How can 1 tablet device in a low resource classroom change the quality of education?

Challenges faced by teachers in low resource environments …

Overcrowded Classrooms

Lack of Resources

Shortage of Text Books

Scarcity of locally meaningful content

What is School in a Box?

Mobile; suitable for remote environments

No electricity costs, low tech support costs

À la carte approach; depending on environment

Powerful projector; even outside

Long battery life; suitable for full teaching day

Where do we work?

Yalbang School, Humla District Nepal

Adult Literacy Centres, Maputo Province Mozambique

Juvenat Saint Camille, Ouagadougou Burkina Faso

Agricultural Extension Workers Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique

Guava Primary School, Marracuene Mozambique

How do we work?

Quality Education • demonstration and explanation based on sound pedagogical content knowledge

• flexible use of whole class • frequent and relevant use of visual aids

and locally produced learning materials beyond use of textbook

• open and closed questioning encouraging student response

• use of local languages • planning and varying lesson sequences

Six specific teaching behaviours identified as having most impact on learning

Meta Analysis of 489 studies

(Westbrook et al., 2013,

DfID commissioned research)

Lesson Planning

Use of lesson plans

Varying lesson sequences

Planning for participation

Locally produced material,

Mozambique

Meaningful Content

Visual aids

Locally relevant content

Yalbang School, Humla District, Nepal

Peer Support and Learning

Teachers sharing skills

Teachers sharing content

Creating a bank of lesson support digital content

Mozambican teachers creating locally

relevant content

Change Leaders

Local leadership and ownership of projects

Appropriation of project to local needs by local leaders

Integration with local curriculum

Director of Pedagogy

Guava School, Mozambique

Communities of Practice

Capacity building at teacher training level

Integration with national assessment measures

Partnership with Ministry for Education

Ministry, Teacher Training Institute and Teachers, Mozambique

What have we learned so far?

Robustness

Low tech support requirements Mobile and adaptive to different environments

Ease of Teacher Training

Technology training is very intuitive and fast Incremental approach to teacher practice change

Sustainability

Projects training new teachers and extension workers independently Integration with curriculum happening at local level

Rich Learning Experience

All teachers report improved motivation and attention in class Capacity to compensate for lack of resources, such as science labs, maps, etc.

Challenges

Sustainability in high staff turnover environments - local champions Time required to embed change in teacher practice - incremental approach Lack of models for extremely low resource environments - model schools concept

Next Steps

Data coming… Impact on attendance Impact on progression rates Impact on learning outcomes Impact on teacher practice

Next Phase… Ongoing CPD Ongoing curriculum integration Communities of Learning - capacity building Stakeholder engagement

www.iadtschoolinabox.com

@schoolinabiadt

linda.osullivan@iadt.ie