John Aphane

Introducing our #superteacher John Aphane

Almost 20 years ago, Bill Gates wrote an essay entitled “Content is King” which he published on the Microsoft website. He began by saying:

“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” Mr Gates was correct in his predications as content is what drives the web as we know it today.

Few people understand this basic fact as implicitly as John Aphane, an educator and ICT coordinator at Tembisa Secondary School and an ISPA SuperTeacher of the Year finalist. We make this bold statement because just as the Microsoft founder recognised that “one of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone can publish whatever content they can create”, John realised the importance of educating learners about using iPads to tell their own stories. Consequently, his ISPA SuperTeacher project was about helping learners to create their own content – powered by tablets – in the form of movie clips, music, photography, posters, messages, and more.

“In this project we tell stories that affect us in our own community. Learners tell stories to motivate and encourage each other,” says John. He explains that he thought of the idea for the project after realising that while many learners have been taught how to use iPads and other hardware devices, they do not have access to the kind of content that enriches their use of these devices. So why not teach them how to create their own content?

“My vision was to create a platform for everyone to interact with and one that would also enable access to content no matter where it was located. In time, we hope to reach a larger audience by posting our content on social media,” he concludes.