POLOKWANE – The first official YouTube studio for schools was launched by TeachTech on Monday.
This state-of-the-art educational studio, which is at Tom Naudé Technical High School (THS), came into being by revamping the old pumphouse that was previously used for the swimming pool, which no longer exists.
According to TeachTech founder, Luhanne Schoeman, this facility would be used to record video clips of teachers in the subjects of mathematics, sciences, engineering and graphic design.
“These video clips will be edited and packaged for the young audience and uploaded to the YouTube educational channel for students’ access at home. The studio also has the capability to broadcast live lessons to multiple connected classrooms or schools,” Schoeman explained.
The THS official educational channel, named Tomeo, was launched on Monday. The teachers would be assisted and supported by the new media specialists of TeachTech to capture and upload lessons and classroom material to the Tomeo channel.
The launch was attended by the main sponsors, Nashua Limpopo, as well as supporting role players such as Dimension Data, Old Mutual, University of Limpopo, the department of education, subject departmental heads of mathematics, sciences, engineering graphics and design, as well as the acting principal, Piet Holtzhausen. Google South Africa was also involved.
TeachTech would now enter phase two of the studio, where teachers would be equipped and trained with the required skills to capture and upload their own lessons from home to the educational channel, Schoeman said.
“Our aim is to support teachers and schools with the technology and skills to share the classroom to the student’s device at home,” he further said.
“What happens when the bell rings at the end of a lesson and the students don’t quite understand? What happens a week prior to the exams? Learners already have the required devices and connectivity to access YouTube, we just need to publish the classroom content to the web for easy access.”
TeachTech would also make their services available to businesses; the funds generated through business training videos and marketing videos would be used to pay the way for the educational channel.
“We are fully aware of the lack of funding in the public schools sector and will at all times attempt to provide a sponsored service to the public schools,” Schoeman said.
“We invite the business and the corporate sector to support this venture through sponsorships and guarantee a return on investment through media exposure and results in education,” he pledged.
Interested parties, investors, schools and teachers can contact Schoeman at 078 142 0973 or info@teachtech.co.za for more information on how to get involved.
