South African Board of Jewish Education’s digital transformation journey in partnership with Buzzbotics, and Microsoft

King David aims to deliver an excellent education. Our purpose is to produce graduates who are menschen, who are confident and equipped to pursue any opportunity they wish to, who are proud of their Jewish heritage and its traditions, who have a love for learning, and a determination to contribute to their society.

King David Schools, under the auspices of the South African Board of Jewish Education (SABJE) are a network of Jewish schools in Johannesburg offering PrePrimary through to High School education across five campuses in Johannesburg.

King David Schools currently has 3300 students and 300 educators in our family of schools, who have a love for learning and a determination to contribute to their society.

King David encourages children to be individuals, to think for themselves and work hard for their successes. At the same time we believe in the value of community, the power of belonging to something greater, the need to collaborate with others, and to be empathetic. Our graduates, the world over, have made a remarkable impact on their communities over the years. Through constant innovation and a focus on excellence, we are ensuring that the future is in good hands – the hands of a new generation of proud Davidians.

The King David Schools have been the cornerstone of the Johannesburg Jewish Community for 7 decades. Despite being steeped in tradition with a rich history of excellent academic results, King David has continued to innovate and remains at the cutting edge of educational transformation. We offer an excellent and progressive general education that aims to imbue our pupils with the skills necessary to thrive in the future together with the study of Hebrew, Jewish Studies and informal moments of inspiring Jewish experiences. We aim to produce graduates who are confident and equipped to pursue any opportunity they wish to; who are proud of their Jewish heritage and its traditions;

Mission : The substantial responsibility of such a journey does not escape any at our school. Teaching boys and girls to think and function independently underpins all our learning.

Vision :- Above all else, we are proud that the children in our school are happy. They are happy because they are given the room to be who they want to be.

Value: Our foremost priority is to educate tomorrow’s leaders by equipping them with the life skills to master the challenges posed by an everchanging world.

Project Summary: As a Microsoft Global Training Partner for Microsoft Education and Minecraft: Education, we at Buzzbotics strive to uplift education institutions in Africa to realize Microsoft’s mission for education: to empower every student and educator to achieve more. The data gave insights as to what was beneficial and how we could adapt our training strategies to better suit the teachers needs to help them learn.

Buzzbotics launched their training program in August 2021. The training program consisted of online Teams meetings, that could accommodate the 400 educators. The program allowed the educators to select their preferred training days and times to not impact their daily schedule.

The Buzzbotics Team deployed their EdTech coaches, who were based at the various campuses and began the coaching and support program to help the transition with onboarding the Microsoft Office 365 Education Tools.

Communication through the Digital Transformation training program was a strategic implementation to ensure that the Educators and Management of the program were continuously supported, and adjustments made in accordance to their requirements.

Through the year, the coaches played a vital role in assisting the incorporation of the technology tools that educators could use to enhance their teaching methods and encouraged student engagement. This successfully laid out the foundation for the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert nomination process. 74% felt that they were more knowledgeable after the training process they had been through with Buzzbotics.  55% of Educators preferred in person training sessions. The remainder preferred the  flexibility of online sessions.  81% of educators benefited from having an onsite EdTech coach to support them through this journey. 70% of the educators participated and completed the challenges presented by Buzzbotics. 68% of the academic staff at SABJE achieved Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert status.

52 % of the South African MIE Experts come from King David Schools. 8 out of the schools in the group have successfully joined the Microsoft Showcase Incubator program.

Our Digital Transformation Journey: The vision of Buzzbotics and the South African Board of Jewish Education was to train and develop the most valuable resource to their educational institutions, their Human Capital. Upskilling increases the overall performance and adaptability of their staff, and their ultimate impact in the classroom.

The Buzzbotics partnership in conjunction with the South African Board of Jewish Education has allowed us to refine processes and strategize over which innovative tools could make the biggest impact in the future.

Our EdTech training creates the learning paths that flow from the foundation of digital literacy into the tiered series developed for educators at any level, whilst the coaching focusses on the individual that can enhance morale, motivation and productivity and reduces staff turnover as individuals feel valued and connected with both small and large organizational changes in a manner consistent with their personal values and goals. A Feasibility assessment was conducted for the proposed solution and associated infrastructure, hardware, software and skill requirements.

Solution support was directed to educators and subject matter expert Implementation, integration, and training of new solution Share, discuss and collaborate on content ideas and innovations with colleagues.

The community advances the maturity of the model.

Our Journey: Meaningful staff development covering all aspects from ensuring that all the necessary tools are present, through to lasting knowledge transfer. This requires an holistic approach with multiple layers of support provided throughout the journey.

The focal point of training and curriculum development has evolved in to one that has become orientated around 21st century learning. The correct implementation of technology within a classroom allows for a new innovative method. As the partnership between SABJE and Buzzbotics continues the goals have been placed at the next level of achieving. As the partnership continues and grows, we strive to succeed with the following:

Teachers will embark to write their Microsoft Certified Educator Exam. The Schools will move out of incubation status and be able to apply for Showcase School status, where the program offers the opportunity to engage with school leaders around the world and expand education transformation using the Education Transformation Framework.

Following the project plan helped transition our solutions. This process ensures that the King David Schools have the information, resources and training required to power transformation. Meaningful staff development covering all aspects from ensuring that all the necessary tools are present, through to lasting knowledge transfer. This requires an holistic approach with multiple layers of support provided throughout the journey.

Team Projects: Educators form teams to complete challenges as they progress through stages to showcase their collective learned knowledge and help engrain skills through Individual Challenges

Educators will be given individual challenges along the way to demonstrate their mastery over learned topics and deepen their skill set through practical activities.