Techknowlogia Journal 2000 Nov Dec

Volume 2, Issue 6 November/December 2000
This issue is co-sponsored by: Academy for Educational Development and UNESCO
The contents of this Issue do not necessarily reflect the policies or the views of the co-sponsors or their affiliates
6 Teachers…Training…and Technology
Wadi D. Haddad, Editor
Teachers have a very difficult mission and recent developments have not made it any easier. To meet the
unfolding challenges, conventional training of teachers must be replaced with a continuum of lifelong
professional preparedness and development. ICT can contribute significantly to the implementation of all
elements of the continuum. Teachers are our greatest asset and deserve the best in policies, measures and
technologies.
8 World Teachers' Day - 5 October 2000: Expanding Horizons
A joint message by Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO; Juan Somavia, Director-General, ILO; Mark
Malloch Brown, Administrator, UNDP; and Carol Bellamy, Executive-Director, UNICEF.
9 Email to the Editor
Read what your colleagues have offered as feedback on previous issues of TechKnowLogia.
10 Teacher Training or Lifelong Professional Development?

Francoise Delannoy, Senior Operations Officer, World Bank
Teacher training has been in a state of flux worldwide. This article summarizes the trends and challenges
and outlines an emerging paradigm for lifelong professional development of teachers and promising
responses in difference parts of the world.
14 Supporting Teachers with Technology: Don't Do Today's Jobs with Yesterday's Tools
Mary Fontaine, The LearnLink Project, Academy for Educational Development (AED)
This article presents a short survey of the conceptual hopes underlying the use of Information Technologies
as support tools for teachers, focusing on professional development. It also draws on practical experiences
and short-term monitoring results from computer mediated professional development programs underway in
five countries.
! 1 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

17 Teacher Training and Technology: An Overview of Case Studies and Lessons Learned
Joanne Capper, Education Technology Team, World Bank
Case studies have been conducted, with World Bank support, to document various models of teacher
training and technology initiatives from around the world. This article presents an overview of these
studies and lessons learned.
20 Teacher Training: What Works and What Doesn't

Juan Carlos Navarro and Aimee Verdisco, Inter-American Development Bank
This article analyzes eight case studies of innovations in teacher training in Latin American countries
and draws six trends that can be adapted to meet the daily challenges of improving learning in the
classroom.
23 TechKnowNews
DeVry Institute Wins Accreditation for 2 Online Bachelor's Programs ♦ Bill Gates Offers Fund for India ♦ Put
Down Your Pencils; Florida High School Students Become USA's First Online Class ♦ Sweden First for
Educational Use of Internet ♦ Choosing Quick Hits Over the Card Catalog ♦ Kansas Educators Turn to the
Web To Create a Unique 'Virtual' School ♦ Indian Duo Build 'Dirt-Cheap' Radio Station ♦ SchoolNet Africa
To Launch Its First Year's Activities This Month
25 Armenia: The Three Pomegranate Network (3PN)

Anoush Kacherian, Anoush Margaryan, Robert Gabrielyan and Artavazd Mamyan
The authors describe a global online learning program that connects Armenian students and teachers
throughout the world by engaging them in collaborative, project-based learning activities. Almost all of the
training for teachers was done through the project's website.
29 China: Teacher Training with TV Technology

Chen Xiangming, Associate Professor, Institute of Higher Education, Peking University, China
China has an extensive system of TV-based distance education, which also has been used to provide in-
service training for teachers. Two sites that are offering this training to teachers are documented and
compared.
32 Costa Rica: Teacher Training for Education Technology

Aimee Verdisco and Juan Carlos Navarro, Inter-American Development Bank
The Costa Rican experience regarding the introduction of computers in schools constitutes both a case about
training teachers to use technology and using technology to train – and provide support to – teachers
involved in a technology program. It suggests that the infusion of technology into the teaching-learning
process seems to have the potential to change traditional notions of teacher training, beyond the classroom
and immediate teaching practices.
35 Philippines: Infotech -Training in Remote Places

Elaine Furniss, UNICEF New York and Mayevelyn Remigio, UNICEF Manila
The aim of the Infotech project is to provide teachers and students from far flung areas of the country with the
knowledge, skills, facilities and the materials to use information technology in teacher and student training;

and access to information available through the Internet. The article records observations from a recent visit
to the sites.
37 Singapore: Pre-service Teacher Training in Technology Use

Insung Jung, Ewha Women's University
Singapore is training pre-service teachers to use technology in the classroom and has developed a fairly
comprehensive approach to training faculty and student teachers, and providing both groups with support to
make this transition.
40 Zimbabwe: The Bindura Internet Learning Center

Anthony Bloome, Regional Coordinator, World Links for Development
The Bindura Center caters to learners of all ages. Students and teachers are using the resources and IT
training to complement their classroom activities, open university students are downloading useful research
information, and private clients are developing skills to improve their professional and organizational
productivity.
42 Video Technology for Teacher Training: Micro-Teaching and other Adventures

Sonia Jurich
This article shows how micro-teaching, a decades old method of improving teaching through videotaping, has
been a powerful but inadequately used tool for improving teaching.
45 Scripted Learning Needs Teachers Who Follow the Script

Claudio de Moura Castro, Chief Education Adviser, Inter-American Development Bank
Does scripted learning lead to more learning? This article debates this question and analyzes the Latin
American experience with structured learning.
48 The Teaching Profession - Beyond Training

Juan Carlos Navarro, Senior Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank
Training of teachers has, generally, produced relatively little impact compared with the substantial size of the
investments made. Fortunately, there is now a widespread understanding of the problems of conventional
teacher training practices and plenty of innovations flourish in this field. However, many other incentive and
management issues remain untouched.
51 Images of Teaching: The TIMSS Video Taping Project

Laurence Wolff, Inter-American Development Bank
TIMSS researchers undertook to videotape actual eighth grade mathematics lessons in the US, Germany,
and Japan to understand what was happening in the classroom. This was the first time videotaping had been
used to compare cultural differences in teaching. The results are fascinating, but perhaps dismaying.

53 Do You Know Where Your Teachers and Schools Are?
Kurt Moses, Vice President, Academy for Educational Development (AED)
Many countries in the world do not know where their most valuable educational resources are. This article
analyzes the dimensions of the problem, proposes solutions, and describes technologies that will help to
account for personnel, determine what they are doing, and make it easier to spot problems before they
become larger.
57 Technology for Teacher Support

Gregg Jackson, Associate Professor and Coordinator, Education Policy Program, The George Washington
University
Teaching is a tough job and teachers deserve support. Technologies can help provide such support: they can
help motivate and empower teachers, assist them with their day-to-day situations, provide avenues for
lifelong professional development, and enrich teachers' work lives and enhance their effectiveness.
59 On the Move
Upcoming Events: Conferences, Seminars, Exhibits, Training Courses, etc.
61 Will Voice Portals Speak to Consumers?

Editorial Staff
Voice Portals are being hyped as the next wave in mobile Internet. They are designed to give personalized
information using special voice recognition software and offer an array of basic financial, entertainment and
technical services.
62 Handheld Computers: Which One?

Editorial Staff
Nothing exemplifies more elegantly the synthesis of mobility and advanced computing than handheld
computers. They are easy to use but hard to choose. This article outlines the technical and financial
implications of the key device features and reviews seven top handheld computers on the market.
64 WorthWhileWebs
Gregg Jackson and Nina de las Alas, The George Washington University
An annotated list of several websites with useful resources on teacher support; they include lesson plans and
teaching guides as well as other supports.
67 E-Sign on the Dotted Line…

Editorial Staff

E-signatures are a form of encryption technology. They encourage advances in the online services market
and reduce laborious contract filing procedures. E-signatures will have an impact on the management of the
education enterprise as well as on online testing and evaluation.
68 Just Click and Sniff

Tressa Steffen Gipe
Some companies are experimenting with introducing scent technologies into your computer so you cannot
only hear and see the Internet, but also smell. These developments have dramatic implications for the
education domain.
69 AED: Teacher Training with Technology - Experience in five country programs

Mary Fontaine, LearnLink, Academy for Educational Development, (AED)
LearnLink, operated by AED, is implementing, in five countries, computer-mediated professional

development activities that take advantage of the potential of information and communication
technologies to improve training and support services for teachers. The article summaries these
activities and demonstrates the kinds of applications for pre- and in-service teacher training and for
ongoing professional development opportunities for teachers.
72 Teachers Talking about Learning: A UNICEF web initiative for teachers around the world
Elaine Furniss, UNICEF, New York
UNICEF hosts a website for teachers, which provides access to teacher training materials, a discussion
forum, and a list of useful ULRs of interactive projects.
Editorial Calendar for Year 2001
YEAR 2001
January/ March/ May/ July/ September November/

February April June August /October December
Management Science and Enterprise Social Studies Early Childhood Language

of Education Math Education Training Development and Education
Systems Parental
Education

Wadi D. Haddad, Editor
T eachers … T raining … and T echnology
Dedication of This Issue and above all the skill of how to apply acquired knowl-
October 5, 2000 was World Teachers' Day. We dedicate this edge to new situations and how to learn new knowledge.
Issue of TechKnowLogia to the teachers everywhere: the ! Our understanding of the nature of learning has evolved.
teachers who inspired us and made a difference in our lives; For learning to take place, learners have to be active,
the teachers who held the hands of children through the hard learning has to be meaningful and authentic and the
transition from the warmth of the home to the unfamiliar learning environment should be challenging but not
environment of the school; the teachers who helped decipher stressful. All easier said than done!
these funny looking shapes called characters; the teachers ! Knowledge is expanding rapidly and much of it is
who brought life into formulas and equations; the teachers available to teachers and students at the same time. This
who prepared the stage for learners to shout, "Eureka"; the puts an unavoidable burden on teachers to continue to
teachers who brought the world into the classroom and the update their knowledge and to expose themselves to
classroom into the world; the teachers who tried to make modern channels of information.
sense of the directives of central education authorities and ! The social environment in many countries is making it
implement reforms formulated by "experts" and parachuted more difficult for teachers to manage classrooms and
to them; the teachers who are underpaid, and ill-prepared, yet learning processes. The authority of the teachers is con-
accountable for successful teaching of malnutritioned and tinuously challenged, and their knowledge is questioned.
poorly-prepared students, in schools that are unhealthy, un- Students, in many instances, are becoming less respect-
safe and inadequately equipped; the teachers who are ex- ful and more belligerent, and in some extreme cases,
pected to understand and address the needs of students, par- teachers are functioning under physical threats and psy-
ents, administrators, society, the economy, the past, the pres- chological duress.
ent and the future; the teachers whom we tend to think of as ! Information and communication technologies have
divine, geniuses and missionaries, but who actually are "hu- brought new possibilities into the education sector, but at
man" in their own expectations, performances and needs. the same time have placed more demands on teachers.
They have now to learn how to cope with computers in
A Hard Profession Getting Harder their classrooms, how to compete with students in ac-
cessing the enormous body of information - particularly
Teaching is one of the most challenging and crucial profes- via the Internet, and how to use the hardware and soft-
sions in the world. It is well recognized that education is a ware to enhance the teaching/learning process.
necessary condition for individual, social and economic de-
velopment. But what links education to development is
Preparation or Preparedness?
learning. Teachers have and continue to be critical in facili-
tating learning and in making it more efficient and effective. It is obvious that teachers cannot be prepared for these un-
To do that, teachers need to be well grounded in knowledge folding challenges once and for all. One shot of training, no
of academic and day-to-day areas, proficient in pedagogical, matter how effective and successful, will not suffice. A new
human and organizational skills, committed to their students paradigm must emerge that replaces training with lifelong
and capable of dealing with a wide range of individual learn- professional preparedness and development of teachers,
ers with diversified cultural, ethnic and socio-economic along the following continuum:
backgrounds.
! Initial preparation/training that provides them with a
Modern developments may have eased some teaching bur- solid foundation of knowledge, proficiency in pedagogi-
dens, but they certainly have not made life easier for teach- cal, social and organization skills, deep understanding of
ers: the teaching/learning policies and materials they will be
dealing with, and a broad familiarity with sources of
! The objectives of education have become more compli- educational materials and support. It is equally crucial
cated. It is not sufficient anymore to teach a certain body that candidates are well prepared in the skills of continu-
of knowledge and skills. Teachers are expected to help ous exploration, assessment and acquisition of new
students acquire higher levels of cognitive skills - prob- knowledge and competencies, according to future de-
lem solving, creativity, collaborative learning, synthesis, mands.

! Structured opportunities for retraining, upgrading and
acquisition of new knowledge and skills. Many profes- TechKnowLogia™
sions have such requirements to renew certification for Published by
practice. It is only logical for the critical profession of Knowledge Enterprise, Inc.
teaching to demand re-certification every 2 or 3 years In editorial collaboration with
based on evidence of professional upgrading, and it is United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Or-
equally imperative for the education authorities to ensure ganization (UNESCO )
that systematic opportunities and facilities for such up- Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD )
grading are provided.
! Continuous support for teachers as they tackle their day
to day responsibilities. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Wadi D. Haddad, President, Knowledge Enterprise, Inc.
The Technology Edge
Implementing the emerging paradigm with conventional INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD:
measures and techniques will face, in most countries, insur- Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President & CEO,
The Commonwealth of Learning
mountable financial, organizational and institutional obsta- Dee Dickenson, CEO, New Horizons for Learning
cles. Information and communication technologies (ICT) Alexandra Draxler, Director, Task force on Education for
may make the difference. This Issue of TechKnowLogia the Twenty-first Century (UNESCO)
explores many possibilities and offers a wide range of field Jacques Hallak, Ass't. Director-General/Education ,
UNESCO
experiences. ICT can contribute significantly to all three Pedro Paulo Poppovic, Secretary of Distance Education,
components of the continuum: Federal Ministry of Education, Brazil
Nicholas Veliotes, President Emeritus,
! First, ICTs and properly developed multi-media materi- Association of American Publishers
Jarl Bengtsson, Head, CERI, OEDC
als can enhance the initial preparation by providing good
training materials, facilitating simulations, capturing and
analyzing practice-teaching, bringing into the training ADVISORY EDITORIAL COMMITTEE:
institution world experience, familiarizing trainees with Joanne Capper, Sr. Education Specialist, World Bank
Claudio Castro, Chief Education Adviser, IDB
sources of materials and support, and training potential Gregg Jackson, Assoc. Prof., George Washington Univ.
teachers in the use of technologies for teaching/learning. James Johnson, Deputy Director, GIIC
! Second, ICTs open a whole world of lifelong upgrading Frank Method, Dir., Washington Office, UNESCO
and professional development by providing courses at a Laurence Wolff, Sr. Consultant, IDB
Mary Fontaine, LearnLink, AED
distance, asynchronous learning, and training on de- Sonia Jurich, Consultant
mand. ICTs have the advantage of ease of revisions and
introduction of new courses in response to emerging
demands. MANAGING EDITOR:
Sandra Semaan
! Finally, ICTs break the professional isolation from
which many teachers suffer. With ICT, they can easily
connect with headquarters, with colleagues and mentors, GENERAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
with universities and centers of expertise and with FEEDBACK ON ARTICLES
EDITORIAL MATTERS:
sources of teaching materials. TechKnowLogia@KnowledgeEnterprise.org
**** SPONSORSHIP AND ADVERTISING

Sandra@KnowledgeEnterprise.org
Teachers have a very difficult mission. They also represent
the most critical element and the biggest investment in the ADDRESS AND FAX
educational enterprise. Thus, their preparedness and profes- Knowledge Enterprise, Inc.
sional development is not only desirable but also necessary P.O. Box 3027
Oakton, VA 22124
for the success of learners, schools and education systems. U.S.A.
They deserve the best in policies, measures and technologies. Fax: 703-242-2279
This Issue is Co-Sponsored By:

Academy for Educational Development (AED)
and
UNESCO

Joint message by
Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Juan Somavia, Director-General, International Labour Office (ILO)
Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Carol Bellamy, Executive-Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
On World Teachers' Day 2000, we wish to pay homage to the At the same time, teachers are educating a diversifying range
role of teachers in expanding the learner’s horizons and also of learners from increasingly varied backgrounds, of
to put the spotlight on the expanding horizons for teachers in different ages and with more varied needs - individual,
the new knowledge society of the 21st century. workplace, informal and adult. Teachers can act as catalysts
for change by encouraging families and communities to
Before undertaking any type of learning, no matter how ensure access to quality education, particularly for girls. The
early or late in life, the student almost always has an idea of teaching and learning horizon is also expanding significantly
where the process will lead. But it is only after a person's in the area of values education - such as environmental
education is underway that new vistas of activity, ability and education, human rights and peace education, health
understanding start coming into view. Time and time again, education - which contributes to a broader notion of the
this expanding horizon is thanks to an experienced teacher. fundamental aims of education.
Most people have areas of interest or skills that became
central to their lives after a teacher introduced them to a Today we pay homage to the professional commitment of
subject they may otherwise never have encountered. teachers who, despite sometimes poor working conditions,
limited resources and inadequate remuneration, help
Today’s rapidly changing world requires people to draw learners and learning move forward. To continue to
increasingly upon their education, not only in terms of their innovate in favour of expanding horizons, teachers need the
level of knowledge, but also in terms of the skills that allow active support of the communities and societies that they
them to adapt to change. This redefines education to mean serve, and they need to be fully involved in educational
learning throughout life rather than a single experience in reform decisions. In this way they can help to ensure rights-
school. Accordingly, lifelong learning must be available to based, child-friendly learning environments, which are
all. Around the world, teachers are already helping students inclusive of children, effective with children, healthy and
to acquire the education and training for shaping and protective of children, and gender-sensitive.
managing their lives, to learn how to become successful life-
long learners, always able to broaden their horizons. On the occasion of World Teachers' Day, we appeal to the
world community, to governments, parliamentarians,
A changing world environment that puts new emphasis on parents, community leaders, the media, non-governmental
knowledge and learning skills also expands the horizons of organizations, civil society institutions, the private sector,
the teaching profession. Information and communications educational institutions, teachers' unions and associations to
technologies have made information more easily available. renew their commitment of support to teachers. We call for
Teachers are exploring the best pedagogic use of these new the implementation of the guidelines on good practices
tools, more learner-centred teaching practices, and new contained in the ILO-UNESCO Recommendation concerning
forms of open and distance learning. Indeed the the Status of Teachers and in the UNESCO Recommendation
transmission of information alone cannot lead to a concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching
knowledge society without the involvement of devoted Personnel. We also ask governments to find specific ways of
teachers, adopting more than ever new methods to bring the honouring the pledge made at the World Education Forum
learning process beyond rote memorization. This task held in Dakar, Senegal, in April, 2000 and endorsed in the
enhances teacher professionalism, and depends on teachers Dakar Framework for Action * to enhance the status, morale
themselves as lifelong learners, expanding their own and professionalism of teachers. This is the best way of
learning horizons. showing support for teachers, who are and will remain in
this new century the core of the education system.
*
http://www2.unesco.org/wef/en-conf/dakfram.shtm

©Corel
Lifelong Learning: From Desirability to the neighbors had. I said all this to say that in many ways it is
Feasibility September/October 2000 like one of my pastors related to us one day in a
sermon..."poor folks have poor ways." I wish us all success
…I am reacting to your excellent editorial on Lifelong in motivating the unmotivationable. Sloth has been with us
learning. My point is related to the first of your final since the dawn of man and we haven't conquered it yet. Good
conclusions when you say that the new information luck.
technology is inappropriate for illiterate adults. I disagree Jim Sumner
and will use the case of teaching the Dutch language to Kansas, USA
immigrants in The Netherlands as an example. The use of
especially designed icons and instructions from a tutor on The How and Why of Adult Learning
how to use the mouse make it really easy for an illiterate September/October 2000
adult (who is not mentally disturbed) to learn the sound of It would be interesting to contrast this profile against
the words and expressions in another language recorded on a younger groups of learners using the same criteria.
CD-ROM or downloaded and stored on a server. The
essential here is that the new information technology allows Joe Brazas
the connection of image, sound and movement, which are the Humber College, Toronto ON
basic blocks in the communication process. How do you
think that adult illiterates react in front of a sensitive screen? General Feedback
In Brazil, many millions will be using a digital ballot box in
October, during the municipal elections. In Brazil, voting I liked the article on educational videos (TechKnowLogia
rights have been extended to illiterates since the restoration September/October) so much that I translated it into Spanish.
of democracy and digital ballot boxes have been introduced Fernando Ortiz, Ecuador
since the mid-1990s.
Thank you so much for regularly updating me about the
Maria Inês Bastos extremely informative TechKnowLogia Journal. I really look
Coordenadora, Comunicação forward to reading it through the web. I can gauge the hard
Informação e Informática work going behind to create a journal of this stature and
UNESCO Brasil having a niche of its own.
Vikas Nath, India
Adult Education in the Americas: The Victory
of Spontaneous Action September/October 2000 Thank you so much for keeping me informed about the new
issues of TechKnowLogia. The Journal is extremely
The underlying assumption in this article is happily informative about new trends in education and science.
optimistic. Let me share a short anecdotal story with you.
The Newton KS tri-area vocation/technical school contrived Nikolai Genov, Bulgaria
to entice folk, all women, "on the dole" into a sewing class
where they picked up their welfare checks. Eventually they Simply beautiful. We really appreciate in all of its dimension
were moderately successful in getting a class of these ladies. the great effort to put together TechKnowLogia, allowing
Then they talked them into going to the high school to take particularly third world countries to catch up with this
not just sewing but homemaking. The ladies saw the strategic area of the development for the future.
beautiful, clean and gleaming modern appliances and as the
story was related to me by an officer of the school, some, and German Escorcia
I emphasize some, went home and pried their lazy husbands Mexico
out of the house to get a job so they could have some of what

Teacher Training or Lifelong Professional Development?
Worldwide Trends and Challenges
Francoise Delannoy
Senior Operations Officer, World Bank
The Pressure for Change school as a locus of knowledge acquisition is being eroded
Since the mid-80s, education systems have sought to respond by more appealing ways of learning. In the poorest countries,
to rapidly evolving societal needs. In this process, the teach- the shortage of minimally competent teachers is a serious
ing profession, as a key mediating agency between society obstacle to ensuring that students understand what they are
and the young generation, has come under considerable pres- taught and are capable of applying it in real life. In-between,
sure, and teacher training, one key area of policy interven- the trend towards greater local autonomy and the need for
tion, has been in a state of flux worldwide. Such re-thinking more flexible solutions also has had wide implications in
has come in response to new expectations from the macro terms of competencies required. Teachers are now expected
level, the school, and the profession. The trends have varied to know how to attend to the different learning needs of stu-
in nature and intensity from one region to the next, and they dents, to promote a climate of mutual respect in a multicul-
have impacted on education systems which were vastly dif- tural environment, and to create for their students exciting,
ferent in the first place: some poised to reinvent education, age- and context-relevant learning experiences.
while others were still struggling with the basics of access;
some coming from a centralized tradition, and others from a Finally, the theme of teacher professionalism has struck a
decentralized one. resounding chord. It has generally meant that the profession
has committed itself to a higher level of competencies and
At the macro level, views of "what teachers should know and continuous skills upgrading. In return, the government
be able to do" continue to be country-specific but are in- agreed to less micro-management and higher pay, based on
creasingly shaped by world trends. Progress towards univer- the understanding that teachers could be trusted to make
sal enrollment has brought into the classroom a much more complex decisions in an independent and responsible man-
diverse student population, with different backgrounds and ner. Australia and the US are examples, as are developing
aspirations, and for whom the homogeneous, elite education nations introducing large-scale programs of teacher certifica-
of yesterday has not worked. In industrial and emerging tion – such as Brazil, Uganda, and Vietnam. This has re-
economies, globalization, increasing competitiveness, new quested the formulation of a shared vision of what constitutes
information and communication technologies and the explo- “ good teaching” and “ good teacher training" in a given
sion of knowledge have placed growing and new demands on context.
young people entering the labor market. The uncertainties
and insecurities created by family breakdown, the decline of The Starting Point
traditional forms of authority, unemployment in OECD A decade ago, few teacher-training systems were up to the
countries, migration and political conflict in Africa and the challenge. They were controlled, either entirely by govern-
Middle East, and the transition to democracy and market ments, or by autonomous universities, with limited coopera-
economy in Eastern Europe, Latin America and parts of tion and school input. Where teachers were educated at the
Asia, have filtered down to the classroom. These trends university level – usually the case for secondary teachers –
mean that teachers must have a stronger mastery of the disci- there was overemphasis on subject matter content, at the ex-
plines they teach, especially in math, science and technology; pense of didactics. In the normal schools or teacher training
that they must be able to model the higher-order thinking colleges preparing primary teachers, pedagogy got the lion’s
processes, ability to work in multidisciplinary teams, and share but academic standards were weak. Both types of in-
leadership and communication skills needed in a complex stitutions were cut off from the school system, as the practi-
world swamped with information. cum was “too little, too late” and poorly supervised, leaving
the student-teachers unprepared for the reality of the class-
At the school level, multiple challenges have arisen. In the room, the real locus of educational change. Methodologies
more reform-minded countries, teachers are increasingly held were traditional and teacher-centered, based on lectures. The
accountable for student outcomes and not just for delivering trainers' classroom experience was at best stale, if not non-
the curriculum. Schools are also expected to compensate for existent. Few programs were designed as preparation to a
societal evils by promoting a climate of tolerance and inclu- profession, i.e., going beyond skills to instill competencies
sion, and by easing the school-to-work transition. This, para- into teachers, especially the crucial abilities to reflect on their
doxically, is evolving at a time when the monopoly of the own classroom practice, to continuously assess students, and

to iterate between research, theory and practice. In the least form, stressing that deeply rooted knowledge of content and
developed nations, sizeable proportions of teachers were context, disciplinary enquiry and teacher empowerment in a
barely literate and numerate. democratic school community play a key role in shaping
teaching and teacher education, and in improving schools.
In-service training was usually centrally determined and sup- The objective, for teachers as well as students, is to reach a
ply-driven. For a few days a year, a small number of privi- deep level of understanding, to see the connections between
leged teachers were pulled-off from their classrooms to re- fields of knowledge, to be able to apply new skills in context,
mote training centers to be lectured to about what to do in to “learn to learn” for the rest of one’s life and ultimately to
areas that were not necessarily their main concerns and in challenge traditional school power structures. This view is
settings that were often distant from their day-to-day con- reflected, for instance, in the Report of the US National
crete experiences. They were then sent back to an unchanged Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1998).
school where they met the indifference or outright hostility
of envious colleagues, without opportunities to reinforce Towards a Holistic Approach. The above influences point
their newly acquired skills in the classroom. to a richer, albeit more demanding, systemic vision of stu-
dent and teacher learning, and consequently a vision of
The Emerging Paradigm teaching and teacher development. The future teacher must
The search for responses has benefited from advances in a be exposed to all the theoretical, practical and ethical dimen-
number of scientific fields and reflects major reform trends sions of his/her practice. The content of the training must be
in education. based on an analysis of the job description and its delivery
mode. The teacher is engaged in a collective project that re-
Professional Development (PD) as a Lifelong Learning quires social and negotiating skills. Professional develop-
Activity. Given the speed of societal change and knowledge ment efforts are no longer limited to teachers, or embracing
accumulation, policy-makers and practitioners have come to entire districts, but increasingly targeted at whole-schools,
realize that there is no way even a good initial education pro- making it possible to combine generic with context-specific
gram can equip a teacher with all the knowledge, skills, and skills. Improvement strategies, instead of being piecemeal,
values he/she will need during his/her career. Especially so, are driven by clear, coherent plans, bridging broader strategic
considering that teachers have different needs as their career goals with locally perceived needs. Residential training is
advances - from survival to instructional skills at basic, ma- giving way to on-the-job problem-solving. In lieu of "ex-
ture and expert levels. This has led to a shift away from a perts" transmitting skills to passive audiences, the teachers
fragmented vision of discrete "pre" and "in" service training themselves are studying classroom processes and the trainers
to one of teacher development as a continuum along "the 3 of yore are also providing advisory, planning and facilitating
Is," namely teacher "initial education," "induction" (struc- services.
tured support at entry into the profession), and "in-service
continuous professional development." This continuum is Standards-based Teacher Education and Professional De-
characterized by iterations between theory, practice and re- velopment (PD). Going apparently in the opposite direction,
search; interaction between inductees and experienced men- this trend has come from centralized East Asian education
tors; feedback from in-service to initial education programs. systems that have done so well in the Third International
Math and Science Study (1996), and has been amplified by
A Deeper Understanding of Learning Processes. Growing countries such as New Zealand, which have shifted from an
recognition that treating teachers as learners is positively input-based to a result-based mode of education funding.
correlated to improvements in student outcomes has also With budgets tightening everywhere, Teacher Training In-
triggered interest in recent breakthroughs in learning theory. stitutions and PD providers, like schools, are expected not
The behaviorist approaches of the 60s reflected a mechani- only to offer training, but to deliver results, i.e., to ensure
cal, narrow view of learning and of the linkage between that future teachers acquire, not just cognitive skills, but the
teacher actions and student performance. These have been competencies known to have an impact on children learning
superseded by “constructivist” theory, which sees learning no in the classroom. Furthermore, these competencies must be
longer as a pre-fixed set of facts and data to be passively measurable, or at least observable.
absorbed and memorized by rote, but as “constructed” by the
learner, starting from his/her own experience and using ac- A number of countries (mainly but not only OECD coun-
tive methods, reflective practice and enquiry. Constructivist tries) have set standards for teaching practice, from beginner
pedagogy is particularly popular worldwide (Europe, Latin to advanced level, and for good teacher training. These have
America, Pacific) in circles interested in progressing from become the foundations for teacher certification/licensing
universalization to democratization of education. and for training program accreditation. In the cases of Aus-
tralia and the US, a mature profession has played a key role
The “pragmatists" go further and link these findings to re- in defining what excellent teaching meant. By contrast, in the

UK, the government is defining minimum standards, recen- evaluation of their cost-effectiveness.
tralizing its control of teachers and training institutions, man-
aging teachers as executors of detailed prescriptions and Curriculum and Pedagogy in ITE. In order to respond to the
viewing teacher training as apprenticeship. Teaching is new societal demands, the better ITE courses seek to instill
treated as a “bag of tricks and routines” rather than a set of in their students the ability and motivation to continue
complex thinking and behavioral processes. learning throughout their career. They generally feature: (i)
academic subjects; (ii) foundational educational sciences
Standards and assessment – the pillars of a quality assurance (psychology, sociology, etc…); (iii) a strengthened core of
(QA) system – are controversial because, critics say, they teaching methodology and strategies for classroom manage-
have a narrowing effect on the learning process. However, ment and problem solving, often backed up by the use of
the trend is irreversible. First, because QA is a central tool of videos, tutorials, workshops, team projects, interaction
accountability in increasingly autonomous systems. Second, analysis, dialogue, coaching, etc; (iv) knowledge about re-
because the process of standard-setting has triggered a dia- sources available, and techniques for collaboration with peers
logue among professional associations, trainers, unions, and parents. Information and communication technology
politicians and administrators, leading to a shared vision of (ICT) – for school administration, instruction, curriculum
good teaching and good teacher preparation/development. enrichment, connecting with peers and resource centers, and
Third, because QA makes it possible, albeit imperfectly, to self evaluation – has become a fully integral part of the cur-
measure progress, improve programs and practice, and focus riculum in high and middle income countries. Everywhere,
efforts and resources. US or Australian teachers seeking the integration of content and didactics figures prominently.
advanced certification indicate that the mere process of pre- In OECD countries, the relative weight given to educa-
paring a portfolio to document one’s performance in a sys- tional/professional studies vs. academic subjects tends to be
tematic way entails professional growth. 40:60 for primary teachers and 25:75 for post-primary teach-
ers.
Promising Responses
While the starting points, goals and motivations are vastly A second concern has been to ensure that student teachers get
different, there are striking similarities in the way many na- early and substantial exposure to the reality of the classroom,
tions have responded to the challenges. preferably in conditions similar to those in which they will
be working. A growing number of programs now offer su-
Initial Teacher Education (ITE). The locus of initial edu- pervised practice in partner schools. Typically the practicum
cation has tended to shift in line with the evolving view of amounts to 25% of total time, except in the UK, where it
the teacher. In OECD countries, practically all teachers are represents at least 50% and up to 100% of total training time,
now prepared in universities, sometimes at graduate level again raising some concerns as to the academic level and
(France, Germany, US). The duration of ITE has frequently professionalism of the trainees.
increased, with three years being the minimum, while five-
year programs and intensive internships of one year or more Induction. Entry into the profession is a traumatic moment
become the norm in Europe and Asia. The control of ITE is for a young teacher, triggering many to dropout or become
increasingly shared by the various stakeholders. discouraged or cynical. To reduce this risk, an increasing
number of countries, for instance in the entire Asia-Pacific
In many middle income nations, the trend is towards up- region, have institutionalized processes of induction, under
grading the old Teacher Training Colleges (TTC), or Normal which an experienced colleague mentors the beginning
Schools (NS), into tertiary-level but not necessarily univer- teacher. A contractual arrangement provides for adequate
sity-based institutions (Malaysia, Philippines), sometimes time and resources and structured learning opportunities for
called “Higher Institutes of Education” (Latin America). the inductee to reach agreed professional goals. Sometimes
This “elevating” of teacher education may mean higher aca- satisfactory completion of this process is a condition for
demic standards and tighter links with research but arouses teacher certification.
some fears that it might increase the disconnect from the
needs of schools. Excellent examples of university/school In-service Continued Education. While innovations in ITE
partnerships and dual models can be found in all five conti- have tended to come from the industrialized world, develop-
nents, but they are not yet the rule. The secondary-level TTC ing nations have focused more on their serving teachers be-
model, often government-controlled, is vanishing but still cause of the large numbers involved, including in some cases
exists in low-income nations. One-year programs in peda- a high share of unqualified personnel. The most interesting
gogy for graduates work, but are not as clearly superior as models feature a strong school focus. Some are supported
their supporters would like. Alternative routes are generally by small grants to fund teacher designed PD projects
quick fixes and never a panacea. Partly because these re- (Guinea). Others involve regular meetings of teachers, as-
forms are relatively recent, there is a crying need for rigorous sisted by facilitators, to discuss strategies, solutions to com-

mon problems, develop materials, etc…either within a given presentations, one-way radio and phone lines for just-in-time
school (Chile), or among multigrade schools forming a rural help. The support system has proven critical in ensuring re-
cluster (India, Thailand, Colombia), thus breaking the isola- tention and completion. These techniques are being intro-
tion of teachers. Still others offer schools the support of duced in isolated and sparsely populated areas as a cost-
teacher resource centers (Brazil, Ireland, South Africa), effective way of bringing quality training to those who need
sometimes combining public/private sources (US/Boston), it most. ( See case studies under Technologies at Work in
sometimes clinic-style. Research, mainly US-based, has this Issue.)
shown that systems that articulate top-down and bottom-up
approaches, focus on instruction but balance content and Challenges for the Future
methodology, and give teachers the opportunity to play dif- Although this article has mentioned a number of promising
ferent roles, have a strong impact on learning (Kentucky, NY experiences, the fact is that there are no silver bullets, and
District2, Vermont). very few countries “have it right” in overall teacher policy.
In itself, the global agenda for teacher development is formi-
Networks. Teacher networks are spreading like bush fire. dable. First, to meet the basic right of all children to a decent
They take many forms, from quality circles within or among education, the millions of under or unqualified teachers in the
schools to professional associations (e.g., of math teachers), world will need to be brought to minimal standards of com-
private or institutional access to Internet and Intranet chat petence, calling for highly structured approaches. Next, this
rooms, and linkages with industry. Japan has pioneered in threshold will need to be continuously lifted so that teachers
this area, to the extent that the literature talks about two par- progress from mechanistic routines to "teaching for mean-
allel systems of in-service education, a formal and an infor- ing" and develop the ability to act as role models and facili-
mal one, raising questions of control and standardization. tators. The process will have to go to scale and become self-
The teachers tend to prefer the informal networks, but they sustained. This will clearly take a combination of all of the
risk losing access to the research findings that the formal tools discussed above, formal and informal, traditional and
networks involving the universities can provide. innovative, impacting both on structure and on culture.
Distance Teacher Education. Following the lead of the But teacher training is a “soft” instrument and alone will not
British Open University, large countries such as Australia, suffice. Only a systemic approach can work, including the
Brazil, China, Canada, Egypt, Korea, Mexico, and Thailand need to strengthen quality assurance systems, modify the
have developed mixed media teacher education and PD pro- career and incentive structure, and rethink the way schools
grams alternating between on-site and residential training operate.
and multimedia support such as print material, TV and video
Bibliography
1. Alain Gavard (1999). La Qualification des Enseignants au Service de l’ efficacite et de la Coherence du Systeme Educatif. Presentation made at the
MEC/World Bank International Workshop on Teacher Professional Development & Quality Assurance, Brasilia.
2. Australian Council of Education Administration (1994). The Workplace in Education – Australian Perspectives.
3. Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (1998). Staying Ahead, In-Service Training and Teacher Professional Development. Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development.
4. Craig, Helen, Kraft, Richard, & Du Plessis, Joy (1998). Teacher Development – Making an Impact, USAID & World Bank Publication.
5. Delannoy, Francoise & Gutierrez, Sandra (1999). Recent Developments in Initial Teacher Education: Seven Country Stories. World Bank, Unpublished
Working Paper.
6. Coolahan, John (1999). Trends and Developments in Pre-Service Teacher Education in Western Europe, and Trends and Developments in Pre-Service
Teacher Education in Eastern and Central Europe. Background Papers sponsored by the World Bank for the Conference on Teachers in Latin America,
San Jose, Costa Rica.
7. Navarro, Juan Carlos & Aimee Verdisco (2000). Teacher Training in Latin America, Innovations and Trends. Inter-American Development Bank.
Washington D.C., United States.
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University Press, United Kingdom.
9. Philippe Perrenoud (1999). Savoir Enseigner au XXIe Siecle? Presentation made at the MEC/World Bank International Workshop on Teacher Profes-
sional Development & Quality Assurance, Brasilia.
10. Pretorius, Fanie (1998). Transforming Teacher Education in South Africa for the Democratic Era, in Prospects, UNESCO Publishing, Higher Education
for the Twenty-First Century.
11. Report of the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future (1996). What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future.
12. Tatto, María Teresa (1999). Conceptualization and Studying Teacher Education Across World Regions: An Overview. Background Paper sponsored by
the World Bank for the Conference on Teachers in Latin America, San José, Costa Rica.
13. Torres, Rosa Maria, “The New Role of the Teacher: What Teacher Education Model for what Education Model?”, in UNESCO 1999. Bulletin 49. The
Major Project of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Santiago, Chile.
14. U.K. Department for Education and Employment (1998). Teachers – Meeting the Challenge of Change.
15. World Bank. Brazil. Teachers' Development and Incentives: A Strategic Framework. 2000. Report No. 20408-BR.
16. World Education Report: Teachers and Teaching in a Changing World. 1998. UNESCO Publishing.

Supporting Teachers with Technology:
Don’t Do Today’s Jobs with Yesterday’s Tools
Mary Fontaine
The LearnLink Project, Academy for Educational Development (AED)
Frustrations and Hopes marginal and do not translate into improvements in teacher
knowledge or effectiveness in the classroom.
Many would agree that if support for teachers is not the sin- What can be done to equip teachers with a better mastery of
gle most important ingredient for good teaching, it is close to content and with the pedagogical skills needed to educate the
it. At the least, it is a universally recognized prerequisite. next generation of learners?
Beyond adequate remuneration, support includes everything
from effective pre-service training to consistent access to There is plenty of enthusiastic if theoretical hope, plus in-
information, knowledge, and resources to sufficient opportu- creasing practical evidence – new and short term yet prom-
nities for broader professional development in both content ising – that information and communication technologies
areas and pedagogy. (ICTs) may be able to deliver a more consistent and higher
standard of support for teachers than they previously have
Unfortunately, for a variety of enduring reasons, support in enjoyed. The improvement may be even more pronounced in
all these areas has alluded too many teachers for too long in poor, isolated schools in developing countries, where infra-
too many countries in the world. Captured by the demands structure challenges might suggest otherwise, than in well-
of the classroom and administrative duties in the school, con- wired schools in high-bandwidth countries, where many
strained by tight budgets and low salaries, and operating more support options are available.
within difficult physical situations with poor infrastructure,
teachers in developing countries, in particular, have little This article presents a short survey of the conceptual hopes
access to opportunities to further their learning and enhance underlying the use of ICTs as support tools for teachers, fo-
their teaching skills. When rare opportunities are available, cusing on professional development. It also draws on practi-
they typically involve traveling to capital cities or regional cal experiences and short-term monitoring results from com-
centers for traditional seminars and workshops in the form of puter mediated professional development (CMPD) programs
lectures from experts. underway in five countries. For a briefing on these pro-
grams,1 see Training Teachers with Technology: Experience
In addition to its obvious pedagogical weakness, this ap- in five country programs,, in this issue of TechKnowLogia.
proach to professional development has proven increasingly
less feasible over the years as costs for transportation, ac-
commodation, and trainers continue to rise. Indeed, the costs What It’s Not
of teacher per diems outweigh by twofold all other teacher-
training costs combined. Given their responsibilities in the Education is not the filling of a pail, but the
classroom, many teachers find it impractical to participate in lighting of a fire.
professional development programs that require their absence W. B. Yeats
from the school, their community, and sometimes even their
country. Assuming substitute teachers are provided at all, When satellite teleconferencing was introduced into the
they can be hard to find, expensive and often professionally world of learning, educators immediately saw that class-
ill equipped to cover classes for absent teachers. rooms could be recreated virtually by broadcasting one
teacher to many groups of students. Little deviation from the
In short, the classroom approach is costly, logistically diffi- instructor-led model of classroom-based learning was re-
cult, and simply not feasible as a means for reaching large quired. Rather, in the traditional distance learning scenario,
numbers of teachers on a regular basis. More important, administrators tended to deliver print-, audio- or video-based
studies have shown that the effects of short-term teacher correspondence courses to remote students who, in turn, di-
training programs, especially those without follow-up, are gested and fed back the information – one hopes with some

synthesis involved. Students' "interaction" with the course exchange capability. As a result, ICT programs typically do
administrator typically was limited to reading course materi- not look like familiar instructor-led teacher training courses.
als, completing the required assignments, and returning them Indeed, it is desirable to move away from trying to recreate
for evaluation. In many cases, students may not have re- traditional classrooms with ICTs, which are better suited and
ceived much direct feedback on assignments beyond an more useful for collaboration and information sharing.
overall grade for the course. This same approach character-
ized the use of interactive radio, instructional television, and Using ICTs for a computer-mediated "course," for example,
audio and videocassettes for content delivery. In all of these may revolve around a series of readings and exercises that all
models, media initially tended to play the role of teacher as teacher participants are required to complete. It may be pre-
information disseminator. ceded and/or supplemented by face-to-face gatherings, where
teachers meet their fellow "students" and instructors. But the
Computer-mediated support for teachers requires a different major portion of the process involves interacting with each
approach from that taken with these traditional distance edu- other via computer-mediated communication channels. For
cation tools. this reason, the process can occur anywhere and anytime
teachers have access to an appropriately equipped computer
What It Is and What It Can Do that will facilitate connecting to websites, listservs and other
Internet-facilitated forums dedicated to disseminating peda-
gogical and subject matter information. Its hallmark, how-
If technology is used simply to automate tradi- ever, is the opportunity for ongoing follow-up through com-
tional models of teaching and learning, it’ll munication, cooperation, and collaboration with course in-
have very little impact. structors and/or other teachers.
Chris Dede Pedagogical advantages.

advantages Proponents suggest
that ICTs present significant pedagogical advantages for the
Computer-mediated professional development (CMPD), also
professional development of teachers as well. Applications
called “distributed learning,” can be described as training,
are based on new adult learning theories that respect the
seminars, course work, communication, and networking that
learner and permit greater control over pace, content, se-
takes place using the computer as a principal vehicle or an
quence, and depth of study and schedule. Another benefit is
adjunct for the activities. It is a form of distance education
that ICTs enable simulation, role-playing and decision-
but goes beyond it.
making exercises for training teachers in new methods of
teaching and classroom management. If the computer is
With ICTs, there is opportunity for a high level of interaction
equipped with features enabling audio and video, teachers
among students, the instructor and the computer-mediated
also can view examples of effective and not-so-effective
material. Training is flexible because it can be conducted
classroom methods, techniques, and approaches. Moreover,
both synchronously or asynchronously, contact is dynamic
computer-mediated training allows teachers to gain hands-on
and can be as variable as the trainee or trainer desires, and
familiarity with the information technology tools many of
communication can take place through a variety of modes,
their students will need to master in the modern information
such as email, listserv, chat, bulletin board, and desktop
age.
conferencing – all facilitated by the computer.
At a distance.
distance It seems most obvious to use ICTs
Virtual communities. A related benefit is the crea-
tion of online networks in which educators are able to share
where teachers and students are separated by physical dis-
information, ideas and experiences, collaborate on projects,
tance and technology is used to bridge the gap, but this is not
exchange materials, or even just chat with colleagues. Mod-
always the case. Teachers can be scattered in homes,
els of these "virtual communities" are springing up through-
schools, or training centers throughout a country, or they
out the world, geared to individuals who share common in-
may be gathered together in the same room. For example, a
terests, and many of them offer not only effective guidance
master teacher may be in the room with in-service teachers
and facilitation but opportunities for unlimited access to in-
who are using a computer application to explore new meth-
formation, knowledge, and expertise as well. For the most
odologies, create curriculum materials, or look for classroom
part, the extent to which this online networking adds value to
teaching resources on the World Wide Web.
practice has not yet been measured, though the proliferation
of email, computer-mediated conferencing, bulletin boards,
Introducing ICTs to the learning environment brings an en-
and discussion groups worldwide suggests that they provide
tirely different set of capabilities to teachers and learners.
more than just a novel experience for the participant.2 Com-
While they can still be used as information delivery tools,
municating online also can promote a democratizing, egali-
innovative uses of ICTs capitalize on their communication
tarian and less hierarchical form of interaction that offers

everyone the opportunity for meaningful engagement. As teacher professional development we offer for the same dol-
one teacher noted, "Everybody has a chance to participate. lars nationwide by going on-line. We can offer special in-
This is staff development where everyone can raise their formation and specialty materials that no school could possi-
hands."3 bly afford."4
Into the classroom. CMPD also makes it possible Success Needs Success
to link teachers' learning experiences directly with the in-
struction going on in their own classrooms. After an online
In many developing countries, the rate of population growth
training session, teachers can apply the new techniques or
is racing past the rate of enrollment in teacher colleges, exac-
use the new materials in their classes immediately, discuss-
erbating an already existing problem of teacher shortages.
ing the results with the instructor and fellow teachers while
Africa, for example, is home to nearly 235 million school-
the experience is still fresh. This helps to ensure that the
age children (not all of whom are enrolled in school) and
instruction remains relevant to what the teachers are doing at
only 4.5 million teachers (UNESCO 1998). If the efforts of
a given time.
universal education advocates are successful, the number of
teachers needed to accommodate the new students will have
Online libraries. Through the Internet and World to double to maintain acceptable student-teacher ratios.
Wide Web, CMPD creates a means for teachers in remote While it is unlikely that traditional teacher training ap-
locations to access online libraries and current research, proaches can meet this growing need properly, ICTs present
which can significantly enhance learning and enable individ- realistic opportunities to do so.
ual initiative. CMPD also provides a means for teachers to
disseminate their own work for peer review easily and at any According to one critic of conventional teacher training,
time as well as to collaborate on projects with others, re- “Nothing has promised so much and has been so frustratingly
gardless of their location. wasteful as the thousands of workshops and conferences that
led to no significant change in practice when the teachers
Cost reduction. Estimates indicate that carefully de- returned to their classrooms.”5 Perhaps, with careful plan-
signed CMPD programs can dramatically reduce the high ning and creative designs, the new promises presented by
cost of classroom-based teacher training. As one provider of ICTs can be realized.
teacher training materials observes, "This is the most exciting
thing happening in education. We can double the amount of
Endnotes
1
All five activities are funded by the USAID-funded Global Communications and Learning Systems initiative, also known as
LearnLink, and implemented by the Academy for Educational Development (AED).
2
Independent evaluations of one CMPD program, Mathline, which serves teachers at the primary and secondary levels, show
positive results. “The combination of viewing, communicating and doing seems to have resulted in substantive changes in
teaching,” concludes an evaluation of the middle school math project.
3
Bradley, Ann. "Building a Better Teaching Force," http://www.edweek.org/sreports/tc98/cs/cs6.htm, 1998.
4
Robert F. Tinker, President, The Concord Consortium, a nonprofit research and development firm in Concord, MA, in
“Building a Better Teaching Force,” Ann Bradley, http://www.edweek.org/sreports/tc98/cs/cs6.htm
5
Fullen, Michael. "The New Meaning of Educational Change," Toronto: OISE Press, 1999.

Teacher Training and
Technology:
An Overview of Case Studies and Lessons Learned
By Joanne Capper, Education Technology Team, World Bank
Introduction trainers to assist them in their learning, and lessons that may
be of value to others. In most cases, teachers who
participated in the training were observed in their classrooms
With support provided by the World Bank's InfoDev program to get a sense of whether the training had an impact on their
to the Institute for International Education, Inc., case studies teaching practice. However, the conclusions drawn from
were conducted of several teacher training and technology these observations are not experimentally valid, since in most
initiatives around the world. The case studies are intended to cases, there were no treatment/control or pre/post
document various models of teacher training and technology, observations, and sample sizes were small.
to learn about what does and does not work in a variety of
countries and contexts, and to share this knowledge with Studies were conducted in Armenia, Brazil, China, Guinea,
others who may be considering using technology to improve Singapore and South Africa, as well as one study of a
both teacher training and teaching and learning. computer application designed to support curriculum
development in science, and pilot tested in several Southern
The collection of studies was configured to represent a range African countries. Three studies are highlighted in this issue
of technologies, approaches and geographic regions. Two of TechKnowLogia, and the complete reports of all studies
categories of uses of technology and teacher training were will be published over the next three months. The three
studied, although in several cases, the categories overlap: 1) highlighted here are:
cases in which technology is used to train teachers, and 2)
cases in which teachers are trained to use technology with
• Armenia's The Three Pomegranate Network
their students. The first category is represented by several
large-scale efforts that can be instructive for many countries. (3PN), a global online learning program that connects
The second category is important because, unless teachers Armenian students and teachers throughout the world by
receive sufficient training and support in how to integrate engaging them in collaborative, project-based learning
technology into their instruction in ways that improve activities. In this project, almost all of the training for
student learning, investments in technology using scarce teachers was done through the project's website.
resources will be wasted. Inadequate training and support of
teachers has consistently been identified as the single-most • China has an extensive system of TV-based distance
problematic issue in introducing technology into developed- education, which also has been used to provide in-
country classrooms, and is likely to be a serious issue in service training for teachers. Two sites that are offering
developing countries where resources are far more limited. this training to teachers are documented and compared.
Caveat: The case studies are not evaluations. While there • Singapore is training pre-service teachers to use
may be evaluative elements in some or all of the studies, technology in the classroom and has developed a fairly
funds were not sufficient to conduct full-scale evaluations, comprehensive approach to training faculty and student
and this was not the intended purpose. Instead, the studies teachers, and providing both groups with support to
describe the goals and objectives of the project, the various make this transition.
forms of support provided (or not provided) to teachers and

Case Descriptions and project provided in this issue of TechKnowLogia documents
the critical attributes that would allow it to be used by other
Lessons Learned groups.
The project's learning activities also are notable. First,

Armenia's The Three Pomegranate Network (3PN) because they are high-quality, clever, integrated activities
that engage students in: doing research on the Internet;
…almost all of the training for teachers was learning about history, geography and culture; doing social
done through the project's website. science research; critical thinking and problem solving; and
writing to communicate with various audiences. Developing
Two features of the Armenia project made it particularly integrated learning activities is a difficult task, and
attractive for study. First, almost all of the training provided particularly difficult to do well. What is even more
to teachers was delivered through the project's website. The noteworthy is that the authors of the activities are not
project is aimed at having students engage in collaborative, educators. They are individuals who somehow understand
project-based learning activities with their Armenian peers in what it takes to engage students and teachers in authentic
other countries. It was intended that teachers serve as learning activities.
facilitators of student learning, rather than in the more
traditional role as transmitters of information. In fact, they A third reason that the
were even encouraged to engage in the activities with their Armenian project is notable,
but was not evident when
While there may
students. Many efforts to train teachers to act in a more
facilitative way and to support student-centered learning the project was selected for be evaluative
have not been successful. In this project, each of the five study, is the fact that there
are no examinations
elements in some
teachers studied reported that they tended to teach in this way
in all of their classes and were comfortable with that style of associated with its or all of the
teaching, so we are not really able to discern whether the implementation, and this studies, funds
project had an impact on their teaching style. However, none lack of pressure allowed
of the teachers had used computers or the Internet with their both teachers and students were not
students, and none had done collaborative, project-based to feel relaxed to sufficient to
experiment and explore.
learning with their students. The researchers found that both
the teachers and students were able to successfully You will read later about conduct full-scale
implement the project activities as intended. One can assume how the pressure of evaluations, and
examinations distorted the
then, that Web-based guidance/training for teachers can be
effective and perhaps even sufficient to help teachers plans for a more open style this was not the
implement online, collaborative, project-based learning of teaching in the China intended
activities with their students. This is quite likely a more
cost-effective approach to training teachers than face-to-face
study, and another study of
in-service training in Kenya
purpose.
training, particularly when large numbers of teachers are found that teachers failed to
involved, and when costs of travel, per diem, time away from implement the child-centered teaching strategies in which
the classroom, and cost of trainers are considered. they were trained - and reportedly believed in - because of
the pressure of high-stakes examinations for their students
What would be even more useful to know though, is whether (Capper, 1997).
this Web-based approach could be effective with teachers
who are not already oriented to facilitative, student-centered,
project-based teaching and learning -- a topic for another China's Teacher Training with TV Technology
study.
…the pressure to pass the end-of-cycle
The second reason for selecting the project is that it is examinations caused them to eschew the open
intended to serve as a bridge between teachers and students approach in favor of a more "efficient", direct
living within Armenia and those living abroad in the review of the material expected to be on the
Diaspora, and to foster global collaboration and awareness of exams.
cultural identity. The question is whether this project can
serve as a model to link other cultures in Diaspora - While the China case studies were focused on the use of
Rawandans, Palestinians, Liberians, Yugoslavs, Vietnamese, television as one of several delivery modes to provide in-
Burmese, Cambodians, Ethiopians, Salvadorans, etc. It service training to teachers, both studies surprisingly found
appears that the answer is yes - and the brief summary of the that the TV programming was seldom used. In one case in

an economically poor and geographically remote area in adequately integrated the use of information technology (IT)
Western China, it was estimated that only about 15% of the into their pre-service teacher training programs. Singapore's
teachers had a TV and VCR at home. At both sites, National Institute of Education (NIE), the only pre-service
however, teachers could watch the TV programs or program in the country, moved quickly and decisively to
videotapes of the programs at local study centers. But in implement this integration when, in 1997, the Singapore
many cases, the teachers lived quite a distance from these government launched the Master Plan for Information
study centers and did not have time to attend the centers on a Technology in Education. In just two years, they have
regular basis. Videotapes were available for purchase, but trained all of the NIE faculty, installed an IT infrastructure,
were expensive for the teacher, with 36 tapes required for the put in place a system of technical support, reduced and
course, at 50-60 yuan per tape. revised the curriculum to accommodate the integration of IT
into teaching and learning, and established a research and
In order for the teachers to receive a diploma or certificate, development program on the use of IT in education.
they were required to pass an examination at the end of each
year of coursework. The faculty/tutors at the teacher training Although their accomplishments could be dismissed as only
college in Jiangsu province were quite committed to being possible with the extensive resources available in
providing the teacher-students with a more flexible and open Singapore, a significant key to their success is their thorough,
learning experience during the coaching sessions, one that systematic approach - an approach buttressed by clear
was aimed at meeting individual teacher needs and direction from the top, conveying that this is a high priority
encouraging them to ask questions and engage in dialogue for the institution and for the citizens of Singapore. It is
during the coaching sessions. The reality, though, was that viewed as essential link in a chain of actions needed to
the pressure to pass the end-of-cycle examinations caused continue competing successfully in the new global economy
them to eschew the open approach in favor of a more and knowledge-based society.
"efficient", direct review of the material expected to be on
the exams. Those considering introducing IT into their own schools and
classrooms can benefit by studying Singapore's approach to
China's TV University system is now being challenged by the integration of IT into the pre-service, teacher training
the advent of the Internet. This year, the Ministry of program.
Education has approved 20 higher-learning institutions to
develop and deliver online courses. It is expected that over
time this trend will reduce the demand for TV educational Other Cases
programming, especially when broadband access becomes
more available, and permits reasonable- or even high-quality Over the next two-to-three months, several other case studies
video to be instantly accessible over the Internet. will become available, through the World Bank, that
hopefully will provide educational policymakers, planners
and donors with a number of useful lessons that may guide
them through the complex tasks associated with using
Singapore's Pre-service Teacher Training technology for teacher training and for student learning in
in Technology Use schools.
Those considering introducing IT into their own

schools and classrooms can benefit by studying Reference
Singapore's approach to the integration of IT Capper, J. (1997) An Evaluation of the Aga Khan
into the pre-service, teacher training program. Foundation's Kisumu School Improvement Project. Institute
for Policy Research, Washington DC.
Although most industrialized countries have been using
computers in schools for quite some time, many have not yet

Teacher Training: What Works and What Doesn't
Innovations and Trends in Latin America*
Juan Carlos Navarro and Aimee Verdisco
Inter-American Development Bank
Teachers are the main link between societies' expectations of their educational systems and concrete
student outcomes. In Latin America, this link is weak and the quality of teachers and teaching leave
much to be desired. Even after allowing for differences among countries due to variations in the level of
economic development and the strength of institutions in the education sector, most observers would
be hard pressed to find a country satisfied with the capabilities and performance of its teachers.
There is no one best way to train teachers. Success is highly sensitive to context. Perennial formulas,
by definition, are hard to find. Yet, given all the difficulties in determining what works in teacher train-
ing, it is increasingly clear what does not work. Indeed, Latin America has witnessed a flourishing of
innovations in the design and management of teacher training programs.
In an effort to capture these innovations, the Education Unit Based on an examination of these cases and a review of the
of the Inter-American Development Bank, with the support relevant literature, we synthesize six promising trends in in-
in some cases of other sponsors, commissioned the following novation in teacher training. These trends are common de-
eight case studies: nominators and operating principles that have been identified
in all or several of the cases and abstracted from their origi-
• Teacher training in the context of the Accelerated nal programmatic context to become an incarnation of best
Training Program, a privately initiated program applied practice. They are intended to provide a preliminary indica-
in the school systems of several Brazilian states and mu- tion of the methods and mechanisms of teacher training that
nicipalities (Oliveira, 1998). can be adapted to meet the daily challenges of improving
• The Program for the Continuing Education of Teachers learning in the classroom. They also have to be understood as
(PFPD) developed and managed by the school system of practical responses to widely perceived failures of conven-
Bogota, Colombia (Chiappe and Zuluaga, 1998). tional teacher training programs – both pre-service and in-
• The microcentros for teacher training in rural schools in service – in Latin America; failures that affect every link in
Chile (Williamson, 1998). the chain of a training program, from severe shortcomings in
• Teacher training in the context of the Educational Tech- the methods used to train teachers – most commonly, by us-
nology Program in Costa Rica, a collaborative effort ing traditional lecturing to transmit constructivist approaches
between the Omar Dengo Foundation and the Ministry to teaching – to extremely limited impact on practice in the
of Education (Anfossi and Fonseca, 1999). classroom, in spite of the substantial resources committed to
• The Regional Center for Higher Education-ESTIPAC, in the task.
Jalisco, Mexico (Limón, 1998).
• The Regional Centers for Teachers, post-secondary in- For purposes of presentation, the trends are intentionally or-
stitutions providing a new, intensive program of teacher ganized. They start with the most generally accepted, appli-
training in Uruguay (Castro, 1999). cable and incorporated in literally all programs under consid-
eration and continue in order by decreasing degree of gener-
• Teacher training in Fe y Alegría, a private, publicly sup-
ality.
ported network of Catholic schools for poor children in
Venezuela (Pérez Esclarín, 1998).
CLASSROOM-BASED TRAINING
• The Teacher Training Program (Programa de Capaci-
tación Docente, PLANCAD) in Peru, under the respon-
sibility of the Ministry of Education (Instituto Apoyo,
The literature dating from the last decade indicates that ef-
2000).
fective in-service programs are those that focus on the practi-
cal needs of teachers in classrooms. This is confirmed by our

(admittedly limited) review of innovations in the region. The or student population. Once developed, it is precisely
most basic trend shared by the cases surveyed appears to be these skills that are reinforced by continuous nurturing.
that effective teacher training, pre-service or in-service, is
classroom based. The correlation is direct: the sooner student GROUP TRAINING AND
teachers come into contact with real-life situations associated NETWORKING
with professional practice, and the longer this contact is
maintained, the more effective the training. Most of the innovations reviewed here are organized around
work groups. By providing "critical friends" to examine and
Emphasis on classroom practice should not be confused with reflect on teaching and opportunities to share experiences
the abandonment – assuming for a moment that it takes associated with efforts to develop new practices or strategies,
place – of good preparation in subject knowledge. As a trend, these groups—structured as teacher-to-teacher networks—
the emphasis on classroom practice injects a dose of reality become powerful learning tools. Depending on the
into the training process. The trend contrasts not only with composition of the group, the training delivered directly
teacher training removed from the realities of the classroom responds to the needs of a particular school and its teachers.
but, above all, with the excesses of endless theoretical For example, Microcentros in Chile provide rural teachers
courses and modules of pedagogy, educational planning or with an opportunity to exchange experiences, take on joint
related subjects that regularly consume the lion's share of projects, and otherwise learn from each other. In much the
teachers' time in pre- and in-service programs. The idea is same vein, rather than pulling together teachers from
one of value added: value added in terms of how to apply different schools, training provided through the Fe y Alegría
theoretical knowledge to concrete situations and to the stu- system engages groups of teachers in the same school. In the
dents in the classroom. The emphasis on classroom practice Accelerated Learning (Brazil) and PLANCAD (Peru)
thus complements competency in subject knowledge. It is in programs, teachers participate in a range of networking
this respect that the trend appears in each of the innovations activities, including follow up meetings, e-mail or regular
examined here. mail exchanges (both countries) and peer-directed meetings
(Brazil). Moreover, for those who also have access to the
EFFECTIVE TEACHER EDUCATION CAPACITAR Program, weekly teacher-directed and
AS CONTINUING EDUCATION focussed meetings are used to watch and discuss these videos
and the good practices they present.
All the cases examined for the purposes of this paper tend to
blur the distinction between pre-service and in-service train- INTENSIVE USE OF PEDAGOGIC
ing. Pre-service, as noted above, increasingly includes early SUPPORT AND SUPERVISION
immersion in classroom practice; in-service, for its part, in-
creasingly is connected to academic institutions that reach Supervisory mechanisms lie at the heart of program success
beyond their walls to develop close relationships with in many cases. Supervisors play an active role throughout the
schools. Two practical implications of these trends emerge: training exercises, and supervision, in turn, is used to provide
encouragement and constructive feedback. In most instances,
• Pre-service training tends to become shorter in duration. supervisors are former teachers, a requirement in the Brazil-
For example, the Centros Regionales de Profesores, ian, Chilean and Venezuelan cases. The benefits of this ar-
CERPs (post-secondary institutions), a pre-service pro- rangement are many: teachers-turned-supervisors assume
gram recently developed in Uruguay, trains middle and their tasks with first-hand knowledge of the classroom and of
high school level teachers in three years; this compares the daily challenges that teachers face. To a large extent, they
to the four or even five years now common in most are able to approach their work as peers and tutors, rather
countries in the region. Rather than offering a program than government bureaucrats or other "outsiders" with lim-
of 20 hours per week stretched over many years, as the ited knowledge and experience of the realities of the teaching
traditional system does, CERP is a 40 hours per week profession.
program.
These programs are making major contributions toward a
• In-service training becomes longer. Rather than a single radically new definition of supervision that preserves little, if
event, training is seen as a continuous process. Each of any, of traditional supervisory practices so common and so
the innovations examined in this study shows definite often meaningless, repressive or even corrupt in most coun-
movement in this direction. Training is conceived and tries across the region. Under this new definition, supervisor-
used as a means for developing teachers' capacity for tutors become key sources of on-site pedagogic support for
self-reflection and professional decision-making in the teachers, both within the school and within the community.
classroom. Such skills lay a foundation for effective Frequently, these new networks clash with more traditional
teaching. They are applicable regardless of curriculum networks of supervisors, producing debilitating effects on the

effectiveness of training. Teachers participating in resulted from the (often-misplaced) incentives built into
PLANCAD, for example, complain that insofar as regional traditional teacher training arrangements. It is this awareness,
supervisors do not share their training in new pedagogic ap- not the particular approach or design of incentives, that each
proaches, advice regarding good practices in the classroom of the cases examined here share.
varies, even conflicts. This serves as a reminder of the diffi-
culties involved with trying to move the pieces of the TRAINING AS A RESPONSE TO
teacher-training machine in unison. SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL
PRIORITIES AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
INTEGRATION OF TRAINING INTO
THE LARGER FRAMEWORK OF Several of the innovations share the common trait of being
TEACHER CAREER REGULATIONS linked closely to their social and educational contexts. The
AND INCENTIVES Microcentros in Chile, for instance, were conceived at a time
when urban schools were receiving strong support through
Several of the innovations reviewed here include activities to channels that were not appropriate for rural schools. The
restructure the role of incentives in teacher training pro- CERP Program, to cite a further example, was created with
grams. In some cases (e.g., the PFPD Program in Colombia), the explicit objective of training teachers from and in the
teachers are awarded points only after completing a yearlong country's interior (see ANEP, 1999). The Accelerated
training program pre-approved for content and relevancy. Learning Program, for its part, was designed within the
The perverse effect of a "point system," by which teachers context of a larger project to tackle high rates of repetition
end up focusing on the accumulation of certificates with little and their direct consequence, the abundance of overage
regard for quality or relevance of the training receive, thus is children in the Brazilian schools. The ESTIPAC Program is
offset by the strict regulation of the quality and content of the designed to meet the needs of rural schools and teachers.
training supplied. In other cases (e.g., Fe y Alegría and the
CERP Program), training activities are developed in a way Indeed, those involved in running these programs see this
consistent with the recruitment and selection practices of closeness as a key to program effectiveness. Training is ef-
school networks. fective when the challenges faced in a particular time and
place are well understood, the teachers, students and schools
It is worth noting that this trend crosses the line from quite toward which training is directed are correctly profiled, and
universally accepted practice into the territory of less than the education system is structured in a way that lends recip-
universally accepted or adopted approaches. Indeed, in con- rocal support (e.g., from the surrounding community) to the
trast to the Colombia, Venezuelan and Uruguayan programs, training activities provided.
the Accelerated Training Program in Brazil characterizes
itself as a "surgical intervention." Operating on the "surface," CONCLUSION
it leaves all rules and regulations governing schools and the
teaching profession in place. To its proponents, this stands Each of the programs examined here departs from the same
out as a virtue. The program can be readily applied without point: a general dissatisfaction with dominant practices in
the need for more ambitious and politically difficult educa- teacher training. In responding to this dissatisfaction, each
tional reforms. program combines several trends into viable and effective
packages. These packages not only encompass good or new
These findings are consistent with our basic premise: there is ideas in the field, most of which find support in the broader
no single best way to solve the complex puzzle of teacher literature, but also emerge as ideas with concrete conse-
training. What works in Catholic schools for poor children in quences on program organization, management, pedagogy
Venezuela or in the public schools of Bogota may be neither and impact.
appropriate nor relevant for municipal schools in the North-
east of Brazil where they are battling high rates of repeti- It is worth reiterating that not all trends are universally ac-
tion. Yet, there is a common denominator. This trend points cepted. At a minimum, they serve to emphasize the fact that
to a new sophistication on the part of policymakers to con- there are no fast and ready recipes for teacher training. The
sider and apply incentives. It is underpinned and driven by a challenge is one of getting the right ingredients in every rec-
strong awareness of counterproductive outcomes that have ipe. It is hoped that the trends outlined here provide some
indication of what those ingredients may be.
*
More details can be found in the technical study on which this article is based: www.iadb.org/sds/edu

TechKnowNews
DeVry Institute Wins Accreditation Put Down Your Pencils; Florida
for 2 Online Bachelor's Programs High School Students Become
USA's First Online Class
DeVry Institute, a commercial higher-education provider in The Benton Foundation reported that: "Forty-five Florida
Illinois, has received accreditation from the North Central high school students will be part of the fist American class
Association of Colleges and Schools for online versions of ever that will combine the worlds of online academics and
its bachelor's-degree programs in business and information the real-world social setting of a traditional high school.
technology. The company, one of the largest in its sector, When the Daniel Jenkins Academy's online project opened in
said it would begin offering four business programs next August, all the students had already met their teachers, either
month, and the information-technology program starting in via e-mail or phone. The 3-year-old Florida High School
2001. The company believes the online format is best suited (FHS), a Web-based school that acts as a subcontractor,
for working adult students and that it would plan its providing virtual academics and online teachers, has focused
programs for that market. Online courses will cost $330 per on serving individual students throughout Florida who want
credit hour and students will need 124 credits, in addition to an online alternative to traditional public high school
the prerequisite credits, for a degree. Goldie@chronicle.com academics. This year, more than 5,000 students will take
some or all of their high school courses by logging on to
FHS. The Jenkins students will have the help of two
Bill Gates Offers Fund For India facilitators, who will be in the classroom to provide
assistants with academics, time management and technical
issues. " http://www.benton.org/News/081400.html
Source: The Benton Foundation
Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates announced, in
September, an initiative to take information technology (IT) Sweden First for Educational Use
to the rural heart of India and spoke of a convergence of of Internet
interests between the software giant and the Indian
government in harnessing IT for the masses. The money According to new data released in September by the Angus
offered to fund the rural IT education initiative was $5 Reid Group, students worldwide are surfing the net to gather
million, or $1 million a year over the next five years. information. The study, which polled 10,000 youth ages 12-
Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan, whose 24 in 16 countries, found that 3 out of 4 students in Sweden
ministry will be given the money to spend on the initiative, and Canada surf the Web at school, this being the largest
stressed the symbolic value of the gesture and Gates' keen percentage of the countries polled. In Taiwan, 63 percent of
interest in India's efforts to spread the IT revolution. "For a student polled said they use the Net at school, while only 45
country of 1 billion people, this (amount) is nothing," said percent access the Internet from home. In comparison, only
Mahajan, who downplayed any sense of disappointment after 59 percent of U.S. youths said they surf the Web at school -
a 50-minute meeting with Gates. "But he showed a keen most going online at home.
interest nevertheless, which is good for India." Mahajan tried
to interest Gates in a Rs. 5 billion project to be called 'Media Whether from school, home or both, students are using the
Lab India' that will showcase the latest technologies and Net for school-related research. According to Angus Reid,
inventions in the IT sector and is expected to be finalized in a more than two-thirds of the students in 15 of the 16 countries
year's time. studied say they have used the Web for research and to
complete school projects. Students in urban China, however,
Source: Bytes for All, http://www.bytesforall.org lag significantly behind the rest of the world in their use of
the Internet. Only a little more than 25 percent of urban
Chinese students said they have used the Web to complete
school assignments. Also, only 13 percent say they have
access to the Web at school, and even less – 9 percent – can

access the Web at home. For more information on this study Students learn at their own pace and are required to take
go to: state-standardized tests.
http://www.angusreid.com/media/content/displaypr.cfm?id_t
o_view=1073 Indian Duo Build 'Dirt-Cheap'
Radio Station
Choosing Quick Hits Over the
Card Catalog Two young men, aged 21, have built a radio-transmitter that
fits in a briefcase at a cost of barely ten thousand rupees
(US$220). Vikas Markanday and Dayal Singh of Rohtak in
As reported by the Benton Foundation, many students today Haryana, have assembled a low-cost FM radio transmitter
prefer to do their research online rather than at the library, that they hope will spread useful information that could make
feeling more comfortable sorting through hyperlinks than a vital difference to the lives of villagers, including on
card catalogs. The trend troubles educators who fear that this agricultural practices. Weighing approximately 12 kgs., the
type of research can lead to lazy study habits and ineffective entire "radio station" fits into a briefcase. This transmitter has
searches. "Students have an idea when they come into the a range of 10 to 15 kms radius, and thus can be used to beam
library that everything they need is on the Internet," said developmental inputs to rural citizens. Further details: Dayal
Mary Arnold, president of the Young Adult Library Services Singh, Nutra Indica Research Council, 675/25, Patel Nagar,
Association and a librarian at the Cuyahoga County Public Rohtak (Haryana) India Tel 0091.1262.55329 Fax
Library near Cleveland. "That may be true, but they often 0091.1262.40700 Email: nirc_kamaljeet@hotmail.com
don't know how to find it." The University of Michigan's Source: Bytes for All, http://www.bytesforall.org
School of Education developed Artemis to help students do
better Web searches: it included a spell checker and a SchoolNet Africa to Launch Its
thesaurus to help poor spellers [like me] and students who
don't know synonyms for the terms they are searching for. First Year's Activities This Month
The URL also includes eight hints for better Web searches.
Source: The Benton Foundation
http://www.benton.org/News/081400.html SchoolNets, schools networking for the promotion of
teaching and learning through the use of Information and
Kansas Educators Turn to the Communications Technologies, exist in Africa in one form
or another in 25 countries. Earlier this year, at an IDRC-
Web To Create a Unique 'Virtual' sponsored School Networking in Africa workshop
School representatives from these SchoolNets, as well as
government and the private sector, agreed to create a
In one Kansas school district, educators are using the Internet SchoolNet Africa as a facilitating mechanism to support
to reach out to families that might otherwise turn their backs national SchoolNets. The first year of activities for
on public education. Teachers and administrators in the SchoolNet Africa begins in November 2000. Projects include
Basehor-Linwood School District are providing families that a Baseline Scan of school networking activity in Africa as
teach their children at home the guidance of public school well as a School Networking Start-up Toolkit that will
teachers, the validation of state standardized tests and the provide guidelines on starting new SchoolNet projects.
purchasing power of a large public school. This "Virtual
Charter School" is the only such model in the U.S. Additionally, an Online Education Content project hopes to
pilot the establishment of a central portal on education
Charter schools are independent public schools operated by content in three countries. The portal will establish a central
educators, parents, consumers and non-profit companies that point of information relevant to school networking through
operate under the general auspices of state or local education the SchoolNet Africa website. It will contain links to relevant
officials but remain free of some education regulations. educational sites, discussion forums and key SchoolNet
partners and include examples of good practice within and
The Internet-based courses offer a cost-effective way to teach outside of Africa. Other functions will include a database(s)
at home while still maintaining the accountability of a public containing a school networking directory, online projects,
school. Charter schools serve students in kindergarten partnerships, policies etc., management of online discussion
through 12th grade via an online independent study program forums, and distribution of materials being developed
guided by full-time school district teachers. Parents pay a through SchoolNet Africa (e.g. toolkits, results of research
one-time $20 deposit for an iMac and a $40 annual textbook projects, etc.). Source: Balancing Act News Update:
fee. Families are responsible for finding an Internet service http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-
provider and paying those fees. act31.html

Armenia:
The Three Pomegranate Network (3PN)

Connecting a Society in Diaspora
By
Anoush Kacherian, Anoush Margaryan, Robert Gabrielyan and Artavazd Mamyan
Project Description transition to a free-market economy, and access to technol-

ogy is scarce for both students and teachers.
The Three Pomegranate Network (3PN) of the The number of Armenians living in Diaspora is almost twice
Education for Development Institute is a global online that of those in Armenia; and, for those living outside of the
learning program (http://www.3noor.org) that connects Ar- country, cultural awareness and ties to their national identity
menian students and teachers throughout the world by en- are important concerns. In different communities, numerous
gaging them in collaborative, project-based learning activi- Armenian schools are operated, each with varying degrees of
ties. 3PN was designed to act as a bridge between teachers access to technology and training.
and students living within Armenia and those living abroad
in the Diaspora. The project facilitates access to Internet The desire to link Armenian students and edu-
technology and provides Web-based learning activities fo- cators around the world with each other and to resources
cused on promoting critical thinking, awareness of cultural and training on the Web was the motivation for a group of
identity and access to key resources. Diaspora Armenians to establish the Three Pomegranate
educational project under the umbrella of the Education for
3PN was selected for study for two reasons: first, Development Institute. Formerly known as the Narod Net-
to see if it can serve as a viable model for connecting other work Project, Three Pomegranate aims to connect the glob-
cultures in Diaspora through well-designed Web-based ally dispersed Armenian community through Web-based
learning activities; and second, because most of the training activities that provide academic, cognitive and technological
that teachers receive to participate in the project is provided training; strengthen awareness of personal heritage; and, cre-
on the 3PN website or through e-mail. If this form of train- ate a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of
ing is effective, then it is assumed to be a cost-effective ap- educational programs over the Internet.
proach to train teachers, particularly those geographically
dispersed. By engaging in the 3PN collaborative activities, it is ex-
pected that students learn a range of skills and knowledge,
Armenia is a small country of approximately 3 million including: researching on the Internet; using a range of com-
people located in the southern Caucuses between Turkey, puter applications such as word processing, e-mail and
Azerbaijan, Iran and Georgia. Formerly part of the USSR, graphics programs; doing social science research, such as
Armenia has seen a considerable decrease in funding for interviewing, documenting, summarizing and representing
programs and innovations in education during the period of data; history; geography; writing; problem solving; critical
thinking and teamwork.

Activities for the school year are introduced to stu- interests. Most of the students and teachers had extremely
dents on the 3PN website with the help of Aren and Areni, a limited prior experience working with computers or the
virtual boy and girl who reside on the site. For the 1999- Internet, if any at all.
2000 school year there were three collaborative learning ac-
tivities. Activity I, entitled “Exploring Yerevan,” helped Teachers are not compensated for their partici-
students become proficient in the use of search engines on pation and are generally chosen on the basis of their inter-
the Web, based on an exploration of the capital of Armenia est and desire to participate. For schools with programs in
through maps, landmarks, symbols, and literary references. information technology, those teachers are chosen to partici-
The “Identity Game” challenged the students to discover the pate. Computer literate coordinators act as intermediaries
identity of others throughout the Three Pomegranate Net- between the program and teachers. They conduct training
work while disguising their own identity for others to guess. sessions for the teachers in computer and Internet use, and
In the third activity, “Moving People,” students chose and are present at the learning sessions to render technical assis-
presented a local family and its migratory history. Innova- tance when necessary.
tive and engaging, these activities challenged students to use
resources beyond the Three Pomegranate website and their
own classroom studies.
Study Findings
Student learning. The impact of the Three Pomegranate
Three Pomegranate uses the program on students and teachers is clearly visible in the
computer and Internet skills they acquire through participa-
“we” approach to learning. tion in the project activities and exposure to recent informa-
Student teams are engaged in tion technology advancements. Students also acquire im-
problem solving and are re- proved communication and teamwork skills, while develop-
ing critical thinking through exposure to broader topics of
sponsible for maintaining in- history, geography, culture, language, writing, graphic de-
dividual accountability, sign, and basic interviewing techniques. The collaborative
work mode encourages the development of communication
while promoting positive and networks and personal relationships with the Diaspora; and,
supportive interdependence. creates an atmosphere of trust and camaraderie between stu-
dents and teachers.
The general impression is that both students and teachers, as

The program includes 70 schools from 16 coun- well as school officials, are mostly positive and enthusiastic
tries, half of which are in Armenia. Five participating about the Three Pomegranate activities and its outcomes.
schools in Armenia were chosen for the case study - three This project is recognized and appreciated as a unique
located in Yerevan, the capital, and one each in the smaller chance for students and teachers in Armenia to access and
regional cities of Gyumri and Vanadzor. One school in Yere- gain experience in using computers and the Internet in edu-
van and one in Vanadzor are enrolled in the program for the cation, while gaining exposure to their peers in the Diaspora,
first year, while the school in Gyumri and another in Yerevan opportunities otherwise absent in Armenian schools.
were enrolled for their second year and a third school in Yer-
evan for the third year. Of the five schools only one is Three Pomegranate uses the “we” approach to learning. Stu-
equipped with a computer on-site and Internet access via dent teams are engaged in problem solving and are responsi-
radio modem. Students of the other four schools were trans- ble for maintaining individual accountability, while promot-
ported by bus once weekly to various computer centers run ing positive and supportive interdependence. Teachers serve
by other organizations in their respective cities. Data were as facilitators, and often learn together with the students.
collected from these schools through interviews with teach- When students work cooperatively on the assignments, they
ers and students and observations of project and teacher further develop their social skills, such as decision making,
training sessions between November 1999 and August 2000. and effective communication. Collaboration maximizes the
learning process for each individual.
Participating students are 14-15 years of age and
in 7th, 8th or 9th Grade. They are chosen by the program’s Teacher training. The professional training and per-
teachers for their overall performance, academic record and sonal qualities of teachers are considered crucial to success-
ful implementation of the project. Important traits are moti-

vation, enthusiasm and openness to change, as well as flexi- ! They are project based, and are structured around a task
bility in adjusting to new teaching methods and approaches. such as the production of a Web-based newsletter. The
Most of the teachers selected were open to the facilitator role product resulting from the training is intended to be a
that the project required and, in fact, were already using this useful resource to be continuously maintained and up-
approach in their other classes. dated during the following school year.
Teacher training is an integral part of the 3PN program, al- ! These sessions happen after the end of the school year
though only a small part of this training takes the form of and are not intended to serve as basic training for first
sessions involving an in-person trainer interacting exclu- time teachers. Instead, they are a completion of the
sively with teachers. A significant part of the skills teachers skills learned during the course. This is meant to make
acquire is imbedded in the design of the website and the the training much less abstract for the teachers, who can
structure of the projects and exercises. The main forms of now relate the skills they are acquiring to situations they
teacher training include: encountered during the past year.
1. Web-based instruction. Web pages are devoted to spe- The fact that teacher training in 3PN is predominantly online
cific topics, such as the use of search engines or the use or a by-product of participation in the sessions, means that
of the Armenian alphabet in email messages. Also, only minimal costs are associated with training in the pro-
Web-based directions specific to each exercise or project gram. The only specific training cost, besides that incurred
are designed to be instructive and thus provide a first in designing the website, is for the summer sessions. Those
level of training costs are limited to the part-time salaries of project coordi-
nators, in addition to the use of a computer center for several
2. Online support. The “Teacher Pages” section of the site hours per week during the course of three months.
offers a more interactive resource for teachers. The proj-
ect organizers use this section to offer teachers guide- Regular meetings of teachers and Three Pomegranate coor-
lines on upcoming activities, as well as training on dinators and staff were particularly helpful in preparing
methodology and approach. Teachers also have an op- teachers for their role and responsibilities during the aca-
portunity to interact with one another as well as with the demic year. Teachers used these workshop-type meetings to
coordinators through the Teacher Pages. share experiences as well as act out simulations of real-life
situations they experience in their daily work. As the year
3. Interaction with project coordinators. During most ses- unfolded and the activities progressed there was constant
sions, a coordinator is present to assist students and feedback between the project management and teachers.
teachers with technical issues as well as in understand-
ing the details of activities and exercises. This effec-
tively results in informal hands-on training for the teach-
ers. Can 3PN Serve as a Model
4. Teachers as students. The project activities generally
for Other Cultures In Di
Di-
are designed so that teachers participate along with the
students. Although the teacher plays a facilitating role
aspora?
during (and especially between) sessions, there is noth-
ing about the exercises that precludes teachers from ac- 3PN links students and teachers in Armenia to students and
tive participation. This leads to a “learning-by-doing” teachers of Armenian descent around the world. Although
situation for the teachers, just as it does for students. the program has an important Armenian cultural component,
it can be effectively applied to other cultures in Diaspora.
No formal, in-person training is currently offered to teachers The activities that students and teachers participate in
during the course of the school year. However, many teach- throughout the program are designed to be carried out in
ers attend creativity sessions and technical sessions during cross-border collaboration using a common language and a
the summer months in Yerevan, offered for the first time in mixture of shared and varied cultural references. The fol-
year 3 of the program. In previous years, the training was lowing is a list of aspects that need to be taken into consid-
limited to the four points mentioned above. eration in order to accommodate a different cul-
tural/linguistic group.
The concentrated weekly sessions have two important char-
acteristics: ! The Alphabet. Instructions and other input from the
project designers are bilingual (Armenian and English)
but students interact and submit work exclusively in

Armenian. This is based on the use of an Armenian
computer font. Producing a version of the program for ! Direct Access. Locations that have adequate com-
another culture would simply require the use of a corre- puter facilities and an adequate connection to the Inter-
sponding font. net can access the project website at least once a week,
during program sessions.
! Using Schools in the Diaspora. The main points
of contact with Diaspora Armenian students and teachers ! Connectivity Centers. For locations that do not
in the program are Diaspora Armenian schools. 3PN is have adequate facilities or viable Internet connectivity
currently exploring complementing that with active par- options, participants or project coordinators can arrange
ticipation by individuals from their homes or community to use an external facility, such as an Internet café or
centers in the Diaspora, as well as the participation of community learning center.
non-Armenian (public) schools. If the program were ap-
plied to a different culture in Diaspora that does not have ! Portable Web. For remote areas where the local tele-
a network of schools, then the possibility of participating communications infrastructure is inadequate, the latest
from home or from community centers would have to be version of the project website, including the latest work-
expanded. in-progress by other participants worldwide, is physi-
cally delivered to a school or computer lab once a week
! Homeland-Diaspora vs. Inter-Diaspora on a high-capacity storage medium such as a CD-ROM.
Structure. 3PN is structured as a network of partici- Participants access the site locally, and their work is then
pating schools, where schools in Armenia are treated the picked up on a magnetic storage medium, transported
same as schools in other parts of the world. However, back to a central location and uploaded to the project
half of the participating schools are in Armenia and col- website.
laborative teams are always formed with at least one
school from Armenia acting as an informal catalyst to As infrastructure conditions improve or degrade, participants
collaboration. For Diaspora cultures without a contem- can move from one connectivity solution to the other with
porary homeland (such as the Roma, for example) there minimal additional cost and practically no retraining.
would be a more uniform inter-Diaspora network. This
is perfectly compatible with the structure of the project,
but may present a somewhat different challenge for or-
ganizers. Conclusion
The projects, exercises and games that are part of 3PN are
Because the Three Pomegranate Network website is well
specially designed for the Diaspora context. In the “Identity
designed, both in clarity, content and pedagogy, teachers and
Game,” for example, students from the same ethnic back-
students are able to engage successfully in collaborative,
ground but living in different cities try to guess each other’s
educational and culturally rich learning activities with a
home towns based on clues about their everyday lives.
minimum of training and support. The cost of training
“Moving People” is an activity based on population move-
teachers is substantially diminished. Moreover, the 3PN
ments through migration under different circumstances,
project serves as a model that other cultures in Diaspora
something that is, by definition, an integral part of the Dias-
could use to connect dispersed members of their society,
pora experience. In addition, the program can be used as a
while pursuing the development of pedagogically sound edu-
resource for the introduction of a Diaspora culture to students
cational and technical skills. A significant requirement,
who are outside of that culture.
though, would be to have highly committed project managers
to shepherd the project through its various stages, including
Another aspect of 3PN that is well suited to the Diaspora
Web and learning-activity design, identifying willing partici-
structure is its flexible set of connectivity solutions. These
pants from a worldwide audience, and helping to overcome
can accommodate both low- and high-tech contexts, offering
many logistical issues associated with adding content to a
a very similar experience in both. Most Diaspora cultures
school curriculum and identifying resources for connecting
need this flexibility due to the variety of locations they oc-
to the Internet.
cupy. The following is a description of the different connec-
tivity solutions used in the project.

Corel
Teacher Corel
China: Training with

Chen Xiangming, Associate Professor
TV
Institute of Higher Education
Peking University, China Technology
The Context Institutional Settings

The Chinese Central Radio and TV University (CCRTVU) The physical resources of both sites are inadequate, and both
provides a wide range of TV-based training opportunities suffer from a shortage of funds for program operation.
through its extensive network of provincial TV universities. EPJRTU could make use of some of the equipment in the
A division within CCRTVU also provides distance training provincial TV University. However, LTTC, as a separate
to teachers and has trained over 3 million primary and secon- prefecture entity, lacks sufficient facilities for even conven-
dary level teachers and head masters, among whom over 1.2 tional teacher training, including classrooms, dorms, teaching
million have obtained a graduation diploma since 1986. Two aids, and advanced technology.
local branch sites of the CCRTVU teacher training program
were selected for brief case studies. One, Linxia Teacher Both programs used an open-registration scheme that did not
Training Center (LTTC) in Gansu Province, a very poor require prospective students to pass an exam to enter the pro-
province in the rural area of Western China, is in the poorest gram. This initiative was established in 1995 by the Chinese
province in China, and is considered “poor” in several re- TV University system to attract greater numbers of students.
gards, including: finance, quality of education, and manage- Although the new scheme has provided more learning op-
ment. The other, the English Program at the Jiangsu Radio portunities for teachers, quality control and high drop-out
and TV University (EPJRTU), is in an economically more rates have become problematic for the institutions, especially
affluent province in China. EPJRTU is one of six experi- LTTC. To reduce dropouts and increase quality, EPJRTU
mental sites piloting an English-language program to in- now requires that prospective students take and pass an en-
crease teachers' qualification levels in English from a college trance exam and participate in an interview. They have also
certificate to a university diploma. The program has report- instituted several measures to support and encourage enrolled
edly employed many “innovative” methods to enhance the students, including what they refer to as Teacher Marked
quality of distance education. Assignments (TMA) - a staple of many distance learning
programs - requiring that students submit regular written
Fieldwork was conducted in both sites respectively on March assignments, which are graded and returned with feedback.
7-10 (Gansu) and May 1-4, 2000 (Jiangsu). The following is
a brief summary of the two case studies, in which relevant Thanks to its reputation for quality, EPJRTU has no problem
comparisons and contrasts are made to highlight some of the enrolling students. LTTC, however, finds it difficult to attract
issues and concerns marked in China’s TV teacher training students, and with the various government interventions
program. aimed at promoting a market economy, LTTC is no longer
able to get students assigned by the local government, and
only sporadically receives ear-marked funds. Since it is not
considered to be of very high quality, and only offers a di-

ploma to graduates, many trainees choose to attend other activity-based approach, and the classes are deliberately kept
training institutions in the province. LTTC has tried many small so as to promote student participation.
strategies to increase enrollments, such as: changing its sin-
gle function into three – teacher training, TV education and
vocational education; offering new courses to meet the needs
Student Outcomes
of various learners; organizing publicity campaigns in the
community; and using personal strings and official power. Evaluation of student learning is mainly through exams de-
None, however, have been successful. veloped and administered by the CCRTVU, and the teacher
marked assignments in the case of EPJRTU. The learners
were rather nervous about the exams, in part because no one
Curriculum and Delivery seemed to know how closely the match was between the cur-
riculum materials and the exams. As a result, considerable
While the curriculum and textbooks used by LTTC follow effort at both sites was put into preparation for the exams,
the uniform standards of CCRTVU and the provincial TV including compiling supplementary readings, and having
University, those used for the experimental English-language learners do practice exams during the intensive training ses-
program in Jiangsu were specially designed in a collabora- sions. The pressure of the examinations seemed to conflict
tion between CCRTVU and the Beijing Foreign Language with the faculty's desire to increase the interactivity in
University. The standard CCRTVU teacher training cur- coaching sessions, and often resulted in traditional "talk and
ricular materials tend to be pedantic and theory-laden, while chalk" sessions, with little dialogue or opportunity for learn-
those of the experimental English program are more func- ers to practice speaking, listening or writing in English.
tionally oriented, and contain numerous task-based activities
that call for teachers to practice using integrated English- The quality of learners' study in EPJRTU was reportedly
language skills. Modules such as English Teaching Method- good, while that of LTTC was said to be “poor.” In com-
ology and Practical Project Design were well received by in- parison with similar programs in other higher learning insti-
service teachers. tutions, learners in EPJRTU found this program to have
higher standards, more strict requirements, tighter manage-
The major mode of learning in both sites is print-based self- ment, and better outcomes in the end. In LTTC, where
study, supplemented by periodic face-to-face coaching at coaching happens only in the intensive period before the ex-
local study centers and TV programming prepared by ams using routine rote learning, the failure and dropout rates
CCRTVU/Teacher Training College (TTC). The learners are rather high, while those at EPJRTU are less than 10%
usually study by themselves at home, reading books and failure rate and only 3% dropout rate in the first two years.
watching TV. Surprisingly though, due to time limitations
for teachers and a lack of adequate and easily accessible
technology resources, videotapes and TV programs were
Management
rarely used by students or faculty at either site. As most of
the learners are practicing teachers with heavy teaching loads The management of LTTC is extremely problematic. All
and family responsibilities, even the coaching services were three leaders are newly transferred to the center, and unfa-
infrequently accessed. In LTTC, learners usually went to the miliar with education, let alone TV education. Two are close
coaching station twice a year for an intensive 2-4 week ses- to retirement age, and unwilling to launch any major reforms,
sion before national exams. In EPJRTU, coaching is pro- but are keen to obtain increased funds for center operations,
vided almost every evening and on weekends, plus two in- and are unaware of more serious issues such as quality con-
tensive weeks each year before exams. Learners may choose trol, faculty upgrading, or the center’s mission in the new
if and when to attend the coaching, according to their needs market economy. In comparison, the management of
and feasibility, but many of the teachers lived long distances EPJRTU is more efficient, appropriately trained and well
from the coaching facilities and were not able to attend ses- managed.
sions regularly.
In comparison with LTTC, all tutors in EPJRTU are over-
At both sites, coaching sessions are focused on the important loaded with work, and enjoy a good reputation among their
and difficult content that is expected to be tested in the final students. In LTTC, however, while a few tutors are consid-
exams. The coaching style is generally rather traditional, ered “good,” most are not qualified for their work. Since
with the tutor/faculty lecturing in front of the classroom, and LTTC originally had only two academic fields (English and
the learners taking notes. Generally speaking, the coaching Chinese), most of its faculty lack the expertise for the multi-
style of EPJRTU is more flexible and interactive than at functions that the center is expected to play. The personnel
LTTC. The newly-designed curriculum and textbooks have system in both sites is still state-owned, without a mecha-
helped the teachers in EPJRTU to adopt a more interactive nism to remove incompetent or unqualified staff. Therefore,
LTTC has to pay high rates to hire teachers from nearby high

schools for certain kinds of training. Tutors at neither site prepare for the exams, rather than opening themselves to a
have many opportunities to upgrade their academic and pro- more interactive approach as the tutors in EPJRTU have
fessional capacity. wished. Since little technology is used in the curriculum or
is required for the exams, plus lack of funds and expertise,
Cost the full potential of distance learning is not met. In addition,
learners are further hampered by the large distances between
their homes and the study centers where coaching is offered
The cost of the programs is difficult to calculate, since the and where videos are available for viewing. The challenge
structure involves many costs not easily tracked. However, a for teacher training within the Chinese TV University system
rough estimate suggests that the cost in EPJRTU is higher has become: "How to help learners study to pass the exams,
than similar programs, due to a smaller enrollment, small while also learning something helpful to their work and lives,
class sizes, and specially designed curriculum and textbooks. and doing it in a convenient and cost-effective manner."
One strategy would be to more explicitly align the curricu-
Is It Innovative? lum, instructional materials and the examinations.
The major purpose for the study of EPJRTU was to see how Is Poverty the Cause for Being Poor?
an "innovation" has been implemented in the Chinese TV
University context. However, after conducting the case According to the leaders in LTTC, the major cause for LTTC
study, this researcher would not consider it to be a real “in- to be “poor” is its “poverty.” However, the issue of poverty
novation.” The major effort in this new program is to seek is intertwined with many other factors mentioned above,
"openness." Although the national TV-training cycle re- such as the change in the socio-economic system to a market
quires that prospective entrants pass an examination, the economy, low student enrollment, a stiff personnel system,
EPJRTU program tries to introduce some "open" elements in poor management, low teaching quality, and an inflexible
the process of student learning. The most obvious are: 1) a exam requirement.
flexible coaching requirement; 2) teaching tailored towards
individual learners' needs; and 3) paying attention to the pro- All in all, the major problem for LTTC is its bleak future due
cess of learning by using the teacher marked assignments. to a change of policy and weakening demand. Since the tar-
By Western standards, these strategies may not be considered get group of LTTC is junior middle school (JMS) teachers,
real "innovations", but in the Chinese context they are, be- and no national mandate is set for their training, the need for
cause no other institutions have done these before. The pro- institutions like LTTC in China is unclear. To add to this,
gram has offered new courses to cultivate learners' capacity most JMS teachers want to obtain a degree if they come for
to use English, and the new textbooks combine single skills training, while LTTC can only offer a diploma. It seems that
into an integrated training with task-based activities. LTTC does not have a defined mission that makes sense in
the current socio-economic environment and with the na-
What has made this program "successful" is foremost the tional framework of teacher training/qualification require-
hard working tutors and self-motivated learners. On the one ments. The leadership in LTTC is only concerned with in-
hand, the tutors' work ethics have touched the hearts of come, but the real problem lies with its mission and quality.
learners so deeply, that learners feel obliged to study hard. This is also one of the reasons that LTTC is neglected by the
On the other hand, since most of the learners are in-service local government. Although it has made LTTC one entity
teachers, they know what they want and constantly ask tutors with three roles, and is planning to merge it with other voca-
for what they need. tional institutions in the prefecture, the future of LTTC still
looks rather uncertain. The question remains: "How can this
One of the main constraints that has prevented EPJRTU from institution make more sense in the current socioeconomic
being fully "open", as well as constraining all TV branches in context?”
making any reform, is CCRTVU’s uniform exams. Busy
with their daily work, in-service teachers only have time to
"The pressure of the examinations seemed to conflict with the faculty's

desire to increase the interactivity in coaching sessions, and often re r e-
sulted in traditional "talk and chalk" sessions, with little dialogue or op op-
portunity for learners to prac
practice speaking, listening or writing in English."

Costa Rica:
Teacher Training for Education Technology
Aimee Verdisco and Juan Carlos Navarro*
Inter-American Development Bank
Introduction by preparing the physical space required and making any

Good practices around the world suggest a cautious approach necessary upgrades in infrastructure (e.g., electrical connec-
to the introduction of computers in the school. Pilot and tions, air conditioning). Thirdly, the institutional arrange-
small scale programs allow a particular country’s education ments for administering the Program must be in place inside
authorities to accumulate experience in an area universally the school. Once operable, the computer labs are staffed by
recognized as highly demanding in technical, managerial and teacher-tutors, supported by evaluators/facilitators from the
human resources without the massive expenses of large pro- Ministry of Education. This, obviously, requires support and
grams and the risks of a premature commitment to technolo- flexibility from school administrators. Class schedules must
gies that are changing very fast and sometimes in ways that accommodate lab time and coordinators, all of whom are
are difficult to predict. teachers, and other interested teachers must be given ade-
quate release time to attend training sessions.
The Costa Rican experience could be considered in contrast
to such a cautious approach. Initiated in 1988 by the Omar On average, students covered by the Program spend at least
Dengo Foundation and the Ministry of Education and con- 80 minutes a week on a computer. Working in teams of two,
tinuing through the present, the Program has provided for the the educational activities in which they participate include
massive integration of computers in primary schools in rural computer programming and the creation and implementation
areas and low-income centers in urban districts. Throughout of projects linked to curricula (see MEP 2000). Regardless of
its more than 12 years of implementation, over half of all the activities undertaken, time spent on the computer is used
students at the pre-primary and primary levels, the majority to drive subject material home, using competency-based ac-
of whom reside in marginal urban or rural areas, have bene- tivities to link realities in the classroom to those of everyday
fited from the Program. It recently has been expanded to in- life. In this way, computers contextualize learning, giving
clude the secondary level. The Program emerged out of an students an opportunity to use real-life technology and de-
early, relatively radical, policy decision to integrate technol- velop skills (e.g., research and problem solving) that will
ogy in the schools. Clearly, for a developing country, it was serve them well in other contexts. With recent infrastructure
no doubt bold and risky, yet according to many observers, it and technological upgrades, including the incorporation of
has served the country well by playing a part in recent suc- more user friendly and interactive media, students and teach-
cesses in attracting investment by multinational information ers have been publishing their projects on the web. Above
technology firms. (See also Costa Rica: Are Computers in and beyond providing a convenient means for sharing proj-
School Cost-effective? TechKnowLogia, Novem- ects between schools, the web has extended learning oppor-
ber/December 1999.) tunities into cyber space - from the mere sharing of projects
to online and virtual learning experiences.
In what follows, we briefly describe the program and then
focus on teacher training, which has been a key component Teacher training in the context of the
of it. program
The Program Who receives training?
Schools wishing to participate in the Program must meet
The Program does not intend to turn teachers into technology
certain criteria. For one, they must have a minimum of 250
experts. Rather, it provides technology to help teachers teach
students. For another, there must be community participation
more effectively. And, in many ways, teachers, not comput-
and buy-in. Prior to the installation of any equipment, the
ers, have been at the center of the Program. Outlays for
community must demonstrate its commitment to the Program

training and pedagogical support come close to those for platforms and media (e.g., Microworlds, HTML, LOGO
equipment (32.37% vs. 36.15%, respectively). The Program writer 2.01, Microsoft Office, the worldwide web, email,
thus not only takes training seriously, it also spreads training printed materials, videos, CD-ROMs) and derives content
generously throughout school hierarchies. To date, more than from the realities teachers bring from their classrooms. Best
15,000 teachers and school administrators have been trained. as well as worst practices are presented, as are problematic
cases intended to spur discussion and debate.
For those on the front lines - i.e., the teacher-coordinators
who run the labs and facilitate learning activities with the Face-to-face and virtual delivery modes coexist; often, both
students - training is mandatory and intensive. They receive are used for the same group and training activity. For exam-
120 hours of initial training distributed over a three-week ple, whereas the initial training often is done face-to-face, the
period. Additional hours are provided over the course of the in-service training and follow-up are done virtually. Regard-
school year. In 1999, for example, the 540 teacher- less of modality, program administrators claim that the lines
coordinators each received an average of 240 hours of train- of communication between teachers and facilitators remain
ing. open. Indeed, with the expansion of the Program and its mi-
gration towards the secondary level, these modalities are
The Program relies on a strong network of advi- becoming the preferred delivery mechanisms.
sors/facilitators. Totaling about 50, these staff also receive
intensive training. In fact, the training they receive is more It is in this regard that the quality of support materials as-
intense than what teachers receive (an estimated 334 hours in sumes considerable importance. They have to be structured
1999). Here, continuous training and skills updating are the enough to guide teachers through a series of activities but
name of the game. The Program relies on these staff to con- loose enough to allow teachers to make their own judge-
trol quality in individual labs and to encourage and facilitate ments, interpret findings, and otherwise reflect on how the
new teaching and learning methods. In theory, these staff lessons learned can be incorporated into the realities of their
supervise and monitor the work of the teacher-coordinators own classrooms. Indeed, according to Program administra-
in the labs. In practice, however, their role is more one of tors in the Omar Dengo Foundation, considerable time and
facilitation: informing teachers of new developments in the money are consumed in developing and producing training
field and bringing new insights to bear on classroom activi- materials, processes currently supported with a newly created
ties, and otherwise encouraging and motivating teachers. center for tele-training and virtual production, known as
Project Nexos. This center functions as a clearinghouse,
Regular classroom teachers (i.e., those not coordinating the transmitting documents and other complementary resources
labs) also can opt to receive training. The Program invites, to teachers over the Internet. It is expected to have the ca-
indeed encourages, the participation of regular classroom pacity for teleconferences in the near future.
teachers in lab exercises. These teachers accompany their
students to the labs and, in collaboration with the lab coordi- Other offshoots of the Program include efforts to more sys-
nator, design activities relevant to and appropriate for their tematically promote teacher training and education technol-
classes. These teachers receive an average of 16-42 hours of ogy. For example, the Omar Dengo Foundation, in collabo-
training per academic year. Except in one-teacher schools, ration with the University of Hartford (Connecticut), recently
this training is voluntary. Yet interest and participation seem created a masters program in education with an emphasis in
to be growing. Recent trends suggest that an increasing num- education technology. To date, a total of 20 staff from the
ber of regular classroom teachers have or are receiving Ministry of Education and the Omar Dengo Foundation have
training. Training is also provided, on a voluntary basis, to taken part. Plans also are in progress to create certificate and
school administrators and maintenance staff. degree programs in education technology at the Universidad
Estatal a Distancia de Costa Rica, the nation's Open Univer-
How is training delivered? sity. The Alliance Program, created by the Omar Dengo
Foundation and the nation's public universities last year, op-
Training follows a “practice what you preach” approach.
erates on many of the same principles. Alliance supplies a
Teachers are trained through the same methods they are ex-
computer lab and uses it to train university professors in the
pected to apply in the classroom. Conceived within a con-
schools/faculties of education. These professionals, in turn,
structivist framework, computers are used as tools "with
complement their own training by engaging in research on
which to think" and with which to structure and link intel-
topics related to teacher training and the use of technology.
lectual tasks, technical competencies and pedagogical skills.
Training is provided through modules ("Unidades de Ca-
pacitación"), each of which is accredited by the Civil Service Implications beyond the classroom
and adapted to the needs and abilities of the given target The Costa Rican experience regarding the introduction of
group. Difficulty and the intensity of technology increase computers in schools constitutes both a case about training
progressively. Each training module integrates a variety of teachers to use technology and using technology to train –
and provide support to – teachers involved in a technology

d provide support to – teachers involved in a technology pro- ministrators, who plays the primary role in deciding when
gram. It suggests that the infusion of technology into the many training activities will occur. Training, thus under-
teaching-learning process seems to have the potential to stood, becomes to a large extent an issue of time manage-
change traditional notions of teacher training. Teacher train- ment for teachers and, insofar becomes less of an issue of
ing becomes a permanent and planned process with goals and staff management for schools, thus facilitating implementa-
objectives extended into the medium and long term. Tech- tion.
nology extends training beyond the classroom and immediate
teaching practices. Training is no longer bound to fixed Useful links
schedules or physical spaces of instruction. Rather, teachers
are free to enter into training on their own and at their con- Education Technology Program. Summary in PREAL's Best
venience. They can receive training as often as they log on to Practice Database: http://www.preal.cl/innovaciones/costa.htm
their computers. Follow up, continuous pedagogical support
and networking, generally believed to be key components of Omar Dengo Foundation: http://www.fod.ac.cr/
effective in service training, are facilitated through the use of
information technology. Universidad Estatal a Distancia, the Open University of
Costa Rica: http://www.uned.ac.cr
There are also implications for the management of training. It
is the individual teacher, as opposed to the school or its ad- Ministry of Education (MEP): http://www.mep.go.cr
*
This article draws on the information contained in the report "Informática Educativa y Desarrollo Docente: La experiencia de
Costa Rica" (1999) by Andrea Anfossi and Clotilde Fonseca, sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank.
ADVERTISEMENT

P hilippines : Infotech-Training in Remote Places
Elaine Furniss, UNICEF New York
Mayevelyn Remigio, UNICEF Manila
Background Teachers and Supervisors: Time is an issue in giving both

teachers and students access, but where schools have devel-
The Infotech project is a component of the Program “Creat- oped schedules for student access on the weekends, there is a
ing Child Friendly Learning Conditions for Education for greater use of the resources and much more confidence on
All” in the UNICEF/ Philippines Fifth Country Program for the part of children to use the computer for schoolwork. For
Children (CPC V). Infotech was piloted in 6 schools (2 cen- example in Igcadac school, every student had their own file
tral and 4 multi-grade) and 2 division offices in the two con- in which to record stories and reactions to home reading ma-
tiguous provinces of Antique and Guimaras in the West terials. School enrollments have increased in Odiong (An-
Visayas. The two central schools with access to Internet tique) since the arrival of the computer. Training in Desktop
service serve as the downloading stations that access teach- Publishing had been useful for teachers and has helped them
ers’ lessons from the UNICEF website, to understand many of the terms associated with computer
www.unicef.org/teachers and www.unicef.org/voy as well as use. Children’s Desktop Publishing also needs to be intro-
other websites focused on student learning. Downloaded duced, as this is a good example of learning by doing with
materials are shared with the other schools and the division the computer.
office. The aim of the Infotech project is to provide teachers
and students from far flung areas of the country with the Parents and Communities: There is good community sup-
knowledge, skills, facilities and the materials to use informa- port for the Infotech project. Where parents can see their
tion technology in teacher and student training; and access to children gaining access to the computer, they too want to use
information available through the Internet. These are obser- the computer for learning, e.g. for finding out about agricul-
vations from a recent visit to the sites. tural co-operatives, community management and youth drug
prevention. In Tamborong (Guimaras), because UNICEF
Successes gave the computer and printer to the school, the local con-
gresswoman ensured electricity supply to the community.
Students: The project helps student learning, but the condi- Support of local governments for project sustainability par-
tions differ in terms of how the computer can be physically ticularly in terms of taking care of operating costs is a big
accessed. For instance, not many children in Guimaras can plus.
use the computer freely, whereas in Antique, children had
direct access. All children showed a keen interest and facil-
ity for using CD-ROMs in class. One child in Odiong (An- Challenges
tique) exclaimed that he would not want to be absent any- Students: The computer monitors can only be viewed by a
more because of having the computer in school. small number of children at one time, so we discussed the
possibility of using TV monitors linked to computers to give
more children access. In Igcadac and Odiong (Antique) both
schools have such televisions. Schools tend to limit regular
access to computers to children in grades five and six.
Schools need to access software that is more suitable for
younger children to build their confidence and ability in us-
ing computers. Dealing with computer security, particularly
in Guimaras, has meant that children have only limited
physical access to computers. In Antique, space is well used
and larger numbers of children can see the monitor at any
one time. Where the computer is housed within the class-
room, more children have immediate access. Where it is
housed in a separate room or in an office, it is more difficult
to integrate its use in daily lessons. Efforts will need to be

made for children to develop skills in critical thinking, read- dent and teacher learning) and not an end in itself. Project
ing and writing in response to use of the Internet, and not just activities need to extend beyond using the computer and re-
to accept all content provided. sources as a library, and becoming more interactive. This is
the next stage of development for the project sites.
Teachers and Supervisors: Teachers haven’t really gotten
beyond using the computer as a word processor. They tend to Parents and Communities: Parents are keen to learn to use
use the computer more for school administration purposes, computers and to access the Internet. Students could be
making reports and submissions, developing student tests, scheduled to teach their parents their new skills in computer
rather than facilitating learning. Training for computer use by use. As well, those community members already access the
teachers should focus on facilitating children’s learning, not computers, such as local secondary students, should also be
on teaching particular software in isolation. Internet down- encouraged to teach what they know to parents and other
loading and searching for websites was under-utilized. Thus community members, or provide technical backup where
more work on the use of Internet for learning should be in- possible.
cluded in future training. There are some gender issues re-
lated to male-only technical support, which leaves some of Department of Education, Community and Sports
the female teachers feeling that mastering computers is be- (DECS): As far as resources are concerned, it would be good
yond them. The challenge will be, when more computers are to encourage the development of CD-ROMs and websites in
available to students, that lessons do not degenerate into Filipino for students and teachers. The school sites should
simple drill and practice lessons, but rather, that teachers aim to develop their own websites in the next 12 months.
learn how to make lessons more interactive. One possible DECS innovation could be putting textbooks
and readers on CD-ROM for use in schools that have com-
Parents and Communities: Fluctuation of electric current, puters. This may go some way to overcoming the current
particularly in Guimaras has created havoc with equipment, delay in distribution of textbooks across the country. DECS
and three hard disks have had to be replaced. In Antique, at the national level should be encouraged to provide ISP
telephone service has been withdrawn from some centers, access for all schools, through the government-sponsored
because of line cloning, which will make project expansion website. As Information Technology (IT) is one of four key
difficult. Administrative procedures, in the replacement of result areas in the Filipino education reform agenda, DECS
faulty equipment in Antique meant that for some schools should be proactively demonstrating supportive IT activities
access only occurred in May 2000. DECS (Department of from the center. This should include the development of
Education, Community and Sports) will need to consider websites for teachers and opportunities for distance learning
whether they wish to make use of censoring software to using the Internet. As well there should be opportunities for
screen out less than desirable websites when students have children to interact across the country using e-mail and the
Internet access. Internet, and ensuring that equitable access is advocated at
the level of national government by linking education IT
Lessons Learned policy to the wider technology policies of the Philippines. It
would be important for DECS to consider the employment of
Where project sites are successful, teachers have had access technology-trained education personnel (supervisors and
to a technical person who can troubleshoot on the spot, so teachers), and especially to ensure that teacher trainees re-
that use is not cut off at any time. Igcadac Multigrade School ceive training and experience on using computers and the
is a good case in point. The role of supervisors has not really Internet. Local technical school students, i.e. at St. Anthony’s
been maximized, e.g. in integration of downloaded materials School and Antique Polytechnic School of Technology, are
for subject area learning and in matching learning materials two places where students could provide technical support to
and resources to expected learning competencies in the Fili- teachers as part of practicums. This idea should be explored
pino curriculum. The latter would be a useful DECS activity with these schools. In Guimaras, the Department of Trans-
to support participating teachers and the wider education portation and Communication is further developing the reach
system. It would be useful if schools involved in the project of the telephone lines and this will support further use of the
could meet to share experiences and discuss problems. This Internet in the future. The project should explore further the
could also be organized in the form of an online chat, which opportunities available to encourage young technically
should occur in the next few months, for those schools with trained volunteers to come and work in project sites along-
Internet access. side teachers. This is especially important in these sites
which are so remote and distant from support and familiarity
Opportunities for the Future with computers and the Internet. In both provinces DECS
needs to build a culture of computer use and access to Inter-
Teachers and Supervisors: Right from the beginning, In- net resources for learning.
fotech has to be seen as a means to an end, (increasing stu-

Corel
Singapore:
Pre-service Teacher Training in Technology Use
Insung Jung
Ewha Women's University: isjung@ewha.ac.kr
Background of the Study

Recognizing the impact of the dramatic growth of techno-
1. The NIE IT Plan was a systematic approach to
create an IT-integrated teaching and learning
logical developments and applications in society, the Singa-
environment in which IT is integrated into the cur-
pore government launched the Master Plan for Information
ricula and the teaching and learning process of NIE.
Technology (IT) in Education in 1997 to usher in a new era
Key action strategies of the Plan included all the
in educational development. The Master Plan emphasized the
main functions of the pre-service teacher training
importance of teacher development in IT and specified three
institute in four areas: curriculum revision, human
goals: 1) to train every teacher in purposeful use of IT for
resource infrastructure, physical and technological
teaching; 2) to equip trainee teachers with core skills in
infrastructure, and research and development.
teaching with IT; and 3) to involve institutions of higher
learning and industry partners in schools. Under this IT
Master Plan, the National Institute of Education (NIE), as the
only pre-service teacher training institution in Singapore, is
entrusted with the integration of IT into its initial teacher
2. The NIE has implemented its IT plan with strong
commitment and affluent resources, and built an
training programs. To meet the needs of the government, IT-integrated learning environment that incorporates
NIE developed its IT plan in 1998 and specified the four instructional technologies into administration, as-
main focal areas of change: revising the curriculum; upgrad- sessment, data manipulation, development and ac-
ing of physical and technological infrastructure; developing cess to learning resources, multimedia distributed
the human resource infrastructure; and strengthening re- communication, productivity, programming, pub-
search and development efforts in the use of IT in education. lishing and research. The physical and technologi-
cal infrastructure proposed in the Plan has been suc-
cessfully established.
Study Summary
This case study focused on the use of IT in pre-service The initial focus of the NIE was to train its fac-
teacher training in Singapore and examined how the innova- ulty to use IT effectively in the teaching process.
tions in this area have been carried out by the NIE. Also, the The new training model for faculty tried to combine
impact of those innovations on perceptions of those involved, formal and informal training, and group and inde-
pedagogy, teaching methods, skills, and classroom teaching pendent training. After receiving the training, posi-
was investigated. Document analyses, interviews, class- tive attitudes and verbal changes were observed and
room observations, an online survey and site visits were faculty IT skills improved. However, more time
made to collect data for the study. Major findings and con- will be needed to change teaching behaviors of the
clusions follow: faculty and the culture of the Institute.

• closely examined the national vision of education in
3.
general and of IT strategies in particular before de-
Curriculum revision has been done to ensure veloping IT training plans for pre-service teachers,
that pre-service teachers are equipped with the • developed specific outcomes for IT training based
appropriate skills to integrate IT into teaching on the results of the national policy analysis,
and learning, and to allow them to experience the • identified appropriate means to achieve those out-
benefits of learning in an IT–integrated environ- comes, and
ment. It was clear that this curriculum revision is • collaborated with national policy makers in the pro-
viewed in the broader context of Singapore’s em- cess of developing IT plans for pre-service teacher
phasis on developing students' creative and critical training.
thinking abilities. Four kinds of IT courses for NIE
2.
students were created: basic skill IT workshops, a
30-hour IT foundation course, a 26-hour elective Adopted a Systems Approach to the Change
course, and 6-12 hours of IT integration into each Process: NIE has emphasized the integration of IT
curriculum subject class. These courses in general into its curriculum, human resources development,
appeared to be effective in improving student teach- infrastructure and support system, and research and
ers’ knowledge and skills in the use of IT for development. Specifically, NIE:
teaching and learning.
• identified all functions or subsystems of the pre-
4. NIE has initiated a program of applied and stra-

tegic research and development in instructional
service institute, including hardware and software
infrastructure, human resources development, sup-
port systems, research and development, and policy,
science and technology. The School of Education • examined needs for structural changes,
and CITE (Center for IT in Education) have played • developed and implemented change strategies for all
a major role in these research projects. However, functions and subsystems identified, and
IT-related research and development activities have • built a coordinating body to ensure the flow of
moved slowly and focused only on the development communications among different subsystems during
and quick implementation aspects, and investigated the change process.
short-term effects. The needs for long-term effec-
3.
tiveness research have been indicated.
Invested in Faculty Training: NIE recognized that
5. NIE students who received IT training showed a

tendency to apply knowledge or skills they
faculty training is the key success factor for IT inte-
gration into the curriculum and invested its initial
efforts in introducing formal and informal faculty
learned at NIE in their classroom teaching. In training systems. Strategies included:
addition, changes in the attitudes of most faculty
and student teachers were observed. • examining the existing training model with regard
to objectives, methods, costs, and effectiveness,
Factors that Contributed to Success • designing a new or revised formal training system
that incorporates a variety of training methods such
There are at least five major success factors that have helped as face-to-face workshops and independent online
NIE develop an effective IT training program for pre-service training programs,
teachers in Singapore, and which could serve as guidelines • integrating informal supports into the formal train-
for others planning to introduce the use of information tech- ing system so that less experienced faculty or staff
nology into primary and/or secondary-level classrooms. can get on-demand help from those more experi-
Cost-effective issues are also considered. enced, and
• providing incentives, such as workload reduction,
1. Developed IT Training for Teachers Based on

National Vision: NIE, as a sole pre-service teacher
recognition in faculty evaluation, and increasing re-
search fund allocations to those who spend time
training other faculty and staff or who actively use
education provider, has successfully integrated the IT in their teaching.
national vision toward IT use in education into its
IT Plan. Specifically, NIE:

4.
MOE, during the processes of innovations. Close
Developed Outcome-Oriented, IT-Integrated collaboration with the funding agencies helps
Curriculum: NIE’s approach to integrating IT into teacher training institutes reflect national visions in
the pre-service curriculum includes several notable changes and secure budgets for innovations.
strategies. NIE:
• Provides a short IT foundation course that focuses

on hands-on IT experience at the initial stage of pre-
6. Cost-Effectiveness: Even though most decisions at
NIE have not been based on cost-effectiveness, but
service teacher training, (Such a course should fo- on quality improvement and human resource devel-
cus on applying IT skills to achieve pedagogical opment, NIE’s experience still provides several cost
objectives, rather than teaching IT skills in isola- saving strategies.
tion.)
• Provides more advanced IT courses as electives for • Given the large costs of technical infrastructure, it is
students who need or want to develop more ad- necessary to attempt to gain knowledge in the hard-
vanced IT-based pedagogical skills, ware and software market and to negotiate best
• Integrates IT components into all of the subject prices with vendors. Knowledge of computer
matter areas such as Math, Social Studies, English, equipment that includes peripheral devices free of
and so on, so that students can have a role-model for extra charge results in hardware cost savings, and
IT-integrated teaching and learning, and knowledge of free, public-domain software results
• Designs IT-integrated courses in such a way that in software cost savings. Some vendors often pro-
students have an opportunity to produce IT-based vide IT skill training when computers are pur-
instructional materials themselves and share out- chased.
comes of the courses with others. • Maximizing usage of computer facilities can reduce
the cost per student contact hour with computers.
5.
NIE’s efficient scheduling of its computer labs pro-
vides an example of reducing the cost per student
Established Partnerships Between Public and
contact hour. Another strategy would be to open
Private Sectors: Various kinds of partnerships have
computer labs to the public outside of school hours.
been encouraged in the process of planning and im-
plementing the IT Plan. • Part-time contracts with technicians, rather than
hiring them as full-time staff, can reduce salary ex-
penditures. Countries where the part-time work
• Unbundle the process of IT training by collaborat-
conventions are not well established tend to hire
ing with outside computer companies. Commercial
full-time staff for the work that does not require
companies are often more knowledgeable in IT skill
full-time attention. Part-time contracts with outside
training. Instead of developing and providing all
technicians also helps reduce the need to provide
the skill training courses, using training packages
frequent technology updates to staff.
and hardware provided by outside companies can be
cost-effective. This leaves teacher-training insti- • Various types of partnerships with other public and
tutes to focus on the pedagogical use of IT for edu- private sectors can help reduce the costs of an inno-
cation. vation. In training pre-service teachers, NIE has
formed partnerships with schools, private compa-
• Use students’ practicum as an opportunity to col-
nies, and other educational institutions within and
laborate with schools in upgrading students’ IT-
outside of Singapore. In these partnerships, each
integrating skills. During the practicum, ask stu-
party shares in absorbing the costs of the innova-
dents to design IT-integrated lessons and implement
tion.
them under the supervision of existing teachers in
the schools. Practicing teachers can then learn from
this process.
• Collaborate, share visions, strategies, and results of
the innovations with funding agencies, such as the

Zimbabwe
The Bindura Internet Learning Center:
Corel
Modest in Size, but Mighty in Impact
Anthony Bloome
Regional Coordinator, World Links for Development
Jingo and Felix – i.e., serving students and teachers in the surrounding
You can get to the Bindura-World Links for Development schools during the day, and the general community and adult
(WorLD) Internet Learning Centre by driving 100 kilometers learners in the evenings, weekends, and holidays. The latter
north from Harare, Zimbabwe and then walking up two audience is an important source for the center's financial
flights of stairs within the Ministry of Education, Sport and sustainability. By paying a nominal fee for training and ac-
Culture’s regional offices. cess, they are underwriting the recurrent costs of hardware
maintenance, power, supplies, and connectivity.
Here, the center's two full-time and friendly Information
Technology (IT) Resource Teachers, Mr. Jingo Fair and Mr. Jingo and Felix had each been identified through a competi-
Felix Masaraneyi greet learners of all ages. You’ll find both tive selection process organized by the Ministry’s regional
here seven days a week, using a bank of ten networked com- office. Both were secondary school teachers at nearby
puters and Internet access to provide training in how to use schools before becoming two out of the twenty IT Resource
these tools for educational and professional enhancement. Teachers recruited nationally in this newly established post,
created by the Ministry in response to their commitment to
While the number of student and community clients they can IT in Education and the WorLD program.
serve at any one time, typically 10 to 20 people, is limited by
the center's modest size, the impact of Jingo’s and Felix’s Both Jingo and Felix had early training in computer studies.
training extends far between the walls of the 5 x 15 meter Jingo had received a B.Sc. Mathematics and Computers from
room: students and teachers are using the resources and IT the University of Zimbabwe and Felix a degree in Math and
training to complement their classroom activities, open uni- Computer Science from the Jose Varona University in Cuba.
versity students are downloading useful research informa- Once selected for the position, they joined the other IT Re-
tion, and private clients are developing skills to improve their source Teachers in national training courses organized by the
professional and organizational productivity. Zimbabwe-WorLD program. These training courses, part of
an ongoing series of week-long participatory workshops,
Established as a successful partnership between the Zim- designed for teachers and developed and facilitated by
babwe Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture and the WorLD staff, include such topics as computer and Internet
World Bank-sponsored Zimbabwe-World Links for Devel- use in the classroom, online collaborative projects, further
opment Program (WorLD), Bindura is one of a series of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) inte-
thirteen school- and community-oriented centers that were gration in the classroom, and web design.
opened in 1999. Each center is equipped with Windows and
Office ‘95/98 software, 10 networked computers, server Throughout these workshops, Jingo and Felix are reminded
(running Windows NT software), printer, modem and Inter- of two important recurrent themes: a) IT is not just about
net dial-up connection. computer science – any subject teacher and student can
benefit from its use in the classroom, and b) the importance
Of the thirteen sites selected, three are located within secon- of project-based learning – i.e., that the teacher plays a vital
dary schools, nine in educational resource centers, and one is facilitation role in promoting active student involvement in
a mobile van. At least one center is located in each of the the learning process.
country’s nine provinces. Bindura’s center is located in the
provincial capital of Mashonaland Central, a relatively large And, as the course facilitators can tell you, the IT Resource
region that includes several mines. Teachers aren’t passive learners themselves. As their famili-
arity with the technology and project-based learning concepts
Similar to the model adopted by the other Zimbabwe-WorLD have increased over time, so has their own active involve-
sites, Bindura’s is a successful model of a dual-use telecenter ment in the classroom – during these workshops and in the
local ones which they organize for teachers and students

from the cluster of surrounding schools which are served by enrolled ZOU students who are taking a course which has a
each WorLD center. computer component, typically those doing B.Sc. Agricul-
ture, B.Ed, B. English and Communication, to receive in-
Still WorLD can’t take the credit at the Bindura-WorLD struction and use the center for their research and communi-
center. Much of their personal and professional success is cation. In exchange for ZOU paying the student’s tuition, the
quite frankly due to their friendly dispositions and motiva- center stays open from 9 – 4:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.
tion to teach. Jingo and Felix like – and excel in – what they In the future, ZOU hopes to use the center for their students
do. to receive and submit their assignments using e-mail and
Internet.
Their efforts are certainly complemented by the active role
played by the public and private sector representatives of the Surprisingly perhaps, but borne out by other WorLD country
Mashonaland Central Information Technology committee assessment studies, a majority of these users, approximately
who oversee the center's management. The chairman is the 70%, are women.
Deputy Regional Director in the Ministry of Education, the
Vice-Chair, Director of a leading agricultural equipment Finance
supplier, the Treasurer, an IT specialist working at a local The specific charges for instruction vary according to client
gold mining operation, and the Secretary, an Education Offi- (i.e., general, teacher, and education personnel), level (i.e.,
cer for Mathematics and Computers at the Regional Office. introductory, intermediate, advanced, professional), and type.
In addition to their oversight responsibilities, the Ministry’s Course offerings include:
regional office has played a financially supporting role, pro- • Introduction to Computers/Keyboard Skills/The Com-
viding for the teachers’ salaries, center space and paying for puter System – 10 hrs for Zim$400 (US$10)
the initial capital costs of furniture, power points, and ac- • Graphic Presentations – 20 hours for Zim$750 (US$18)
quiring a separate telephone line. • Pastel Partner – 20 hours for Zim$1500 (US$36)
• Internet and E-mail – 7 hours for Zim $800 (US$20)
The Users
The approximately 180 pupils and teachers served over a The charges for adult instruction have brought in an impres-
12-week term at the center, arrive either by foot or bus from sive Zim$200,000 (US$5000) within the first six months of
nine surrounding primary and secondary schools. Jingo and center operation. Not only is this important as a demonstra-
Felix then provide these earnest learners with instruction in tion of local support to underwrite the ongoing phone and
computer literacy, software applications (e.g., Word, Excel, maintenance charges, but it’s also an important source of
PowerPoint, desktop publishing) and online collaborative revenue for staffing incentives and new hardware and soft-
projects, which will link these students with their peers ware acquisition.
around the world via the Internet. Because so few students in
this low-income community have received computer train- Jingo and Felix are direct beneficiaries, receiving twenty-five
ing, it was decided that during these school hours, there percent of all the non-school hour income as incentive for all
would be no charge for student tuition. the extra hours that they spend at the center, particularly on
evenings, weekends, and holidays. The extra income also
Adult learners are also important center beneficiaries and paid for the acquisition of a new color printer (e.g., HP
constitute 50 percent of the total clients served. They arrive DeskJet 610) and replacement cartridges, new monitor, edu-
as individuals or in groups in the after school hours – eve- cational CD-ROMS, and stationary.
nings, weekends and school holidays, and receive instruction
in operating systems, software applications and to do re- Expansion Plans
search via e-mail and the Internet. Specific client groups As for center expansion plans, Jingo and Felix are having a
served include education officers from the Ministry of Edu- hard time keeping up with all the demand. Working with the
cation, lecturers from the nearby Bindura Technical Univer- center's management committee, they plan to acquire a big-
sity, and students from the Zimbabwe Open University ger room and equip it with even more computers. They’re
(ZOU). In addition to the basic software training, Ministry of also hoping to purchase educational software for kids and a
Health personnel also receive specialized training in Epi- television and VCR for instruction and demonstration pur-
Info, a health information statistical package. poses. Based on this center's early success, it also appears
likely that Zimbabwe-WorLD and the Ministry of Education
The 300 Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) students who will expand the initiative into several new centers in the re-
have accessed the center so far are part of an exciting part- gion - and, whether in person or as cyberguides, Felix and
nership between ZOU and Bindura-WorLD. A memorandum Jingo plan to be involved in these new Centers as well.
of understanding signed between the two allows all locally

V ideo Technology for Teacher Training:
Micro-Teaching and other Adventures
Sonia Jurich
The Birth of a Strategy To attain these objectives, the act of teaching is divided into
smaller skills or competencies that can be practiced to per-
fection, as pianists rehearse the most difficult passages in the
The potential of the portable video-tape re- musical score, until they are able to play the whole piece
corder and playback is still untapped and comfortably. The micro-teaching technique moves the focus
uncharted. As instruments of this type are of intervention away from the content of the lesson and on to
being perfected and produced at costs specific skills that are considered necessary for good teach-
compatible with educational budget allowing performance, such as asking questions, eliciting students’
ances, they will become most valuable in participation, providing feedback, or training a behavior
the whole [field of] teacher training and pro- management intervention. In the early 1970’s, Stanford
fessional development. Widespread use of University proposed a structured framework for teacher skills
these recorders would make it possible for composed of five primary areas: initiating behaviors, pre-
teacher training supervisors to exchange senting material, consolidating lessons, monitoring and
tapes and build libraries, to develop highly evaluation. Each area was subdivided into further competen-
professional techniques of supervision and cies that elicited specific interventions.2
evaluation, but most important, to expose
all teachers to a system of self-examination. Video technology enabled the teachers-in-training to observe
Teachers at all levels would benefit because themselves during their classroom practices, obtain immedi-
professional development would be ex- ate feedback and define the skills they had to improve. The
panded into a system of shared experiences technique used in the early 1960’s at Brigham Young Uni-
rather than the subjective one-to-one rela- versity (USA) is a good example of the relationships between
1
tionship of teacher and supervising critic. micro-teaching and video technology. The teacher-in-
training presented a lesson to a mini-class of three to five
In 1967, the editor of The Modern Language Journal wrote high school students. The presentation was videotaped and
this enthusiastic appraisal of the potential of modern tech- replayed immediately after the class. All participants –
nology to revolutionize teacher training. The then modern – peers, instructors and the high school students attending the
portable video tape recorder and playback – is ancient history mock class – had the opportunity to comment on the per-
now. Yet, the expectations that technology will bring dra- formance. Upon these comments, the trainee and instructor
matic changes to educational practices remain undefeated. identified one or two skills that showed the greatest diffi-
The use of video technology for teacher training is a good culty. The trainee practiced those skills and tested them on a
example of the discrepancy between hopes and realities and subsequent mini-class for no more than 15 minutes. The
of our insistence on recognizing potentials, while barely tap- class was video taped and analyzed to evaluate how much the
ping into them. skills had improved. The process was deemed effective to
enhance the trainees’ performances and presented sugges-
Video technology entered the field of teacher training inter- tions for expanding and improving the technique.3
twined with micro-teaching, a behaviorist strategy to enhance
the teaching/learning process. As applied to teacher training, The introduction of video technology into teacher training
micro-teaching has four main objectives: was praised as having many advantages over the traditional
process of classroom observation and individual supervisor’s
• assess the student teachers’ overall teaching skills; critique. The technology enables the supervisor to be absent
• identify skills that require improvement; during the mock class, thus reducing the trainee’s anxiety.
• provide a system for practicing the skills; and The trainee’s peers and other instructors can participate in
• monitor the skill development process. the feedback without having to attend the activity and crowd
the classroom. The trainee and the supervisor can review the

tape as many times as needed to carefully examine different activities.6 The University of Northern Iowa, in the United
aspects of the trainee’s performance. The video can capture States, uses a television-mediated observation process that
the whole classroom, enabling the trainee to examine and broadcasts live from the training school (the school where
compare the children’s reactions to different teachers’ styles the student teachers practice) to the education center located
and strategies. Trainees can evaluate changes in perform- a quarter of a mile away. A mobile production unit with two
ance through repeated video taped classes. Dugas4 sug- cameras and several microphones can be moved into any
gested two other uses of videotaping teacher performances location of the training school. During the training class, the
unrelated to micro-teaching. First, he proposed that univer- student teacher wears a wireless microphone to facilitate
sity professors who prepare teaching materials would gain a mobility. Microphones strategically placed along the room
better sense of what happens in schools, from where they pick up conversations among students.7
have been away for so long. In addition, videotaping expe-
rienced teachers helps novices observe different strategies Computer-connected CD-ROM, laser disk and DVD are
effectively used to teach the same content. This keeps the slowly replacing the TV-VCR combination. New software
trainees from being locked into one specific strategy (gener- supply teachers with extra tools to develop good teaching
ally, the supervisor’s preferred strategy). skills, such as:8
Research suggests that the connection between micro- • LEAP – the set includes video mini-cases of class-
teaching and video technology worked for teacher training. room teaching on a laser disk, software that controls
The video provided teachers with more than a mirror of their the disk player, and a collection of books on the
classroom performance. The technology supported the strat- reading/writing workshop approach. The mini-
egy of doing, reviewing and doing again that seemed effec- cases show middle school teachers at work and can
tive in improving teacher performance. The time passed and be randomly accessed and interpreted from different
behaviorism lost its grip on educational practices. New theo- perspectives. The program relies on a constructivist
ries, particularly constructivism, moved into the forefront perspective and has been field-tested.
and micro-teaching declined in popularity, although the • I-TECH – this CD-ROM contains video mini-
practice is still used in some teacher preparation courses, cassettes that illustrate the different roles that stu-
particularly in the United States. dents and teachers can play in a technology-rich
elementary classroom. The software facilitates
Thirty Years Later . . . video manipulation. I-TECH also borrows from the
constructivist theory and has been submitted to
evaluation during its development stage.
An article written in 1997 – thirty years after our initial edi-
tor’s note – describes an “experiment” (still an experiment) • DIVIT – an interactive, software guided environ-
at another North American university that uses videotapes to ment that shows mini-cases of teachers-in-training
expose future mathematics teachers to models of exemplary instructing children on the use of cognitive strate-
teaching. In this experiment, the technology is the same, but gies for word identification and comprehension, and
the theoretical framework has changed, replacing the micro- vocabulary development. It also contains a section
teaching strategy with modeling and self-discovery. The on how to administer a structured informal reading
tapes show expert mathematics teachers in action, and in- inventory.
clude interviews with their students. The teachers-in-training • PPT – an interactive multimedia CD-ROM that in-
use the tapes to observe models of good teaching and reflect cludes activity-based mini-cases. The program is
on their own practices. The study found an improvement in designed to help general and special education
the lessons prepared and implemented by the teachers trained teachers to understand and handle elementary and
with the videos, compared with lessons of peers who had not secondary students who have behavioral disorders.
been through the process. However, the differences disap-
peared within one to three semesters.5 The authors of an article written last year speculated that,
“with the increasing availability of multimedia authoring
The advances in video technology during those thirty years programs and with increasingly affordable video edit-
are reflected in the sophistication of equipment. The micro- ing/digitizing technology, videocase instruction will likely be
teaching classroom at the University of Hong Kong’s Centre used more commonly for preservice teacher education.”9
for the Advancement of University Teaching (CAUT) is Simulation is another powerful resource of video technolo-
equipped with three video cameras, ceiling-mounted micro- gies that is broadly used for training in most of the health
phones, a control station that videotapes the activities, in- care field, but seems absent from the teacher training arsenal.
structors’ workstations and a computer projection system. A
satellite uplink is being planned to enable distance education

Are We There? The report observes that knowledge has been deeply influ-
enced by the expansion of new information technologies and
that schools must accompany these changes. Teaching in
Teachers are supposed to lead the new generations toward the classrooms of the future requires new perspectives about
the future. It is time to let the future enter the rooms of the development of knowledge, new approaches to informa-
teacher preparation institutions. A review of teacher education, new roles for teachers and students, and new attitudes in
tion literature and conversations with teachers from different the use of technology. All these requirements demand new
countries suggest that the traditional process of supervisor forms of professional development where information tech-
observation (sometimes mediated by a video camera) is still nologies play a larger role. It is the responsibility of teacher
the predominant approach to teacher training. The tradition education institutions to prepare the new generation of teach-
survived time, conceptual frameworks, and technology. ers for “tomorrow’s classrooms.”
Student teachers are continuously put in classrooms with
little or no preparation, and with few resources and time to It is not necessary for all faculty members
practice challenging skills that involve both content trans- to exploit every technology in their
mission and classroom management. Thirty years from now, classes. Nor is it necessary for faculty to
we may still be reading about those great “experiments” in reach consensus on how technology
video technology for teacher training. The potential of tech- should best be employed. The fact is that
nology has been recognized; it is now time to unleash this we are in the early stages of understanding
potential. how technology can be used most effec-
tively to support teaching and learning.
Teachers for Tomorrow's Classrooms Given the circumstances, it is best if many
pedagogical approaches are tested, sev-
Recognizing the importance of the new information tech- eral theories of learning applied, and a va-
nologies for teacher practices in this technology-driven riety of technologies are used. The results
world, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher of each experiment should be assessed
Education (NCATE), in the United States, organized a task carefully. Encouraging faculty to be reflec-
force to study the issue. The Task Force was asked to define tive about their work and evaluate results
expectations from technology education for teacher candi- of instruction can also advance an impor-
dates and accredited schools of education and to guide the tant domain of knowledge, while building
Council’s use of technology in the accreditation process. In faculty competence. This is not a time
1997, the Task Force published the report, Technology and when teacher education programs can con-
the New Professional Teacher: Preparing for the 21st Cen- fidently predict how technology will
tury Classroom (Available at change the profession. This is a time of
http://www.ncate.org/accred/projects/tech/tech-21.htm). transition, which calls for experimenta-
10
tion.
1
Editor’s Note, p. 165, in Dugas, Donald G. (1967). Micro-Teaching – A Promising Medium for Teacher Training.
The Modern Language Journal, 51 (3): 161-165. The note refers to the field of foreign language teacher training and profes-
sional development. Brackets are mine.
2
Clift, C. (1973). Video-tape: A Synthesis of Research in the Use of Audio-Visual Replay for Instructional Develop-
ment: A Selected Bibliography of Videotape Utilization. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Speech Communication
Association (59th, New York City, November 8-11, 1997). ERIC document 085 785.
3
Dwayne, B.W. (1967). Micro Teaching – Observed and Critiqued by a Group of Trainees. Paper presented at the
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (New York, February 1967). ERIC Document ED011 890.
4
Dugas, D., op. cit.
5
Lambdin, D.V., Duffy, T.M., & Moore, J.A. (1997). Using an Interactive Information System to Expand Preservice
Teachers; Visions of Effective Mathematics Teaching. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 5(2-3): 171-202.
6
A detailed description of the CAUT micro-teaching classroom is found at http://nt.media.hku.hk
At this page, go to the “HKU Examples” banner and then press the CAUT page.
7
At http://www.ncate.org/acccred/projects/tech/ci7.htm.
8
For details, see Stephens, L., Leavell, J., Fabris, M., Buford, R., & Hill, M. (1999). Producing Video-Cases that En-
hance Instruction. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 7 (4): 292-301.
9
Stephens et al, op. cit, p. 293.
10
At http://www.ncate.org/acccred/projects/tech/ci7.htm.

Scripted Learning Needs Teachers
Who Follow the Script
Claudio de Moura Castro
Chief Education Adviser, Inter-American Development Bank
Structured learning seems to be a good given time, there is a limit to what is perceived as support
method and undue interference with the space of the teacher. Beyond
a certain limit, structuring is claimed to take away the initia-
tive and creativity of teachers to “do their own things.” It
Teachers who follow detailed instructions makes them too dependent on what others have created and a
on how to use the assigned videotapes and few teachers resent this perceived loss of autonomy and free-
dom. They find it demeaning and impoverishing.
books obtain better results than those who Scripted or structured learning refers to the use of materials
know chemistry but don’t follow the in- that detail classroom procedures more than what is presently
structions. This is the conclusion arrived by Professor considered standard practice. It presents contents and the
conduct of the classroom in ways that are more spelled out
Heiko from the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and author
than is usual. Notice that this is a very relative and time-
of the televised high school chemistry program used in the
dependent concept. When students did not have textbooks,
successful Telecurso 2000. 1
their introduction was a great leap in structuring learning,
feared by some. But other than radical constructivists, most
This statement put us on the cusp of a very controversial
teachers today accept textbooks.
topic: structured or scripted learning. Teachers do not have to
reinvent content or teaching methods on their own. One way
or another, someone would have taught them some of both, Does structured learning lead to more
by the time they became teachers. The issue is how much learning?
support and guidance they get in preparing and conducting
their classes. The issue today is when structuring goes beyond the standard
and accepted. That is to say, the class is further scripted,
What is considered structured learning giving a more precise sequence of procedures, readings,
changes with time drills, tests, etc. What do we gain and what do we lose by
taking these further steps in scripting a course? This is the
crux of the matter. More importantly, what do students gain?
In the past, teachers had notes from the teachers who taught
The goal of teaching is not to please teachers but improve
them. Books progressively became standard sources, both for
learning.
content and for how to teach. Subsequently, students got
their own books, relieving the teachers from much effort in
The initial statement by Professor Heiko aims straight at this
class preparation. Then came workbooks for students.
issue. Five years of observation and experimentation with
television classes have convinced her that the high level of
Increasingly, materials prepared by someone else replace the
structure of Telecurso gives better results, even when the
effort and initiative of teachers. The rationale is clear
teachers know a lot less chemistry. In fact, she observes that
enough. Some people are chosen to prepare teaching materi-
knowing more content makes teachers less willing to follow
als due to their superlative skills in that task, as well as for
the script, resulting in a worse performance of students. In
having more time available, more support and more re-
other words, she hypothesizes that bad teachers with highly
sources than the individual teachers in the classrooms.
scripted materials do better than somewhat better prepared
teachers who go on their own.
None of this is new or particularly controversial. It is a uni-
versal tendency that is hard to disagree with. However, at any

R. Slavin’s Teaching For Success is an American program SENAI/Brazil. Fifty years of “séries metódicas”
targeted at American schools riddled with problems of low
achievement. The program is being used by many schools, SENAI is a large training system, owned by Brazilian fed-
particularly in inner cities, and is claimed to increase dra- erations of industries and funded from a 1% levy on their
matically the performance of the students. Independent payroll. Last year, it graduated over two million students in
evaluations seem to confirm the claim. different forms of manufacturing trades. It caters to blue-
collar clienteles, otherwise very poorly served by regular
However, there is much reaction and resentment against the schools. There is ample evidence of being by far the most
program and its claims. In fact, there is a website entirely successful training system in the developing world.
dedicated to criticizing and debunking Slavin’s program,
http://www.alt-sfa.com/index.shtml. The tone of the com- Most of its training uses the so-called “methodical series”
plaints is bitter and emotional, suggesting that structured derived from European roots but acquiring a highly scripted
learning lives a stormy life. version in Brazil. The courses are based on a series of practi-
cal projects, in increasing order of difficulty and integrating
Constructivists have become the core opposition to struc- conceptual and practical learning around the same piece that
tured learning. Notice that constructivism is an eminently is to be manufactured. The entire course is scripted; hardly
reasonable and plausible branch of epistemology and learn- any variation is left to the discretion of teachers. A number of
ing theory. As far as I can tell, it is perfectly compatible with studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the institution and
the development of structured strategies on how to help stu- its methods. But in particular, tracer studies of the São Paulo
dents “construct” their learning. Nevertheless, radicals in the SENAI graduates demonstrated not only good job perform-
ranks of constructivists have been fighting any efforts to ance but also the surprising finding that up to 40% of them
structure learning, going as far as denying the use of standard eventually returned to regular school and moved up to higher
textbooks. Folklore has it that some angrier zealots preach education.
the burning of textbooks.
Telesecundária in Mexico and Telecurso in Brazil
It would be presumptuous to resolve such bitter disagreement
in this short essay. At stake is whether teachers can do better Both are massive programs, with close to one million stu-
on their own. However, the arguments for structuring be- dents in Mexico and half a million in Brazil. 2 Both use tele-
come more persuasive in conditions where teachers are un- vision and books as a means to deliver content. Both cater to
der-prepared and overworked. This is less the case of the the lower end of society. The Mexican program is beamed to
United States where more than half of the teachers has mas- rural schools and the Brazilian to young adults who have
ter’s degrees. But in poorer countries, many teachers are dropped out of school. Continuing evaluations of Tele-
barely literate. Therefore, the issue of giving them more secundária and initial evaluations of Telecurso suggest that
structured materials is of great consequence. Does it improve they are both vastly successful in bringing serious education
the student’s chances of success? to clienteles that either could not get any education at all or
would get something much worse in the regular schools.
What is the experience with structured
learning in Latin America? To a very significant degree, both are highly scripted. The
TV image brings the topics, contextualizes them and devel-
ops the general lines of the argument. The book picks up
One way of looking at the issue is to make a quick survey of
then, with further explanations, drills and questions. Their
mass programs supporting underprivileged populations. But
merit is that they can be operated with a less than an ideal
first let us remember that all modern distance education pro-
teacher, or even an untrained teacher, who can work with the
grams are based on highly structured materials. The absence
students, discussing, helping in whatever way possible, and
of regular teachers present all the time, necessarily leads to
keeping order and control of the environment, just like in a
their replacement by materials that take over some of their
classroom. But there is no formal lecturing by the teacher
roles. Starting with the Open University in the UK and
aid.
reaching the mushrooming programs offered today, struc-
tured learning seems the only way to go. Not all programs
Acelera Brasil, to accelerate students who are re-
aim at underprivileged clienteles, but the Open University
peaters
took its name from the open enrollment policy contained in
its design.
Repeating is a chronic disease in most Latin American
schools. Students get too old for the grade they are attending,
Looking at the experience of Latin America, it seems that
because they fail end-of-year examinations and have to re-
structured programs have a very good track record. Below is
peat. In the last several years, special programs have been
a quick overview of some better known programs.
created to accelerate their progress in school. One of them,

Acelera Brasil is better organized and has been subjected to above is neither systematic nor exhaustive. But it is sugges-
independent evaluations. The results are nothing short of tive, nevertheless.
extraordinary. In one year, students advance the equivalent of
two, attending a program that costs 50% more than regular Structured learning usually does not
schools. The program is highly structured. Regular teachers
are trained to use materials that are quite detailed and step by thrive in regular schools
step.
However, there is something different about the programs
Escuela Nueva in Colombia and the success of mentioned above: none of them are based in regular schools.
rural education All of them have been managed by an institution that is dif-
ferent and separated from mainstream schools, in order not to
Everywhere in Latin America, rural schools perform way be rejected by the school ethos. Acelera Brasil uses the same
below their urban counterparts. However, in Colombia, teachers – after special training – but creates a separate track
achievement tests with students have shown that rural stu- with different funding and administration. Telesecundária,
dents perform better. The most likely reason is the highly in Mexico, belongs to the Secretaria de Educación but is a
respected Escuela Nueva method, initially adopted in the completely independent organization and hires higher educa-
province of Cali but subsequently spread to most of the tion graduates, many of whom are not trained teachers.
country – although not with the same standards of quality. Telecurso is private and most classes are in factories, as is
Escuela Nueva is essentially a method to deal with schools the case of Brazilian SENAI.
that only have one teacher for students of all
This last observation brings us back to our
available grades. But the materials used are …older teachers original identification of a conflict. In fact,
highly detailed and structured.
tend more often to some teachers dislike structured learning
A truly rigorous argument in favor of struc- be against struc- and, in the protected environment of
tured learning would have required us to tured learning and schools, do not allow its systematic utiliza-
tion. As a result, most successful experi-
demonstrate that all successful programs young teachers, less
ments, one way or another, had to escape the
dealing with disadvantaged clienteles use sure of their skills, school environment (by the same token that
this method. At the same time, non-
structured programs dealing with the same are more willing to the Open University had to create its own
clienteles would be a failure. Of course, this embrace it. campus because no British university
survey has not been done and an attempt to wanted to house it).
do it would hit some analytical snags. This is because there
are hundreds of small programs that might be successful and It has been said that the older teachers tend more often to be
are not structured – in fact, structuring a program is expen- against structured learning and young teachers, less sure of
sive and needs relatively high scales to be justified. their skills, are more willing to embrace it. Teacher organi-
zations and some very vocal teachers have also resisted in
A more reasonable argument would be that all successful several cases. If it is indeed true that structured learning is
mass programs, reaching thousands of students, are struc- effective and even more critical in poorer societies, then we
tured. But unfortunately, the survey that led to the examples have to face this problem squarely.
1
This is a secondary school equivalency program created by the Brazilian Globo Network. The television program is broadcast
nationally, watched by over five million people and used as videotapes in classrooms sponsored by enterprises. For more de-
tail, see "Brazil's Telecurso 2000: The Flexible Solution for Secondary School Equivalency," TechKnowLogia, Novem-
ber/December 1999.
2
For a more detailed description see "Mexico's Telesecundária -- Bringing Education by Television to Rural Areas," Septem-
ber/October 1999, and "Brazil's Telecurso 2000: The Flexible Solution for Secondary School Equivalency," Novem-
ber/December 1999 in TechKnowLogia.

Juan Carlos Navarro
Senior Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank
the system to get rid of even notoriously poor performers

or, for that matter, to reward outstanding services.
An Exercise In Common Sense Teachers will never be evaluated and will advance only
by seniority.
• Teachers work with little human or material support.

Suppose you hire a human resource management consultant
and ask her to take a look at the way a particular profession – • Teachers will enjoy an early and relatively generous
teaching – functions in a large Ministry of Education in a retirement, yet it is not clear that their particular pension
developing country. The consultant’s report would probably scheme is financially sustainable for the government in
point out that, after a thorough review of the rules and prac- the near future.
tices that govern the teaching profession in your organization
– which happens to be, by far, the main employer of teachers • Evidence suggests that those that abandon the profession
in your country - the following have been established: early tend to be the most qualified.
• New entrants to the profession are largely coming from Complementing this, a survey of teachers’ opinions has
the ranks of the less qualified secondary education shown that they suffer from poor motivation, many work at
graduates. As a matter of fact, for a substantial majority, second jobs in order to make a decent living and that they
teaching was not their first choice as a degree, and they feel under appreciated and swamped in paperwork unrelated
tend to think that their abilities do not match particularly to their teaching activities. Although they declare in principle
well the tasks and skills characteristic of the profession. some considerable degree of commitment to the profession
and the children they serve, they decidedly dislike the envi-
• With a few exceptions, they enter post-secondary pro- ronment they work in on a daily basis, probably for very
grams of less than good quality, many of which have no good reasons. On the side, there is a good chance that the
admission standards at all. consultant will add that teacher unions have extensive control
of critical human resource decisions in the organization, to
• You are not being selective in recruiting them to work the point of giving you, as a manager, only very limited in-
for the Ministry. No certification system is in place and fluence regarding decisions such as who teaches, where, to
the recruiting process is plagued with lack of transpar- whom and how. In conclusion, you are doing a poor job at
ency and extensive application of non-professional crite- attracting the right people due to a combination of poor sala-
ria – including political patronage. ries, low professional standards and few opportunities for
career development, deficient training and lack of in-service
• Once in, there is no way for managers or authorities in support.

Common Situation Organizing the Task Ahead
With a situation like this, there is little surprise that learning If the former description of the current condition of the
in many school systems in developing countries leaves much teaching profession is adequate, improving education
to be desired. True, several of the characteristics singled out through the improvement of teaching constitutes a daunting
by the consultant are no doubt also a part of the way the task. Dealing with teacher issues as a matter of policy has all
teacher profession works in developed countries. Yet, what is the characteristics of the most difficult problems faced by
distinctive of the teaching profession in a developing country governments and societies alike. Such issues are politically
is the simultaneous presence of most, if not all, of these char- and ideologically charged; their financial implications, in
acteristics, as well as the acute and prolonged prevalence of almost any scenario, are huge; and technical definition has
them and, above all, the lack of counterbalance mechanisms for the most part remained weak, loose and anything but
that allow educational institutions to correct or moderate the convincingly conceptualized.
influence of the long list of problems mentioned above.
Strong and professional school principals are extremely As a matter of fact, policy interventions aimed directly at
scarce. Vocal and demanding parent associations or sur- influencing teacher careers and quality constitute, with the
rounding communities are the exception rather than the rule, exception of the field of training, a relatively underdeveloped
and the institutional arrangement that could give them a real field of education. Indeed, many education projects and poli-
influence on school affairs is even more exceptional. Public cies can be read as deliberate attempts at fixing a long list of
information about the performance of the system, at the problems in education systems – ranging all the way from
service of decision-making by either authorities or users is infrastructure to information technology – with the exception
non-existent or poorly collected and disseminated. Effective of those directly dealing with the way teachers work and
pedagogical support is absent and strong training institutions behave within the system. Important reforms in several de-
remain the exception. Professional traditions and culture are veloping countries explicitly seek to improve the quality of
too young and poorly implanted. Pure and simple resources, the teaching force through interventions promoting parental
materials and infrastructure are highly deficient. involvement in the schools, assessment testing or better
school management. It is hoped that accountability will be
It is easy to understand why securing teacher attendance at a enhanced, stakeholders will be mobilized and the day to day
level compatible with the mandatory number of days of functioning of the education institutions will be made more
classes established in the law is still a challenge for quite a responsive and efficient. Yet, more often than not, they avoid
few countries. (See in this issue of TechKnowLogia, "Do tackling head on the distorted rules and practices governing
You Know Where Your Teachers and Schools Are?") This is who becomes a teacher and how, and how once somebody
not to mention more sophisticated objectives like putting in becomes a teacher his/her performance is evaluated and re-
place good teaching practices or adapting teaching to the warded, all of which are critical for the quality of education
particular needs of heterogeneous learners and under- delivered.
privileged pupils. Needless to say, poor children are dispro-
portionately exposed to the consequences of bad teaching. Training, the most common and uncontroversial policy
aimed at dealing with the quality of teaching, has produced
How did your organization manage to get into a situation like relatively little impact in most developing countries, particu-
this? This is an interesting question, but one you are not larly when compared with the substantial size of the invest-
paying the consultant to answer. Needless to say, in a for- ments made. Fortunately, there is now a widespread under-
ward-looking mood, the report concludes that you have a lot standing of the problems of conventional teacher training
of work to do if you want to make your teacher force more practices and plenty of innovations flourish in this field.†
productive, motivated, qualified and up to the task of pro- Allowing however for the considerable impact that improved
viding good quality education. Where do you want to start? teacher training practices could have, leaves many other in-
centive and management issues untouched.

Teacher-Related Policies Conclusion
Clearly, a multi-pronged approach is needed. One way to It is hardly necessary to insist on the key influence that the
start is by organizing teacher-related policies in two large quality of teaching has on learning. Recent research on de-
groups, aimed at influencing a corresponding pair of general terminants of learning in schools in developing countries has
and mutually reinforcing objectives. consistently found that teachers play a crucial role in student
learning (Mullens, Murnane and Willett, 1995; Hanushek
• The first group would contemplate actions directed at and Harbison, 1992). Similarly, studies in the US have es-
improving the composition of the future teaching force. tablished that differential teacher effectiveness makes a sig-
It includes stronger and radically reorganized pre-service nificant difference, clearly outweighing the influence of fac-
training programs, setting up transparent and highly pro- tors such as class size (Sanders and Rivers, 1996). One con-
fessional selection processes, putting in place certifica- sequence of this finding is the growing interest in experi-
tion mechanisms, and making the teacher career attrac- menting and evaluating different interventions in the quality
tive through better salaries, clearly-structured opportu- of teaching (Darling-Hammond, 2000).
nities for advancement, and explicit recognition of
achievement. Obviously, each country’s conditions will dictate different
combinations of policies. There is clearly no single recipe
• The second group would include actions directed at enable to accommodate what constitutes highly diverse politi-
hancing the qualifications and performance of the exist- cal, cultural and social landscape. But no matter how difficult
ing teaching force. No matter how much you improve the task of reforming the way the teaching profession is or-
pre-service training programs or implement any of the ganized, the fact remains that a substantial and lasting im-
other medium to long term measures mentioned above, provement of education in developing countries requires
you will have to work with the teacher you have for a staffing the schools with qualified teachers and putting in
long time. There is evidence that they can become better place the incentives that will allow them to perform at their
teachers if actions like the following are taken: re- best.
vamped in-service training programs, evaluation of
teacher performance, definition of standards for good
teaching, performance incentives, and adequate peda-
gogical support provided on a continuous basis and bet-
ter management at the school level. All of this requires * This article has benefited from recent IDB-sponsored re-
improving the recruiting and training of school princi- search on teacher issue in Latin America.
pals.
References
Darling-Hammond, Linda. 2000. “Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence”. Education
Policy Analysis Archives. Volume 8. No.1. January 2000.
Hanushek, Eric A. and Ralph W. Harbison. 1992. Educational Performance of the Poor: Lessons from Northeast Brazil. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Mullens, John E., Richard J. Murnane and John Willett. 1996. “The Contribution of Training and Subject Matter Knowledge to
Teaching Effectiveness: A Multilevel Analysis of Longitudinal Evidence from Belize”. Comparative Education Review. Vol.
40. No.2. pp. 139-157.
†
Details about the recent evolution of innovation in teacher training in Latin America are the subject of the paper “Teacher
Training in Latin America: Innovations and Trends,” by Juan Carlos Navarro and Aimee Verdisco (Inter-American Develop-
ment Bank). A summary of it is contained in this same issue of TechKnowLogia: "Teacher Training: What Works and What
Doesn't." Also by the same authors is another article, "Costa Rica: Teacher Training for Education Technology."

The TIMSS Video Taping Project1
Laurence Wolff, Inter-American Development Bank
US versus Japanese Classrooms
Many readers may be aware of the Third Inter- In the first place it was found that the mathematical
national Mathematics and Science Study content of the US eighth grade lessons lagged by at
least a year compared to Germany and Japan; that
(TIMSS) of the International Association for the is, the US eighth grade teachers were teaching
Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). concepts which had already been taught in seventh
This study showed that, especially in eighth and grade in Germany and Japan. But the problem was
twelfth grades, US students were far behind their worse than that, since it was found that teachers in
the US were providing fragmented, disjointed les-
competitors in Europe and the Far East in sons, especially compared to the Japanese, whose
mathematics and science achievement. The lessons were far more coherent. The typical US
few developing countries that participated in lesson presented a problem, demonstrated a proce-
dure, and then set the stage for students practicing
the program, such as Colombia and South Af- the procedure. The Japanese approach worked at a
rica, scored at the bottom. But readers may not much deeper level. The problem set the stage for
be aware that, in an effort to understand what students to work, individually or in groups, on de-
was happening in the classroom, the TIMSS re- veloping solution procedures. In quantitative
terms, in the US 96% of seatwork time was spent
searchers undertook to video-tape actual in practicing routine procedures. In contrast in
eighth grade mathematics lessons in the US, Japan, 41% of the time was spent in practice, 15%
Germany, and Japan. One hundred randomly in applying concepts, and 44% in inventing or
analyzing situations in new ways.
selected classrooms in Germany, 50 in Japan,
and 81 in the US were videotaped. Subse- The US teachers described skills that they wanted
quently, questionnaires were distributed to the their students to learn. They seemed to believe that
teachers who were videotaped. A complex mathematics was mostly a set of procedures and
the goal was to help students become proficient
coding system was adopted to identify what executors of the procedures. They regularly inter-
teachers were actually doing in their class- vened whenever students exhibited confusion or
rooms; to ensure objectivity, coders were also frustration. Individual differences among students
provided with written transcripts and descrip- were considered an obstacle to effective teaching.
The activities in each lesson were modular, with
tions of each lesson, without identifying the few connections among them. Almost one third of
country. This was the first time videotaping had US lessons were interrupted in some way. Many
been used to compare cultural differences in US teachers seemed to believe that learning
mathematical terms and practicing skills was not
teaching. The results are fascinating, but per- very exciting and acted as if student interest would
haps dismaying, for those hoping for educa- be generated only by diversions outside of mathe-
tional reform in the US. matics. They often tried to jazz up the lesson by
being entertaining or even talking about other
subjects.

…it was found that the Lessons for Educational Reform
mathematical content of
the US eighth grade Based on the videotaping, subsequent interviews, and the
lessons lagged by at experience of professional development in Japan, the les-
least a year compared sons for educational reform are as follows:
to Germany and Japan. 1. expect and seek continuous but incremental improve-
ment;
2. focus on student learning goals;
Japanese teachers acted as if mathematics was a set of rela- 3. focus on teaching, not teachers (e.g., providing teachers
tionships between concepts, facts and procedures. These with masters or even doctorates may not change how
relationships were revealed by developing a variety of solu- they operate in the classroom);
tion methods to problems, studying and refining the meth- 4. make improvement the continuous work of teachers;
ods, and talking explicitly about these relationships. In the and
course of a lesson, students were allowed to make mistakes 5. build a system that can learn from its own experience.
and then examine the consequences, and rarely would a
teacher show students how to solve a problem midway To ensure that these changes can happen, the school must
through the lesson. Japanese teachers believed that individ- be restructured as a place where teachers can learn. In par-
ual differences were a resource because they provided a ticular the concept of “lesson study” undertaken by the
range of ides and solution methods for student discussions Japanese should be introduced into in-service training.
and reflection. The Japanese treated each lesson much as
one would treat a lecture in a university course or a sermon. Videotaping and Educational Change
Lessons were planned as complete experiences, as stories
with a beginning a middle, and an end. Their meaning was
in the connections between parts. They were never inter- The TIMSS videotaping study revealed profound differ-
rupted from the outside. ences in pedagogy, which deeply effect how and how much
students learn. Based on the methodology, which is in the
public domain, any country, state, or district can, through
Professional Development in Japan
videotaping of a small random sample of classrooms, ob-
jectively identify the common classroom practices of its
Nearly all Japanese schools are engaged in kounaikenshuu – educational system. For the first time a base line for start-
a continuous process of school based professional developing the critical process of real classroom change is avail-
ment, usually three-hour weekly meetings. One of the their able.
most important endeavors is “lesson study,” in which
teachers develop and implement lesson plans which are A separate article in this issue of TechKnowLogia, "Video
critiqued by other teachers. Lesson study is based on long Technology for Teacher Training: Micro-Teaching and
term continuous improvement, with a constant focus on other Adventures," shows how micro-teaching, a decades
student learning. Through kounaikenshuu, teachers feel that old method of improving teaching through videotaping, has
they are contributing to knowledge about teaching rather been a powerful but inadequately used tool for improving
than simply their own professional development. teaching. As part of the process of making the school the
center where teachers learn, videotaping can also be used
within schools, as a means of enabling teachers to critique
their colleagues’ work and, in the process, develop more
effective teaching methods.
1
Based on The Teaching Gap, by James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, 1999, The Free Press, New York; and The TIMSS
Videotape Classroom Study: Methods and findings from an exploratory research project on eight grade mathematics instruc-
tion in Germany, Japan and the United States, Washington D.C., National Center for Education Statistics, and Kleuwer Aca-
demic Publishers, Netherlands, 1999.

Do You Know Where Your Teachers and Schools Are?
Kurt Moses
Vice President, Academy for Educational Development (AED)
M a n y c o u n t r i e s i n t h e w o r l d d o n o t k n o w w h e r e t h e i r mo s t v a l u a b l e e d u c a -
t i o n a l r e s o u r c e s a re . O f t h e 2 1 0 c o u n t r i e s i n t h e w o r l d , ma n y e s t i ma t e s i n d i -
c a t e t h a t l e s s t h a n 1 /3 k n o w , d a y t o d a y , w h e r e t h e i r t e a c h e r s a re , w h a t t h e y
a r e d o i n g , a n d w h a t s c h o o l s t h e y a c t u a l l y t e a c h i n . T h i s p r o b l e m h a s b e c o me
a c u t e — b e ca u s e t e a c h e r s , a n d t h e s c h o o l s i n w h i c h t h e y t e a c h r e ma i n t h e
c e n t e r o f t h e e d u c a t i o n a l e x p e r i e n c e , p a r t i c u l a r l y a t t h e p r i ma r y a n d s e c o n -
dary sc hool le v e l, for al most e v e ry c o untry in the w o rld.
Dimensions of the “leakage” of teachers from rural schools to urban or

semi-urban areas that are not spotted or noted for many
Problem years.
Knowing where your teachers are 3. Absent Teachers. It is an all too common problem that
appears to have several components to teachers spend an inordinate amount of time dealing
it: with payroll, benefits, or leave issues by traveling to the
capital city or nearest metropolitan area to “work out
1. Ghost Teachers. Every system their personnel issues” during the working year. In one
appears to have some teachers who country, it was estimated that the average teacher spent 7
are listed on a payroll, but may no to 14 days of the already short school year (110 days) in
longer or never did exist. Some ghost the capital city dealing with one personnel issue or an-
teachers are deliberately created at the other. Estimates were that almost 10% of personnel
school or next higher level to increase costs were wasted for just this reason.
the funding to a school or District.
Some ghost teachers did exist, but are now dead or re- The second major form of absenteeism comes from
tired and no longer present in a school. The monies for teachers who have a second job, often in a private
them, however, continue to be taken for both good and school, that takes time from their public school atten-
bad purposes. The worst countries that this author has dance, and whose work day they shorten in order to gain
seen have 15% ghost teachers, but most seem to hover extra income from private sources. Countries, particu-
around 1-2%. larly in Eastern and Southern Africa, who have adopted
Universal Primary Education goals are particularly
2. Misallocated Teachers. Particularly in rural areas, prone to this problem. Other countries in Asia, where
teachers are often assigned to one location, but in fact primary level teaching salaries have fallen to almost un-
work in another; or have been seconded without formal economic levels, are also prone to this situation.
indication from teaching to administrative duty. In the
latter case, some systems have as many as 25% of their 4. Teachers Teaching Without Qualification or Outside
certified teaching force doing administrative chores (not Their Specialty. Found more at the secondary than
teaching) and others have between 10 and 15% of their primary level, as many as 1/3 of all teachers in some
teaching force not teaching, yet still listed as teachers. countries are teaching outside their specialty. In part be-
Many systems with poor rural working conditions have cause of the world-wide shortage of qualified science
! 53 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

and mathematics teachers in lower grades, many teach- fact exist and are at the qualification level and salary to
ers are teaching outside the academic areas in which which they are entitled. This exercise takes substantial
they were trained, or teaching a more advanced level of coordination and may cost up to $1 million, depending
education than that for which they are qualified. As a upon the country size, but usually identifies immediately
result, no matter the effect of the other three issues, such the most blatant “ghosts” as well as indicating those
teachers are often handicapped in their performance. teachers who are misassigned or misallocated.
5. Unknown or Unrecorded Schools. In certain countries A less expensive variation of this exercise requires that
where enrollment has grown rapidly, some public each teacher physically travel to a designated location on
schools (such as community or unregistered schools), a particular day with appropriate credentials and neces-
and many private schools are not registered or “offi- sary “bonifides” to indicate physical existence, qualifi-
cially” known about. Unregistered public schools often cations and location of work. Such an exercise typically
employ the most educated within a community, regard- takes up to six months.
less of formal preparation. Private schools sometimes
draw off the best public teachers, usually on a part-time A third option for this problem is “spot audits” con-
basis, or may provide other opportunities that turn the ducted throughout the year by a professionally reliable
public teaching career into a “sideline” occupation. group from the central auditors or Ministry inspectorate.
Some well run ministries effectively use the “spot audit”
The impact of this problem is that ministries of educa- approach to head off problems before they become so
tion become defacto ministries for public education— massive as to require a massive national effort.
not for all of national education. Their information base
and policy attention focuses almost exclusively on the 2. Misallocated Teachers. Misallocated teachers are fun-
public issues only, to the detriment of up to 25% of their damentally working at locations other than where they
national educational resource. have been officially assigned. This can be addressed
using the techniques for Solution 1 above, but also by
All the above problems have actually become worse in the requiring certification from headmasters and administra-
last two decades, in part because education has been ex- tive units regarding their staff. Some systems have in-
tended to so many more people than in the 1990s (primary sisted that teachers performing administrative duties be
and secondary enrollment worldwide has increased from paid less (thereby making it a fraud to misrepresent lo-
911.8 million in 1990 to over 1.06 billion by 1997) and many cation of work) and therefore discouraging the migration
public systems of education have simply not adapted to the of teachers from teaching to administrative duties.
increased volume of students, teachers, and curriculum com-
plexity. One of the major structural reasons that misallocation
occurs is because highly centralized personnel systems,
with long administrative processing delays (from 3
What Might Be Done? weeks to 4 months) simply are not keeping up with natu-
ral reassignments. This issue needs to be addressed
systematically with reengineering of the personnel sys-
Each of the above specific problems tem (to improve speed and accuracy), automation of per-
surrounding teachers has some sonnel functions (to improve speed and accuracy), re-
specific solutions. But, underlying training of principals and headmasters (to increase ac-
the problem is often a “lack of public countability) and decentralization of access points to
commitment to the importance of personnel records (to improve accessibility).
teaching.” In short, many countries have forgotten how
critical teachers are to the next generation, and how criti- 3. Absent Teachers. Absent teachers is perhaps the most
cal good teaching is to long-term economic well being. common and most “corrosive” part of non-performing
The political commitment to making teachers an important public school systems. Absent teachers deprive children
part of the economy and valued members of the nation pre- of education and waste the system’s most valuable re-
cedes almost all specific solutions. source. In pedagogical terms it dramatically reduces
“time on task” for the critical parts of schooling—par-
1. Ghost Teachers. Where Ghost Teachers are thought to ticularly at the elementary level. The key to reducing
be a major issue, it is best addressed by a nation-wide, absenteeism is two fold:
three day “headcount” exercise, during which teams,
typically two persons, visit every known “paypoint” and
physically verify that teachers listed on payroll sheets in

• Careful monitoring by headmasters, principals, and for more effective retraining in many of the countries of
the community leadership of teacher attendance, the developing world.
with comparable support from the administration
and community to replace, follow-through, and 5. Unknown or Unrecorded Schools. As simple as it
remedy the staffing situation at a particular school. sounds, most countries do not know how many schools
they have in operation—particularly in the early grades.
• Systematic improvement in personnel services in- While many ministries are fairly close as regards public
cluding: institutions, few know comprehensively the exact num-
ber of private schools. Many ministries are over 5 years
! Simplification of procedures and forms; behind in handling formal registration of schools, and
! Accurate record keeping to reduce errors—usu- some do not have a mechanism to record these pending
ally including automation; but uncompleted registrations. In many cases, Education
! Enforced standards for transfers and benefits; Management Information Systems (EMIS) are woefully
! Easier, closer access to personnel administra- out of date. Since the largest, single source of error in
tors who are then empowered to resolve per- enrollment reporting is school coverage (the change in
sonnel issues; numbers of schools reporting each year) these lapses are
! Constant emphasis on support to teachers in critical. In many cases, this lack of knowledge further
their teaching role—perhaps the most crucial frustrates efforts to identify where teachers are teaching.
part of this set of tasks. The approach to this is several fold:
4. Teachers Teaching Outside Their Qualification. This • A comprehensive school mapping exercise, usually
worldwide problem requires very creative efforts by all conducted over 7-12 months, during which a team
public and private school authorities. Increasingly, dis- visits each school in the country, public and private,
tance education, in-service teaching and requalification, and notes its name, unique number, level and now
and opening of access points to teaching are all tech- location (using a Global Positioning System (GPS)).
niques employed. In Africa, the Leland Initiative ef- A variation on this is to use Ministry staff to do the
forts, providing new access points to Distance Educa- same thing usually over a more extended period of
tion, holds real promise for qualifying and requalifying time, but with special attention to private and com-
teachers closer to where they work. munity schools.
Donor funded satellite teaching units, properly staffed These efforts generally require close coordination
and supported in places like Uganda have already shown with existing central EMIS databases—to ensure
an ability to affect the underqualification of the existing that field teams know what they are looking for, and
teaching force. Also, countries have begun to look seri- that they are well prepared to collaborate with local
ously at whether the older concepts of what a “qualified authorities.
teacher” needs to know still hold. Very traditional sys-
tems have placed excessive and often unnecessary re- • A second and complementary approach is to moni-
quirements on those dedicated to teaching but lacking all tor closely the responses to annual surveys on a
the necessary academic work. Efforts targeted at rural consistently maintained database of known schools.
areas such as Bangladesh’s BRAC, or Chile’s Fey y This usually needs to be supplemented by the school
Alegria have shown remarkable success with both moti- mapping exercise, if the schools database has not
vating and qualifying teachers outside the traditional been sustained. Knowing exactly who has reported
mechanisms. NGO led efforts, with proper collaboration each year, and tracking year to year the patterns of
within more formal ministry structures, have proven sig- enrollments and staffing provides a very good basis
nificant in leveraging already developed curriculum with for yearly corrections—not just one time updates.
contributed services from other organizations. Along with this, private institutions need incentives
to report. Annual surveys from ministries are often
Emerging just in the last half decade are privately lengthy, time consuming, and may bring the school
funded, “for profit” efforts to train and retrain teachers. to the attention of the tax authorities—thereby not
Using modern teaching techniques, new technology, and resulting in any measurable benefit to the school.
rigorous quality control, groups like Sylvan Learning Accordingly, response rates tend to be low. Na-
and Blackboard Inc. are now beginning teacher training tional programs that benefit students attending (such
activities on a contract basis. Many of their techniques, as Universal Primary Education grants), along with
when applied on a larger scale may hold some promise ability to participate in national honor programs,

and matching the records with the Examinations access to banking and credit services—all of which gen-
Council test sites, can often reduce the private non- erate business for the private firm. In other countries,
reporting. “smart cards” are beginning to be used as part of the
voting process.
What the Near Future 3. Wireless Telecommunications Service—even to

Holds schools. The very rapid expansion of wireless telecom-
munications, even in some of the poorest countries,
New techniques are being developed where deregulation and government liberalization has
all the time to account for personnel, taken place, offers the chance that even smaller schools
determine what they are doing, and may actually have limited access to telephone and data
make it easier to spot problems before services. Not dependent upon expensive and hard to
they become larger. Several approaches and technologies maintain copper wire, wireless service can be provided
hold promise for the future, even in countries where per cap- to many sites now for little more than the cost of the
ita expenditures per pupil are $80 to $200 per year. equipment. Fixed telephones that use wireless connec-
tions can be purchased and installed for around $200-
1. Automated Personnel and Payroll Systems. There are $300 and can give schools the chance to get supplies,
now a large number of integrated, scaleable (they work note absent teachers, and communicate their status more
in small as well as big locations), comprehensive per- rapidly than ever before. In certain limited applications,
sonnel and payroll systems with organized training. they also can be used to access the Internet, which itself
These systems can operate from provinces and districts, can serve as a less expensive way to interconnect remote
as well as in the central government and are fully sup- schools. In countries such as Nicaragua, remote, Atlan-
ported by the private sector. They hold the promise of tic coast schools are now reporting to Managua (a multi-
rapidly improving the timeliness, accuracy, and profes- hour airplane and boat ride away) on their enrollment
sionalism of personnel activities for teachers—once and staffing needs via the Internet.
governments commit to them and to the training that ac-
companies their installation. They offer a major alterna- 4. Rapid EMIS Approaches. Education Management
tive to the traditional method of slowly, laboriously, Information Systems (EMIS) have been long talked
custom programming additions to an existing central about, and various systems have been installed. In many
system and then spending years pilot testing and training countries, however, they remain a dream, not a reality.
using only government resources. New systems provide With the rapidly falling cost of equipment, much easier
a model (by how they operate) for professional services to use software, and more and more people trained on
to teachers, and other education employees that matches them, computerized EMIS can become a workable,
improvements in other sectors such as banking and manageable reality. Countries as diverse as Mozam-
communication. bique, Namibia, Thailand, Nicaragua, and Kenya are
now able to support queries to their schools multiple
2. Smart Cards. The electronic “smart card,” which con- times per year—thereby translating information from the
tains a small computer and memory chip on a card the school into support from the Districts or from the center
size of a credit card, holds the promise of inexpensively in a more rapid fashion. While information alone is not
providing both near fool proof identification of a person sufficient, many of these countries can spot teacher
(photos, fingerprints, even voice prints can be recorded shortages and see emerging needs more rapidly than
on these cards) and containing the entire employment ever before with lower costs of administration than in
record as well as credential file for each teacher. These the past. This is typically accomplished with a combi-
cards, which teachers carry with them, provide a near nation of administrative/political will, reorganization to
fool proof way to make sure that records are not lost, make the best use of talented personnel, and the assis-
modified, or “fooled” thereby complicating personnel tance of donors or allocated monies. In any case, this
matters. These cards can be generated for less than 75 new millennium means that every national government
cents each and training in their use is very rapid. In should have, as a minimum, “this year’s educational
some countries, credit card vendors have assisted gov- data, this year.”
ernments to adopt them because it simplifies increasing

Technology for Teacher Support
Gregg Jackson, Associate Professor and Coordinator
Education Policy Program, The George Washington University
How can technology be used to motivate teachers, assist Mentoring can be a powerful motivating force. To commu-
them when confronted with problems, and help them nicate with others who have shared common experiences and
become more effective? overcome similar self-doubts and frustrations can energize
people and reinforce their determination to persevere. Expe-
Considerable attention is being given to how technology rienced teachers can be assigned as mentors to new teachers.
might be used in classrooms, colleges, and universities to When good “matches” cannot be made within a school, the
facilitate the instruction and learning of students. (Many mentor can be at another school and the two can communi-
articles in prior issues of TechKnowLogia have addressed cate by telephone or by e-mail.
these concerns.) Some attention is being given to how tech-
nology can be used in the pre-service or in-service training of Motivational speakers can inspire teachers, parents, and
teachers, as indicated by several articles in this issue of even students. Their speeches can be broadcast live by radio
TechKnowLogia. Less attention has been given to how or television, allowing for some questions submitted by
technology can be used to inspire teachers, assist them with phone or e-mail. Alternatively, recordings of the speeches
the challenges of day-to-day teaching, and promote their can be played before live audiences of teachers with a ques-
lifelong professional development. This article will indicate tion and answer period at the end. The recording can be
some ways that technology can do that. See the “Worth- broadcast by radio or television. Finally, the recording can
WhileWebs” article in this issue for links to several websites be put on the Web, downloaded by schools at night (because
that provide support to teachers. such downloads are often slow), and then viewed by groups
of teachers or individuals at their convenience.
Telephones, radio, television, and the Internet all can play
useful roles in supporting teachers. While many remote Public recognition of outstanding teachers can be accom-
schools in developing countries don’t have direct access to plished through the popular media—newspapers, radio pro-
these technologies, increasing numbers do. Where references grams, television, and websites. Teachers can be chosen for
are made below to the e-mail and the Web, only a single mi- their adoption of desirable practices, instructional effective-
crocomputer with Internet access is needed in each school to ness, contributions to students’ overall development, assis-
support a substantial number of teachers in that school. tance provided to colleagues, and lifetime accomplishments.
Students, former students, parents, colleagues, and adminis-
Motivating Teachers trators can nominate the teachers. The public acknowledg-
Teaching is a relatively low-paying job in most developing ment can state the teachers’ major accomplishments, conduct
countries, and often has low status, especially at the primary interviews to reveal the secrets of the teachers’ success, or
level. Resources are often grossly inadequate, with 40-50 provide an audio or video recording of them in action.
students crammed into small spaces with insufficient num-
bers of textbooks and other basic materials. Even the most Assistance with Day-To-Day Teaching
dedicated and skilled teachers experience failure and frustra- Teachers face a daunting array of challenges in their day-to-
tion regularly as some students do not apply themselves. day teaching. Teachers encounter students with special
Moreover, teachers encounter students who are diligent but needs for which they are unprepared. Textbooks are unavail-
do not master the material, despite the best effort of their able or outdated, and the teachers have to improvise. Publi-
teachers. It is a “lonely and sometimes thankless” profession cized current events capture the attention of students but the
in which most of the work does not involve interaction with textbooks cannot take advantage of that interest. Parents
other adults. There are also few rewards for outstanding per- sometimes hinder their children’s education and sometimes
formance. Finally, increasingly teachers are being publicly make unreasonable demands on teachers. Finally, teachers
blamed for the shortcomings of the educational system and have to be jack-of-all-trades when addressing unforeseen
even national development efforts. circumstances that suddenly arise, and are often alone to deal
with the situations. Technology can help teachers with these
There are several ways in which technology can be used to challenges.
help motivate teachers.
Policies and procedures can be posted on the Web for easy
access by teachers and administrators in schools where the

printed documents have been misplaced. This also allows ties and the high costs of private ones. There are also few
revisions to be made inexpensively and distributed immedi- opportunities for career progression. Technology can bring
ately to all schools with Internet access. Furthermore, if the several lifelong professional development opportunities to
website includes an e-mail link, teachers and administrators widely dispersed teachers.
can provide feedback on the postings to the policymakers.
Guest speakers and experts can be brought to a dispersed
Resource teachers can be assigned full-time or part-time to teaching force by means of radio, television, and the Web.
advise classroom teachers about problems and best practices. The speakers can be researchers with new findings relevant
They can also prepare and provide supplemental lesson plans to education and human development, authors of relevant
to capitalize on learning opportunities created by publicized books, and high government officials.
current events. Furthermore, resource teachers can help de-
sign lesson plans and curriculum where textbooks and other Continuing education workshops and university courses
traditional sources are unavailable. The resource teacher can can be provided by radio, television, Web-based instruction
be available by phone, by e-mail, and by Web-based bulletin or by traditional correspondence courses. The focus can be
boards. Telephones are superior in facilitating two-way on expanding teachers’ understanding of subject matter con-
communication, and that allows the teachers to seek immedi- tent, extending their pedagogical skills, enhancing their
ate clarification of anything not initially understood. Where classroom management, and furthering their understanding
Internet access is available, electronic bulletin boards allow of other aspects of teaching. Since distance education deliv-
easy archiving and retrieval of prior queries and answers, and ery often is at reduced cost, larger numbers of teachers can
that can substantially reduce the number of times the re- participate.
source teachers have to respond to similar inquiries. Internet
communication, unlike telephones, facilitates the transfer of Self-examination and reflection is often considered an im-
text and graphics to and from the resource teachers. If an portant component in professional development. Technology
education system can afford more than one resource teacher, can allow teachers to hear and see themselves in action.
each can specialize by subject areas, grade levels, or other Audio recordings can be done with inexpensive tape record-
factors. ers. Video recording equipment is more expensive but can
be shared widely. It is also now possible to transmit the re-
Collegial sharing can help teachers handle day-to-day chal- cordings by Internet, so that a mentor or resource teacher
lenges. Teachers can exchange lesson plans, pedagogical located hundreds of miles away can review them and assist a
techniques, and strategies for dealing with recurring prob- teacher in interpreting them and possibly planning changes in
lems. They can also discuss the presentations of the above- teaching practices.
mentioned motivational speakers. Telephones are best at
facilitating two-way exchanges, but usually only two or a Certification is typical of professions, but often lacking for
few people can participate. Internet “lists” and Web-based teachers in developing countries. It involves demonstrating
bulletin boards allow a larger number of people to participate knowledge and skills at certain specified levels. That might
in the discussion and permit archiving and retrieval of prior be through an examination, performance assessment, portfo-
discussions. It should be noted that while collegial sharing lios of work, or expert observation of the target skills. The
can be motivating, unless it is well planned and monitored, it Internet provides opportunities for widely dispersed teachers
can also spread disgruntlement, poor lesson plans, and inef- to participate in such assessments and have a chance at
fective strategies. earning certification. It allows them to take examinations at
a distance (which can be locally proctored). It also permits
Portals can link teachers to the expanding array of lesson them to undertake performance tasks in their classroom that
plans, teacher guides, and student exercises that are being can be video recorded and then sent to distant experts for
posted on the Web by government agencies, museums, review.
NGOs, and other organizations. A portal site not only finds
and links to these other sites, but also provides a special di- Conclusion
rectory or search engine to help users find what they want Teaching is a tough job and teachers deserve support. Tech-
and avoid the rest. nologies can help provide such support. There are new pos-
sibilities for new technologies like the Internet and Web,
Lifelong Professional Development which incorporate and extend the scope of older technolo-
Teachers in developing countries have few opportunities for gies. Taken together, these technologies can help motivate
professional development. Many are isolated in rural areas. and empower teachers, assist them with their day-to-day
Except for some major initiatives to upgrade teachers, few situations, provide avenues for lifelong professional devel-
formal continuing education opportunities are provided. The opment, and in short, can enrich teachers' work lives and
pursuit of advanced degrees—masters and doctoral de- enhance their effectiveness.
grees—is rare because of the constraints on public universi-

Upcoming Events: Conferences, Seminars, Exhibits, etc….
NOVEMBER 8 - 11, 2000 NOVEMBER 18 - 21, 2000

Nat'l Assoc. for the Education of Young Children TIES (Technology & Information Educational Serv-
Atlanta, Georgia, USA ices) Conference
http://www.naeyc.org/conferences/annual/2000/zocalo.htm Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
http://www.ties.k12.mn.us/ties2000/
NOVEMBER 8 - 11, 2000
Connected Classroom Conference NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 1, 2000
Anaheim, California, USA Online Educa Berlin 2000 - 6th International Confer-
http://www.classroom.com/conferences/info/anaheim/overvi ence And Exhibition On Technology Supported
ew.asp Learning And Training
Berlin, Germany
NOVEMBER 9 - 10, 2000 http://www.online-educa.com/
Business to Education Technology Summit
Vienna, Virginia, USA NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 1, 2000
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Houston, Texas, USA
NOVEMBER 9 - 11, 2000 http://www.classroom.com/conferences/info/houston/overvie
Fall 2000 Computer Using Educators Conference: w.asp
"Bridging the Digital Divide"
Sacramento, California, USA DECEMBER 4 - 6, 2000
http://www.cue.org/ International Workshop on Advanced Learning
Technologies (IWALT2000)
NOVEMBER 12 - 15, 2000 Palmerston North, New Zealand
TechLearn 2000 http://lttf.ieee.org/iwalt2000/
Orlando, Florida, USA
http://www.masie.com/tl2000.htm DECEMBER 5 - 8, 2000
TeleCon 2000 Conference & Expo
NOVEMBER 13 - 14, 2000 Anaheim, California, USA
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San Antonio, Texas, USA
http://www.eschoolnews.org/gf/nov/ DECEMBER 6 - 8, 2000
CEO Technology Institute Conference
NOVEMBER 15 - 18, 2000 Mountain View, California USA
2000 Conference on Information Technology http://www.techedevents.org/ceo/docs/silicon_about.htm
Anaheim, California, USA
http://www.league.org/cit2000/default.asp DECEMBER 6 - 8, 2000
Planning and Using Distance Learning Space
NOVEMBER 16 - 19, 2000 Madison, Wisconsin, USA
European Council of International Schools http://epdweb.engr.wisc.edu/brochures/9370.html
Annual Conference, Exhibition & General Meeting
Nice, France
http://www.ecis.org/

DECEMBER 12 - 15, 2000 Orlando, Florida, USA
Session on: "Reusability in web-based educational http://www.aasa.org/nce/
systems" in the International ICSC Congress on
INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS & APPLICATIONS FEBRUARY 20 - 21, 2001
(ISA'2000) Symposium on INTERACTIVE & Connected Classroom Conference
COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING (ICC'2000) Washington, DC, USA
University of Wollongong, NSW Australia http://www.classroom.com/conferences/info/overview.asp
http://ifets.massey.ac.nz/icc2000/cfp.html
FEBRUARY 20 - 22, 2001
JANUARY 9 - 11 , 2001 Consortium for School Networking K12 Networking
International Conference on Teacher Education 6th Annual Conference
Manila, Philippines Washington, DC, USA
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JANUARY 23 - 26, 2001 MARCH 3 - 6, 2001

8TH Annual International Distance Education Conf. International Conference on Math/Science Education
Austin, Texas, USA & Technology
http://www.cdlr.tamu.edu/dec_2001/index2001.htm Orlando, Florida, USA
http://www.aace.org/conf/mset/
JANUARY 25 - 27, 2001
19th Annual International Conference MARCH 5 - 10, 2001
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San Francisco, California, USA cation
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http://www.aace.org/conf/site/
JANUARY 28 - 30, 2001
National Learning Infrastructure Initiative MARCH 6 - 7, 2001
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Connected Classroom Conference
http://www.educause.edu/nlii/meetings/orleans2001/ New York, New York, USA
http://www.classroom.com/conferences/info/overview.asp
FEBRUARY 4 - 8, 2001
Online Corporate University Week MAY 10 - 13 , 2001
http://www.cuweek.com/ Our Children the Future - Early Childhood Confer-
ence 2001
FEBRUARY 16 - 18, 2001 Adelaide, South Australia
The National Conference on Education http://www.nexus.edu.au/T_D/train.html
American Association of School Administrators
If you have a conference, seminar, exhibit, etc. coming up, send it to us

for listing in "On the Move".
To Advertise your conferences, seminars, exhibits,

and training courses, go to the "How to Advertise" section on the
TechKnowLogia home page, found at: www.techknowlogia.org.

Will Voice Portals Speak to Consumers?
Editorial Staff
Corel
As if being connected by mobile phone or Internet at work, Reykjavik from the gym, but do most people really need the
school, home, the supermarket and everywhere else weren’t constant connectivity afforded by VPs? Probably not. How-
enough, there are now dozens of companies who want to ever, millions of cell phones are being purchased each year,
help people connect to the Internet through mobile phones and nearly all of the latest phones are Internet-ready, which
using voice portal (VP) technology. VPs are being hyped as in theory makes for millions of potential customers.
the next wave in mobile Internet. They are designed to give
personalized information using special voice recognition Many companies are interested in VPs because according to
software. It is possible, for example, to dial into your voice a recent report by Analysys, mobile commerce (or m-
provider and say “stock quotes,” and receive a listing of commerce) is expected to reach over $13 billion worldwide
stocks in your portfolio through your mobile phone. It is also with over 1 billion users by 2003. In Japan, Scandinavia and
possible to make restaurant reservations, receive and send even China, mobile penetration is increasing rapidly to create
short emails, make online purchases, check the latest news, a dynamic global market. But despite ambitious predictions
confirm a meeting time and get directions. and worldwide popularity, the mobile revolution has fallen
somewhat short of expectations and hype. Even veteran mo-
The VP concept is similar to a standard Internet portal, of- bile companies like Motorola have scaled back their latest
fering an array of basic financial, entertainment and tech growth projections to more realistic levels.
services. VPs have attracted serious attention from large
companies like Yahoo!, Lycos, Excite, America Online, Ora- Many analysts predict the mobile phone will be the primary
cle, Palm, Sun and Netscape, and from smaller startups like source of communication someday, bringing together voice,
BeVocal, Quack.com, TelSurf and Tellme. Many of these Internet and PC data into one handset. Others see mobile as a
companies have teamed up for joint VP ventures. America way of bypassing some of the obstacles created by the “digi-
Online just acquired Quack.com for its VP software exper- tal divide,” primarily in terms of infrastructure, access and
tise, and Yahoo! and Lycos both recently debuted VPs. In the affordability. However, even the most advanced mobile de-
PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) field, Palm is now working vices are limited by their tiny screens and, consequently,
with a company called SpeechWorks to adapt voice recogni- cannot manage the content and graphics that a PC can. Addi-
tion software to retrieve and update information from a Palm tionally, voice recognition technology is still in its infancy,
device using a mobile phone. so VP users may find themselves repeating words three or
four times before their commands are recognized.
The VP system is based on voice recognition software,
which essentially converts spoken words into digital mes- It is likely there will be increased talk of voice commerce (v-
sages that are then coded. When the coded word is recog- commerce) over the next few years because of VPs. As more
nized, the software enables certain transactions to occur such players enter the VP market, the natural mechanisms of com-
as activation of a choice on a menu. At this time, the VP petition should spur better products, lower prices and wider
technology is still limited in its ability to “understand” appeal. The technology is in place and is being used, but it
words, so it often requires people to use specific sets of remains to be seen how popular VPs will become. Who
words that the VP service recommends. knows? It might not be long before it is commonplace to dial
your VP and say, “Yes, I’d like to check my dotcom stocks
So, there is the capacity to order a new shirt from the Gap through my Palm VII using my wireless phone…please.”
while sitting in traffic or to check the latest weather in
Sources: http://www.totaltele.com/view.asp?ArticleID=26481&Pub=CWI&Catego
http://www.totaltele.com/view.asp?articleID=28448&Pub=TT&categoryi ryID=705
d=626&kw=voice+portals http://www.techweb.com/wire/finance/story/INV20001019S0014
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm?term=V-Commerce
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32839-2000Sep28.html

Handheld Computers: Which One?
Editorial Staff
The word today in information technology is anything “mo- Color display.

display The more complex the applications, the more
bile.” Nothing exemplifies more elegantly the synthesis of color will make a difference. Color screens add at least $100
mobility and advanced computing than handheld computers to the cost for most models.
(often called pocket PCs). The top models are capable of
amazing color graphics, managing large amounts of data, Internal or external modem.
modem Need to be constantly con-
voice recording and prêt-à-porter wireless modems. Plus nected? Wireless modem attachments can be expensive
handhelds are great fun, even for the most serious egghead. ($300-500), but wired ones are more reasonable ($100). Be
The competition in the handheld market is intense. Compa- sure to factor in monthly charges for wireless modem service
nies are constantly generating new models with added capa- as well.
bilities, but the rapid changes can sometimes be downright
confusing to the average consumer. Expansion capability.
capability If accessories like detachable
keyboards are important to you, be sure that the device has
Decisions, Decisions! ample expansion slots to meet your needs.
When thinking about purchasing a handheld, the best way to Compatibility.

Compatibilit Does the operating system (OS) on your new
narrow down the field is to realistically assess your lifestyle. device work with the OS of coworkers, friends and your
Do you, like most of us, spend the day tethered to a PC in an other PC systems?
office setting that is already equipped with email and Inter-
net? Or are you on the road a few days out of the week, Software.
Software Is it critical to receive emails with attachments,
rushing in and out of airports? Consider all the forms of write Word documents or have other specialized software?
communication you use, including phone, email and fax, and Does the device run Palm or Microsoft Pocket PC OS? How
then assess what gaps a handheld would really satisfy your does that work with your PC system?
communications needs. It is important to get a sense of
where the device “belongs” in your daily life. On that basis, Other key factors to consider include amount of battery use
you need to decide on what features are important and assess (for cost and environmental concerns), appearance, warran-
the financial and technical implications. Here are some of the ties and facility of installation, upgrades and maintenance. Of
key device features: course price is often the final determinant, so many compa-
nies have payment plans to ease the financial burden of the
pricier models.
A Handheld Above The Rest

Although by no means exhaustive, the list below summarizes seven top handheld computers on the market, as compiled by
ZDNet Reviews, which should provide an overall sense of the choices available in handhelds:
Casio Cassiopeia E-115 (600$). The E-115 has the capacity to display an amazing 64,000 colors. It possesses 32
MB RAM, a 131 MHz processor, uses Microsoft’s Pocket PC system and weighs about 9oz. Its design is
somewhat awkward and bottom-heavy, and it is not capable of wireless connectivity bundles like many of its
competitors. However, the E-115 does have the option to attach a digital camera component ($300).
http://www.casio-usa.com/

Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC ($500). True to Compaq’s signature lines, this is one of the classiest designs on the
market. It is on average $100 cheaper than most handhelds, but has similar specifications such as 32 MB
RAM, 206 MHz processing speed and has a color screen (but only supports 4,000 colors). Most reviews rave
about its clarity of color and versatile screen lighting. The main drawback about the iPAQ is that it does not
come with an expansion portal, so an extra expansion package must be purchased.
http://www5.compaq.com/products/handhelds/
HP Jornada 545 ($500). The Jornada is a sleek model that features more software options than many of
its peers. It uses Microsoft’s Pocket PC OS, which offers an alternative to the Palm OS. The Jornada is
often recommended for office use because it relies heavily on the MS system and has good software for
settings and configuration. It supports 4,000 colors, has 16 MB RAM and 133 MHz processing speed.
http://www.hp.com/jornada
Handspring Visor Deluxe ($250). One is immediately struck by the Visor’s translucent casing, which is
quite distinctive. The Visor has 8 MB RAM, 16 MHz processing speed and a monochrome display. The
interesting feature about the Visor is that any Springboard extension such as a digital camera or modem
can work automatically with the device. Springboard expansions for the Visor are expected to bring MP3
(sound technology), voice recording and GPS (Global Positioning System) soon.
http://www.handspring.com/
Palm IIIc ($450). The first Palm to boast a color screen, the IIIc is similar to the Handspring Vi-
sor, but at much greater cost. It features 8 MB RAM, a 20 MHz processor and a color screen,
which unfortunately uses batteries quickly. It is compatible will all Palm attachments and receives
high ratings from users for facility of use. http://www.palm.com/
Palm Vx ($400). The Palm Vx, when equipped with its OmniSky Option ($300 for the device,
$39.99/month for service), is one of the best wireless computers on the market. The OmniSky
system offers broad content that allows users to access travel, weather, email and other web in-
formation from most major cities. The Vx also has a slender look and sharp pewter-colored casing. It comes with 8MB RAM
and a 20 MHz processor, but does not have a color screen.
Palm VII ($450). The Palm VII is considered one of the easiest wireless devices to use and features some of the best integrated
access technology. Although the VII offers excellent web browsing, it will not be like PC browsing since there is only limited
access to standard HTML sites. It has 2 MB RAM, 16 MHz processing speed and a monochrome screen. It is compatible with
all Palm software and accessories.
Psion Diamond Mako (or Psion Revo Plus in Europe) ($400). Psion’s Mako is a European invention. It
uses Symbian’s EPOC OS software instead of the usual Palm or Microsoft OS. The Mako is a light de-
vice, weighing less than the Cassiopeia E-115 or the HP Jornada. It has 16 MB RAM and a 36 MHz
processor. The Mako is distinct with its fold out structure (like a book) that features a keyboard for easy
data entry, rather than the clamshell style that is popular in the U.S. With the proper attachment, the
EPOC system is capable of extensive web browsing, but it is difficult to find EPOC versions of applica-
tions in the many handheld-focused web sites like Vindigo or AvantGo. http://www.psioninc.com/
Choose Based on What Is Practical

The amount of information to digest is immense when comparison-shopping for handhelds. Few people truly understand the
technical applications and often end up being swayed by aesthetic factors like color screens or hip packaging. It is important to
remember the critical functional purposes you want the handheld to serve. If you are armed with that basic knowledge, choice
of the right handheld computer should be a snap.
Sources:
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2603786,00.html (and links for each device)
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2639590,00.html

Web Supports for Teachers
There are thousands of websites for educators.

This issue’s WorthWhileWebs will focus only on
websites that are intended to
provide assistance to a wide
range of teachers in their
day-to-day classroom
work. It will not cover those sites that are part of
formal training programs or part of specific
curriculums that are supplemented with Web
resources. It will also not cover websites intended for use by all students in
a class, since most schools in developing countries do not have the Internet
access needed for that.
To make use of these sites, teachers need only occasional use of a modern microcom-
puter with Internet access. The sites have been selected to illustrate the variety of sup-
ports that can be provided to teachers through the Web. Although most of the sites are in
English, they serve as models of the types of resources that could be prepared to serve
other language groups.
One warning is in order. Many of these sites are not selective. They include superb re-
sources, mediocre ones, and ineffective ones.
Selected by Gregg Jackson and Nina de las Alas, The George Washington University
LESSON PLANS AND TEACHING GUIDES
Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)

http://thegateway.org
This U.S. Government sponsored site is a portal to lesson plans and teacher guides available on various federal, state, univer-
sity, non-profit, and commercial Internet sites. The user can search by general subjects (such as “science”), specific subjects
(such as “biology”), and by various key words. The search results provide a brief abstract of the materials. The user can also
click on a more detailed description including the grade level of a material, the type of pedagogy used, national curriculum
standards that may be addressed by the material, the source, and the cost (most are free but some require payment of a fee.)
There is also a link to the website where the materials can be found.

Science Learning Network
http://www.sln.org
A consortium of twelve science museums around the globe is producing high quality inquiry-based k-6 science learning mod-
ules that are made available through this site. The topics tend to be related to current events or otherwise of interest of stu-
dents. Some of the modules can only be used interactively on the Web, but others can be used in classrooms.
Eisenhower Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC)

http://www.enc.org
This U.S. Government sponsored organization has the mission of identifying effective math and science curriculum materials,
creating high-quality professional development materials for teachers of math and science, and disseminating those resources
to teachers, parents, and students. Users can search materials by subject, grade level, and cost. The online description of each
material includes the instructional philosophy, the intended audience, sometimes-evaluative information, the publisher, and a
link to publisher’s Web site.
TESL: Lessons
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/links/TESL/Lessons
Resources for Students and Teachers of French as a Second Language
http://www.uottawa.ca/~weinberg/french.html
These sites link to lesson plans, exercises, and other resources for teaching languages to non-native speakers.
PBS Teacher Source

http://www.pbs.org/teachersource
This site is operated by the public radio and television system of the United States. It offers lesson plans and teacher guides to
accompany some of its television programs. The programs are expected to engage the students and the lessons and activities
are intended to extend their learning. Many of the TV programs are available on videocassette, and a few are re-broadcast a
few years later.
Internet CNN Newsroom

http://www.nmis.org/NewsInteractive/CNN/Newsroom/contents.html
CNN is a cable television station. It created this website to summarize the news stories of each day and provide teachers with
activities that they can use to have students think about the causes and consequences of current events. This service is no
longer being provided, but the site remains on the Web with the postings for more than a year of daily news stories.

OTHER SUPPORTS
British Columbia Ministry of Education:

Special Education On-Line Documents
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/docs.htm
This government-operated site provides a wide range of resources for teachers having students with special needs. It includes
government policies for such students, a review of special education provisions in this province of Canada, and resource guides
for teachers on each of several kinds of special need students (blind, deaf, gifted, etc.).
Bad Science
http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/BadScience.html
This site attempts to counter common misconceptions of well-established scientific knowledge. It links to several other sites
with the same purpose. There is a condescending tone in the home page, which is not likely to encourage many teachers to
continue reading the rather dense discussions. Nevertheless, cognitive science has well established that pre-existing miscon-
ceptions are high hurdles to correct understanding unless countered directly. So sites like this one, better executed, could be
useful tools in teacher training and in-service development.
Teachers.Net
http://www.teachers.net
This site offers a broad array of services for teachers including live “chats” with prominent authors of education-related books,
chat boards for teachers to exchange ideas, job announcements, as well as lesson plans and publications. The home page has
been visited by more than 3 million people since 1996. There are affiliated websites in the United Kingdom, Australia, and
Canada.
Teachers Helping Teachers

http://www.pacificnet.net/~mandel
This is mostly a self-help site for teachers. They can post questions asking for guidance from other teachers and share lesson
plans and classroom management strategies. More than 2 million people have visited the homepage of this site since it was
established in 1995.
Ask Dr. Math

http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/dr-math.html
This site uses hundreds of volunteer college math majors to answer questions from high school teachers of mathematics and
their students. The questions and answers are archived in a searchable database.

E-Sign on the Dotted Line…
Editorial Staff
On October 1, 2000, the new “Electronic Signatures in E-signatures will have an impact on the management of the
Global and National Commerce Act” (or the E-Signature education enterprise. In large national systems, going into
Law) took effect in the United States. Supporters of the new secure electronic transactions between the center and the
law hope that eventually e-signatures will be commonplace provinces, and between headquarters and schools can save
for such documents as home loans, mortgages and some le- much in money and time. These transactions may include
gal contracts. In fact, President Clinton signed the E- personnel decisions, directives, and management communi-
signature Law using both handwritten and digital “smart cations. Online testing and evaluation is another area that
card” signatures. Other world leaders such as Philippines may be enhanced by encryption technology.
President Joseph Estrada and Irish Prime Minister Bertie
Ahern have also signed legislation using e-signatures over E-signatures offer attractive cost-saving benefits, but there
the past year. are also legitimate security concerns about the misuse of pri-
vate information, hackers and computer viruses. For in-
E-signatures are a form of encryption technology. Encryp- stance, some privacy advocates worry governments or corpo-
tion technology provides security for electronic transactions rations will use e-signature information to create profiles
using principles similar to the PIN codes we use to access about private citizens without their consent. If a nefarious
private online records or cash at an ATM. The e-signature third party gains access to someone’s private key (for exam-
process begins when a person sends a message such as an ple by extracting a saved key from an insecure hard drive),
email or credit card number via the key could easily be used
electronic means. The message to impersonate someone or
undergoes what is called commit fraud. Concerns have
“hashing,” which is a mathe- also been raised about stan-
matical function that reduces dardization issues of the
the message to a unique hash public key technologies
value. If that code is altered in across borders and the ability
any way during the entire proc- of e-signatures to withstand
ess, a different code would be scrutiny in international court
assigned that would automati- cases.2
cally invalidate the original www.abcnews.com
message. At the same time, the Many analysts feel it is likely
sender enters a private key (similar to a PIN), often provided that e-signatures will gain wider use in daily life, government
by a trusted third-party authentication source such as a bank and business. With the passage of important laws like the
or security firm. U.S. E-Signature Law, many countries are becoming aware
of the global importance of e-signature and encryption tech-
The actual e-signature is generated by a combination of the nology. For example, the EU, India, the Czech Republic and
message, the hash and the private key, which are then com- Thailand all passed landmark e-signature legislation this
bined with a public key at the recipient end. Powerful soft- year. At this time, however, only a handful of countries have
ware creates a new hash value for the incoming message to laws or distinct policies concerning encryption software ap-
check if it has been altered in any way. Even though the plications, e-signatures or data privacy. Given the sensitive
public and private keys are mathematically associated, it is security issues surrounding e-signatures, it will be necessary
nearly impossible to decode one using the other. If the origi- that people develop trust (on a global level) in encryption
nal hash and the new hash match, then the message is re- technologies before “e-signing on the dotted line” becomes
ceived as an authentic e-signature from the sender and the as standard in business as a handshake and a smile.
transaction is executed.1
Sources:
Many banks, insurance companies and financial firms hope
1
that e-signatures will encourage advances in the online serv- http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/Geek/geek001006.html;
ices market and reduce laborious contract filing procedures, http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/digitalsignatures00
which currently employ less efficient manual procedures for 0628.html
2
processing. There are also predictions that e-signatures could
help revolutionize efficiency in the business-to-business http://www.totaltele.com/view.asp?ArticleID=29019&Pub=CWI&
CategoryID=705
marketplace once they gain broader acceptance.

Just Click and Sniff
Tressa Steffen Gipe ©Corel
Right now there are companies plotting to win over your steering wheel to test for ethanol secretions from the palms to
nose. These companies covet your nose like web designers establish if a person is above the legal limit for alcohol
covet "eyeballs," like radio DJs clamor for listeners and like consumption.
fast food chains vie for taste buds. But the battle for your
nose is not coming from the corner bakery or the French At the moment, it is unlikely that many people will rush out
perfumery; it is coming from companies who want to put to purchase expensive scent technology components for their
scent technologies into your computer so you can not only computers or videogame systems. Some analysts feel that
see and hear the Internet, but smell it too. It is easy to dismiss the devices will be marketable only if they become cheap
the idea at first blush, but serious research and development enough to be standard equipment on computers (this would
is being channeled into the notion that people will one day also require strong interest from the big computer
want realistic smells to enhance online shopping, manufacturers). However, the standard use of scent
videogaming and virtual reality experiences. technology is not an entirely far-fetched notion. Not long
ago internal high-speed modems, CD-ROMs and even
Companies like AromaJet, DigitScents Inc., and TriSenx Internet packages were considered luxuries; now they are
have been pioneers in the smell technology market. Recently basic apparatus on nearly every computer system.
AromaJet announced the creation of Pinoke, a micro-jet Consumers have also come to expect constant innovation and
technology that releases scents at appropriate times in improvement upon old technologies, creating a fickle market
synchrony with events on a videogame screen. DigiScents for gadgetry and “must have” gizmos. It is possible that
also has developed “scent-enabled content” through its scent technologies could eventually reach mainstream
iSmell emulator, which uses a special ScentWare software to markets if the demand can be cultivated.
simulate the smell of the beach, a cave or even weather
changes during a videogame. To create the scents, software The people at TriSenx, DigiScents and AromaJet want to
is coded to select and release a predetermined percentage of give you a holistic computer experience through scent
fragrance molecules at the moment when, say, a videogame technologies. There is even work underway to add taste
character is facing a fire-breathing dragon or running through (gustatory) and touch (tactile) sensation for the fullest
a primeval forest. The actual scents are usually water-based computer experience possible.
molecules similar to the chemicals used in popular synthetic
flavors like strawberry, grape, bubble gum or even buttered These developments have dramatic implications for the
popcorn. education domain. Computers bring the world, vicariously,
to the immediate realm of the learner. Also computer
Naturally, marketing concepts have sprung up around scent programs help in simulating real life situations and allow
technologies. For instance, the e-commerce kiosk would be manipulation of variables and treatments - like science
an interactive device to allow a person to select various experiments and operation of machines. So far, we have been
"fragrance nodes" that would then combine the proper scents limiting these experiences to audio and visual dimensions.
from the nodes to create the desired fragrance. A person Adding smell brings us closer to replicating reality and
could click on a sample of perfume and a mixture of adding authenticity to simulations -- imagine, with your
sandalwood, musk and citron could be released to create a nose, virtual chemistry experiments or a virtual field trip to a
customized scent. botanical garden.
Companies like AromaJet also foresee more humanitarian Sources:

applications of scent technologies. For example, AromaJet http://www.trisenx.com/
asserts that scent technologies can be used to diagnose http://www.aromajet.com/
olfactory deficits often manifested in degenerative diseases http://www.digiscents.com
such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s. TriSenx http://www.popsci.com/news/05012000_scratchnsniff.html
is also working on a device that would be mounted atop the

Teacher Training with Technology:
Experience in five country programs
Mary Fontaine, The LearnLink Project
Academy for Educational Development
In collaboration with USAID missions and education leaders in five countries,

LearnLink1 is implementing computer-mediated professional development
(CMPD) activities that take advantage of the potential of information and commu-
nication technologies to improve training and support services for teachers. Be-
cause the activities are relatively new, longitudinal data on results and impact are
not yet available. However, summaries of these activities demonstrate the kinds
of applications that can be designed for pre- and in-service teacher training in
particular and provide broad and ongoing professional development opportuni-
ties for teachers in general.
…in Guatemala
Home to 22 indigenous Mayan cultures, Guatemala is multi-
ethnic, multicultural, and multilingual, with nearly 40 per-
cent of children starting school without a productive knowl-
edge of Spanish. Yet only 12 percent of schools are bilin-
gual. This linguistic and cultural mismatch is particularly
pronounced in certain provinces, or “departments” as they
are known in Guatemala, like Quiché, where 95 percent of
the population is indigenous.
Typically, teachers working in areas with large indigenous

populations possess limited local language skills—many
speak the local language but are not literate in reading or
writing—and are essentially ill-prepared to teach Mayan
children in their own languages. Opportunities for training
are also inadequate, particularly in the areas of active learn-
ing and intercultural understanding.
Students working on their teaching diploma in Santa
To help bridge the gap between home and school, Guate- Cruz del Quiché,Guatemala
mala's teacher training institutions need to strengthen in-
This includes the digital formatting of a set of core
struction in Mayan language literacy and cultural concepts,
K'iche' and Ixil Mayan language materials. LearnLink is
first and second language learning and bilingual pedagogy,
working with local groups to collect, translate, enhance,
multigrade teaching methods, and cultural sensitivity.
and digitize materials such as teacher guides, instruc-
tional units, pamphlets, maps, booklets, workbooks, and
Focusing on the Department of Quiché, an area severely af-
manuals.
fected by decades of armed conflict, LearnLink is assisting
the Ministry of Education by helping to develop the follow- • Teacher's professional skills and proficiency in oral
ing: and written Mayan languages.
LearnLink is purchasing the necessary equipment and
installing multimedia computer labs in four teacher
• Culturally appropriate Mayan language instructional
training schools (escuelas normales) in the region, as
support materials.
well as producing educational materials for bilingual

teacher preparation, including an interactive multimedia • By using these technologies professionally, the partici-
system on CD-ROM to train teachers in oral and written pating teachers will be well equipped to translate their
K'iche' and Ixil. use into their work in the classroom;
• Early childhood activities to enhance learning. • The project will be able to demonstrate to the wider de-
After researching and collecting K'iche' and Ixil lan- velopment audience how electronic networks and com-
guage materials, LearnLink will produce radio programs munication technologies can enhance project impact.
that will be provided to local stations. • Working asynchronously with the help of networking
• Institutional capacity in computer applications for technologies will allow the project to engage the serv-
teacher training schools and communities. ices of professionals in a cost-effective way.
LearnLink will train trainers to use the computer labs. In
addition, training will be provided for the Departmental Leveraging the potential of available, low-cost electronic
Directorate of Education staff to increase their effective- networking technologies, the CATT project hopes to create
ness in the use of software, email, and the Internet. dynamic learning environments that will enable – and en-
courage – teachers, trainers, and staff at the Ministry to en-
gage in substantive collaboration that will result in better
…in Morocco teaching and learning in Moroccan primary schools. The
The Computer Assisted Teacher Training (CATT) Project CATT project will support the Ministry’s initiative to intro-
assists the Ministry of National Education in its effort to duce the use of computers throughout the education system
build teacher training and support capacities for primary edu- by 2008. By using technology in their own training, teachers
cators in five Moroccan provinces: Sidi Kacem, Ouarzazate, also will be better able to prepare their students to use com-
Errachidia, Al-Hoceima, and Essaouira. Working within the puters in the classroom.
Centre de Formation des Instituteurs (CFIs), or teacher
training institutes in each province, the project has four pri- …in Namibia
mary objectives:
Since its independence in 1990, Namibia has been committed
• Providing the CFIs with learning technologies and to the removal of the last vestiges of apartheid’s social and
appropriate pre-service and in-service training in economic policies. However, high student failure rates, un-
their use; employment, population growth rates, and the menacing in-
cidence of HIV/AIDS persist as major development chal-
• Developing communications networks to facilitate
lenges.
the work of the teacher trainees, teacher trainers,
and inspectors, as well as collaboration and infor-
Namibia’s Ministry of Basic Education and Culture
mation sharing among peers across the provinces;
(MBEC), its National Institute for Educational Development
• Building local education technology capacity
(NIED), and donors are working to improve the education
through the development of frameworks for "Master
sector overall. Within this arena, teacher training ranks high
Information Teachers" who will sustain local devel-
on the list. Currently, teacher education and qualifications
opment of learning technologies; and
are uneven across regions, and existing teacher training
• Contributing to national policy discussions on the methods are inadequate for dealing with these disparities.
use of learning technologies in education. The great distances between schools, training centers, and
colleges of education add to the difficulties teachers face in
To promote familiarity with the ICTs, much of the training gaining some training, inadequate though it may be.
and project monitoring will be done via the World Wide
Web, and Internet-teleconferencing software will be intro- The Computer Assisted Teacher Training (CATT) project is
duced in each of the centers to facilitate interaction with ad- a part of a greater plan to improve teacher training nation-
visors. wide. A collaboration among USAID/Namibia,
AED/LearnLink, and educational leaders in Namibia, the
The project was designed to achieve a host of desirable re- project includes the following components:
sults, including the following:
• Developing computer-assisted training courses for
• Education technology and distance learning proficiency teachers and other educators;
will be reinforced through hands-on use.
• Constructing a communications network linking educa-
• Ongoing and sustained communication and collabora- tors to NIED through the Internet and other technolo-
tion among project staff, Ministry officials, teachers, gies;
and teacher trainers will enable durable professional
• Designing prototype curriculum-based training materials
relationships to develop that will facilitate broad rang-
for primary school students;
ing capacity building.

• Training and helping to integrate “Master Information …in Brazil
Teachers” into the administrative structure of the MBEC LTNet – the US-Brazil Learning Technologies Network
and NIED as champions of teaching/learning technolo- (http://www.LTNet.org) – is an Internet-based learning envi-
gies; and ronment and clearinghouse on the ever-expanding role of
• Introducing teaching/learning technology concepts into ICTs in education, as well as a means of enabling interactive
the national policy dialogue. collaboration among educators in the US and Brazil. Bilin-
gual in English and Portuguese, LTNet provides Brazilian
…in Uganda and US educators with access to information about com-
The CONNECT-ED (Connectivity for Educator Develop- puter-assisted learning and efforts to effectively integrate the
ment) project is designed to improve professional develop- use of technology in teaching and learning. LTNet also pres-
ment for primary school teachers, with a focus on computer ents information on Brazil’s ProInfo program, a bold effort
assisted teacher-training. to integrate computers into schools throughout the country.
The website includes:
Through newly created multimedia teacher training laborato-
ries in four Primary Teacher Training Colleges (PTCs), lo- • a virtual library containing reviewed articles, many of
cated in both rural and urban areas, teachers have access to which have been abstracted, as well as a means by which
their training curriculum through computer-mediated learn- users can submit new articles;
ing environments and digital library resources. A broad • a SchoolLinks program that promotes professional col-
range of activities involving computers and connectivity are laborations among US and Brazilian educators;
being explored to determine the most effective approaches. • announcements about events, developments, and news
Moreover, the selected PTCs in each of the four districts of interest to those involved in educational technology;
have established Internet connectivity, which may provide • a place for users to post information about their own
access for the public in the future. projects, events, activities, and experiences;
• an online discussion forum and listserv;
LearnLink is working with Ugandan governmental agencies • a Help Desk that responds within 24 hours to questions
and the Institute of Education Kyambogo (ITEK) to set up a about information and resources related to learning tech-
multimedia development laboratory and a user-training labo- nologies; and
ratory at its facility in Kampala. In addition, LearnLink will • free subscriptions for Brazilian schools to an online
develop, test, and distribute up to six online, multi-media course in English language instruction, launched in col-
training modules for teachers and tutors. In conjunction with laboration with GlobalEnglish.com, a US Internet com-
ITEK staff, LearnLink is working to enhance the ITEK cur- pany that offers free online English language instruction
riculum using multimedia materials. With their partners, for Brazilians.
LearnLink will develop and deliver computer-based training
to teachers and tutors. These teachers, in turn, will train cur- In addition to the web site, LTNet facilitates a variety of ac-
rent and future teachers at the four PTCs. tivities to support learning and professional networking
among teachers. For example, in partnership with ProInfo in
A unique feature of Connect-ED is the linkage between the Brazil, LTNet’s SchoolLinks program is enabling educators
public, private, and voluntary sectors. Working with Learn- across Brazil to meet and work together. Through LTNet’s
Link is the NGO World Links for Development (WorLD), Virtual Exchange Environment (VEE), a group of Fulbright
which provides training for teachers in the use of technology English language teachers from the US and Brazil are able to
in education. WorLD will set up the computer equipment in communicate with each other by email, threaded discussions,
the PTCs and provide training for the teachers so they are and live chat sessions and to plan activities, share documents,
better equipped to utilize ITEK’s interactive, computer-based collaborate on projects, and develop individual and group
curriculum. Computer Frontiers International (CFI) and the web pages. Two other VEEs are enabling groups of educa-
Leland Initiative are coordinating the partners’ efforts and tors and students in Rio de Janeiro and Manaus in Brazil to
working with private Internet service providers (ISPs) to develop collaborative programs with counterparts in Oakton,
arrange connectivity in both rural and urban areas. VA and Oxon Hill, MD in the US.
For further information

Visit the web site http://www.aed.org
1
LearnLink is a five-year Indefinite Quantities Contract (HNE-1-00-96-00018-00) of the US Agency for International Devel-
opment (USAID). It is funded by the Human Capacity Development Center in the USAID Global Bureau, the Africa Bureau,
and other USAID Bureaus, offices and missions. It is operated by the Academy for Educational Development (AED).

A UNICEF web initiative for teachers around the world
http://www.unicef.org/teachers
Elaine Furniss
UNICEF, New York
UNICEF hosts a web site for teachers, which has several functions.
• Firstly, it provides access to teacher training materials which have come from a number of countries
where UNICEF works.
• Secondly, it provides a discussion site where teachers can ask questions of one another and of UNICEF,
about topics related to teaching.
• Thirdly it provides a list of useful URLs for accessing interactive projects. This will be a useful resource
in the future as we get more involved in connectivity projects.
Every month we meet a teacher from somewhere in the world and find out more about her (or his) best
practices. So far we’ve met teachers and key education leaders from the Philippines, VietNam, Macedonia,
Mongolia, Pakistan, Armenia, Mauritius, Poland, Thailand, the USA and from UNICEF. In the pipeline we
will meet teachers from China, Tanzania and Rwanda. These are real teachers, with real messages for other
teachers to hear…their voices are strong and we are proud to host them.
In the future we will be adding themed pieces related to teachers and child protection issues, and children as
researchers. The site is growing, and so is the interest it generates. In the Philippines, teachers download
topics from the site and share with other teachers in schools without Internet access through photocopies and
using CD-ROMs. We also download the whole site onto CD-ROMs and send it to our Education Officers for
use in countries where access is difficult or far too slow.
This is a small beginning, but hopefully it highlights the joys and concerns of real teachers in diverse
situations, puts them in touch with one another and provides them with some up-to-date content for their
professional development.
Please look us up on the web at http://www.unicef.org/teachers and tell your colleagues!

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Volume 2, Issue 6 November/December 2000

8 World Teachers' Day - 5 October 2000: Expanding Horizons

9 Email to the Editor

10 Teacher Training or Lifelong Professional Development?

! 1 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

20 Teacher Training: What Works and What Doesn't

25 Armenia: The Three Pomegranate Network (3PN)

29 China: Teacher Training with TV Technology

32 Costa Rica: Teacher Training for Education Technology

35 Philippines: Infotech -Training in Remote Places

! 2 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

37 Singapore: Pre-service Teacher Training in Technology Use

40 Zimbabwe: The Bindura Internet Learning Center

42 Video Technology for Teacher Training: Micro-Teaching and other Adventures

45 Scripted Learning Needs Teachers Who Follow the Script

48 The Teaching Profession - Beyond Training

51 Images of Teaching: The TIMSS Video Taping Project

! 3 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

57 Technology for Teacher Support

61 Will Voice Portals Speak to Consumers?

62 Handheld Computers: Which One?

67 E-Sign on the Dotted Line…

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68 Just Click and Sniff

69 AED: Teacher Training with Technology - Experience in five country programs

LearnLink, operated by AED, is implementing, in five countries, computer-mediated professional

Editorial Calendar for Year 2001

January/ March/ May/ July/ September November/

Management Science and Enterprise Social Studies Early Childhood Language

! 5 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

T eachers … T raining … and T echnology

! 6 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

**** SPONSORSHIP AND ADVERTISING

This Issue is Co-Sponsored By:

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Chris Dede Pedagogical advantages.

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The project's learning activities also are notable. First,

! 18 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

Those considering introducing IT into their own

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The Three Pomegranate Network (3PN)

Project Description transition to a free-market economy, and access to technol-

! 25 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

The general impression is that both students and teachers, as

! 26 ! TechKnowLogia, November/December, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

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China: Training with