Ronald Kock, a prominent teacher in the Saldanha area, has allegedly died of a COVID-19-related illness.
Kock’s sister, Laila Bester, shared the news of her brother’s untimely passing. Koch taught mathematics at Diazville High School in Saldanha for 12 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Earlier this year, he was in the running to win the prestigious teacher of News24 Teacher of the year award for the best COVID-19 lockdown initiative.
He created an innovative way for teachers to use a box to screen record lessons for their students’ remote learning, despite their lack of resources.
“Through my engagements on social media, I saw a box and I also received a lot of requests on how to record videos. As a creative person, it stimulated me to find a solution to the problem,” said Kock during an interview earlier this year.
“I did some research and managed to put something together through a few modifications and applications software that is freely available. I posted the solution on Facebook and Twitter and the response was overwhelming with almost 2000 views.”
A teacher, inspired by Koch’s design, created her own version of the box – Koch said that this “shows that where there is a will, there is a way”.
Something to assist those that may find recording lessons challenging. pic.twitter.com/8mXZTOKQEz
— [email protected] (@ronaldkock12) April 19, 2020
Kock believed innovative thinking was a must because of the realities of teaching in a rural area and he trained other teachers in information and communication technology (ICT) integration, which allowed him to live his passion and help others become better educators.
Koch held an honours degree and post-graduate certificate in FET Mathematics (Cum Laude) and was studying towards a Master’s degree in education, focusing on digital literacy in ICT at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
Condolences go out to his family during this difficult time.
Picture: Facebook
