Hey Samantha, how are you today?
Hey, good morning
Jaye.
Great to be with you all good.
Thank
you.
Thanks.
So I'm Jaye Richards Hill, Microsoft's
Director of Education for the Middle
Eastern Africa, and I'm here today
in Microsoft, South Africa HQ.
With a colleague of mine.
I am Samantha Nelson.
I'm the acting education lead
from Microsoft South Africa.
Great to be with you.
And we're gonna have a chat today
about some of the work that the
team in South Africa has been doing
with one of the school groups.
the South Africa Board of Jewish
Education has 11 schools, around
Johannesburg, the King David.
And we've been working with them
now for three years, I think
three years on the Education
Transformation Framework program.
They came to us three years ago and
wanted to work with us around their
digital transformation journey.
So after a lot of discussions and
fact finding, we agreed that the
transformation framework process was
the right thing for them to use to help.
Signpost and structure their digital
transformation journey, in the
classroom and in the whole school.
Now, you've worked a lot with
the transformation frameworks,
Samantha, haven't you?
What do, what do you think about this
as a program for a school group like
SABJE and the King David schools?
How do you think it's gonna support
that journey or has helped them?
Thank
you, Jaye.
I think what.
And to start with was really get a
sense of where SABJE found themselves.
I think when we do that assessment
or when we did it was so important
to be able to map out their
digital transformation strategy.
So what I love about our education
transformation framework is that
essentially we give them that
baseline assessment where you can
actually have an honest discussion
in terms of where you find.
But I think most importantly, linking
it to the key transformational
pillars that mattered to SABJE.
I know you've been, exposed,
you know, especially to when
the education transformation.
Framework started, just
give us that journey.
And I think that was about
four, five years ago?
It was longer than that.
Yeah.
Actually, I remember working with the
transformation framework in partnership
with Microsoft and some of our customers
in South Africa as early as 2013 and 14.
and I've, I've worked
with the framework, I've.
I've given my feedback into how that
it, it's changed and updated and,
and it's not a fixed in time process.
The transformation framework is
informed by what we see working
really well around the world and
what we see not working well.
It is, it is a living, breathing set
of, of ip and what I really like about
it is how iterative it becomes and we saw.
From the experience that we had through
Covid, how certain things came out
from that experience that were really
important to consider when we go forward.
Things like social and emotional
learning, critical, you know, to look
at the wellbeing of teachers, but also
the learners in the classroom, and
how do we track that and support that.
The framework addresses that.
Now.
It's certainly for me, a great
North Star, but not just the North
Star about this is what you could.
It also plots the journey for you,
and that journey is so important,
and that journey may have stages.
It's probably a never-ending journey,
but at least with the framework, you
have a chance to structure the journey
and make sure that out of those four key
pillars, you look at the subdivisions.
The 16 critical components that
we at Microsoft consider education
transformation needs to look at.
SABJE looked at most of these in
their journey and they built it into
a transformation plan, which they then
committed to implement across the schools.
And the change management ensured that
everybody understood why it was happening.
The parents and caregivers
understood why it was happening.
Yeah.
The learners understood why it
was happening, and I think that
collective buy-in creates a collective
knowledge and a collective will
to do better and to move forward.
Yeah.
I'm, I'm going now to see, uh,
rabbi Ricky Seeff, who's the, uh,
director of Education for the South
African Board of Jewish Education.
And, and Rabbi Ricky has been
leading this process, um, with
his team across the schools.
So I'm looking forward to having a talk
to him now to see just how he feels.
The transformation framework has
helped to structure the journey
that he and his organization and
the schools have have been making.
Mm, I am here today at the King David
School in Linksfield, Johannesburg
to talk to Rabbi Seeff, who's the
director of Education for the South
African Board of Jewish Education.
We've been working with SABJE for
two years now on Microsoft's education
transformation framework, and today
we are going to have a conversation
about how the framework has supported
the digital transformation journey
that SABJE and the King David
schools across Johannesburg have been.
Welcome, Rabbi Seeff.
Good to meet with you today.
Thank you.
Great to be here.
Thank you.
Would you, would you like to tell us
a little bit about the, the, the South
African Board of Jewish Education
and, and the King David Schools?
Sure.
So the South African Board of Jewish
Education, um, oversees all of the
King David schools, and we have
just standard 3000 students within
our network from pre-primary school
all the way through to high school.
King David's a large system.
Um, with many complexities and we
felt we needed some handholding on
this journey to, to transform our
schools and transform the way we teach.
And Microsoft seemed
like a natural partner.
How did you think the Microsoft Education
transformation framework,
um, sign posted that journey for you,
yourself and the team actually looked
at the organization, encouraged us to
find a partner, a Microsoft partner,
which we found in, in, in Buzzbotics.
And then really for me it was
the signpost, it was the roadmap.
It was a clear.
Distinct process of however, two years
and things that you need to put in
place in order to transform, to change
the system, to work with the teachers.
Um, a framework that really spelled
out the, uh, who the key players
needed to be, who the project owners
needed to be, um, and to set goals.
That, that's actually what I liked
about it as well, that we formed with
our own team, um, setting goals that
we're realistic for our organization.
So we are gonna keep progressing and
we are gonna keep moving forward.
Um, and we committed to that
growth and to that excellence.
So, um, the future's very bright.
Rabbi Seeff.
Thank you very much for, for
chatting to me this morning.
Thank you so much.
It's been a wonderful experience.
So I've moved over to King David
Ariel's school now, and I'm sitting
here in this wonderful sensory room
with Andrea, Ben, the principal.
Can you tell us a little bit more
about how you found, um, immersive
reader and reading progress?
So the immersive
reader has
literally changed our
lives within the classroom
and therapy.
Um, and in.
So with immersive readers,
especially how children
that have dyslexia or
dysgraphia, they can
track the actual progress when
it comes to
reading.
Um, and it just makes
the whole journey
a real easier for them.
Um, looking forward, um, how do
you think your journey looks here
at King David Ariel with the tech
Microsoft technology So positive.
Like I said,
we have such wonderful buy-in
from the teachers, from a therapist
using the technology as an integrated
approach within our classroom.
So it's really going well.
The Ariel means line of God.
It shows the power and the beauty
of every single
child that comes to King David Ariel.
So meaning that even though they are
remedial children, there's still hope,
they are
brave, they are strong.
So that's what it means.
That's a wonderful message.
Thanks very much for your time.
We've moved over to the King
David Primary School in Victory
Park here in Johannesburg.
Um, and at the moment I'm with Kevin Lees.
You've had a lot of training and support
with your teachers and we are starting
to see some fantastic examples of.
Teachers are embracing the use of
technology to, to change how they teach.
What have you seen here as a, as a
result of this training and support?
I think all of my teachers, but
particularly those of us who've
been teaching for many years, when
you still have that growth mindset,
when you still acknowledge, I,
I, I, there's room for growth.
Um, there's something new to learn,
there's something that I can add
to, to what I'm doing that makes my
teaching more engaging, uh, more.
And as I say, yes, just immensely proud,
um, of, of the whole process to see the
willingness, the eagerness to share ideas.
It's wonderful to see all the, all of
the use of, of the Microsoft technology
that SABJE, uh, invested in, and
that the training that our partners
have been doing has been effective.
And, and ofcourse it's, it's gonna
be wonderful to come back here as,
as I'm able to do cause I'm local.
Um, and to see all of this
progress actually happening.
So thank you very much for
having us in your school today.
Pleasure.
Pleasure and good luck.
Pleasure.
We look forward to seeing you soon Again.
Hi, again, I'm here in the Israel room
at the King David Primary School in Sandton.
And I'm here with Lynn
Van Dellen, who's the principal.
Good morning.
It's lovely to be here.
And I've had a, a walk around the
school and I've seen the media center.
Uh, what a fantastic place.
How did the kids like, or, or
appreciate that kind of environment.
In the media
center, our library has been catalytic
in creating part of a change.
In fact, they're just part
of the start of the journey.
And so our process began in
2019, the onboarding going on
online, overnight, during Covid.
It was very catalytic for
us and good catalytic.
Where we've come from when has been
nothing short of, of miraculous.
I've been part of digital
transformation in two previous
schools prior to this, and this has
been the most successful transition.
And I do feel there were many factors
that came to play having, um, a service
provider like Buzzbotics go alongside
us, where you have people that are
actually teachers and understand.
We've had lovely feedback about
the digital transformation, about
how uh, the children are excited
to come to school and they are
absolutely loving, loving being here.
That for me is music to my ears.
Thanks so much.
It's been a pleasure to have you
here, and I hope you enjoy the rest
of your day with us.
Thank you.
Thanks, Jaye.
We started this education transformation
framework process two years ago, as
you know, and we've built a project
plan and we are seeing how it's
been implemented across the schools,
and a huge part of that was around
teacher training, professional
development, and classroom coaching.
The number of MIE experts that we've
got this time is a, is a, I think,
an incredible endorsement of how the
teachers have, have really bought.
What we're trying to do
here?
Well, I think the first thing that
we had to do was determine the goal.
And the goal was we wanted as many
teachers to become MIE experts, but
we had to formulate a journey and a
pathway for these teachers to go through.
So when we, uh, created our training
program, uh, we had a vision in place of
where we wanted to take these teachers.
We used the bookings feature
where the teachers then could.
Go onto the booking site, find a
time allocation that could suit them.
They could even then
select the level in teams.
Teams.
Okay, that's great.
And, um, they could then select the
level that they were comfortable
with, whether they were beginner,
intermediate, or advanced.
And then they could log on and
we would use breakout rooms.
So, uh, we would always have two
or three trainers within it so
that we could go to pace of the.
Um, could follow.
And, uh, with that they would then
send it to their coach and gave us
an opportunity then to assess the
teacher's skills so we could see who's
our champions, who needs more help.
And, um, we could then target
those teachers and go, well, you've
done a great job, because that's
what the teachers actually wanted.
What's some acknowledgement.
We broke them up into different
sections of individual challenges.
Uh, we had group challenges where
they had to learn to collaborate with
one another.
So, so Craig, you are the head
of digital transformation here.
Um, how, but how do you feel, how do you
feel this journey is gone and during,
during this time of change, we've
attempted to create as many feedback
channels as possible, whether it's
by myself, whether it's via surveys,
whether it's via form surveys, technically.
even just, um, our PLC groups
that we've instituted as part of
our change management policies.
Your professional learning groups,
our professional learning communities.
Yeah.
And that all gives credence and
rise for everyone to advocate for
their own learning opportunities.
At the end of the day, teachers
understand teachers, they understand their
classrooms, they understand the struggles
that they face, and they understand
the, the considerations that need to
be taken into effect to move forward.
I love the partnership.
South African Board of Jewish Education,
King David Schools and Buzzbotics,
our global training partner, um, as
Microsoft, obviously, we're really
committed to supporting you further.
And, you know, this has been a great
project for me to be involved in.
It's certainly one that I, I, I'd
really like to continue with you walking
that journey to see where we go next.