Saturday 30 July was our second Afrikaans translation Hackathon at Stellenbosch University. We had 19 Afrikaans volunteers arrive for the day, and they translated a huge amount of content and did a brilliant job (plus 2 English volunteers who did other work for us on Connexions)!

Once again a large amount of preparation was done to ensure the day ran smoothly, including brainstorming any potential issues that may arise, and having solutions at the ready! Heather spent days splitting each chapter of Grade 11 Maths and Physical Science on Connexions into smaller modules, which meant that every volunteer would be given a more manageable amount to translate, and be able to ask for a second / third / fourth assignment, and finish at the end of the day with a great sense of achievement. Heather and I also derived copies of each assignment, and I emailed each volunteer their assignment before Saturday, so that on arrival at the computer lab they could find a seat and get going. By deriving copies of each module it saved the volunteers a lot of time (Connexions can be a bit slow sometimes), and it also meant that we could set the roles correctly and have all the correct privileges set in the modules, in order to be able to edit the modules later on as necessary.

By 08h45 most volunteers were present, and they were all seated and already engrossed in translating their modules. Due to each chapter being broken down into smaller modules, it meant that we had up to 4 volunteers translating a chapter at a time. We grouped people according to this assignment, so that they could talk to each other and give each other assistance.

It wasn’t long before volunteers were asking me for a second assignment, and I gladly emailed them the link to their next one. The front of the lab was quiet, aside from the ticking of fingers on keyboards, and the occasional question being asked. The back of the lab was however a different story! Running concurrently with our translation Hackathon was our FullMarks development sprint, which also took place in the FIRGA lab, but at the back of the room. The developers were a noisy bunch, and added some fun cheer to the room. Carine has written a blog about what they got up to, which can be read here.

Before long it was morning tea, and at that stage we had had 4 Maths chapters and 1 Chemistry chapter translated. By lunch time there was even further progress, some volunteers already having 3 translated chapters to their name.

Carine and Natalia carried out some interviews with willing volunteers, to find out why those that had returned for the second translation Hackathon had come back, what they would say to others to motivate them to come in future, and what they hoped to see come out of the day. A video of these interviews will be made available as soon as possible.

By 17h00 excellent progress had been made: in Grade 11 Maths we had 23 modules fully translated (with another 2 since having been completed), and we now have 6 sitting at about 60% complete. To see the collection on Connexions, please click here. We had fewer people translating Grade 11 Chemistry, but we had 7 modules fully translated, and another 7 of Physics translated, which is excellent progress. Heather will make a collection on Connexions for this book once further progress has been made.

We would like to say a very big thank you to all of our volunteers that gave up their Saturday to Siyavula, in our quest to change education in South Africa; as well as to Stellenbosch University for hosting us, and to Thinus Booysen for his enthusiasm and dedication to the project, who has played a huge role in organising these events.

Well done to everyone involved, it was a brilliant day!

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