DigiGirlz Workshop, a Powerful weapon for girls' Dreams

DigiGirlz Workshop that was recently hosted by the Mpumalanga ICT Club Founder, Ms Nomusa Keninda on the 13 August at Nkangala TVET College, -Witbank Campus, I would say "It was empowering, fun, amazing work and brings hope to the nation and a powerful weapon for girls' dreams" as the saying goes "When you educate a woman, you educate a nation."

The DigiGirlz Workshop is a program that aims to encourage young girls to pursue STEM subjects in school and learn coding and robotics. Attendees of the workshop make connections with young female professionals in STEM fields in order to encourage them to study Math and Science.

"When I was a young girl, I did many household chores such as fetching water far from the river and gathering wood for fire because I grew up in a small village in Limpopo... but I did well in Mathematics and Science and received a bursary to study Bachelor of Science, Honours, MHSc, and PhD in Science, all of which I earned with distinctions. Dr. Edith Phalane informed the thirty girls attending the DigiGirlz workshop that she is now a Research Manager Specialist at the SAMRC/UJ Pan African Centre for Epidemics Research via a zoom platform during her motivational speech.

Suddenly, following Dr. Edith's address. The computer lab was filled with the girls' joy as a sign of confirmation for hope, dedication, and gratitude that they were fortunate to meet her because she rose from a humble beginning to her current position.

When one of the girls was asked about her overall impression of the DigiGirlz workshop on that day, she responded, "It was fun." "Yes, it has inspired me a great deal; today I learned that you can be successful even if you come from a poor background; I read a book about a poor family who struggled a great deal, but in the end, their lives turned out well. I would like to encourage young leaders to pursue their dreams and not give up because life is meaningless without them.

Sharon Khoza- STEM Facilitator

Sharon Khoza, a STEM and 4IR Facilitator from Siyafunda CTC in Midrand, came with her team to introduce the girls to coding using the Scratch platform. These girls were extremely fortunate to meet Sharon Khoza. She demonstrated how simple it is to create a game and animation using Scratch. This is what the girls said after creating their games successfully.

"Today's workshop was fantastic, I'm glad I learned something new, and I'm glad they taught us how to code, to create your own game, app, and story through the computer."

"It's incredible to know that even girls can do interesting things that boys can do; it's fascinating to know that we can do it"

"It's incredible that you have the chance to create your own music, games, animation, and other things. I am interested in animation production.

Ms. Florence Sibiya, a recently appointed unplugged coding evangelist at Nelson Mandela University, along with Dudu Mashinini, Glenda Maselesele, Andile Mahlangu, and Surprise Shai, Leva Foundation interns in Qheberha, assisted in introducing unplugged coding using the TANKS App to the DigiGirlz workshop. The girls were ecstatic to discover that they can even learn to code using the smartphones they carry.

Surprise, Andile, Glenda, Florence& Duduzile

The TANKS App coding program employs 31 puzzles created by Nelson Mandela University to teach students how to code. These are the identical puzzle pieces used by teams of learners during the Mandela Day event hosted by the Mpumalanga ICT CLUB at Witbank High School on 18 July 2022.

Ms. Nomusa Keninda is the founder of the Mpumalanga ICT Club and launched this DigiGirlz Workshop initiative in 2016. Since then, more than 2000 girls in the Nkangala District, Limpopo, Gauteng, and Cape Town have been introduced to this initiative through her networks.

Nomusa Keninda (observing the girls'projects)

Ms. Keninda stated, "There is still more work to be done, many girls are still in the dark about their career options, and some believe that there is an easy way to be successful because of what they see on TV soapies. I can't sleep at night knowing that there is a girl somewhere who is not dreaming of a STEM career." My goal is to reach out to more girls every day, not just during women's history month.

Mandela Day Coding Tournament

 The Mpumalanga ICT CLUB will bring excitement and the much needed skills of the future to the grade 7 learners who will be joining the  "The Mandela Day Coding Tournament" on the 18th July 2022 at Witbank High School,  eMalahleni in Mpumalanga. 

Participating schools will bring about 2 to 4 teams of 5 members to this Coding Tournament.  All schools hosted  TANKS Coding workshop recently in preparation for the Mandela Day Coding Tournament.  We are excited that this Tournament will be happening in 9 provinces of the country in various venues including some African countries like Kenya, Tanzania,  Namibia.

The main coordinator of this event is Prof. Jean Greyling in partnership with Leva Foundation and other supporting organizations . The Tournament will give our learners an opportunity to interact with one another, celebrate the Mandela Day and the winning teams will walk away with undisclosed prizes. We encourage teachers to prepare their teams for this day.

Coding is an essential skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and with this tournament we are hoping to excite learners to be future coders and above all, we want them to have fun. Coding makes learners to enjoy coming to school and prepare for their future.

Phopolo Primary School 

We take this opportunity to thank all participating teams, our Facilitators and Prof Jean Greyling of Nelson Mandela University Computing Sciences for this opportunity.  We are ready and we want to enjoy the day with more fun games from Rangers and TANKS Coding Apps. 

Nomusa Keninda is a Trailblazer Award Winner of the 19TH Public Sector Innovation Awards

 Nomusa Keninda has made eMalahleni and Mpumalanga Department of Education proud again. On the 25^th February 2022 at Birchwood Hotel, she was announced as one of the TRAILBLAZER Award Winner coming from Mpumalanga Province for her contribution to digital literacy within education. The ceremony was organized by the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI).

Keninda is well known for her zeal and commitment to the ICT in Education. She is the Founder and the CEO of the Mpumalanga ICT CLUB, the club that she established in 2014 to empower teachers, learners and the youth with digital technologies.

 “My highlights for getting is through my persistence in the promotion of STEM, especially in girls' education: The DigiGirlz initiative is close to my heart and I am grateful that I made some remarkable impact in digital literacy in Mpumalanga and other provinces,” said Keninda

Keninda was also invited to share her journey of innovation with other finalists from various government departments during the two days of the Design Thinking Methodology Workshop before the award ceremony at Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni. Design thinking seeks to unlock innovative solutions in a process that involves empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing. 

“The workshop was excellently presented, it came at the right time where there are challenges in many workplaces ranging from lack of change management, digital transformation phobia and many more that need creativity and innovation. I learnt a lot from other finalists where they are also confronted with resistance to change from the traditional way of doing things in order to accelerate service delivery,” said Keninda.

Nomusa on the stage with the Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni Local Municipality and other Trailblazers Award Winners

Bawokuhle Primary School Kids are on the 4IR PATH...

Many of us may have some questions about this giant step taken by Bawokuhle Primary School. Where is this school and what is happening?

Grade 2s

Bawokuhle is an isiNdebele name meaning "Ask for Greatness" and can be corrected by those who named the school. The school is one of the hard to reach schools in  Mpumalanga, in the Thembisile Hani Municipality, well known as KwaNdebele in a rural village called Gemsbokspruit. The school is a Feeder to Vumabesala Secondary School in the same vicinity. 

On the 09 March 2022, one of the Mpumalanga ICT CLUB member, Florence Sibiya volunteered her time and shared her skills to bring more than 100 grade 2 learners closer to the path of  the long awaited Fourth Industrial Revolution in education through TANKS Coding. 

"I had a great time with the little ones here, they enjoyed the Coding activities" said Florence.  She mentioned how teachers and management of the school supported her with coordinating the kids to listen and follow the instructions from the start of the lesson. She moved from one class to another introducing Coding to the kids.

Grade 2s

TANKS Coding is known as an unplugged Coding, meaning that the code can be written without using a computer but an accessible smartphone app called TANKS powered by Tangible together with cardboard tokens to help the kids to write the code and be photographed by the camera used by the TANKS app. TANKS was developed by Byron Batteson at Nelson Mandela University Computing Sciences under the supervision of Profesor Jean Greyling. 

"I am grateful to be trained as a facilitator for TANKS by the Mpumalanga ICT CLUB Founder Ms. Nomusa Keninda, and all her support towards the success of the project" said Florence. 

Florence joined the club in 2017 as a volunteer facilitator and IT technician. Like all the Volunteer Facilitators of the club, she is passionate and excellent in her work. Although the club is not paying her any anything,  she enjoys her work and gained a lot of knowledge and skills that will one day change her life for better.

Pick a Spot and Sparkle

 

Those who walked the journey before us have a lot to say from their experiences.  In 2014, a new journey in my career started shortly after returning from the Science Centre World Summit in Belgium. I was there to share my experiences about the management and coordination of Science Centre activities. I happened to learn more than sharing. 

I came back and pick my spot in the ICT lab where I started training teachers on digital tools for learning.  My spot was finally made when I conceptualized the establishment of the Mpumalanga ICT CLUB through the Google Education Groups that I already initiated for teachers to learn some Google tools integration in the classroom. 

Together with Karabo Mashabela who was the Admin Clerk at the Centre at that time. We put together and presented the concept document to teachers to join Mpumalanga ICT CLUB, a Professional Learning Community to learn and share new classroom technologies. 

Our first initiative which attracted more than 150 teachers was "Microsoft Networking Session" where teachers learn more about Microsoft programmes in the classroom. The sessions were then followed by 60 teacher seminars were teachers themselves would share their best ICT practices in the classroom. 

The journey continued until I finally got to be introduced to Microsoft Youthspark where I had to learn how to Code on Minecraft Hour of Code. In 2016, shortly  after the schools closes for December holidays, we hosted grade 4 to 7 girls to celebrate the global initiative called Hour of Code.

In 2017, we officially launched the DigiGirlz initiative. The initiative is aimed at empowering young girls in Positive Personal Branding through career guidance towards STEM careers, connect girls with successful female in STEM careers and do hands on activities such as Coding on Scratch and Minecraft. We continue to empower these young girls in the club. Little did I know that one day I would again represent South Africa internationally,  that was in 2019 in France, Paris.

Yes, I picked a spot not to sparkle but to make others to continue to sparkle in every corner of the classroom.  When this happens,  all our schools will sparkle towards quality education.  This message was shared during the UJ Teacher Librarian Seminar held on the 20th October 2021 virtually on Zoom.

She is pioneering Coding and Robotics subject in Mpumalanga

“My moment came alive when I stood side by side with the upper echelon of the department officials before my work was officially recognized in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature during the Policy and Budget speech delivered by the MEC of Education in Mpumalanga on Tuesday, 08th June 2021.”

She stood in the middle of the Head of Department Mrs. Lucy Moyane and the MEC for Education in Mpumalanga, Hon. Bonakele Majuba posing to the photographers.  Keninda was so excited when the exact words of her recognition filled the assembly which was quarter full due to the COVID-19 pandemic strict regulations on the number of people allowed to attend the session. The proceeding was at least broadcasted on the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature's Facebook page and various community radio stations and would later be heard on the DSTV 408 Parliamentary channel. 

She received recognition for becoming a true pioneer of Coding and Robotics subject in South Africa, particularly in Mpumalanga province. The MEC also committed to work side by side with her and Pepper the “Robot” to promote and advocate Coding and Robotics in Mpumalanga schools. “I hope this remarkable recognition and my commitment to education will take me one step further in becoming a voice of hope especially in girls’ education. 

Keninda is a well-known seasoned educator in the integration of technology in education. She served as an e-Learning Specialist in the Mpumalanga Department of Education charged with a responsibility of training and coaching teachers in ICT skills in line with Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework. She is also a founder of the Mpumalanga ICT Club. The club is well-known of motivating young girls to stay in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics(STEM) subjects for girls to pursue Information Technology Careers under the initiative called DigiGirlz. 

Keninda started training kids in Coding and Robotics shortly after she came from Belgium in 2014. She was identified by the international Organising Committee in Belguim to attend a Science Centre World Summit. “The science centre summit exposed and empowered me with digital skills and I ended up picking Coding” I was then later trained by Microsoft South Africa to become confident on Minecraft Education and later acquired other Coding skills from various coding languages.

Mpumalanga Department of education has already started with the training of teachers in Coding and Robotics and Keninda has been part of the team. She continuously supports teachers physically and online for teachers to attain their Coding and Robotics National Certificates.  Keninda is a true pioneer of ICT in education, she holds a BA degree, a Higher Diploma in Education and Public Management, Post Graduate Degree in Online Journalism, she is about to complete her Master of Education ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

 

She has also received other outstanding recognition awards. She has been recognised by Microsoft Education Corporation as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow (Highest recognition in Microsoft). Lastly, she was recognised as an Inspiring Fifty Woman in South Africa by a Netherlands based company called accelerateHER aimed at making tech female role models more visible to young girls.

DigiGirlz are everywhere