IT for Change's blog

Background

The objectives of the Teachers Community of Learning (TCoL) programme is two-fold. The first objective is to create an on-line community of teachers to enable them to network, share resources, seek assistance and voice their opinions of education policy and day-to-day school transactions and eventually enable the teachers to see advantage in peer networking, break away from working in isolation and become active participants of the public education system. The second objective is to introduce the teachers to possible ways of effectively integrating ICTs in their regular classroom transactions to enhance the quality of the teaching learning process by helping make the lessons more engaging, active and connected to real life. The larger and long-term objective is to enable professional development of teachers, helping them perceive their roles as active contributors and thereby participate in the overall renewal of the
systems and processes of the government school system.
The TCoL programme adopts a learner-centered approach based on a theory of learning called constructivism, the core ideas being that knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, building on the learners existing knowledge and not passively received from the outside. Learning is something done by the learner, not something that is imposed on the learner. The idea is that by the teacher herself experiencing this pedagogical approach, she would more easily be able to adopt it while teaching in her classrooms hence enabling more active and engaging classes .

Workshop Goals

To strengthen the teacher’s capacity to use the internet as a means of communication to enable peer learning, share resources and see advantage in peer-networking. This capacity building will be done in two parts. One, to further enhance their technical capacity by making them more familiar with Kannada typing, learning how to manipulate and manage their emails and mailboxes, and the TCoL web portal. Two, to understand how a discussion may be carried out virtually and to eventually help them understand concepts such as self-reflection, peer-reviewing.

Summary of proceedings

Morning Session
Kannada and English typing
The workshop began with a session on keyboard typing. This was to familiarise teachers who were not used to the computer key board. A free and open source tool called Tux Typing was used for the teachers to practise their typing on. This was followed by a session on Kannada typing using Itrans on SCIM.
We felt that these typing sessions were necessary for the project as once the teachers familiarised themselves with the keyboard, they would feel more comfortable using it. Then emailing, blogging and having online discussions would become simpler for them.

Email Use
The next session covered basics of emailing. All the teachers had email ids except a couple who we made ids for. The teachers were introduced to sending and receiving emails, maintaining folders on e-mail and sending mails using attachments. The difference between an email and an email list was also explained to the teachers. They practised all this using their individual email ids and sending mails and attachments to the email list tcolbangalore@karnatakaeducation.org.in.

Afternoon Session
E-mail Discussion on In-service training
We decided to have a physical discussion on the relevant topic of ‘in-service training’ for the teachers and thus introduce how virtual discussions can take place. The teachers were divided into three groups. Each group was given an individual topic to discuss on, which were the following:
List out the kinds of in-service trainings received. What is your opinion about it?
If you were to design your own training: what would you want, how much training and in what ways would you like to be trained ?
Suggestions on how the current system could be made more effective. Looking at the current trainings in place (group 1’s discussion) and the ideal training programs (group 2’s discussion), how would you like to design a in-service training system that combines the two?

After 10 minutes of discussion each, the groups presented their opinions and a short discussion followed. Each group then composed their discussion points into an email. The first group sent their email to the email list; reading this group 2 replied accordingly and then group 3. The teachers were encouraged to use their language of preference to send these emails (English/Kannada).

Web-portal: Introduction to blogs and discussion forums
The next session was introducing the teachers to the project web-portal bangalore.karnatakaeducation.org.in. Although this had been covered in a previous workshop, we felt that the teachers had not completely understood the usefulness of these tools. Thus in this workshop, we spent more time explaining this to them and them practising on it.
The group conducted a discussion on ‘In-service training’ in the discussion forum on the web-portal. This was followed by a discussion on the differences between a blog and a discussion forum.

Introduction to useful websites
The last session of the workshop was dedicated to sharing some important websites with the teachers for their teaching-learning process. Websites like wikipedia, Kannada wikipedia, other web-portals and some tools in google were introduced to them.

The teachers were also encouraged to buy a personal computer for themselves as this was an important learning tool for them. The teachers did feel the usefulness of this and some of them did they say that they would buy one soon.
Learning Curve newsletters from Azim Premji Foundation on Maths and English were also distributed to the teachers.

Key learnings

Specific uses for email, email list, blog and discussion forum were discussed extensively and all teachers doubts regarding this were explained. Technical and conceptual difficulties were sorted out; so now we feel that teachers have understood and will attempt to use these tools. Feedback from the workshop also suggested that they felt that these tools would be useful for them to share difficulties in their subjects etc.
All teachers were enthusiastic and willing to learn during the workshop. Inspite of being a holiday, 20 of them attended and spent the day exploring these tools. The challenge will now be to see how this interest can be sustained for them to further use these tools and initiate discussions among themselves.

Next steps

The teachers were given two assignments at the workshop. The first was to send an e-mail on any of the topics mentioned below to the e-mail list. The purpose of this is to initiate and sustain a discussion on relevant topics to the teachers. The second assignment is to use the web-portal to write a blog on what they would do during their vacation period.
During the vacation period (till 27th October), some of the teachers will also come to the IT for Change office, practise these tools and other pedagogical ones, work with us to build lesson plans etc.

We acknowledge the support of SSA for providing us with the computer lab and The Policy Planning Unit of Education Department, Government of Karnataka for helping us with the food and other logistics.

8^th September:

The first day of this TCoL workshop was held in GMPS Puttenahalli. It was a conscious move on our part to conduct this workshop in a school as we felt that teachers would be more comfortable and have more ownership over the space.

Session 1: Panel Discussion on “The Right to Education Act”

The first day began with a panel discussion on ‘The Right to Education Act (RTE)’. The panelists for this session were Dr. Archana Mehendale from National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Ms. Suparna Diwakar, Ms. Roopa and Ms. Manjula from Centre for Leadership and Management in Public Services (C-LAMPS). The objectives of this session were to build better understanding of the RTE, including the rules, especially for its implications on schools and teachers, understand teachers views on RTE, including the rules, and highlight their perceptions and ideas, record views of experts on RTE and see how this can be used for wider dissemination. This session was a very interesting one with the teachers participating and giving their inputs and opinion on the RTE. Their discussions are currently being collated and will be submitted to the Karnataka Drafts Rules Committee later this month. Snippets of the video recording can also be used in the future.

Session 2: Basic Hardware awareness and trouble shooting:

The afternoon session was on Hardware and basic trouble shooting. This session was planned as the TCoL teachers had expressed the need to learn more about hardware and practise some basic troubleshooting themselves. They felt the need to be independent of external technical support (which was hard to come across) or atleast they felt that they needed to identify the problem with their computers so that they could explain to the external technical person. The objectives for this session were to understand what a computer is, to familiarise ourselves with its hardware components, to learn to troubleshoot small problems and to develop confidence to diagnose the issue and resolve it. This was a fun session for the teachers as it was hands on and they could open up the CPU with screw drivers and see what was inside. They were happy to hold a RAM chip in their hands and understand what a mother board is. The session also covered various troubleshooting processes to cover before actually calling the technician in. This, the teachers felt was extremely useful.

Session 3: Objectives of a lesson plan and format:

The day ended with a discussion between the teachers and the TCoL team on what all a lesson plan should consist of. The agenda for this session was to discuss what is a lesson plan and its purpose , to understand how lesson plans are being done and the changes that are needed , to demonstrate some well made lesson plans by the teachers. During our school visits and interactions with the teachers, we felt that there was a gap between what an ideal lesson plan should be and what was actually practised in the classroom. As teachers would be preparing lesson plans based on the educational software that they are being trained it, we felt that is was necessary to explain to them the highlights of a good lesson plan, which after being prepared can be demonstrated in the classroom. Hence we planned this session for the workshop.

The day ended with the teachers being split up into three groups (Maths, Science and English). These resource groups would meet individually on the next day of the workshop, brainstorm on various possible uses of ICTs and plan a process in which they could regularly meet and exchange ideas, problems and lesson plans.

9^th September:

On the second day, three workshops were held in three different locations. The Maths teachers met at the IT for Change office, the Science teachers at GMPS Puttenahalli and the English teachers at GUHS Tank Garden. We felt that having such separate workshops would create a better academic environment for teachers to meet, get to know one another and discuss about the teaching-learning process in their subject. The objectives for these workshops and beyond were to develop understanding and competency in subject tools, to share ideas, suggestions and problems related to subject: concept and teaching, to make 2 lesson plans each , to create resource persons and groups amongst teachers, to prepare assignments for next workshop: use tools/net to find more on a concept/ write about it and put on blog, to peer review each other’s lesson plans , to present lesson plans at the cluster level .

The aim of these specific workshops were to introduce teachers to each other, show the various possibilities of ICTs and initiate the process of making a lesson plan. This will be followed by school visits till schools reopen after Dussehra vacations. In these school visits, we will work more closely with teachers, helping them use ICTs for the difficult concepts of their syllabus. Once few lesson plans are prepared and put up on the web-portal the process of peer review will start, which will continue in subject wise workshops as well.

Mathematics Workshop at IT for Change Office

Session 1: Practising the tool (Geogebra)

All the participants were at different levels of competency regarding the usage of the tool : Geogebra. As a result 3 sessions of teaching were happening simultaneously . One of the participants, new to the use of computers, learnt very basic Geogebra and did 2 simple activities. Some of the participants learnt the basic usage of GeoGebra tools, They learnt to demonstrate some basic theorems of triangles and circles. They used the learning material created by IT for Change, as well as the facilitators help to advance to higher levels . Other participants were able to advance to using sliders and create more sophisticated and dynamic lesson plans combining algebra and geometry. A discussion on the difference between drawing and construction in geometry was discussed.

Session 2: Discussing on integrating GeoGebra in the classroom

The afternoon session there was a discussion on how to create effective lesson plans that would combine both chalk and talk and the Geogebra tool.

Session 3: Feedback on the tool

The final session, teachers were ask to write detailed feedback of the workshop and also their future expectations from the programme. Next steps were also discussed. The teachers during the course of the session were also introduced to different reading material , like the NCF position paper on Mathematics and also the Learning Curve from Azim Premji Foundation.

Other than the TCoL teachers, Devaki from Azim Premji Foundation also attended this workshop.

Science Workshop at GMPS Puttenahalli

Session 1: Discussion on “Priya in the Lever Land” (Teacher Plus)

The workshop began by reading out a beautiful story about levers that was published in the Teacher’s plus magazine. The idea behind this activity was to inform teachers about learning in a happy and participatory way. The children would love to learn through stories and this story “Priya in the Lever Land” is a great way of teaching about Levers – a little difficult science concept for the primary school children.

Session 2: Working with science public software educational tools

This activity was followed by KStars and Stellarium – Desktop Planetariums. These tools were used to learn about Solar system and also Eclipses. Kalzium – A chemistry tool was the next to be introduced to the teachers. This tool is to know more about periodic table of chemical elements. It also gives information like atomic mass, melting point, boiling point, isotopes and other chemical features about individual elements. There is also a glossary which enables the teachers to learn important chemical terms. The teachers also learnt about balancing a chemical equation. A physics lab simulator – PhET was the next topic to be introduced to the teacher. This is a web based application (it runs on a web browser, however like other tools; it is also a desktop tool and does not need Internet connectivity). Two experiments, one demonstrating the static electricity and the other demonstrating relationships between volume, pressure and temperature on different states of matter, were simulated using this tool. The teachers also explored many other experiments using PhET.

Session 3: Discussion on NCF Position paper – Teaching of Science

The final session of the day was a group discussion about some topics on the NCF Position paper Teaching of Science. Two teachers were grouped together, and were assigned topics from the position paper to read and then discuss about the same with the others. The topics discussed were Aims of science education, Curriculum at Different stages: Objectives, Content, Pedagogy and Assessment for the primary and upper primary and secondary stage, ICTs in Science education.

Getzi from Development Focus and Lalith Prasad from America India Foundation were also briefly present at this workshop. Getzi enjoyed the story reading session about Levers and Lalith Prasad tried out some simulations using PhET and also Kalzium.

English Workshop at GUHS, Tank Garden

Session 1: Discussion on the NCF Position paper on English

The workshop began with a group reading of the Summary of the National Curriculum Framework Position Paper on English. There was a good discussion that followed on what teachers understood by the paper, how they identified with it and what could they take from it.

Session 2: Discussion on current English teaching methods and possibilities for ICTs integration

This was followed by a discussion on current teaching methods practiced for English teaching-learning in the classroom. All the challenges were pointed out and ICT strategies for combating it were discussed. Overall, there were good points being raised with all teachers participating in this process.

Session 3: Introduction to Educational tools in English

In the next session, teachers were introduced to some free and open source educational softwares which could be useful for teaching English (TuxPaint, Khangman, Kanagram etc). The teachers then prepared lesson plans based on this which was collectively discussed.

Session 4: Introduction and discussion on integrating other ICTs in teaching-learning process

The post lunch session was dedicated to discussing the use of other ICTs. The teachers watched a film prepared by Grace (High School teacher) and brainstormed on various ways they could also do so. The teachers felt the need for learning more about the use of video. Thus one of the next TCoL workshops in November/December would be dedicated to training the teachers on using still camera and video in the classroom.

The teachers were also introduced to some other English software which is being shown in some schools. This is part of the ILID pygmalion program. During the next English resource group workshop, we will try and get a representative from this program to introduce it to the teachers.

The day ended with teachers practicing on the computers, making email ids for themselves. They were also given assignments to prepare one more lesson plan on a topic that they will teach in the classroom. The entire NCF position paper on English was divided among them, which they would read and summarise through email. The date for the next workshop was fixed for 28^th and 29^th of October.

Smt. Prema (BRP of South Block Range 3) attended part of the session. She had very good feedback on the workshop, saying that this was very different from other trainings and she learnt a lot herself. She also suggested that we help set up three cluster resource centres in the block.

On the 21^st of July IT for Change organised an interaction for around 50 student-teachers from Netherlands and around 20 of their counterparts from Bangalore.

These student-teachers from The Netherlands were part of Edukans Education Experience Program where students exchange information and knowledge with students abroad. The Indian students were from a teacher training institute called Nottredam. These groups had interacted with each other in various other educational environments over the past 10 days. The agenda of the interaction with the TCoL team was to understand the project, the role of ICTs in Education and its possibilities for the future.

The interaction started with an introduction to the project, which was followed by a short briefing on the National Curriculum Framework and its guiding principles regarding the aims of education, pedagogical practises and Social Dynamic and Concerns prevailing in the Indian Society (from an educational perspective)

This was followed by a demonstration of the computer aided education tools that are being used in the TCoL programme. Mathematics tools such as Geogebra along with some English language and Geography tools were demonstrated, which was followed by a discussion on the usefulness and applicability of these tools.

The students from Netherlands especially loved the Kgeography tool and had a good time figuring out their country’s map and where all its districts lie.

Overall, the students felt that the TCoL was indeed a unique project. One remarked saying that she was really happy that the project was concentrating on teachers and teacher’s empowerment which is so essential to any education system.
This event also opened up new possibilities that such a pilot project can offer to the current teachers. Our NCF 2005 is such a powerful book, which even a developed country like Netherlands cannot offer an alternative too. This batch of students were also impressed that we were using free and open source educational tools within the system as Netherlands still relies on proprietary formats for its ICTs based education. Thus, the interaction turned out to be a learning experience for both the student-teachers and the TCoL team.

The session ended on a sing-song note with a chirpy “thank you” song and dance by the Dutch students which was aped by the Indian students as well! (A picture of this can be found below)

The Dutch Students singing and dancing to their "Thank you" Song