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On September 26, the Secondary Faculty became the first
school to host a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) Summit on the
African continent. The event was conducted by the EdTech Team,
in partnership with Parklands College and NGO SchoolNet South
Africa, to bring a world-class educational technology conference
to Cape Town. Over 360 professors, teachers, principals, educa-
tion department officials, technology specialists and librarians from
across South Africa and other African countries, were treated to
two days of exciting and motivating presentations and workshops.
Executives from Google South Africa and the Google in Education
team in Google’s London office also attended.
Parklands staff members were among the local presenters who
filled the programme over the busy two days. Sylvia Steyn, Richard
Knaggs, and Michael Swart presented a session called “Life on the
run in educational management abated with Google Apps.” Audi-
ence members commented on how this session helped them under-
stand how they could apply the tricks and tools they had learned in
other sessions in a practical way at their own schools.
Teachers Jayshree Pillay and Anthony Peters shared their
Dragon’s Den project with the conference delegates. This project
integrated all seven third quarter English assessments, as well as
Design and EMS curriculum objectives, with high-efficacy Google
and Apple apps. Based on the BBC series Dragons’ Den, the pro-
ject combined the subjects in an authentic marketing proposal task.
Kevin Sherman, Head of Curriculum and Learning, delivered two
presentations. The first, on how to use Google’s advanced search
features, allowed participants to practice new skills and consider
how they would teach their learners to ‘search deeper.’ Kevin’s
second session, entitled “Supporting Teacher Professional Devel-
opment with Google Apps,” showed delegates how Google tools
can help them plan, organise, manage and deliver professional
development for their staff.
Visitors to the campus were not only impressed by the interna-
tional and local presenters, but by the Secondary Faculty’s beauti-
ful facilities and wireless connectivity. For the conference, MWEB
donated a 100MB international Internet connection that enabled
hundreds of delegates to access the web with amazing speed.
Parklands College’s IT staff contributed to the positive experience
by providing support to delegates and presenters, and by ensuring
the events technical needs were catered to. One visitor described
it as the best conference he had been to all year. Others thought it
was the best educational conference they had ever attended.
Over twenty Parklands College staff members also attended as
delegates. Upon returning to campus after the Spring break, teach-
ers began putting into practice many of the techniques and tools
demonstrated. Teacher Emma Oxley-Simpson used TodaysMeet,
demonstrated by American educator Rushton Hurley, to have her
first graders share their holiday news with each other. Learners
wrote posts and commented on each other’s experiences on their
iPads, utilising technology to enrich their literacy skills. Secondary
Faculty Economics teacher, Stephen Le Feuvre, asked learners con-
ducting research to use a shared Google Doc for their note-taking.
Using EasyBib, learners automatically referenced their sources as
they took notes, and Mr Le Feuvre was able to look at the shared
documents and leave his own comments. Parklands teachers’
responses to the Google Summit (see next page) demonstrate how
this unique event will continue to inspire teaching and learning at
the College for some time to come.
Kevin Sherman
Head: Curriculum and Learning
SEPTEMBER 26-27, 2013
