Interview about the Rip Mix Learners Project on Radio Zibonele (community radio station in Khayelitsha) 7 May 2008 at 22:00pm

One evening last week, I received a call from Zweli Nokhatywa, who is a radio host for Radio Zibonele, a community radio station that is very popular in Khayelitsha. It was my first interview on the radio. Zweli Nokhatywa is an old friend from the University of the Western Cape . I bumped into him the week before in the Blue Downs shopping mall. We talked about our career moves and I told him I am no longer working for the University of the Western Cape library, but that I joined a project called Rip Mix Learn.

I gave him a short overview of the project and I told him I am coordinating a student - driven project called Rip Mix Learners. He said he is going to invite me to talk about the project on the radio.

I thought he was joking, but on Wednesday, the following week I was relaxing at home, my mobile phone rang and it went like:“Hi Ndumie (called me by nickname)…are you at home?” And I said “yes?” … He said please get ready you will be on air on the next ten minutes.

I was shocked, surprised, overwhelemed and did not feel ready- I had nothing prepared!!! I did not have a single document at home to quickly check all the information!!! Not that I am complaining but I was pretty nervious – this was going to be my first time on air.

I told my nine year-old son and my daughter phoned her friends to listen in. I did not even have time to call my friends or colleagues. At 22.00, the phone rang again and we started the interview.

Zweli: Can you tell us who you are and who you are working for?

Nondu: My name is Nondumiso Sinyenyeko-Sayo, I am working for the University of the Western Cape, for the Rip Mix Learn project, It's part of the Information and Communication Services department.

This project has various activities but today I will be talking about the student – driven side of the project, where I coordinate a project, which is called Rip Mix Learners.

Zweli: Can you give us an overview of the Rip Mix learner’s project?

Nondu: Firstly, I will give you a short back ground of the University of the Western Cape (UWC). University of the Western Cape is a leading institution in promoting open education. Rip Mix learners project is a part of UWC which promotes open education. It is a driven by the students themselves.

The name of the project means that the youth is more engaged in media these days. There is a buzz word called “Rip Mix and Burn” meaning the youth rip the music from the internet, they mix it up, and then burn it onto a CD. Since the youth is hooked with these kinds of things we wanted to do something meaningful for them. Something that will teach them to consider copyright issues and change the way they learn with each other.

We are using the same ideas for our project, which is called Rip Mix Learners (students) because we focus on the learners. Students “Rip” the information from the class and “mix” it with their own information and “share” it with other students. That is where the “learning” comes in. We make sure everything is legal.

The students get the permission from the lecturers to record the lectures and “mix” it with their own words and upload it on the websites for which we use a tool called wiki (it makes it easy for the students to edit the web-site).

This is a pilot project. We started earlier this year and it is going to end in December 2008.

To find the students we advertised it on UWC community board which is called thethaboard. We received a lot of responses and we interviewed the students and we selected those who were interested to learn more about the new trends of technology, and who believe in sharing their notes with other classmates.

We trained the students on how to record the lectures, edit the recordings and upload the files. We provided them with ipods for recordings. This process was done together with the Digital Media Service department at UWC, who are experts at audio and video production.

Zweli: Did you accommodate students who can type with one finger?

Nondu: Yes, but at least you must know the keyboard, Internet, and be able to work on the PC. They need to have time and be available for the weekly training meetings and find a lecturer that let's them share notes with others.

Zweli: Which level of students?

Nondu: Everybody from undergraduates to masters level but students must be willing to learn.

Zweli: How many students are participating on the project now?

Nondu: 10 students

Zweli: How did the lecturers feel about uploading their material and its protection?

Nondu: Yes, the lecturers had some concerns about the protection of their own material but since we are promoting open education we first approached the lecturers to get their permission and we trained our students about the copyright issues as well. They reference the work of the lecturers.

Zweli: How do you view the learning environment since you have started the project?

Nondu: Since, we have started we have been receiving good feedback from the classmates, we receive feedback through e-mails, phone calls and during our meetings; the students are excited about this project.

Zweli: You have mentioned that the project will end at the end of the year, what is the next step if the project is successful?

Nondu: Since, the University of the Western Cape is leading on the open education we have a bigger vision to collaborate with other institutions to share these initiatives by involving their students in this kind of project. And of course since the project is funded by donors, we will discuss with them to see if they still have funds to run the project for the next year.

Zweli: Which communication channel will you be using in informing other provinces that you have this kind of project?

Nondu: To market this project we have published an article in On-Campus which is the UWC newspaper and posted on the electronic UWC community board which is called thethaboard (this is for internal use at UWC only). We are planning to use the Internet to promote the project, including through the UWC website, e-mail discussion lists, , more interviews with radio stations such as Zibonele radio stations, and we also encourage students to write up articles about the project and present them at the conferences, etc

Zweli: Can you give us contact details so that people can contact you directly about the project?

Nondu: Nondumiso Sinyenyeko-Sayo: nsinyenyeko-sayo@uwc.ac.za (Project Coordinator), Tel: (021) 9592069

and the Rip Mix Learners website is : http://freecourseware.uwc.ac.za/ripmixlearners/

Contact: Radio Zibonele Khayelitsha

Zweli Nokhatywa Tel: (021) 4216008 during office hours or Tel: (021) 3617109 during broadcast (see below) Direct e-mail: zweli@communicare.org.za

Broadcasting schedule:

Monday 21:00 - 00:00

Wednesday 21:00 - 00:00

Friday 21:00 - 00:00

Saturday 15:00 - 18:00

Sunday 12:00 - 14:00