Mr Mike Mavimbela is a Senior Education Specialist for E-Learning at the Mpumalanga Department for Education in South Africa, where he has worked since 2003. He holds a degree in ICT in Education from the University of Johannesburg and an MBA from Regenesys Business School in South Africa.  

As part of his role, Mike is responsible for implementing data driven management systems, designing and implementing policies, and teacher capacity development. He works with multiple ministry departments as well as foundations, telecommunications companies and software providers. 

He is passionate about digital pedagogy and helping teachers to “move from being end-users to becoming content creators. There is a need to help teachers move away from teacher-centred, task-orientated, and memory-based learning to a learner-centred and collaborative learning.” 

Challenges Mike is hoping to explore as part of the fellowship include integrating ICT in the curriculum in rural areas, teacher digital skills, expensive data, and electricity shortages.  

He is particularly looking forward to developing user-centred approaches, as solutions from other provinces have not been transferable to his unique context.