CAS Digital Learning in Emergencies

General information

Description: Basically, the goal of the project is to Equip Teachers with the necessary Open Education Resources (OER) for digital learning and teaching skills to teach in an emergency context in Malawi. Rapid assessment was conducted during Covid 19 pandemic school closures which revealed that Teachers lack OER and digital learning and teaching skills. Most of the teachers are Malawian Teachers from Different Tribes like Chewa, Sena, Ngoni and Tumbuka. Age differs amongst them ranging from 20 years old to 60 years old or more. Some are Special needs teachers. They have basic training on primary teachers’ professional development. They have limited capacity in digital learning and OER. Hence few are exposed to technology and incorporating it into the teaching process. I will therefore study multiple articles available on Open Education resources, Open Education and Open Education Practice. However, I will be building on the work I did in Module 3. Therefore, I will produce a project report kind of advocating for buy in and support of Open Education, financing OER bearing in mind that my Country is one of the poorest countries in the World and adoption of Open Education Practice (OEP). It is a call that I will push forward beyond this course as I sit at different National Platforms where decisions are made.

Building Teachers digital learning and teaching skills Competencies in Malawi Secondary Schools.

Conceptual Understanding Open Education Resources in Covid Era.

Introduction: Conceptual Understanding Open Education Resources Open Education Resources (OER) OER are teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge.” (Hewlett Foundation), (retrieved 18:55, 23 May 2007 (MEST) https://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Open_educational_resources). This is ideal and important for teachers and learners in Malawi.

Open Education in Malawi

Basically, Open Education in Malawi is relatively a new phenomenon. Teachers and learners including other education stakeholders hardly defines open Education in the country. However, this paper adopts the definition by Cronin, C., & Maclaren, I. (2018) that Open education is defined broadly as encompassing resources, tools and practices to improve educational access, effectiveness, and equality worldwide. An abiding theme throughout the history of open education, however, has been the difficulty in precisely defining the concept. Even at its earliest stages, the definition was difficult to pin down. I agree that ‘Open education’ often carries the weight of describing not just policy, practices, resources, curricula and pedagogy, but also the values inherent within these, as well as relationships between teachers and learners. On the other hand, this paper agrees to the Cape Town Open Education Declaration (2007) that open education is not limited to just open educational resources. It also draws upon open technologies that facilitate collaborative, flexible learning and the open sharing of teaching practices that empower educators to benefit from the best ideas of their colleagues. It may also grow to include new approaches to assessment, accreditation and collaborative learning.

Tony Bates concludes it well that Open education is primarily a goal, or an educational policy. An essential characteristic of open education is the removal of barriers to learning. This means no prior qualifications to study, no discrimination by gender, age or religion, affordability for everyone, and for students with disabilities, a determined effort to provide education in a suitable form that overcomes the disability (for example, audio recordings for students who are visually impaired). Ideally, no-one should be denied access to an open educational program. Thus open learning must be scalable as well as flexible (What do we mean by ‘open’ in education? | Tony Bates)

Why Open Education Resources is way to go for Malawi

Open Education need to be supported fully in Malawi because it encompasses resources, tools and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment. The foundation of Open Education is Open Educational Resources (OER), which are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use.

Generally, this permission is granted by use of an open license (for example, Creative Commons licenses) which allows anyone to freely use, adapt and share the resource—anytime, anywhere. “Open” permissions are typically defined in terms of the “5R’s”: users are free to Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute these educational materials(https://sparcopen.org/open-education/)

In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national disaster in Malawi, the country’s Ministry of Education ordered the closure of all public and private schools and Schools. These prolonged school closures meant that millions Malawian children were out of formal schooling for over seven months i.e., the months when we had school closures. A recent education sector performance report indicated a drop in primary school enrolment of 414,895 between 2020 and 2021. COVID-19 could play a role. Hence this project was conceptualized during the global COVID 19 pandemic that led to the indefinite closure of all learning institutions. This project therefore solves the problem of lack of access to digital learning opportunities for higher education for Secondary learners as their teachers lacked digital learning and teaching skills as they were not aware of Open Education Resources (OER). This project is situated within the access to inclusive and quality education for all. Rapid assessment was conducted during Covid 19 pandemic school closures which revealed that Teachers lack digital learning and teaching skills and had little knowledge on OER. This is in agreement with INEE minimum standards which stipulates that teachers and other education personnel should receive periodic, relevant and structured training according to needs and circumstances. Thus, ongoing teacher professional development on OER- and support is essential to ensuring that teachers are well equipped to handle the learning context, and should be provided in emergencies albeit in adapted modalities Act now or never!! This report presents a prototype to all actors in Malawi that is Government of Malawi, UN Agencies, International Organisations, Local Organisations, all decision-makers, community leaders and Education stakeholders. The times are tough and all actors are supposed to support Open Education and supporting Open Education Resources in building Teachers digital learning and teaching skills Competencies in Malawi Secondary Schools Project. This project will help learner continue learning during emergencies that is in short term and long term.

Project Goal

Overall objectives

Basically, the goal of the project is to Equip Teachers with the necessary Open Education Resources (OER) for digital learning and teaching skills to teach in an emergency context in Malawi. Rapid assessment was conducted during Covid 19 pandemic school closures which revealed that Teachers lack OER and digital learning and teaching skills. Most of the teachers are Malawian Teachers from Different Tribes like Chewa, Sena, Ngoni and Tumbuka. Age differs amongst them ranging from 20 years old to 60 years old or more. Some are Special needs teachers. They have basic training on primary teachers’ professional development. They have limited capacity in digital learning and OER. Hence few are exposed to technology and incorporating it into the teaching process. Teachers speak different languages hence lessons will be in English. Due to difference in culture dress code will be formal dressing no miniskirts will be allowed during face-to-face meetings. Lessons will be starting from 2:00pm to 5pm so that teachers are able to support learners during class session in the morning. On the other hand, Sundays and Saturdays there will be no lessons to allow religious ones go pray. Muslims are taken care of as classes start at 2pm.

Project Learning Outcomes

I. Teachers will be able to acquire digital profession competencies like ICT and Media competency through Open Education resources

II. Teachers will point out the characteristics of digital Pedagogical competences for developing digital learning and teaching competencies by using Open Education Resource

III. Teachers will apply technical knowhow on Open Education Resources and build stakeholder capacity to create, access, use, adapt and redistribute OER

Main ressources

• https://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Open_Education : Open Education page on EduTechWiki
• https://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Open_educational_resources : Open Educational Resources page on EduTechWiki
• Moodle: slides and recording of synchronous sessions
• Discussion and interactions: Mattermost CAS DLE channel

Structural variables

This project builds on the ASPI model (Peraya et Jaccaz 2004) which aims to describe dimensions and variables that can affect each process in the design, development, implementation, evaluation and maintenance of innovative distance or hybrid learning. In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national disaster in Malawi, the country’s Ministry of Education ordered the closure of all public and private schools and Schools reopened five months later. These prolonged school closures meant that millions Malawian children were out of formal schooling for over seven months. A recent education sector performance report indicated a drop in primary school enrolment of 414,895 between 2020 and 2021. COVID-19 could play a role. Hence this project was conceptualized during the global COVID 19 pandemic that led to the indefinite closure of all learning institutions. This project therefore solves the problem of lack of access to digital learning opportunities for higher education for Secondary learners as their teachers lacked digital learning and teaching skills. This project is situated within the access to inclusive and quality education for all. This project depends on Malawi Institute of Education, Ministry of Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training to provide expertise. The networks and collaborations involved in this project include African Network for Higher Education in Emergencies (AHEEN), Malawi Education in Emergencies technical working Group and National Education Network. In addition, the external partners that the project will partner with include Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), Ministry of Education, UNICEF, UNESCO, The Polytechnic among others. There are also two autonomous institutions which greatly contribute to education in the country. The Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB), which oversees examinations and the Malawi Institute of Education (MIE), which has in recent years played a leading role in curriculum and material development and in-service teacher education. Other Institutions include the Centre for Educational Research and Training (CERT) which is a unit attached to the University of Malawi that was established to undertake educational research studies.

Variables related to functions and roles of actors

On the other hand, successful Open Education and OER will rely on the Malawi National Commission for UNESCO which is a national organization that links government ministries in the fields of education, science, culture, and communication. The Commission provides some training for education personnel in various fields of management. It also helps to solicit funding and to involve the Ministry in UNESCO programmes that have a bearing on the development of education in Malawi. The Malawi National Library Service has responsibility for promoting, establishing, equipping, and managing national libraries hence key in OER. Ministry of Education and Malawi Institute of Education (MIE), will develop curriculum and material development and in-service teacher education in OER; digital learning and teaching. They will also identify National OER and digital learning and teaching Trainers. UNICEF will be the potential donor. The Teachers will have to attend 95% of the module content, attempt all the formative and summative assessment in order to proceed to the next module and get certification. National Trainers will deliver content, the administrators and technicians will work collaboratively to make sure Teachers have access to the project dashboard and module contents. The instructional designers will support the entire team on the mode of delivery, both virtual, face-to-face, and group work. Project managers will be responsible for the overall management, delivery and success of the project

Quality control is key hence the roles and functions of networks and collaborations involved in this project is key hence need for vetting the appropriateness and viability of the module contents for the project.  

Individual Variables

The roles of each actor will be explicitly defined. Transparency and accountability will be enhanced and attempts will be made at harmonizing every actor’s expectation. Ownership will be promoted and all Actors will be made to feel part and parcel of the project through consultations and active participation by all the stakeholders. Therefore, will analyze Actor’s views if they are good and resonate with the project goals, they will be embraced and work together. Contrary Politics is everywhere especially when different actors are involved. The resistance the project is likely to face includes all teachers wanting to be included for the project to kick off, inability to communicate in English for some Teachers, lack of digital gadgets to access the modules, and fear of the unknown, but it is expected that the project will receive a lot of assistance from UNICEF and UNESCO. Further the key actors and the government of Malawi among others will provide financial assistance, multi-media, e-portfolios or work study Probably the project expects to get technology mediated learning support that include access rights given to Facilitators of the training and Teachers to available resources including sharing protocols, content management systems, edutechwiki tutorials or workshops, online applications like google apps, Beekee apps, jamboards, use of virtual simulations, use of virtual reality games on war to deliver content. Other relevant educational technologies used in the project will include multi-media, e-portfolios or work study electronic books/exercises, interactive, collaborative online tutoring and automated evaluation and feedback per module.

Organizational variables Open Education Resources

Further the organogram will be managed by the Project managers in collaboration with key actors like Ministry of Education that’s Key Government officials. The project will use both face-to-face and open distance digital learning pedagogies. The project will also leverage on VSO digital resources including animations, videos, podcasts, online modules on kaya, Learning Management System, focusing on equal access to basic quality education. The project will also use e-learning with materials on simulations and games, videoconferencing, e-portfolios, automated evaluation and feedback, activities and tutoring, blended learning with videos, face to face sessions in groups and with instructors’ guidance. The course designers and instructors will ensure that learners attend classes 95% of the modules, and attempt both formative and summative assessment respectively. Teachers will not access the next module unless they pass the previous module and submitting all the assignments in time.

Constraints of Open Education Resources and distance Learning

This kind of training delivery is associated with a number of constraints, both pedagogical and non-pedagogical such as poor connectivity, the unreliability of electricity supply, the limited digital skill for both the Teachers as learners and some tutors and facilitators. The other one is lack of access rights to important online modules, lack of a well-designed framework for both formative and summative assessments/evaluations for the course, inadequate digital gadgets, and lack of funding. These issues can be overcome through participatory approaches and good coordinated roles and support throughout the project.

Pedagogical variables

The project will follow the Cognist Constructivism pedagogical approach where learners will be given realistic practical sense of subject matter taught. By the end of the course, learners who are Teachers should be able to:

• Prepare digital teaching documents

• Appropriately use digital gadgets.

• Effectively conduct teaching using appropriate teaching methods

• Prepare and conduct appropriate assessment of learners’ progress

The course will follow blended learning modality.  The pedagogical scenarios favored for the project include those that the learners are familiar with, usable, easy to learn and available, reliable and socially acceptable. Therefore, include open distance learning using interactive multi-media such as zoom with a package of breakout rooms for different groups and tasks, WhatsApp, Signal, mass texting and video conferencing. E-portfolios, wiki pages, electronic books/course materials, simulations, automated evaluation and feedback, as well as self-paced studies by students.    
The program will take 6 months to complete, including the summative and formative assessments, with a duration of two months per module for learners. Learners will have a duration of a week to finish formative and summative assessments after the units. There will be options on some units for learners to choose different learning paths.   

On the other hand, human materials and resources available will include Learners, teachers, administrators, technicians, developers, researchers, instructional designers, project managers, change agents; whose roles are collaborative as per the project organogram and an integral part of the project.

Learning Activities - OER

Teacher Participants (Learners) will be expected to use digital tools and engage in collaborative learning through group work exchanges; simulations on different scenarios on module content, power-point and video presentations, creation of a digital project and participation in learning activities. Learning will be evaluated based on active participation in the learning activities during the course, including participation and contribution in group work, and ability to use technology in delivery of course assignments through explicit learning scenarios.

In addition, a zoom link for the zoom meetings room accompanied by an access code and passcode will be available for the learner-learner, learner-instructor, and learner-system and instructor system during the project life cycle, helping learners for their group work and individualized group discussions whenever there will be need. Other than that, the tools that are foreseen to support various activities on various knowledge dimensions such as factual, conceptual, procedural, metacognitive, reflective practice through simulations, projects, case studies, participation, social presence, and reflective practice, presentations include wiki page, WhatsApp the self-moderated Moodle platform, Beekee, video conferencing among others.  

The students will learn through zoom video calls, Beekee, group work and interactions with the instructors. Technical support will be available to students with regard to access to the learning platform, recorded lessons, and learning resources.

Economic variables

Funds to finance the initial activities of the project are estimated at 25% of the total project budget and will be financed by Government of Malawi through the Department of Disaster Management. However, the long-term funding of the project (75%) will come from UNICEF. Digital Learning and Teaching in Emergencies Response Proposal has been formulated and submitted to UNICEF for funding and it is at final review stage, just pending approval by UNICEF. Additional costs that could be introduced in the project include costs for the production and publication of videos for the project, costs for internet, gadgets for the meeting, transport costs for the students to the cybers for connectivity.

Political variables

The Malawi Government through Ministry of Education is support of this Project because it improves the quality of education in the Country through offering digital learning and teaching trainings to educational officials. Going forward there will be overwhelming support for the project by the government, local political authorities.

Ideological variables

The project promotes Secondary School in Malawi to have digital learning and teaching expertise to be able to effectively deliver lessons during emergencies. Hence the project intends to promote values of digital literacy, dignity and knowledge application. The graduates from the project should be skilled citizens able to effectively conduct teaching professionally.

Evaluation of the learning project and instructional design

Certainly, the Project offers formative assessment before every unit within the module, and summative assessment at the end of the module to measure the learner’s achievement, capabilities and skills acquired. This will be the trend unless a participant has attempted the previous formative and summative assessments in a module, they will not be able to access the next module. The course facilitators will address any technical issues. Ongoing, there will be need to make changes due to past evaluations and review the rubrics for the assessment and test their viability in testing learners’ achievement throughout the Project.

Reflection and lessons learned OE and OER

Limits This kind of training delivery is associated with a number of constraints, both pedagogical and non-pedagogical such as poor connectivity, the unreliability of electricity supply, the limited digital skill for both the Teachers as learners and some tutors and facilitators. The other one is lack of access rights to important online modules, lack of a well-designed framework for both formative and summative assessments/evaluations for the course, inadequate digital gadgets, and lack of funding. These issues can be overcome through participatory approaches and good coordinated roles and support throughout the project. This is the reason why OER is timely to solve the constraints mentioned in Malawi.

Next steps

The program will take 6 months to complete, including the summative and formative assessments, with a duration of two months per module for learners. Learners will have a duration of a week to finish formative and summative assessments after the units. There will be options on some units for learners to choose different learning paths. On the other hand, for smooth implementation of the project and sustainability there is need for human resources available like teachers, administrators, IT technicians, developers, researchers, instructional designers, project managers, change agents; whose roles are collaborative as per the project organogram and an integral part of the project.

Why Adopt Open Education Practice in Malawi

The Malawi educational sector suffers from numerous factors including Covid 19 and the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has decreased the number of teachers in schools and parents ability to send their children to school. Secondly Malawi is a poorest Country and government funds are insufficient in providing the necessary desks, school materials and technology for the classroom. Thirdly the low poverty levels prevent parents from affording an education for their child hence Open Education is a way to go. Fourthly there is the brain drain due to the higher pay and better job opportunities offered abroad and finally the inequalities in provision between urban and rural areas as well as by gender and social class. The solution is Open Education Practices and OER. Basically, Open Education Resources in Malawi would help to provide a decent education for everyone, for their future. Open Education would improve quality and access to education which is necessary for this country to be able to dig itself out of poverty. Surely, we all know that Education is one of the main factors to higher incomes, also better healthcare and a sustainable economy. Honestly the country needs OER to (1) improve its teacher education development so that it can provide trained professionals to teach children, (2) OER will help Malawi to be able to provide students with proper educational materials and technology so that they can have better resources to learn from and (3) Further there is a call for the country to develop OER capacity building and Open Education (OE) policy development to encourage enrollment in higher education. Unfortunately Linked to Malawi’s education is poverty and “linked to the pervasiveness of poverty is the issue of food insecurity, which is yet to be resolved” (ADB).

• This paper agrees with SPARC(https://sparcopen.org/what-we-do/active-policy/) on Why Open Education is important. Textbook costs should not be a barrier to education. The price of textbooks has skyrocketed more than three times the rate of inflation for decades. Resources that would otherwise go to purchasing textbooks can be redirected toward technology, improving instruction, or reducing debt.

 Students learn more when they have access to quality materials. The rapidly rising cost of textbooks in higher education has left many students without access to the materials they need to succeed. Studies show that 93% of students who use OER do as well or better than those using traditional materials, since they have easy access to the content starting day one of the course.  Technology holds boundless potential to improve teaching and learning. Open Education ensures that teachers, learners and institutions can fully explore this potential. Imagine a biology textbook that incorporates COVID-19 in the chapter about viruses, or a math tutorial that incorporates local landmarks into word problems. Imagine a lecture attended by hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, or a peer-to-peer exchange between Canadian students learning Mandarin with Chinese students learning English or French. All of this and more is possible when the pathways for technology in education are fully open.  Better education means a better future. Education is the key to advancing society’s greatest goals, from a building a strong economy to leading healthy lives. By increasing access to education and creating a platform for more effective teaching and learning, Open Education benefits us all.

In a nutshell Malawi has the following six reasons to adopt OEP as I have been equipped through University of Geneva. Our Malawian Teachers and Learners will be able to be Sharing; there is freedom to create, share, reuse knowledge. OEP enhances transparency - capacity to trace the knowledge construction process and underlying values; transparency in the process (admission, expectations, assessment, etc.) OEP also helps collaborative knowledge construction that is towards collective intelligence and taking into account the diversity of knowledge systems. On the other hand there is deconstructing power structures in the educational environment that is voice given to everybody. This entails shifting from a model of planned scarcity to one of abundance to which all participate ideal for poor countries like Malawi where education is very expensive. One important thing is that OEP encourages personalized learning where learners have authority to determine their learning needs and learning path. This is very ideal in times of crisis like the COVID 19 lockdowns as learning can continue. OEP/OER ensures Learner empowerment as they are involved and act as active full-fledged stakeholder in each step of the learning. On the other hand