Teaching and Learning
Tablet Computing in the Classroom
With the aim of promoting a student centred teaching and learning environment, a number of schools in Solomon Islands will be equipped with Tablet Computers and Digital learning materials to promote information literacy and drive student learning outcomes.
Digital Equipment in the School
The KioKit consists of a waterproof box, containing 40 tough tablet computers and small computer which stores all the learning materials and shares them with the students tablets using wireless data. The box also allows tablet to securely stored and charged and the end of each school day.
Expected Outcomes
By equipping teachers with the tools they need to provide student centered learning and drive student outcomes, we expect to see a number of positive outcomes including;
- Improvement in student and teacher attendance
- Changes in the pedagogy of teaching in the school
- Increased engagement with the local community
- Improved information literacy skills in students
Timeline and Location
The first phase of this teaching and learning project will from from 2016 - 2017 and will target five schools, in urban, remote and remote outer island island locations to understand the challenges and opportunities the tools can provide in resource poor environments. Following this the impact will be evaluated to plan for an expansion of these tools in schools.
Kalaka School - Savo Island
MEHRD Trainer Chris Sakiri and School Principal Cummings and wife being trained how to use the KioKit.
More training with Chris Sakiri for School Principal Cummings
MEHRD Trainer providing a demonstration on how to use the KioKit for Teachers @ Kalaka School
Nguvia School
Mr. Tabe, Mrs. Rose Paia and Peter Suiramo from Mehrd, Mr. Hamilton from Woodford international School.
School principal discussing the challanges and opportunities for e-Learning
Resources for Download
Kio Kit User Guide23.57 MB
Teaching With the KioKit40.33 KB
Example Lesson Plans for using Kio Kits94.46 KB
Letter to Kio Kit school Leaders56.29 KB
Introduction to ICT School Policy.pdf140.06 KB
Measuring Learning.pdf28.18 KB
Projector Instructions.pdf86.06 KB
Development for Teachers
Improving Literacy Teaching
The aim of this pilot is to improve the training of teachers to use the newly released early literacy story books. A training course has been developed for using the storybooks to improve literacy and delivered to Education Authorities. The EA’s in turn train their teachers.
The Pilot
Working with the Teacher Training section, the course will be fully captured digitally (e.g. through video, powerpoint, etc.), reference material and exercises added and a course instruction manual developed. The course will then be delivered to schools to be run on appropriate ICT device, e.g. a projector connected to a laptop or tablet or on teacher’s mobile phones. A course supervisor will administer the course, but does not have to deliver any material. Included in the course will be exercises for teachers to plan and practice how to use the new story books in their classrooms.
Expected Outcomes
There is an overall expectation that the literacy of students will significantly improve through the use of the new books, however the contribution of the pilot to this would be to deliver consistent high quality training to all teachers to use the books effectively. The pilot will assess the effectiveness of such ICT enabled In-school professional development of teachers in comparison with more traditional models of “Train the trainer”
Timeline and Location
The pilot will be limited to one province and one EA (preferably the provincial EA). The EA will be equipped with appropriate ICT devices to deliver the digital course. The pilot will run for 12 months, commencing when the story books are available in the province
Management & Administration
Education Sector Administration
Working to improve education sector administration and management, a number of activities are underway in support of the NEAP goal of decentralised administration. Collaborating with existing projects underway by SPC and ICTSU, the ICT4BE project aims to leverage ICTs to support key education sector priorities. This collaboration maximises the effectiveness by working in conjunction with key systems and processes.
Education Management Information Systems
Supporting the work of SPC to improve the the SIEMIS platform, the ICT4BE project will provide training and professional development opportunities to a range of staff from across ICTSU and MEHRD in data management. This training delivered online leverages multimedia tools to provide an engaging and stimulating learning environment. Key topics included in course include;
- Introduction to Tech for M&E: Overview of types of M&E and technologies that can be used, data responsibility, and big data
- Data collection: SMS, phone apps, data collection for qualitative and quantitative data, and data storage
- Data Analysis: Data visualization, mapping, and dashboards
- Integrating Technology-Enabled M&E: Human centered design, real-time M&E, and impact evaluation
Outcomes
With more than a dozen staff undertaking the course, more than half othe students have completed their final projects and eligible for their completion certificate. This capacity building activity has been a powerful example for SIG, ICTSU and MEHRD in how these professional development programs can be delivered at scale leveraging the increasing telecommunications coverage across the Solomon Islands
Toll-Free Short Message Services
Working in paernership with UNESCO, expanding the reach of communications services, toll-free shortcode services on both mobile network operators allows for simple 2-way and broadcast text communication between provincial education authorities and education sector administration in the capital. This service will provide vital communications bridging the gap to more remote Education Authorities, by leveraging the increasing coverage of mobile network operators into the provinces of Solomon Islands
With success in the inital phase of testing, the service has now been expanded with a long term partnership between UNICEF and MEHRD to expand the system using the RapidPro platform. This strategic partnership with UNESCO leverages the skills and experience in the use of SMS to underpin common goals of improved data collection and information sharing.
Outcomes and Key Resources
Tracpro Technical Information.pdf368.42 KB
ShortCode Assignment.pdf160.6 KB
RapidPro Architecture.pdf100.82 KB
Distance and Flexible Learning
Improving training of untrained teachers
The aim of this pilot is to improve the distance training of untrained teachers through the use of ICTs.
Currently SINU runs courses for untrained teachers in the Distance mode using paper based resources
The pilot will redevelop parts the course using multimedia resources (e.g. instructional videos, PowerPoint slides, reference documents etc.) and deliver the selected modules to the students on a tablet or laptop. Contact with the pilot students will be by SMS messages using their mobile phones
The Pilot
Working with SINU’s DFL section, the ICT4BE team will provide technical advice to help develop the selected training modules in multimedia format, select the appropriate ICT platforms for delivery of the course and train SINU and student supervisors in the use of the equipment. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the ICTs in improving learning will be conducted by the ICT4BE project and will include face to face interviews and surveys with SINU staff, student advisors and students.
Outcomes
After discussions with the SINU VC and the leader of the Distance Learning Section, an agreement was reached to form a research project to trial and evaluate a new distance learning module for literacy using SMS and Tablets. After many delays, the trial was canceled by SINU due to lack of resources.
