What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Prof. Muhammad Junaid -
Number of replies: 8

We have so far accomplished the following activities under the COL's Teacher Futures Project in Sierra Leone:

First, the project design and development process was completed successfully in July, 2017. An elaborate proposal for an integrated SBTD programme aimed at improving the pedagogical content knowledge and skills of JSS teachers using flexible and blended approaches was approved by COL.

Second, a baseline survey (BS) on the eLearning readiness of the project schools and teachers was successfully conducted in November, 2017  and a report submitted to COL in December, 2018. Quality data on current level of e-readiness of teachers, enabling technology, institutional culture and the school environment in the two project districts of Freetown and Kono were generated and the benchmarks against which to subsequently measure the impact of the SBTD programme and the training needs of teachers were established and identified. 

Third, series of Sensitisation Meetings to create a clear and deep understanding of the rationale, goals, objectives,
structure, processes, expected outcomes and the implementation model of the  SBTD programme among the management and academic staff of the Freetown Teachers College (FTC) were facilitated by the COL Consultant in November, 2017; while the FTC cascaded the Meetings down to selected school Principals, school Champions and Teachers in the project schools in February, 2018.  

All is now set for the Learning Design Workshop scheduled to take place on 19th - 23rd March, 2018 during which the learning materials for the Project (both electronic and hard copies) will be designed and developed in preparation for the roll-out of the Programme later in the month.

In reply to Prof. Muhammad Junaid

Re: What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Anouk Janssens-Bevernage -

Thank you for sharing this Junaid!

It looks like the project is now moving towards the practical implementation. It would be great if you could share the programme and resources you will use in your upcoming learning design workshop, if that's OK with you? Every programme country will need to do the same, so it would be good if we share and build on each others' work. Different countries will have different priorities, but - considering the overall theme of the Teacher Futures programme - there will be lots of similarities as well.

 

In reply to Anouk Janssens-Bevernage

Re: What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Betty Ogange -

Hi Anouk,

I am sure Junaid is preparing to respond to you. We only finalised his contract a few days ago so he should be preparing the resources now. Melisa will be joining him in Sierra Leone. They should soon be able to share the programme and some preliminary resources.

Melisa, for instance, has been working with COL to develop guidelines and standards for design and development of microlearning resources. This is a 'standalone' output in itself, which might later contribute to the intermediate outcome on institutionalisation of ODL for quality learning through policies and guidelines.  It may also be a trigger for more outputs, like 'the number of 'sharable' teacher-generated resources developed'. These resources, if shared in the teacher community of practice, are able to promote peer learning (or what Junaid prefers to call 'horizontal learning') among teachers, which, it is envisaged, will improve learning outcomes in the classrooms. But, as Bob pointed out in his post, are we able to make the connection between teacher professional development and learning outcomes? What tools and strategies do we need?

COL already has an M&E plan which variedly takes care of the transition from output-based to outcome-based approaches in the TE programme implementation. At the moment, we are undertaking a mid-term evaluation of the 2015 - 2021 Strategic Plan,  and so it is an opportune time to take another look at the indicators that we should be paying attention to in the evolving programme models, as we aim to achieve the intermediate and long-term impact(s) envisaged in the strategic plan. I shared with you a one-page summary of the outputs and outcomes for the Teacher Futures programme as they stand now.

Using the example of the guideline document developed by Melisa and related outputs, do we miss something by simply counting the numbers? What kind of evidence base should we be building in Sierra Leone, Kiribati and Nigeria?

Kind regards,

Betty

 

 

In reply to Betty Ogange

Re: What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Melisa Allela -

Hello Betty,

Great to know that a lot of preparation work is already underway for the upcoming Learning Design workshop.

Just a few remarks to add to your comments: 

The hands-on Learning Design workshop is a technical and pedagogical quick-start guide on developing content for print and eLearning microlearning delivery, based on templates that have been developed for this purpose. The guiding document in this regard is the evolving standards for design and development of microlearning content which I have attached to this post. The workshop will additionally introduce and demonstrate Moodle basics, as well as instructional design concepts and skills necessary for eLearning and microlearning. It is anticipated that 25 teacher educators and school leads will take part in the exercise. 

The main output this will address is on Technology- based materials and content knowledge developed. Some of the proposed sessions include creating microlearning videos using Powerpoint presentations and basic screen-casting, generating and embedding QR codes in print based materials, recording and editing images and sound, sharing microlearning resources on social media, accessing and using microlearning templates. 

Here’s a link to the microlearning resource page if you would like to read more on the information that has been put together on the subject of microlearning: Microlearning Resources

If you would like to have a go at creating your own videos from within PowerPoint, I have attached a PPT template to help you get started. (This is a sample template)

It would be great to get feedback from the support team on the microlearning resources. 

 

Cheers,

Melisa

In reply to Melisa Allela

Re: What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Anouk Janssens-Bevernage -

Hi Melisa,

This is an excellent resource - thanks so much! I'm sure we will be able to use this extensively in Kiribati as well.

I noticed that the programme team doesn't have access to the Moodle page 'Microlearning resources' (I have admin access to the platform so I could see it). Would you mind adding the whole group? I take it that we can then also add teachers from the respective countries once they have access to the platform too?

Thanks again, this is very helpful.

Anouk

In reply to Anouk Janssens-Bevernage

Re: What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Tekaribwa Boota -

That's right Anouk.

It would be great if we could access the resources and see how it could be applied to our contexts.

 

Thank you

In reply to Anouk Janssens-Bevernage

Re: What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Melisa Allela -

Hello Anouk, 

Thank you for taking note of that. The programme team members have now been enrolled to the Microlearning resources moodle page. Rightly stated, the page should be accessible to teachers as well other Communities of Practice within the Teachers Future programme. 

Cheers.

Melisa. 

In reply to Prof. Muhammad Junaid

Re: What we have done so far in Sierra Leone

by Deleted user -

Good morning Prof.

Great Report. Am interested in the Instrument for BS Study. Can it be made available to us? Thanks

Olude