Benefits of Technology in an Underprivileged South African Classroom
This Meeting's Highlights:Program: Benefits of Technology in an Underprivileged South African Classroom
Speaker: Kevin Sherman and William Koopman
Meeting for the week of November 30th to December 6th, 2015
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our meeting!Each Monday our week's meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 45 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
Greetings
Message from the President
Welcome! We think it's great that you'd give a little of your time to hang out with us, the members and guests of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley.
And in the giving department, Tuesday of this week is/was Giving Tuesday, a cool movement which started in 2012 as a response to the overwhelming commercialism associated with Black Friday and similar post-Thanksgiving sales-fest-o-ramas.So you know, we're going to give you a challenge as part of the giving theme, and I hope it's one you'll find fun!Thanks for joining us, and we hope what you read and watch will give you a little inspiration, perhaps prompting you to give us a comment before you leave. Details on that, below.Rotarian guests, we ask that you consider contributing something - whatever for you is the regular cost of a Rotary meal, perhaps - to the efforts of our club. Please choose one of the options below:
Send via our secure Happy Dollars form.
Send via Google Wallet to: ecsv.rotary@gmail.com
Send via PayPal to: ecsv.rotary@gmail.com
Send a check via snail mail (see below for instructions)
To pay via Google Wallet or PayPal, you'll need to log in to your account with those companies.Those of you who prefer a more traditional approach can mail a check made out to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley to our treasurer: ℅ Allen Thompson, 13500 Cascade Ct., Bakersfield CA 93314.Non-Rotarian guests, you are certainly welcome to help us out, too! Even a small amount can help us make something good happen for someone in need.The Giving ChallengeAs a club of people concerned with improving communities and finding clever ways to be of service to others, your challenge this week and next is to donate a little time or money to any cause you think is a worthy one, and to meet the challenge properly, follow these rules:
Give some of your time or any amount of money to a worthy cause (nonprofit or similar) - any amount of time or any amount of money will do.
For this challenge, the benefitting cause should be something other than Rotary (we'll challenge everyone to help with a Rotary cause at other times; this challenge is about a cause that is special to you in some way.
Using this form, tell which cause you chose and why (but not how much time or money) - this is a chance for us to get to know each other a little better.
Do this by Sunday, December 13th.
Are you in? Let's give our all to get every member to take part!
Yours in service,
Rushton Hurley,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
The Power of Images
We believe that there is power in imagery, and that a great photo can inspire in its own unique way.
The image below is called "Photography Fights Alzheimer's," and is by a person who goes by the not-so-short handle of "GollyGforce - Living My Worst Nightmare" on Flickr. The real power is with the accompanying story, which you can find on this page.
Photography Fights Alzheimer's by GollyGforce - Living My Worst Nightmare from Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The Power of Ideas
Every week we bring you a few words from history which we think can help inspire you. This week is a quote from Mother Teresa.
"It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving." ― Mother Teresa
Time for Sharing
Every week we work on bringing you a dose of innovation and education. Here is a thought for your week.
With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas on the near horizon, here's a powerful advertisement from last year by Sainsbury's, a UK supermarket chain.
No matter how you celebrate December, may it be a time of sharing, and a time for making wonderful opportunities out of challenges.
Club Reminders
Club Survey
Members - we still need survey responses from twenty of you! If you haven't taken a few minutes to do this survey, please do so today, giving a few thoughts to help the group!
Board of Director Nominations Opened for 2016-17!
Every year we hold elections for Board of Director positions that are opened. Our terms are known as the "Rotary Year" and start on July 1 and run until June 30 of the following year. All of our Board of Director positions, other than Director, are one-year terms. As decided earlier in the year, our club president for the 2016-17 Rotary Year starting on July 1, 2016 will be Mitty Chang. We are now seeking open positions for his Board of Directors, as well as for president for the 2017-18 Rotary Year.
Nominations for positions on the Board of Directors (aka club officers) are hereby open effective immediately.
The following positions are open for nomination (unless otherwise noted, these are all for July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 terms):
One (1) president-elect (this would be Mitty's successor, for July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018)
One (1) treasurer
One (1) secretary
One (1) director (this is a three year term)
Members can nominate themselves or any other member of this club.
Please email nominations to
The email nominations will be received by the President-elect (Mitty), the President (Rushton), and the Secretary (Stephen).
Nominations will close at 12:01 AM Pacific Time on Monday, December 14, 2015.
All nominations will be posted for the meeting (at siliconvalleyrotary.com) of December 21-27 for members to view.
Elections will take place during the meeting of December 28 - January 3.
Every member will be able to cast their vote for one person per open position.
Events & Projects
This section of our meeting is where you learn about both recent and upcoming events and projects our club has going on. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here.
Recent Event Recap:
A Clinic Launches
As regular attendees of our meetings know, one of our members, François Tessier, has been working to launch a clinic in a poverty-stricken area near Sri Lanka's capital. He has just finished up two weeks as one of the team treating patients at the clinic's launch, and we featured several images from that work last week. This week, we share a picture of François with the team at the clinic, as well as with members of the Rotary Club of Mount Lavinia, which he visited while there.
Great work, François!
Upcoming Events:
Did you miss our past events? Come join us for any of our upcoming events! Guests, you are welcome too!
Rotary Membership Luncheon with Past Rotary International President Cliff Dochterman on Thursday, December 3 at 12 PM in Fremont
On Thursday, December 3rd, all Rotarians and guests are welcome to join us for a special luncheon with past Rotary International President Cliff Dochterman. Cliff is hailed as one of the best public speakers in the world. His humor, wit, and presence can be felt throughout the room when he speaks. Rotarians and guests are also encouraged to attend as this will be an opportunity to meet the over hundred Rotary members in the Fremont area. The cost of lunch is $20. If you are interested in joining this event, please contact President Rushton (president@siliconvalleyrotary.com).
Drinks & White Elephant in Oakland on Sunday, December 13 starting at 2 PM
We will be having our December social in Oakland on Sunday, December 13 starting at 2 PM. Come join us for drinks, food, and WHITE ELEPHANT! To participate in white elephant gift exchange, everyone should bring a gift wrapped gift to put into a communal pot. The gift should be valued as close to $20 as possible, and should be something that you think most people would want. Participants will be opening random wrapped gifts to find out what their holiday gift is going to be! You might just get exactly what you were wishing for this holiday season…! (And if not, there will still be drinks!)
More Socials!
You can sure expect more socials to be coming up in 2016! Members, if you are interested in helping plan socials, please reach out to president-elect Mitty or leave a comment on this meeting. We would love to get you more involved with the social planning!
The World of Rotary
We are part of the Rotary International family with over 1.2 million members in over 180 countries in the world. Rotary’s reach is global. Here are some Rotary initiatives and events we think we should know about.
Being part of Rotary means contributing to a worldwide effort to give people hope, and in this case, that starts with something that many in the developed world can take for granted: clean water.
Service Survey
One piece of being a Rotarian is finding ways – both big and small – to help others. Our members report the good deeds they do and the good efforts in which they participate, not in order to brag, but to remind us of the many possibilities there are for using what we have for those in need.
If you haven't posted something in our Service Survey, now's a good time, as next week, we'll report on what folks did in November. Help inspire the women and men of this club with something you did, whether small and simple or full-on epic!
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Happy Dollars
Every week we offer the opportunity for guests and members to express their gratitude for something good that has happened to them this past week. Think of this like a digital karma jar.
Last week, our Happy Dollars went directly dollar-for-dollar towards supporting the Interact Club at Kipp San Jose High School we recently decided to sponsor. The money helps us send high school leaders to leadership camp. Here are some of the donations from members and guests last week.
Member Linda Tangren ($25)This is dedicated to all Rotarians who give so generously of their time. [How cool is that for a Happy Dollars donation
Member John Lozano ($10)Good luck to the leadership training for the KIPP students.
Member Yvonne Kwan ($20)Happy Thanksgiving and cheers for Interact!
This week's Happy Dollars go directly to sending one high school Interact club member to our district's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camp next summer. Tell us what you're grateful for or happy about!
Birthdays
Over the next three weeks, there are no upcoming birthdays in the club. However, Lisa and Mahmood, we have you on our radar for later this month!
The Tidbit
Every week, we feature a new tech tid bit or life hack to make your life more convenient.
One way to give in the modern world is to create things that others can use. When doing a Google search for something, here's a way to find particular kinds of files that others have made available online.
And if you do use the filetype:ppt (or any other format extension) and find something you like, make sure to cite your source!
A Little Humor
We believe laughter is like medicine. Here's a little humor for your week!
From Rushton Hurley
Just before Thanksgiving I was in Cincinnati for a conference, and before leaving, I spent several hours exploring the city with my buddy Jeff Heil. He saw this item as we were walking through the Smale Riverfront Park area, looked at me, and asked, "What's your excuse now?"In a time when we are challenging ourselves to give any amount of money to a worthy cause, when you think of putting off the gift until later, you might get a chuckle by recalling this picture!
Selected Comments from Last Week
Each week we ask our members and guests to leave a short or long thought on what they learned from or thought about the content in our meeting and program. Last week's program on ShelterBox brought forth a number of strong impressions:
From member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA):Alan, it has been an honor working with you as a ShelterBox ambassador! Thanks for stopping by our eClub and telling us about the impact of this amazing organization, as well as some inspiring stories from the field. Friendsgiving was a blast! I'm thankful for, of course, my friends and family but also for being a part of Rotary and this eClub which has opened my eyes to so many possibilities to do good in the world.
From member Allen Thompson (California, USA):We had a Thanksgiving get-together at our home this week. It was marvelous that all of the family was able to be there, especially our two-week-old granddaughter, Reese! Everyone else at the table had something to say he/she was thankful for and, while I have so many things to be thankful for, I deferred to next Thanksgiving when I hope to be thankful that the Syrian children have found peace and tranquility.
From member Heather Shaw (California, USA):Great meeting! I love how the ShelterBox tries to take all family members into consideration from parents to the child's well-being. This Thanksgiving I am extremely thankful for people like you and all the Rotarians who are making others' lives better.
From member Shags Shagrin (California, USA):Wonderful meeting, Mitty! And a great social event on Sunday, for sure -- hoping the Rotaract members consider eCSV when they "age out". Great program on ShelterBox, Alan.
From member Tzviatko Chiderov (California, USA):Wow, it's impressive how many things fit into that box! Very cool presentation Alan, and thanks for sharing so many inspiring stories. I enjoyed the Google Hangout lunch and I hope we can do it again. I think it really helps us get to know each other better. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
From member Nate Gildart (Tokyo, Japan):Alan, that was really engaging. Thank you. ShelterBox providing benefactors with "tailor made support' is truly incredible. I'm also inspired when I see that there are people out there using their engineering talents to help humanity. As we often see in these meetings, technology can be harnessed for good in so many ways. I may end up in Nepal this summer (re)building homes. I'll look out for ShelterBox. Nice tidbit Mitty!
From member Rushton Hurley (California, USA):My word is "inspired," and it comes from being inspired by all the cool people we have in our eclub. The talent, interests, and humor - all dedicated to making the world a better place - is great to be connected to each week! Keith, that was an amazing picture (as always), and Mitty, great job with the meeting. I particularly liked Julian Treasure’s characterization of complaining as "viral misery." Sounds like a great thing to avoid!
and three more, with responses from Alan:
From member Mahmood Khan (California, USA):Thank you, Alan. ShelterBox is simple but so useful for families is need. It is light and can be transported quickly. Couple this with light and you have a great temporary home. I would be interested to know if we can use these for homeless people in our cities? There are 2700+ homeless people in Santa Clara Valley alone. Perhaps we can rally a team to provide these ShelterBoxes? Any thoughts?
Alan's response: Thank you for your support of ShelterBox. We believe our product is critical to the families we assist after a disaster. We actually do provide solar lights in the form of LuminAID lights. It is a unique product in which you blow up an outer shell which diffuses the light from a bright LED. At ShelterBox, we are mission-focused and our mission is to provide emergency shelter and supplies to families made homeless by disaster or humanitarian conflict. We also believe in not duplicating other services. Because of these two points, we are not in a position to expand our mission to also include providing assistance to the homeless population in the US or elsewhere. Thankfully, there are many charities that focus on this important issue.
From member Richard Knaags (Western Cape, South Africa):Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Alan you are doing such incredible work. You are a real hero. How much does a ShelterBox cost to produce, in particular, the tents?
Alan's response: Thank you for your support. I always say that I’m merely the delivery agent for those who make our work possible, the donors. There is not a day when on deployment that I don’t consider who I’m working for which fuels my passion and energy to continue on to do the most for the most. The cost to sponsor a box is $1,000 which covers the contents, shipment to a prepositioned location and onward logistics as well as the cost of a small response team. The components vary in cost depending upon the makeup of each specific box as they are custom packed. We do receive the tents and much of our equipment at a severe discount as we are a non-profit but if you were to buy the tent on the open market, it would be close to $1,000 on its own. It’s custom made and designed to be long-lasting and withstand extreme temperatures and up to 70 mile per hour winds.
From member Manju Ramachandran (California, USA):Absolutely inspirational! Thank you for your service!! I'd love to hear how you fundraise and see if I can help. Also curious, how does an operation like yours scales in different regions? How does communication happen across divisions? Do you have volunteer ops for a 3-month timeframe, for example? It was touching to see that ShelterBox is offering a custom solution that makes such a big impact! Great stuff!
Alan's response: We are always looking for more people to join our cause. ShelterBox USA has only 6 staff nationwide and can only operate this way because we have an amazing core of volunteers who raise funds and awareness for ShelterBox within their communities. The best way to get involved is to check out our website at www.shelterboxusa.org/volunteer. Most of our volunteer opportunities in the field last about 2-3 weeks but joining the response team is a rigorous process (different from fundraising in one's community) and has about a 1 in 30 success ratio of those who apply to those who make it through the process.
Regarding scaling our ability to respond, we have about 180 volunteer response team members worldwide and key staff that can deploy at a moment’s notice. While we respond to a new disaster every two weeks on average and have one team per deployment mostly, we do have times when we have multiple teams in operation in a single country for some of the larger disasters. Much of our success is also tied to our partnership with Rotary International. When our team deploys, we partner with local Rotarians who can help us to overcome immense challenges because they understand the nuances of accomplishing big tasks within their regions and culture. Rotarians help with translation, customs and import, and partner with the delivery of our kit. It’s an outstanding partnership.
The Program
This week our program is from Kevin Sherman of CloudEd Solutions and teacher William Koopman, both in South Africa. Here is their story...
Twenty years after Apartheid, teachers in South Africa still struggle to overcome its historical effects and the communities they work in face enormous socio-economic challenges. The provision of technology devices and training at one under-resourced high school in Cape Town has had a dramatic effect on one teacher and significantly impacted his students. This presentation will (briefly) share research on barriers to adoption of technology by South African teachers, and paint a picture of the school context in poor communities. Then, you'll hear from William, an English teacher whose career has been transformed by the opportunity to implement a technology pilot with his students, and who is beginning to transform his children's experience of school.This talk will remind us that innovation depends on context. It is people who are committed to their community who can leverage opportunity to make change.Kevin Sherman is Director of Professional Development for CloudEd Solutions, an ed tech company focused on helping schools adopt Google Apps for Education. From 1985 until 2001, he taught secondary English and History, and also served as Head of Department and Curriculum Advisor. Since 1990, he has trained teachers to use technology in their classroom work. From late 2009, Kevin served as the ICT-Integration Education Specialist at the University of Cape Town’s Schools Development Unit. Kevin holds two degrees from Stanford University: a B.A. in History and Psychology, and a Masters in Education. He is a Google Certified Innovator and Google Certified Trainer.William Koopman is an educator with a passion for social change. As a member of one of the least successful communities in the world, his mission is to inspire, motivate, nag, scold, dare, and threaten his learners to achieve, one learner at a time. He has been an educator for twenty years with a focus on translation: translating complex ideas or concepts into simple-to-understand ones. An introvert who prefers to spend time with his books, he enjoys learning about new technologies, as well as gardening with scented roses, fruit trees and herbs, and he loves making his own ice cream. He has dreams of becoming an infopreneur.William would really like to see his community thrive, particularly by achieving mastery in the language of mathematics and mastery in life. He is married and has two lovely children. He has practiced his educational theories on his kids with varying degrees of success. One claims the favorite subject is mathematics, the other claims it's the least favourite subject, and no one is perfect.
Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen -- meet Kevin and William! Enjoy the meeting below!
Program: Follow up Links:
Follow this link to learn more about Kevin's research into barriers to ICT integration in South Africa.
Upcoming Programs
Now that you have completed watching this week's program and meeting, here are some programs that you can expect in the coming weeks.
• Week of Dec 7th: The Rotary World Peace Conference 2016
• Week of Dec 14th: The Teen Whisperer - Helping Adults Understand Teens & Teens Understand Themselves
Do you think you have a topic, organization, or business that might be of interest to our eClub members? We are particularly interested in finding those that address our focuses of innovation, education, and entrepreneurship, and all the more so when they relate to service to others. Please email President (president@siliconvalleyrotary.com) to suggest that as a program! We love hearing suggestions from both members and guests.
You’re Almost Done! One last thing: The Attendance Survey..
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done with this meeting. First, we have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club's secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you though.
More importantly, for all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment below in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
