A slideshow of images depicting a Mathematics training workshop welcomes visitors to the new Wits Maths Connect Secondary (WMCS) Project website, created by Flow and launched in October 2019.
WMCS is a research-linked professional development project with the primary goal to improve Mathematics learning in schools through the professional development of teachers.
“We are really excited about our new website and the flexibility it provides to upload our research outputs and materials for teachers. We will be uploading new content regularly and the search functionality will make it easy for users to access it quickly,” says Craig Pournara, project manager at Wits.
Although WMCS already had an existing website, this did not allow for the upload of publications and research projects, or for content editing and other industry-related updates, which is where Flow’s services and skills came to the fore.
We were tasked with creating a stand-alone website for the project, which falls under the auspices of the Wits School of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
Flow was approached by Jill Adler, a professor of Mathematics education at Wits, for whom we had previously created a different website.
Wits has in fact been a Flow client for many years. Past projects have included website development and content creation for faculties such as the Origins Centre, the Wits Justice Project and Drama for Life.
The new website’s primary goal is to act as a repository that puts Mathematics information, research, resources, project information, papers, publications, journals and related information within easy reach of teachers and researchers of the subject.
Not only does the website make such information available to the local teaching fraternity, but it also serves to foster collaboration with overseas peers.
Given that international Maths researchers and teachers looking for training opportunities will be using the website to access information, one of the most important features during development was to create an efficient, cross-referenced search filter. This enables a user to search for a publication, for example, by entering its title, year of publication, author or publication type.
A site overview reveals a clean, user-friendly site that efficiently delivers all the functionality the client requires.
Allied to the creation of the website, Flow will be conducting content-management training workshops with WMCS team members responsible for uploading content and website maintenance.