South African Classroom Exchange using Digital Cameras


Ambitious projects always start with something inspirational, don’t they? For me, the inspiration for this project came from reading a blog post by Sharon Peters on the Infinite Tinking Machine blog. Sharon is from Teachers without Borders Canada, and she posted about her experience working with as a facilitator for professional development in South Africa and Kenya. In her blog post, she encouraged educators to “consider making a donation of a Flip camera (or similar camera) to kick off a classroom exchange between your students and students in South Africa.”


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By Bill Van Loo MACUL Grant Recipient


I started thinking about how I could help put technology


into the hands of deserving, eager teachers in South Africa, and how I could use that opportunity


to give my students at Honey Creek a unique experience. I immediately started working on a MACUL grant, and to my delight I was approved!


Te basic outline of this project is that each classroom would have 3 digital cameras assigned to them. Students in both classrooms would participate in a number of activities focused on examining the types and roles of technology in their lives. Te digital cameras would be used to document these projects, shooting both digital photos and digital video. Students would then be able to exchange their photos and videos on a class blog to use in discussions.


With Sharon’s help, I made contact with Mncedisi Soga, a teacher at Siyazakha Junior Secondary School in Cape Town, South Africa. He was enthusiastic about beginning a classroom exchange, so we started the process. We would exchange photos and videos between his students and the 4th & 5th grade classes at Honey Creek.


Using the MACUL grant money, I purchased 6 cameras for this project. I initially considered a mixture of digital cameras and Flip video recorders, but ultimately settled on the Canon Powershot SD1200 Digital Photo/Video Cameras ($200)


Conference 2011 | MACULJOURNAL


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