specialised devices come pre-loaded with a vast library of digital content such as Khan videos, National Education workbooks, textbooks, interactive whiteboard applications, games and supplementary teaching material such as pre-prepared lesson plans aligned with the new CAPS curriculum.
Included in Umoya Funda is Umoya Sofware's acclaimed "staffroom" school management software which makes school administration easy and gives back hours each day to teachers so they can focus on their core responsibility of teaching.
Umoya Funda includes our fundacloud service as well as myfunda learner and teacher access. Umoya Funda is designed around promoting as much interactive teaching as possible and includes functionality for mobile devices such as cell phones, tablets and laptops to be used and managed within the classroom.
Every lesson that is presented in class is recorded and can be downloaded by the learners onto their cell phones, tablets or laptops to view as many times as they need to. Recorded lessons are also ideal for learners who may have missed the class due to sickness or some other unforseen circumstance.
Umoya Funda also gives the headmaster the capability to broadcast video messages to the entire school or simply send a text message that will show up on the interactive whiteboard.
