CAS Digital Learning in Emergencies/module4-Faiza&Jehad
Introduction
This page is part from CAS Digital Learning in Emergencies, module 4
Presentation
Digital Initiatives to Support Teachers Professional Development
Teachers' development is key element of teachers' wellbeing, which has direct impact on the quality of learning process. As stated in the INEE minimum standards; teachers and other education personnel should receive periodic relevant and structured training according to needs and circumstances. Thus, ongoing teacher professional development (TPD) and support is essential to ensure that teachers are well equipped to handle the learning process. Effective teachers' development is important in Education in Emergencies (EiE) because it enable and motivate them to deliver accepted quality education instead of feeling unsupported in dealing with emerging challenges. There is no doubt that teaching conditions in emergency become more challenging and teachers’ wellbeing is more fragile. According to the international Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) https://inee.org/minimum-standards, conducting good quality TPD programmes should be based on assessment of teachers' need, long-term support, delivered by specialists, cover multi-dimensional training, measure teachers progress in workplace, linked to agreed competency, based on teachers, schools and MoE priorities; and evaluated by how teachers demonstrate improvement in classroom teaching/management. These are align with INEE teachers competency framework: https://inee.org/resources/education-emergencies-competency-framework
In that regard, several programs had been developed by education led agencies to support conflict affected government and fragile countries, such as:
- Training Pack for Primary School Teachers in Crisis Contexts (TICC): https://inee.org/resources/teachers-crisis-contexts-training-primary-school-teachers
- UNICEF’s cycle of continual improvement of teacher performance.
- Save the Children’s Enabling Teachers approach.
However, lack of financial resources to implement capacity-building programs is remain huge barriers in front of millions of teachers living in fragile countries. Therefore, in this paper, we will discuss how Digital Solutions can help teachers to access new professional development training/learning opportunities and support children in emergency contexts to cope positively with fragility and have better learning outcomes. Additionally, we will present some exciting digital initiatives that support TPD through offering online training; and will reflect the strengths, limitations of digital solutions; and suggest some recommendations toward more action in the future.
Samples of digital initiatives that support teachers' development
Digital technologies offer immense potential for transforming teacher professional development activities and improving teachers’ careers. The Covid-19 pandemic and widespread schools closures have rapidly escalated the need to offer teachers various support options for using technology for remote teaching and learning. On the other hand, it offered a new way of thinking about professional development. Many governments and higher education institutions, but also the private sector, have made learning resources available for teachers or provided professional development options online; through giving access to free online courses at platforms such as Udemy, Kaya, and Disaster ready . In the Arabic world, some open digital platform, such as Riwaq and Edrak offered a number of online courses to improve the capacity of teachers on the teaching and digital skills. In some systems, there has been work on the development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) or intensive training. Teachers can browse the Internet for relevant information, use open education resources to support their work, participate in MOOCs or engage in online communities to share resources and experiences with other teachers. Here are some examples of these platforms: 1- SELFIE for TEACHERS https://education.ec.europa.eu/selfie-for-teachers
A free self-reflection tool for primary and secondary school teachers. It is an online tool to help teachers to review and get feedback on how they are currently using digital tools and technologies in their work. SELFIE for TEACHERS is one of the 13 initiatives of the Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan. This wider action plan supports the sustainable and effective adaption of EU countries' education and training systems to the digital age. It is based on the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators. The tool was piloted with 4,000 teachers and validated before its launch in October 2021. Key features
- Free online tool
- Takes around 25 minutes to complete
- Receive an automatic feedback report with results and tips for the next steps
- All answers are anonymous
- Different language versions are available.
2- Teacher Training on Kaya platform:
https://kayaconnect.org/
Kaye platform is one of emerging platform, which created several interaction free training for teachers and education management staff such as Teacher Professional Development, Curriculum, Language, and Materials, and Learning through Play in EiE. All you need is to have internet, email account to register and joint. However, despite to current effort to localize training through provide it in several language; the most of training are in English, which creates linguistic barriers in front of non-English speaker. Add to that, not all program are internet- off mood, which also consider another barriers for people in poor infrastructure areas.
3- Edraak Online Learning Platform: https://www.edraak.org
Edraak, is a massive open online course (MOOC) platform, that is an initiative of the Queen Rania Foundation (QRF) to create the first non-profit Arabic MOOC platform that can be part of a necessary revolution in education and learning. The platform enriches Arab education through its partnership with edX. The platform also gives Arab learners access to courses taught on their language and developed at top tier institutions like Harvard, MITX, and UC Berkley. All courses are delivered at no cost to the learner. Edraak offers a number of online courses for teachers and many teachers in the fragile and emergency contexts are benefiting from its courses to improve their teaching practices.
4- Coursera https://www.coursera.org
an effort to democratize education for all through offering thousands of courses in all sectors that are completely free in partnership with top universities like Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and the University of Michigan. However; to have a training badge, fees are required to be paid via Visa Card, which not affordable for most in need teachers.
Reflective practice on "Learning Through Play in EiE (5.4)
training, using Daivid Boud approach:
This piece of writing is part of a structured course, where we experienced this type of writing for first time. As our core focus in this module is about figuring out to which level the exciting and free digital learning opportunities can support teachers' professional development in fragile and crises affected courtiers. We tried to play teacher role and decide to enroll in a sample of available training in Kaya platform, which is one of the most famous, resourceful MOOC and rich by trainings about education in emergencies targeting education practitioners. After checking the list of produced training, we went through Learning through Play (LtP) and started our journal, which been reflected in three phases as following:
Phase One: Before the Training,
Our goal of participation is to learn about Practical Tools and Strategies to apply active learning in different primary education Face to Face classes, as most of our experience are in education projects management, but we did not experience teaching. We are motivate to discover new approach, contextualize it with our community. We seek to answer three questions: 1- What new teaching technique which promote students’ active engagement and enjoyment of learning. 2- How we can adopt these techniques in unstable and poor recourses environment. 3- To which level these techniques are harmonize with our community culture.
Learning through Play Training has 11 unites, the shortest unites take 15 minutes and longest ones take one hour and half; 10 hours is needed in total to complete . No advice on how we can do/plan it in best way. Despite they clarify the tow competencies that this training focus on based on INEE Framework, there is no information about it, such as what is INEE Competencies Framework, how many levels in and how we can access to this document. No instruction about what type of training strategies we will have during it; and what fundamental knowledge that we need to have to fit with course level.
According to Assessment Modeling; pre-training assessment is fundamental and crucial task for interactive education courses. This assessment is a key for reaching student-system interactions, which can serve as a pedagogical evaluation. Pre-assessment was missed in the course. We asked ourselves, What if the training content is not design to meet our expectations. If this is the case, we decided to complete it. To be prepared, we allocate time in the weekend to take it, with no work related issues interruption; ensure internet connection and obtain laptop, pen and note.
Phase Tow/ During the Course:
As we went through the course, we were recognizing, it had been designed to education management and NGOs staff more than targeting teachers; which be difficult level for formal and volunteer teachers. What we really like is the colorful and lively content (activities, games, videos, reading). However, it indicated some culture sensitive content such as mentioning that Learning through play mitigate boys and girls separation in reserved communities, which non accepted idea and may cause to totally refuse apply this approach in local environment. This is supported by what Sefa Dei, George J indicted; "teachers, educators, and students use local cultural knowledge about self, personhood and community to enhance the education process and adapt the learning activities" Interim of interactions with other, despite that there is a box for sharing questions, comments, but it is not live. We find it good idea that group of two colleagues or more agree to do it in same time so they can create some interaction and lively discussion about. Another suggestion came to our mind is to clarify in each training if it is directly targeting teachers or it have been designed for other education practitioners.
Phase Three/ Afterward Completing the Course:
First irritating action was a technical issue in the system; as it denied our access to training certificate. It is better to adjust the system to show the Downloadable Certificate after passing the final assessment instead of the Hpass, which require around 5 steps to do. On the other hand, one of positive aspect is the easy ability return to experience, whenever you need. As you have your personal account in Kaya, you will find a record of all completed, ongoing courses with ability to go through any of them any time for further reflection.
No one can deny how this training was well-prepared and a lot of collaborative efforts between several INGOs to produce. Moreover, it was informative experience, and we have to acknowledge learning through play is blind area in several unstable context. However, if we are really teachers, this experience is difficult for the following reasons:
1- It serve for NGOs education staff rather than teachers. 2- Despite it presented samples of plays and activities, it determined for early childhood, no information about other primary grades. 3- There is more than 50 long reading rescores, which is hard be handle by teachers individually. 4- The training is need more time than it is expected, this might lack teachers self-confidence. 5- It is only available in English, some video were produced in other tongue, such as Tanzania without translation. Most teachers in developing and conflict affected countries are not English speakers 6- It has heavy and long content, which hard to be handle by educators who have lack of fundamental skills. 7- Require good quality internet, which is, mostly, not affordable for most in need teachers. It is better to divide it into two courses; one about the logic and value of LtP and the other is about tools, techniques and activities guidelines for each age category.
Conclusion & Recommendation
1- In fragile courtiers, teachers lack the fundamental digital skills; which limit the capacity and interest to transform to online training as they think that they are not able to use and adopt this modality. 2- Most of online platforms requires good quality internet, which not available. Doing more improvement to increase offline application, usable through phones is key needed. 3- Wide partnership with national actors in countries to localize delivered content to overcome language constrain and culture sensitivity. 4- Mainstream the awareness of Digital Solutions and on ground initiatives to build teachers digital capacity; even though, there is numbers of platform help teachers in this area, but it hare to teachers in fragile systems to learn how to deal with Digital Through Digital training. 5- Lack of any types of accreditation May decrees teachers interest to spent time and effort in such type of training; which need higher level work and advocacy to improve new policies that support digital transforming. 6- It is good idea to have link for any kind of community of Practice or learining group using Skype, what is up or any other application, to afford more lively exprince and help teachers to build wider network.
References
- Assessment Modeling: Fundamental Pre-training Tasks for Interactive Educational Systems
Youngduck Choi, Youngnam Lee, Junghyun Cho, Jineon Baek, Dongmin Shin, Hangyeol Yu, Yugeun Shim, Seewoo Lee, Jonghun Shin, Chan Bae, Byungsoo Kim, and Jaewe Heo. 2018. Assessment arXiv:2002.05505v6 [cs.LG] 28 Jun 2021 https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.05505
- Sefa Dei, George J. "Learning culture, spirituality and local knowledge: Implications for African schooling." International Review of Education 48.5 (2002): 335-360. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1021283730231
- INEE Competencies Framework:https://inee.org/resources/education-emergencies-competency-framework
Digital learning to Reduce Education Challenges and Strength Possibilities for Planet Survival by Faiza Altamimi (talk)
In 2020, Common Worlds Research Collective published background paper titled " Learning to become with the world: Education for future survival". The paper offered seven visionary decelerations about education in 2050 based on three premises, which are: humans and planetary sustainability are the same, separating humans from environment to achieve sustainable future is futile; and shifting to learn with the world instead learning about it. To move forward, it is crucial to understand the challenges and opportunities in our education system; and how digital learning can speed up this transformation.
Despite the highest number of educated people in human history, we are close to tragic ecological breakdown. Unfortunately, education is implicated in the Anthropocene crisis as it prioritizes economic growth and social equity over environmental sustainability. Another dilemma is that curricula and pedagogies are influenced by Cartestian dualisms, which depict that humans are set apart from and above the rest species; and creates boundaries between natural and social sciences. Moreover, the Euro-Western human centric used education to promote human centric mode hampering us from understanding ourselves as ecological insiders. In addition, education policy and schooling everyday practice failed in promoting ecological consciousness; instead, they perpetrated human exceptionalism by positioning us as the agentic subject and the world as the object of study. That is why; learners were not prepared to face the ecological future. However, we can survive our planet if we successfully reshape education policies and practice to relearn our position in the globe.
According to Common Worlds Research, education can mitigate environmental disaster through seven suggested visions. First, promote transformation from social to ecological justice through teaching generation to live respectfully and responsibly on our damaged planet and refuse the proposition of human-dominion. Second, build the pedagogies based an ecological consciousness and dissolve boundaries between natural and social sciences. Third, foster more focus on more-than- human instead of on human exceptionalism. Fourth, discarded Education's human developmental framework that was dominated in 20th and early 21st centuries. This requires reconfigured education around the principle of interdependence and interconnectedness that make everyone and everything apart of earth's ecological community. Fifth, design pedagogies to challenge subject/object divide; and promote that humans are ecological insider within ecosystem and work to co-construct a world that is more liveale for all species. Sixth, re-task education with a Cosmopolitical and pluriversality remit through conducting policies and organizational changes to overcome the current UN parochial charter about human-centeredness and replace nations with the naturesculture. Final recommended vision is to prioritize ethics collective recuperation and abandon differentiation between social and environmental; and no longer frame pedagogy as an exclusively human activity. However, traditional approach with consume long time to achieve such transformation; therefore, deploying digital learning to serve this goal is key.
During COVID-19 pandemic, digital learning prove its ability to continue and reach out to the majority of people by lifesaving messages and virtual classrooms to ensure education is not interrupted. Consequently, we can deploy this power to speed up our learning about the size of ecological crisis and how education can cross-cutting with all effort to protect ourselves as well as other species. We can use the most widespread social media such as Facebook and What's up to reach people in remote areas with lack of infrastructure services and education level. Through short video, attractive poster, we can help teachers to include environmental concepts in their daily classes, and raise parents and children consciousness. Moreover, Digital learning can help NGOs to equip their staff with the required knowledge to design and implement environmental friendly program through take the advantage of online training such as Environment in Humanitarian Action on Kaya platform. It is not only about NGOs staff, deliver such training in local language for government staff can facilities polices improvement and make decision from more actions.
To conclude, working for our planet recuperation is a fundamental action for human and non-human beings survive. Additionally, it is significant to think in mutual flourishing for all instead of only us though characterized education by openness to other. In that regard, we all should take serious ethical stance to stop assuming the high ground of human mastery through education system and instead raise generations in a common safe world for multispecies societies. Digital Power can help us to speed up mainstreaming this approach widely.