RECENT NEWS
ICDL - AWS In Communities CODING BOOTCAMP
held at
CURRO DIGIED SCHOOL FORESHORE
What a wonderful way to kick off the Python Boot-camps for 2020.
We held the first one at Curro DigiEd Foreshore. We had about 60 students go through the python coding course.
#awsincommunities #python #icdlsouthafrica #capetown #education #curroforeshore #digied
ICDL NEWS
IN THIS SECTION...
2015 - 2020
ICDL in Partnership with AWS InCommunities Programme
Through the AWS InCommunities programme, AWS is committed to making a positive impact in the communities closest to where our employees live and work. We are proud of the impact that these great Cape Town students from The Centre Of Science And Technology (COSAT) and Sinenjongo High School will no doubt make in their communities as they progress through their careers, now possessing of a globally recognised ICT and digital literacy certification from ECDL / ICDL South Africa. - Brendan Cannon (AWS Community Engagement Manager based in Ireland)
https://blog.aboutamazon.eu/aws/the-teens-from-dublin-and-cape-town-connecting-over-coding
ICDL moves to Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Faced with aging hardware on outdated on-premise systems, ICDL embarked on a program of migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilitated and implemented by CloudFundis (Pty) Ltd, a Cape Town based Cloud Managed Service Provider. Together with Cloud-Fundis we evaluated the needs of our organization, ensuring both data security and business continuity - then Cloud-Fundis migrated the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system from the on-premise servers to AWS. Despite the challenges, Cloud-Fundis made the process feel almost painless.
Throughout, the migration was expertly and professionally handled by Cloud-Fundis, ensuing that, at all times we were kept abreast of progress and critical data was ensured. Once the services were migrated, Cloud-Fundis remained in contact with us to verify satisfaction and to ensure that all the ICDL staff were up-and-running on AWS. Despite our initial concern that running in the Ireland region would be slow, our staff reported that "it seems very responsive".
This migration means ICDL are able to save significantly on annual running costs for our computer systems. A capital expenditure hardware renewal cost of over R100,000 was instead replaced by an operational expenditure making it less of a stain on cashflow and easier to control costs.
This is the first of a multi-stage process to migrate all our workloads to AWS. We're excited to take advantage of what AWS and Cloud-Fundis can deliver for us to make our business more cost-efficient, and bring us into the age of cloud computing.
Jenny van Niekerk, CEO, ICDL
Digital age brought to rural village
Good Work Foundation now operates five digital learning campuses, named the “Hazyview Cluster” after the largest campus and combined, the campuses reach over 7 000 rural people every week.
he digital learning revolution continues to grow in Bushbuckridge with award-winning South African non-profit, Good Work Foundation (GWF), last week opening a fifth digital learning campus in Dumphries village, adjacent to the Greater Kruger National Park.
Together with its partners, Sir Richard Branson’s Ulusaba, Dulini Private Game Reserve, Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve, Inyati Private Game Reserve, the Sabi Sand Pfunanani Trust, the All Heart Fund, and the Dumphries community, GWF officially launched the Dumphries Digital Learning Campus on July 26, a high-tech campus that will benefit adults and schoolchildren from the community.
GWF’s core programmes are already operational at Dumphries. The Bridging Academy is a year-long course that enables adults to become proficient in skills that are required in a 21st century workplace, bridging the gap between high school work and further studies. The Open Learning Academy focuses on English literacy, maths literacy, digital literacy, environmental awareness, and life skills for schoolchildren.
GWF now operates five digital learning campuses, named the “Hazyview Cluster” after the largest campus and combined, the campuses reach over 7 000 rural people every week. The Hazyview Cluster is endorsed by the Mpumalanga Department of Education and critical to the regions objective of delivering education technology to people, even those living in South Africa’s remotest regions.
Speaking on behalf of the Sabi Sand Pfunanani Trust as well as the four private game reserves that have partnered to fund the Dumphries campus, Isaac Hlatswayo, community liaison manager for the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, expressed gratitude for the project’s spirit of collaboration.
“On this day we celebrate what can be achieved when like-minded people and businesses collaborate strategically for the benefit of our country’s future,” he said. “It is also a day of personal significance as I am a child of this village and I am thrilled to see education innovation reaching here.”
Hendrick Louw, of Suez Capital, said of the launch: “You instilled in us a renewed sense of hope for our nation, for which we are grateful.”
GWF is one of the few NGOs in South Africa focusing on digital learning opportunities for young adults and pupils living in rural communities. GWF does this via digital learning campuses and has started the process of adding enterprise start-ups to the campuses to complete an ecosystem of learning and working. At the Hazyview Digital Learning Campus, there is a fully operational IT service desk where clients include T-Systems, Eskom, and FiatChrysler. GWF’s adult education programmes create digital citizens capable of starting their own businesses or entering the digital marketplace, including the on-campus enterprise.
Profits from the enterprise in turn contribute to the programme for children, focusing on self-organised learning environments, and now coding and robotics as well.
GWF is the 2018 Reimagine Education Gold Award winner for tech in education, and the Silver Award winner overall for the African continent. For more information about GWF, visit www.goodworkfoundation.org and to visit the GWF Dumphries Digital Learning Campus, email info@goodworkfoundation.org.
Original Article from Hazyview Herald
ICDL & AWS (Amazon Web Services) & KIDS WHO CODE
CODING BOOTCAMP
ICDL South Africa provided the computer coding boot camp in Python which was presented to 15 learners from the COSAT school in Khayelitsha over the Eater weekend. These learners gave up 3 days of their long weekend holiday to undertake this coding boot camp and trained by the Founder of Kids Who Code. The learners were all very impressed and wanted to gain access to even more ICT courses from ICDL South Africa. The course was presented at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) offices in Cape Town, who provided the training room and equipment for the boot camp plus other logistics to make the event the success it was.
The learners will be tested at their school next week when we will announce the final results, including the learner names!
The learners sent written notes of thanks to all the people involved in making this Boot camp such a great success over the Easter weekend. Some comments included:
Coding is an essential skill to have and that it is very important to grasp this opportunity with both hands….
I feel very confident that I will get an ICDL certificate….
With the guidance of the facilitator I was able to “ace” the lessons….
I assure you that the experience I had changed my mind, which in turn will change my life….
We really appreciate the knowledge that you gave us…
I would like to thank you for the equipment and books provided, they will help us in the IT world…
It has been a privilege to be part of this ICDL programme…
We (I) are grateful that we were given such an opportunity. Thank you ICDL for the information we learnt about in the course
It was a wonderful opportunity presented to us to be issued books…
Thank you for giving us an amazing 3 day program …. It has inspired us and change my outlook to being a programmer….
ICDL provided us with amazing material for learning. The books they provided us were interesting and they were not boring. It pushed us to think critically…
The opportunity presented to us is an eye opener to the fact that living in the 4th industrial revolution means that technology evolves / changes every day….
I’ve been clueless about what I would do after High School life but now, thanks to you, I know I would love to become a computer programmer.
#Python is cool thanks to Amazon and ICDL South Africa
HOUR OF CODE
A one-hour introduction to computer science through began as a coding challenge to give students a fun first introduction to computer science. Hour of Code has now become a global learning event, celebration, and awareness event. It offers hundreds of one-hour activities for students from kindergarten to high school. Activities require no experience and can be run on browsers, tablets, and smartphones – some don’t require a computer at all.
Computer science is foundational; it is changing every industry on the planet. Every 21st-century student should have the opportunity to learn how to create technology. Computer science concepts also help nurture creativity and problem-solving skills to prepare students for any future career. Economic opportunities for all computing occupations are the fastest growing in the world. Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed.
ICDL SA found two schools to host the Hour of Code and requested the assistance of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to present this initiative to Norman Hensilwood High School and Sid G Rule Primary School.
https://hourofcode.com/za/learn
AWS brought their engineers from different departments to assist the students with some of the activities available:
STAR WARS
DANCE PARTY
Despite the power cuts currently happening throughout South Africa, this did not stop Hour of Code from taking place. An activity/information sheet was printed out in advance, so the students were kept occupied while the AWS volunteers worked on getting the Chrome NoteBooks linked to the WiFi routers. Once everything was connected, the students had fun creating games with BB8, R2D2, and C-3PO.
Sid G Rule
We had grades 4-6 at the Hour of Code. These students enjoyed creating and learning how the code is written. It was inspiring to see how quickly they took to following the instructions and started to create the games on the different levels. Some even had a chance to play the Mindcraft game, which they loved.
Technology has changed the world in many ways over the last 20 years. We have seen technologies come and go, and the demand for digital skills evolve and change. ICDL has developed and adapted over the last 20 years to help people obtain the digital skills they require to succeed today.
ICDL has grown from a small project in Europe, founded with support from the European Union’s ESPRIT research programme, to an internationally recognised standard in digital skills. ICDL is now used in over 100 countries around the world, and is available in over 40 languages. 15 million people have benefited from ICDL in the past 20 years.
Throughout the year, we are highlighting some of the most interesting and inspiring stories from the last two decades of work raising digital skills around the world.
CONGRATULATIONS TO CAPE ACCESS
On 8 September 2015, the Premier hosted the second annual Service Excellence Awards. This year the event was even bigger than in 2014 with 200% more nominations received, which is a clear indication that our hard work as public servants is recognised and acknowledged.
The true community spirit made the ceremony a memorable occasion. The Western Cape Government is serious about innovation and improving service delivery, which is why we value employees who go above and beyond the call of duty to serve our communities and to put the people of the Western Cape first.
We would like to congratulate all the nominees but especially Cape Access for the work that they are doing in the different communities
The 2015 Service Excellence Awards Winner
BEST BATHO PELE TEAM
Gold: Cape Access Team (Department of the Premier)
