University of Limpopo

Project: U.S. State Department English Specialist Program - Emergency Remote Teaching Initiative

Objective: In response to the urgent educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I was contracted by the U.S. State Department to design and deliver a targeted professional development program. The mission was to rapidly upskill educators in technology integration, ensuring the continuity of effective teaching and student success in a fully remote learning environment.

My Role: Teacher Trainer & Instructional Technology Specialist

I led the end-to-end design, delivery, and evaluation of a comprehensive workshop series focused on building pedagogical and technical competence in online learning.

Key Contributions & Strategic Approach:

I executed a complete training cycle to ensure efficacy and measurable impact:

• Needs Analysis & Objective Setting: Initiated the project by communicating clear, actionable learning objectives and conducting a formative assessment of educators' existing skill levels and primary challenges with the transition to remote instruction.

• Content Development: Created tailored, practical training materials focused on the core pillars of sustainable online teaching: LMS mastery, student engagement, and burnout prevention.

• Interactive Workshop Delivery: Facilitated dynamic sessions that moved beyond theory. Educators received hands-on training with the Blackboard LMS, learning to foster meaningful discussions, maintain student engagement, and refine their online teaching methodologies to combat isolation and fatigue.

• Evaluation & Impact Measurement: Concluded the training with a comprehensive survey to measure growth in teacher confidence, gather feedback on the applicability of the skills, and assess the program's success in meeting its strategic goals.

Outcome: The program successfully bolstered educators' confidence in utilizing technology, leading to refined online teaching practices and directly contributing to enhanced student learning outcomes during a critical period of educational disruption.