Learning Outcomes Highlighting Quality Aspects in Education Learning Outcomes is Educational Initiatives (EI)’s effort to understand, bring together and share learnings from India and around the world that contribute towards Quality Improvement in Education

Jul– Aug 2011 | Year 1 Volume 3

Language learning is a very interest-ing, time-consuming and challenging process. After all, language is not a set of rules or conventions, but a way of thinking and representing the world around you to yourself and vice versa. Language learning can be divided into the following skills - Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (LSRW). Technology can greatly aid language learning by engaging the child and enhancing the teaching/learning process by making it: Interesting ICT, especially the audio-visual medi-um, greatly appeals to students. Animated stories, poems and prose help in getting the child interested in language learning, which in turn, aids him in improving leaning in other subjects. Visuals play an im-portant role in transforming learning areas and subjects which students find ‘mundane and boring’. Dry as-pects of language such as grammar and spellings can be made very in-teresting with colourful and creative visuals to ensure that students’ in-terest and motivation levels remain high. Interactive For language learning, interaction with the teacher is a must! When technology is being used for educa-tional purposes, the machine is the teacher and is very quick in its feed-back. For example, for topics such as

grammar and spellings which require more practice, a huge set of prede-fined questions in a specified order can be generated and the child can respond and practice till he masters the concept. Testing and assess-ment becomes easy, faster and more objective as answers can be checked on the spot, which reinforc-es short-term learning. Adaptive A child can learn at his/her own pace, without being pressured by the pace of the classroom or the expectations of teachers, peers and parents. Technology not only helps brighter students in covering the syllabus faster, it also lets weaker students move further only when their fundamentals are clear. In certain areas of language training, creating clear-cut hierarchy of diffi-culty levels is a challenge. New tech-nology actually helps in defining those levels and putting them in order. Effective Technology optimizes resources by reaching a larger target group in lesser time. It makes it easy to re-peat and regularly revise what is learnt, which aids long-term learn-ing. Technology makes it possible to do things which are not humanly possible or might take a lot of time such as generating unlimited quanti-ty of teaching material through per-mutation-combination of various teaching parameters. Thus, it is not

wrong to say that the efficiency lev-els that can be attained with tech-nology are often higher than those attained with purely human endeav-ors. Limitations The scope is unlimited and lot of techniques and creativity can be used to make language (and other subjects) more interesting. However, there are a few limitations to the usage of technology in language learning. ICT has proved to be so strong a medium that a child may be disinterested in using any other medium such as writing or reading conventional books once he’s com-fortable with this medium. Also, computer-based learning sometimes is taken up at the cost of out-door activities and not just as a supplement to classroom studies. At present, it is beyond the scope of a computer to understand and evalu-ate free speech, creative writing and the finer nuances of a language. Thus, totally eliminating the pres-ence of a teacher is not viable, es-pecially for language learning.

Virtual education to rural areas soon: Uddhav In order to attract more students to civic-run schools in the city, Shiv Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Cor-poration (BMC) launched 'virtual education system' and vowed to extend ambit of the project to rural areas. The BMC has launched the virtual education system in 80 of its

schools. Under virtual education, BMC schools are connected with each other through a satellite. A teacher address-es the students in all these schools from a studio and holds interactive sessions with them.

A civic school in Colaba, one of the few where virtual classroom tech-nique was introduced, managed a 100 per cent result in Class ten exams.

Source: IBN Live, July 26, 2011

Information and Communication Tech-nology in Schools

The Centrally Sponsored Scheme “Information and Communication Technology [ICT] in School” was launched in December 2004, to provide opportunities to students to develop ICT skills and also ICT aided learning process. The Scheme is a catalyst to bridge the digital divide amongst students of various socio economic and other geo-graphical barriers. The Scheme provides support to States/UTs to establish computer labs on a sus-tainable basis. It aims to set up SMART schools in Kendriya Vidya-layas and Navodaya Vidyalayas to act as “Technology Demonstrators” and to lead in propagating ICT skills among students of neighbourhood schools.

The Scheme currently is being im-plemented in both Government and Government aided schools. Support is provided for procurement of computers and peripherals, educa-tional software, training of teachers and internet connectivity etc. The financial assistance is given to States and other institutions on the basis of the approvals accorded by Project Monitoring and Evaluation Group (PM&EG) headed by Secre-tary of the Department of School Education and Literacy.

Source: Department of Information and Technology website

SPOTLIGHT

ICT for language training Benefits of using ICT in teaching quantitative subjects are well-documented. But how best can we use this technology to enhance a qualitative, creative and subjective area like language training?

LEAD

TRENDS

Darsha Kikani is Vice President

Language Products at EI.

Teacher Evaluation Why do we need to evaluate teachers for better learning outcomes?

The competency and capability of teachers in a classroom situation has often been recognized as a critical, even most important, factor in help-ing children learn. However, the tra-ditional role of a teacher has under-gone a considerable amount of change and innumerable responsibil-ities have been entrusted to them. They have a more varied role to play than was probably the case a decade back. Teachers are accountable to parents, administrators and students at all times and due to this there is an increased sense of pressure. A teach-er needs to exhibit leadership traits and handle managerial functions as a part of their every changing role. They have to multitask and manage resources, curriculum, co-curricular activities, examination, and at the same time, do all this with innovation and creativity. Their time manage-ment and conflict management skills are put to test every day. Further, a teacher has to solve vari-ous behavioral and social problems in the classroom before they can actu-ally start teaching. Such changes in situation call for highly effective and creative teachers.

What was traditionally regarded as effective may not be relevant in to-day's circumstances. The pressure to deliver has been constantly increas-ing on teachers, ever since the im-portance of their role for an effective teaching-learning process has been recognized duly. To help the teachers perform better under all this pressure and level of difficulty of level of work, the need for assessment has been long felt. In the light of the above it is not surpris-ing that teacher evaluation is cur-rently receiving interest and atten-tion in India.

Teacher evaluation and its need are

not new to educational institutions.

Teachers are aware that they are

being constantly evaluated, perhaps

in an informal or unsystematic man-

ner, by officials, head teachers and

the community at large.

However, no systematic, formal

procedure of evaluation in relation

to their key functional areas had

been implemented till lately. The

need of a systematic teacher evalua-

tion system in education cannot be

underrated at any cost from the per-

spective of ensuring quality educa-

tion and professional development of

teachers.

In this context, it becomes relevant for us to address a few questions such as: -Who is going to evaluate teachers? -What could be the parameters to evaluate teachers? -What evaluation procedures should be used? -How is the information gained going to be finally used? -Would the information be useful to policy makers?

Once we are fully equipped with

answers to these questions, teacher

evaluation could be institutionalized

following a process that suits the

present demanding of the teacher’s

role and contribute to improvement

in the education system.

ISSUE

“Teachers must be equipped and

capable not only of teaching chil-

dren from diverse backgrounds

but also taking them meaningful-

ly to an age-grade appropriate

level of learning. To strengthen

the effectiveness of teacher prep-

aration and ongoing teacher

support, assessment linked to

action is essential."

Rukmini Banerji, Programme Director, Pratham

“Teachers should welcome test-ing as it will reveal their in-service training needs and give them an opportunity to upgrade their skills before they are tested in a high-stakes way. “ Dr. Geeta Kingdon, Chair of Education Economics & International Development, Institute of Education, University of London

“The investments in in-service teacher training can have better returns if they are need based, focused and have continuity. ‘Teacher Needs Assessments’ can help in this process.” Sandeep Saha, Vice President-Strategic Relation-ships, Educational Initiatives

Teacher evaluation Experts from the industry speak about the relevance, usefulness, benefits and chal-lenges of implementation of ‘Teacher Evaluation’ in the ed-ucation system.

P A N E L

Role reversal in

Andhra Pradesh

Recently, the AP education depart-

ment decided that in government

and private schools, starting the

current session, students will evalu-

ate their teachers once a year in the

month of December.

Students will be provided with a

question and mark-sheet, covering

areas like knowledge, attendance,

approachability , methods adopted

to teach, etc.

In government schools, the promo-

tion of teachers will now also de-

pend on the marks given by stu-

dents.

Source: The Times Of India, July 20,

2011

The views expressed above are personal and not of the organization.

Project: Bhutan’s Teacher Needs Assessment (TNA)

Bhutan TNA was carried out by EI in 2009 to identify the needs of the teachers so that they could be fully

equipped with necessary support they required for better learning outcomes of the children.

In the wake of rapidly evolving social scenario, quality education of Bhutanese children in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes assumes a critical significance in terms of strategy for the progress of the nation. In this context, the role of teachers in Bhutan’s pro-gress can never be understated. To shoulder this important responsi-bility of shaping the country’s fu-ture effectively, teachers’ need to be equipped with the necessary support based on their individual needs. I am confident that TNA will pro-vide a useful basis for various stra-tegic steps taken by us collectively for enhancing the professional quality of teachers in Bhutan. I would encourage policy makers and teachers to widely us TNA reports and teacher specific find-ings provided by the study to im-prove and target teacher training, classroom reforms and processes.

Minister of Education Thimpu, Bhutan

E X P E R I E N C E

WHAT?

A study to identify strengths

and weaknesses, provide

feedback to the teachers on

areas to improve, identify

with the needs of the teach-

ers.

WHO?

Ministry of Education (MEC

BHUTAN), Royal Education

Council (REC BHUTAN) and

Educational Initiatives (EI).

HOW?

For teachers of PP to class 4,

to identify teacher needs,

explore a link between stu-

dent learning levels and

teacher competence and

align system with them.

The Bhutan Teachers Needs Assess-ment study was carried out in 22 centers, across 19 dzongkhags (districts) of Bhutan in February 2009. This study was an initiative by Educational Initiatives with the help of Royal Education Bhutan and Min-istry of Education, Bhutan; to test general skills, subject content and pedagogical skills, for teachers from class PP to class 4. The study covered subject content and the pedagogical skills paper covered 3 subject areas- English, Math and EVS. The general skills test assessed communication, intelli-gence, general awareness and basic ability in Math and language. The Subject content tests were designed to understand the conceptual strength the teachers have in their subject areas, and their learning gaps. The pedagogical practices test was constructed to identify the mis-conceptions teachers have and also provide a basis for understanding the common pedagogical practices followed by teachers in classrooms and their common beliefs about student learning. The questions followed a multiple choice format (MCQ). Apart from the MCQs, all teachers were adminis-tered a writing task as a part of their general skills paper, where they had to write on one topic out of the giv-

en three topics, in 250 words. Fur-ther, teacher background infor-mation and teachers’ perception of needs were collected through a questionnaire. Different types of analyses were carried out on the collected data to extract patterns in performances and to understand differences in learning levels across subjects, un-derstand common misconceptions, errors, practices followed. Perfor-mance of teachers based at dzong-khag (districts) level, different school types, gender were also analyzed and shared. The main findings of this study showed that teachers were not com-fortable answering typical questions that were not put forward in the expected format. They also had diffi-

culties solving application based questions of various difficulty levels. It was also very evident that teach-ers had misconceptions for various topics and they seemed to have passed on those to their students (after comparison of TNA and ASSL reports). While observing the lan-guage tests, it was noticed that teachers were able to retrieve facts and phrases explicitly mentioned in the passages but unable to make connection between sentences to figure indirect answers. The main aim of this study was to identify common strengths and weaknesses among teachers, pro-vide feedback to individual teachers, and recommend specific system level interventions for teacher im-provement that assume significance in the present scenario.

Teachers Needs Assessment Important if the money and efforts being used for teacher trainings on regular basis are to be utilized in the right direction!

It appears self-evident that if some-body is in a strong position to posi-tively influence student learning, it is the teacher. However, investments in teacher training are not showing clear returns in increased student achievement levels. Could it be that

the teacher development initiatives being adopted are not completely in line with the teachers’ needs? A Teacher Needs Assessment (TNA) that identifies common strengths or weaknesses among teachers, pro-vides feedback to individual teach-

ers, and recommends specific sys-tem level interventions for teacher improvement assumes relevance in the scenario.

Educational Initiatives (EI) A world where children everywhere are learning with understanding

We worked with various state gov-ernments to use these DLRs in thou-sands of schools. After 5 years, when we took stock at a fundamental level. Certainly, the children and teachers who used them loved them. It creat-ed excitement and interest in the classroom. But beyond that, there was practically no impact in a sus-tained, systemic manner on learning. Let us just list the issues that we found out without getting into the how, when and why of it. First, the limited numbers of schools with computers (today an estimated 14% have at least one) have a very poor uptime. In the studies that we conducted, this was at best 30%, driven both by poor electricity supply and the inability to fix technical

glitches.

Second, the school culture, its lead-ership and the broader system that the school was part of had a deter-mining impact on whether the com-puter and DLRs were seen (and used) as a new toy, as a piece of furniture that needed to be protected. Third, irrespective of the DLR quality, its use for learning was only as good as the teacher in the classroom. With a few exceptional teachers, it be-came a useful tool, ordinarily, it was just a means of entertainment. Fourth, the DLR seemed to add no value to the dialogic, discovery driv-en process of actual learning—which was completely determined between the children and the teachers. If it did add anything to the standard rote method, it was not noticeable, and it was certainly not needed.

Now, we think of information and communications technology (ICT) as an important tool on the manage-ment side of the education system. We continue to explore its potential, but we believe ICT is important, not fundamental. If you are an outsider and have not been involved in our study, you might want to question our findings. We confess this failure candidly, be-cause we find that innumerable peo-ple inside and outside the education system think of technology (always meaning ICT) as something between a panacea and “the-most-important-solution.” And the one’s in influential positions This effort must lie in teacher and school leader capacity building, in examination reform (away from rote

to assessing real learning), improve-ments in curriculum as well as ac-countability, governance and man-agement. All this must happen, not just in intentions and policy, but in actual implementation—in a sus-tained and institutional manner. ICT would have a role in all this, but not the central role. At its best, the fascination with ICT as a solution distracts from the real issues. At its worst, ICT is suggested as substitute to solving the real prob-lems, for example, “why bother about teachers, when ICT can be the teacher”. This perspective is lethal. To read the full article, visit: http://www.livemint.com/2010/12/15201000/Limits-of-ICT-in-education.html

EI, an effort by a group of IIT-IIM alumni with first-hand experience of setting up and running educational institutions, has been formed to work towards qualitative improvement in India’s educational system. The Company behind ASSET1 and Mindspark2, 9-year-old EI works closely with State Governments, Municipal School Boards, Private schools and Schools

groups, and other Governmental, Non-Governmental and Private partners by offering products and services that assess how children learn, diagnose teacher training needs, and provide insights into improving it. 1. ASSET (Assessment of Scholastic Skills through Educational Testing) is India’s leading diagnostic test, conducted for classes 3-10 with an objective of finding out students’ actual understanding of the concepts in the core subjects of English, Math and Science (also available for Social Studies and Hindi). For details, log on to www.ei-india.com 2. Mindspark is an interactive, computer-based self-learning programme, which allows a student to learn at its own pace. To know more, visit www.mindspark.in

ICT in Education– the good and the bad Anurag Behar, co-CEO of Azim Premji Foundation and leads sustainability initiatives for Wipro Ltd tells us about their study and the findings. Limitations of ICT in Education.

GENERAL

The countries gather to question the quality of education in the region

Asia-Pacific countries meet RECENT

Countries from Asia and the Pacific will gather to address quality of learning for all and recommend ac-tions at the Regional Policy Seminar: Towards Quality Learning for All in Asia and the Pacific in Seoul, Repub-lic of Korea on 28-30 July 2011. The event, co-organized by UNESCO Bangkok and the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), will focus on two major enabling factors that improve quality of learning: education personnel and financing policies. Participants will consider: what teacher management and fi-nancing policies enable improved student learning? This will also pro-vide valuable stimulus to the upcom-ing Fourth High Level Forum on aid effectiveness in Busan, Republic of

Korea in November 2011. Representatives from Australia, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, In-dia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongo-lia, Myanmar, Nepal, Solomon Is-lands, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, as well as the FTI Secretariat, OECD, KOICA, UNICEF and the Task Force on Teachers for EFA Secretari-at (TEFAS) will participate in the seminar. In the Asia and Pacific region, sever-al governments have shown a strong commitment towards includ-ing all children and achieving uni-versal basic education. Many coun-tries have also expanded their post-basic education, and some have

already achieved universal second-ary education. However, there are growing concerns across the region that goal six of the Education for All (EFA) goals continues to be compar-atively overlooked and improperly addressed by governments and the international community alike. The goals include the expansion and improvement of early childhood care and education; achievement of uni-versal primary education; lifelong learning and life skills; adult and youth literacy; elimination of gender disparities in primary and secondary education and achievement of gen-der equality in education; and im-provement in all aspects of the quali-ty of education.

This 9th annual event - aimed to address national policies, discuss effective strategies, strengthen international partnerships and pro-duce recommendations to improve quality learning for all for countries in the region. Source: www.indiaeducationadiary.com