Using Technology to Train Teachers: Appropriate Uses of ICT for Teacher Professional Development in Developing Countries

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USING TECHNOLOGY
TO TRAIN TEACHERS
USING TECHNOLOGY TO TRAIN TEACHERS
Information for
Development Program
www.infoDev.org
ICT and Education Series
USING TECHNOLOGY TO TRAIN TEACHERS
Appropriate Uses of ICT for Teacher Professional Development in Developing Countries
This handbook is intended to help decision makers in developing-country governments and
donor agencies in their efforts to utilize information and communication technology (ICT) to
improve and expand teacher professional development (TPD) activities.
The handbook helps decision makers improve their abilities to:
• Understand the complex relationships between ICT use, professional learning, the change
process, and types of TPD and classroom implementation, to aid the development of
requests for proposals (RFPs) that address these issues
• Recognize best practices and essential supports in the use of ICT for TPD in order to
evaluate proposals of national, regional, and local scale
• Propose types of TPD and ICT implementations that can achieve specifi c objectives in
relation to educational improvement
• Identify cost considerations, potential partnerships, evaluation requirements and other
factors essential to the planning of effective ICT-enabled TPD
• Communicate effectively with researchers, representatives of NGOs, policymakers, donor-
agency personnel, and others about the roles played by TPD and ICT in educational reform
The handbook draws experiences and lessons learned from over 50 programs and initiatives
in 25 developing countries.
Appropriate Uses of ICT for
Teacher Professional Development
in Developing Countries
+ MAINSTREAMING

USING TECHNOLOGY
TO TRAIN TEACHERS
Appropriate Uses of ICT for
Teacher Professional Development
in Developing Countries
www.infoDev.org
AN
info
Dev PUBLICATION PREPARED BY
Edmond Gaible
The Natoma Group
Mary Burns
Center for Online Professional Education at
the Education Development Center
ICT AND EDUCATION SERIES
SERIES EDITOR:
Michael Trucano
Information for
Development Program
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To cite this publication:
Gaible, Edmond and Mary Burns. 2005. Using Technology to Train Teachers: Appropriate Uses of ICT for
Teacher Professional Development in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: infoDev / World Bank. Available
at: http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.13.html
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Table of Contents . iii
Acknowledgements, References and Contributors vi
Preface ICT and EFA: Why Should We Care? xi
Section 1 Overview 1
Literature Review, Case Studies and the Delphi Process 2
 ree approaches to ICTs and TPD 2
How to Use  is Handbook 2
Section 2 ICTs for Teacher Professional Development at a Glance 7
Computers and the Internet in TPD at a Glance 8
Radio in TPD at a Glance 9
Television in TPD at a Glance 10
Video Recording in TPD at a Glance 11
Online Distance Learning in TPD at a Glance 12
Section 3 Models and Best Practices in Teacher
Professional Development 15
Guiding Questions 15
Summary 15
Understanding Professional Development 16
Building Teachers’ Computer Skills 17
Professional Development Models 19
Standardized TPD 19
Site-based TPD 21
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Using Technology to Train Teachersiv
Self-directed TPD 23
Web Resources 24
Section 4 Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—
Computers and the Internet 27
Guiding Questions 27
Summary 27
Potential Uses and Benefi ts 28
Computers and the Internet in Teacher Training Colleges 29
Computers and the Internet in schools 31
Computers and the Internet in Regional Teacher Centers 33
Cost Considerations 34
Strategic Planning for Computer Support of TPD 35
Web Resources 39
Section 5 Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Radio 41
Guiding questions 41
Summary 41
Interactive Radio Instruction 42
Web Resources 45
Section 6 Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—
Television 49
Guiding questions 49
Summary 49
Television for TPD 50
Web Resource 52
Section 7 Technologies for Teacher Professional Development— Video
Recording and Playback 55
Guiding Questions 55
Summary 55
Video recording and playback for TPD 56
Web Resource 58
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Table of Contents . v
Section 8 Online Distance Learning for Teacher Professional
Development 61
Guiding Questions 61
Summary 61
Modes of Online TPD 61
Self-directed Online TPD 62
Online TPD Courses 63
Online TPD Communities 64
Development vs. Recurrent Costs for Online TPD 65
Web Resources 66
Section 9 Implementing ICT-supported Teacher Professional
Development 69
Guiding Questions 69
Summary 69
Teacher Incentives 70
Supporting TPD in Schools 70
Infrastructural Support for TPD 73
Web Resources 73
Section 10 Eff ective Partnerships for ICT-supported Teacher Professional
Development 77
Guiding Questions 77
Summary 77
Partnerships to Increase Program Strength 78
Cooperation within Government 78
Private-sector Partnerships 79
Partnerships with Civil-society Organizations 80
Partnerships with Schools 81
Section 11 Evaluation of ICT-supported Teacher Professional
Development 85
Guiding questions 85
Summary 85
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Using Technology to Train Teachersvi
Key Concepts in Project Evaluation 85
Evaluation as Part of a TPD Plan 86
Creating and Conducting Evaluations 87
Key Steps in Evaluating Projects 87
Additional Suggestions 88
Web Resources 88
Postscript Making ICT Projects Work 91
Annex Using ICT to Train Teachers: Implementation Briefs 93
Glossary 117
References 123
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Acknowledgements, References and Contributors . vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 anks to William Wright, Robert Spielvogel, Rebecca Rhodes, Helen Boyle,  elma Khelgati, Norma
Evans and Glenn Kleiman of Education Development Center for their assistance, insight, guidance and
feedback in making this handbook a reality; to Alejandra Bonifaz, of Education Development Center for her
support during the conceptualization, implementation, and analysis of the Delphi Process; and to Stephanie
Foerster and Kanjit Hailu of Education Development Center for sharing information about the SIEEQ
project. Special thanks to educators, teachers and students in Namibia and Guinea for generously sharing
their time, their classrooms and their insights for the case studies, most especially to Tamsin Bowra of the
Initiative for Namibian Educational Technology (iNET) and to Katiadou Bah-Diallo of the National
Institute for Pedagogical Research and Action for their logistical support and energy. Special thanks as well
to Claudia L’Amoreaux for editorial support.
PROJECTS APPEARING IN THIS HANDBOOK
Reference is made to the following projects, with their countries and key technologies appearing in paren-
theses: Active Learning with Technology (United States, Mexico, Nigeria); Applying Technology to
Restructuring Learning (United States, Computers); Basic Education Project (Turkey, Computers); Basic
Education Support 2 (Namibia, Computers); Confl ict-prevention Project (Rwanda, Computers); Connect-
ED Project (Uganda, Computers); DEEP (South Africa, Handheld computers); Discovery Channel Global
Education Foundation (Namibia, Video); Discovery Schools Project (Namibia, Video); Educational
Inclusion for Disabled Students, Save the Children (Lesotho, Video); EFA Curriculum Project (Uganda,
Nicaragua); Enlaces (Chile, Computers); G.S. Soeurs de la assomptión (Computers, Rwanda); EdTech Leaders
Online (United States, Computers); Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels (IRI, Guinea); Initiative for
Namibian Educational Technology (Namibia, Computers); Intel Teach to the Future (South Africa, Turkey,
Computers); Kids on the Block, SchoolNet (Namibia, Computers); LearnLink (Namibia, Computers); New
Schools Program (Egypt, Computers); Mental Arithmetic:  e Numbers Family (Honduras, Radio); Nota
10 (Brazil, Television); Programa de Informática Educativa (Costa Rica, Computers); Relief International—
Schools Online (Tajikistan, Computers); Salto para o Futuro (Brazil, Television); SIEEQ Project (Congo,
Video); Uganda VSAT Rural Connectivity Project (Uganda, Computers); Telesecundaria (Mexico,
Television); WIDE World (Namibia, Computers); World Links (22 countries, Computers).
THE AUTHORS
Edmond Gaible, PhD, is principal in  e Natoma Group, a consulting company providing design, manage-
ment, and evaluation of projects using ICT for education and development. He has contributed curriculum
development, training design, software development, and other services to projects in Bhutan, Brazil, the
Gambia, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Uganda, Zimbabwe and other countries. Mr. Gaible has worked with
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, REFERENCES
AND CONTRIBUTORS
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Using Technology to Train Teachersviii
development agencies, including the World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, corporate clients including
Microsoft, Apple Computer and others, NGOs such as Jiva Institute and SchoolNet Uganda, and grassroots
organizations including the Zenzelele Women’s Goatkeeping and Development Club. He is on the board of
directors of the Jhai Foundation.
Mary Burns is a senior technology specialist and professional development provider at Education
Development Center. She designs, delivers and evaluates online and face-to-face professional development
programs that utilize ICT to improve teacher quality, particularly in developing countries and in low-
resource environments in the United States. Ms. Burns taught for several years in the U.S., Jamaica and
Mexico; has conducted research and technical assistance in East Africa, Brazil, Pakistan and the Caribbean;
and through such organizations as the US Regional Educational Laboratories, WorldLinks, Relief
International/Schools Online, and the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (México), has
created and strengthened Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programs involving ICT use in Asia,
Africa and Latin America. She has developed ICT for TPD planning and curricula for teachers, NGOs,
school districts and ministries of education in the United States, Mexico, Jordan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan,
and has written numerous articles and monographs on eff ective professional development using ICTs.
DELPHI PROCESS CONTRIBUTORS
Special thanks to the education researchers and professionals who contributed signifi cant time and thought
to the Delphi Process on ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development.  eir infl uence extends
throughout the handbook.
Stephen Anzalone
Director, Center for Multichannel Learning
Education Development Center
Washington DC, USA
Margaret Chia-Watt, PhD
Director, Educational Development
Nanyang Polytechnic
Singapore
Katherine McMillan Culp, PhD
Senior Project Director
Center for Children and Technology
Education Development Center
New York, USA
K. Victoria Dimock, PhD
Program Manager
Southwest Educational Development Lab
Austin, USA
Judi Harris, PhD
Professor and Pavey
Family Chair in Educational Technology
School of Education
College of William & Mary
Williamsburg, USA
Robert Hawkins
Senior Education Specialist
World Bank Institute
Pretoria, South Africa
John Henly, M.Ed.
President
Collaborative Frameworks Inc.
British Columbia, Canada
Shirley M. Hord, PhD
Scholar Emerita
Southwest Educational Development Lab
College of Education
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, USA
Robert B. Kozma, PhD
Emeritus Director and Principal Scientist
Center for Technology in Learning
SRI International
Menlo Park, USA
M. K. Senthil Kumar
Member, Technology Initiatives
Azim Premji Foundation
Bangalore, India
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Acknowledgements, References and Contributors . ix
Daniel Light, PhD
Senior Research Associate
Center for Children and Technology
Education Development Center
New York, USA
Cher Ping Lim
Associate Professor
Learning Sciences and Technologies
Center for Research in Pedagogy and Practice
National Institute of Education
Singapore
Earl Mardle
Principal
KeyNet Consultancy
Sydney, Australia
Fred Mednick
President/Founder
Teachers Without Borders
Mercer Island, Washington USA
Alexis Menten
International Education Consultant
(Central Asia and Middle East)
New York, USA
Sean Nicholson
Microsoft Education Middle East and Africa
London, England
Cesar Nunes, PhD
Senior Researcher
School of the Future
University of São Paulo
São Paulo, Brazil
Chris O’Neal
Educational Leadership Consultant
University of Virginia
Charlottesburg, USA
Heba Ramzy
Regional Citizenship
and Community Aff airs Manager
Microsoft, Middle East & Africa
Istanbul, Turkey
Margaret Riel, PhD
Senior Researcher
Center for Technology in Learning
SRI International
Visiting Professor
Pepperdine University
Menlo Park, USA
Bernadette Robinson, PhD
Professor
Centre for Comparative Education Research
University of Nottingham
Nottingham, England
Steven Rudolph
Education Director
Jiva Institute
Faridabad, India
Semra Seifu
Senior Program Manager
– Africa and Europe
World Links
Washington DC, USA
Michelle Selinger, PhD
Education Strategist
Corporate Responsibility
Cisco Systems, UK
J Shankar
Head of Technology Initiatives
Azim Premji Foundation
Bangalore, India
Robert Spielvogel
Chief Technology Offi cer
Education Development Center
Newton, USA
Chris A. Spohr
Social Sector Economist
Asian Development Bank Resident Mission
People’s Republic of China
Kathryn Stewart
Teacher
Campion College
Kingston, Jamaica
Ronald  orpe
Vice President and Director of Education
Channel  irteen Television/WNET
New York, USA
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Using Technology to Train Teachersx
Bernie Trilling, Senior Director
Oracle Education Foundation
Redwood Shores, USA
Basia Urban
Director, ICT in Education Programs
(Middle East and Central Asia)
Relief International Schools Online
Ramallah, West Bank
Adriana M. Vilela
Senior Advisor for Education and Youth
World Links
Washington DC, USA
Cédric Wachholz
Chief, ICT in Education Unit
UNESCO Asia and Pacifi c
Regional Bureau for Education
Bangkok,  ailand
Keith Yocam
Education Consultant
San Francisco, USA
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Preface: ICT and EFA: Why Should We Care? . xi
PREFACE
ICT AND EFA: WHY SHOULD WE CARE
?
DANIEL A. WAGNER
As the attention of the international donor community focuses more sharply on the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals, especially those related to Education for All (EFA), the credibility of those
involved in the information and communication technology (ICT) community is increasingly treated with
suspicion by many educators.  is development should not be surprising, given the checkered results of
many ICT-related investments in educational reform over the past decade, and the understandable but
regrettable tendency to substitute “photo opportunities” for rigorous attention to impact and costs.
 e power of ICTs as enablers of change—for good, as well as for bad—is undeniable. However, the use of
ICTs in education in many developing countries, especially the “poorest of the poor,” is associated with high
cost and potential failure. Why should we devote our energies and eff orts to investigating such uses?
 e answer is simply put: We need to train massive numbers of teachers if EFA goals are to be met.
Contrary to the overheated rhetoric and promises of some in the ICT community, ICTs are not the answer
to problems affl icting the education sector in developing countries … but they can help. Indeed, how can so
many teachers be reached without the aid of ICT?
When asked about the role of ICTs in the EFA process, the consensus at most development agencies seems
to be: there is no role. We need to build classrooms, build schools, they say, and equip them with books and
blackboards and latrines (and many other things). Fair enough, there is no disagreement here. But it is also
clear that these steps will not be suffi cient.
Back in 1996, UNESCO labeled the situation of teachers around the world a “silent emergency.” A decade
on, things have not improved much. As eff orts to achieve universal completion of six years of high-quality
primary education have added tens of millions of new students to the school rolls, eff orts to recruit and train
new teachers have not kept pace (nor have eff orts to upgrade the skills of current teachers who have received
inadequate preparation). Few would argue that the student:teacher ratios in excess of 80:1, found in some
African countries, are conducive to delivering high-quality education, and indeed, data show that, as school
enrolments quickly increase, educational quality appears to be nose-diving in many places.
Countries struggling to meet EFA targets do not need ICTs, of course.  ey need to better train and support
their teachers, move them into the classroom quickly, and support and re-train them regularly to upgrade
skills and content mastery.  is challenge is compounded by the fact that the greatest needs are often in
remote areas far from existing training facilities. It is diffi cult to see how such challenges can be met without
extending the breadth and depth of pre-service and in-service teacher professional development by using ICT.
In the ICT world, current discussions emphasize serving the “next billion” (which will most likely be the
emerging middle classes of China, India, Brazil and elsewhere). Given the pressing challenges related to
Education for All, the focus on the “next billion” should not obscure the potential utility and relevance of
extending ICTs to the “last billion” as well.
Despite current skepticism in donor agencies, policymakers and parents in many developing countries are
making increasing demands for the use of ICTs in education.  is demand can be harnessed to support
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Using Technology to Train Teachersxii
EFA-related teacher training initiatives. It is important that any potential deployment of ICTs be evaluated
in terms of meeting specifi c educational challenges, and not as an end goal in itself. Computers, TV, the
Internet and especially older (and currently unfashionable) technologies with proven track records of cost-
eff ective deployment, such as interactive radio, can help to meet the challenges associated with training and
supporting the large numbers of teachers necessary required for achieving EFA targets.
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Section 1. Overview . 1
SECTION 1
OVERVIEW
Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) will not make a bad teacher professional develop-
ment program better.  e use of technology can, in fact, make TPD programs worse. When refurbished
computers cannot run required software applications, or poor telephone lines don’t support Internet
connections, teachers and students waste time, grow frustrated, and abandon new practices to return to
familiar ones. When an educational television program demonstrates new teaching methods without
showing how they can work in one-teacher schools, teachers in those schools watch the program but tune
out the message.
 at said, ICTs have had tremendous impact on TPD in countries around the world. Successful projects, in
combination with decades of education research on student learning, teacher development, and school
change, have generated a body of relevant knowledge and best practices. Success can be achieved—but only
by untangling the complex set of critical factors, and by leveraging previous successes to minimize risk and
strengthen project designs.
 is handbook is intended to help decision makers in developing-country governments and donor agencies
in their eff orts to combine ICT and TPD. To the extent possible in a brief work, the handbook combines a
global perspective—including information about best practices and successful projects—with attention to
the challenges faced by education policymakers, teachers, and students in Less Developed Countries (LDCs)
and countries attempting to meet the goals of Education for All (EFA).
 is handbook will help decision makers improve their abilities to:
Understand the complex relationships between ICT use, professional learning, types of TPD and
classroom implementation so as to aid the development of requests for proposals (RFPs)
Recognize best practices and essential supports in the use of ICTs for TPD in order to evaluate proposals
of national, regional, and local scale
Propose ways of using ICTs to support TPD that can achieve specifi c objectives in relation to educa-
tional improvement
Identify cost considerations, potential partnerships, evaluation requirements and other factors essential
to the planning of eff ective ICT-enabled TPD
Communicate eff ectively with researchers, representatives of NGOs, policymakers, donor-agency
personnel, and others about the roles played by TPD and ICT in educational reform
To make eff ective decisions in regard to TPD, policymakers must be aware of relevant issues; know the
characteristics of eff ective professional development; and understand how ICT can support those character-
istics. In LDCs, policymakers must also understand the potential benefi ts and challenges of ICT-supported
TPD in the context of schools that lack adequate classrooms, textbooks, and electricity, and in which
teachers face fundamental challenges. When a teacher lacks mastery of the language of instruction, how can
ICT help? If a teacher’s development of new skills competes with or undermines her role as a mother, or a
farmer, how can TPD be eff ective?
■
■
■
■
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Using Technology to Train Teachers2
LITERATURE REVIEW, CASE STUDIES AND
THE DELPHI PROCESS
 e development of this handbook has drawn on several rich sources of information:
 e fi rst source of information is an extensive literature review of such topics as TPD and the use of ICT for
TPD programs in developing and developed nations, and eff ective uses of ICT for school improvement.
 ese resources are assembled in the References section of this handbook.
 e second source is fi eld-based case-study research specifi cally focused on the uses of ICT in relation to
TPD, conducted in Guinea and Namibia.  e focus in Namibia is on comprehensive eff orts to integrate
computers and the Internet, while the focus in Guinea is on development of educational radio programs for
primary students and teachers.
Additional information is based on the authors’ own expertise in the areas of international development,
education, ICT planning and evaluation, TPD, and curriculum development; and their experience as
teachers and trainers using ICT, within such developing country contexts as Uganda, Rwanda, Mexico,
Tajikistan, and other countries.
Finally, the handbook draws on the experiences of 26 internationally renowned experts in TPD, ICTs, and
development education, who participated in a Delphi process
1
through which they assessed the current state
of ICT use in relation to TPD and developed a rough consensus as to future challenges and opportunities.
 ese Delphi participants off ered responses to questions, critiqued statements of other Delphi participants,
and ranked various predictions regarding program design, implementation, and technologies.
THREE APPROACHES TO ICTS AND TPD
 e combination of ICTs and TPD has given rise to a wide range of approaches—from radio programming
that “walks” teachers through lessons alongside their students, to the use of computer-aided instruction to
improve teachers’ math skills, to teachers videotaping each other in action in their classrooms.
 e many uses of technology in relation to TPD can be grouped in three categories:
A delivery system providing teachers with information to improve pedagogy and content mastery
A focus of study that develops teachers’ abilities to use specifi c tools, such as computers
A catalyst for new forms of teaching and learning, such as inquiry-based learning, collaborative
learning, and other forms of learner-centered pedagogy
 is handbook presents information about these approaches with the expectation that decision makers will
choose “points of entry” appropriate to the capacities, resources, and weaknesses of their school systems.
Concrete examples from LDCs and other developing countries, along with research-derived best practices,
are presented with the hope that policymakers will choose goals that ensure that the transformation of
learning in the poorest schools will become a source of opportunity for the children in their countries.
HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK
Using Technology to Train Teachers is a reference tool and guide for decision makers with existing ICT-
supported projects in education and for those decision makers who are planning new projects.
■
■
■
1 For additional information about the history and characteristics of the Delphi process, refer to The Delphi Method: Techniques and applications, edited by
Harold Linstone and Murray Turoff (2002, New Jersey Institute of Technology, http://www.is.njit.edu/pubs/delphibook), originally published in 1975.
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Section 1. Overview . 3
 e handbook includes the following sections:
Section 1: Overview
Goals and objectives of the handbook; overview of sections; key points in the use of ICTs for TPD;
schematic of ICT for TPD planning process; best practices in TPD
Section 2: ICTs for Teacher Professional Development at a Glance
Roles of ICT in TPD and education; strengths, limitations, and cost considerations for key technologies
used to support TPD
Section 3: Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development
Major models of TPD—standardized, site-based, and self-directed
Section 4: Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
Strengths, limitations, and costs; profi les of successful programs; planning for large-scale implementa-
tions
Section 5: Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Radio
Strengths, limitations and costs; profi les of successful programs
Section 6: Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Television
Strengths, limitations and costs; profi les of projects in Mexico and Brazil
Section 7: Technologies for Teacher Professional Development
—Video Recording and Playback
Strengths, limitations and costs of using audio and video recording tools in schools; ideas for implemen-
tation
Section 8: Online Distance Learning for Teacher Professional Development
Strengths, limitations, and costs; online learning vs. face-to-face learning; profi les of successful programs
Section 9: Implementing ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development
Supporting TPD and ICT use in schools, including teacher scheduling, incentives and school leadership
Section 10: Eff ective Partnerships for ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development
Ways in which governmental, civil-society, and private-sector organizations can ensure the success of
TPD projects
Section 11: Evaluation of ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development
Essential terms and concepts in monitoring and evaluation; checklist for evaluation planning
Postscript: Making ICT Projects Work
Eight guidelines to increase the likelihood of success for all ICT projects in education
Glossary
Readers should adopt diff erent approaches to the information in this handbook based on whether their goals
are to improve existing projects or to plan new ones.
To improve existing ICT projects in education:
Read Section 3: Models and Best Practices in TPD to learn how to improve TPD initiatives and how to use
TPD to strengthen educational outcomes.
Refer to the sections addressing tools that are used in your project (radio, television, video, computers
and the Internet, online TPD).
Read Section 9: Implementing ICT-supported TPD, Section 10: Eff ective Partnerships for ICT-supported
TPD, and Section 11: Evaluation of ICT-supported TPD to identify ways to increase support for your
TPD project.
To plan new ICT-supported TPD Projects:
Review the tables and other information in Section 2: ICTs for TPD at a Glance to determine which
technologies are likely to off er eff ective support.
Read Section 3: Models and Best Practices in TPD to determine the TPD methods that are most appropri-
ate for your needs, objectives, and educational context
Refer to Section 9: Implementing ICT-supported TPD, Section 10: Eff ective Partnerships for ICT-supported
TPD, and Section 11: Evaluation of ICT-supported TPD at appropriate points in your planning process.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers4
Note that the tables in Section 2: ICTs for TPD at a Glance are reproduced at the end of the sections
addressing specifi c technologies. For example, the table on radio in Section 2 also appears at the send of
Section 5: Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Radio.
Section Features
As appropriate, sections include the following aids to reading, planning, and decision-making:
Guiding Questions to be considered throughout your reading.
Section Summaries identifying key points
Questions for Further Discussion that address planning and policy issues raised during profi les of specifi c
projects.
Consider Using [Specifi c Technology] to Support TPD When…
Suggested pre-conditions for deployment, including TPD objectives, infrastructure, teachers’ capacities,
and other criteria.
Web Resources are provided where possible, to help policymakers obtain additional information on the
topic discussed
Implementation Briefs
A set of practical detailed information are presented in a series of Implementation Briefs to help practitio-
ners successfully implement ICT-embedded teacher professional development programs
Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Teaching Skills
 roughout this handbook, discussion of appropriate TPD models and supporting technologies distin-
guishes between teachers with basic, intermediate, and advanced skills as educators.
Teachers with basic skills are able to:
Speak, read, write, and teach with fl uency in the national language
Perform basic arithmetic
Teach basic language and arithmetic skills using traditional lectures and testing
Teachers with intermediate skills have basic skills, and are also able to:
Understand and teach their subject matter at a basic level in the national language
Plan their courses to meet national or local standards
Understand the basics of how children learn
Adopt teaching methods appropriate to their students’ abilities and learning styles
Teachers with advanced skills have intermediate skills, and are also able to:
Teach their subject matter with ease and make relevant connections to other subjects and to daily life
Develop course outlines, lectures, and instructional materials
Identify resources to update their knowledge of the subjects they teach
Build on students’ prior knowledge and experience
Teach students how to analyze and solve problems
Teach their subject using multiple tools and resources
Understand and use a variety of instructional strategies, including traditional lectures, project-based
learning, inquiry-based learning, and collaborative activities
Use ongoing assessment to identify and address student weaknesses
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Section 1. Overview . 5
TPD program goals must be based in part on teachers’ needs and capacities. Choosing models and technolo-
gies for TPD must also refl ect these conditions. Refer to these guidelines as necessary to categorize the skill
levels of specifi c groups of teachers.
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Section 2. ICTs for Teacher Professional Development at a Glance . 7
SECTION 2
ICTs FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AT A GLANCE
Tables in this section off er overviews of the education-related characteristics of key technologies used to
support TPD. Use the tables to compare tools in relation to program objectives. Refer to Figure 1 below for
an overview of a planning process to be used in conjunction with this handbook.
FIGURE 1: PLANNING PROCESS FOR ICT-SUPPORTED TPD
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET IN TPD AT A GLANCE
MONITORING & EVALUATION
COST CALCULATIONS
Radio/Audio
Computers
Television/Video
Internet
TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
Educational Assets
Schools
Textbooks
Teachers Colleges
Ed Tech
Govt. radio station
Computer labs
Funding
Human Resources
Teachers
Mentors
Researchers
AVAILABLE RESOURCES
INFRASTRUCTURE & RESOURCES
Roads
Electrical Power
Policy Environment
Legal & regulatory frameworks
Technology
Mobile telephone networks
Internet backbone
Telecom & tech markets
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Classroom Change
Subject mastery, certification, teaching/learning
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Gaps in # of teachers, teachers’ skills, pedagogical methods
DEVELOPMENT GOALS
National plans for EFA and education, eReadiness, etc.
Adaptation Adaptation
Feedback
Feedback
Planning
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Using Technology to Train Teachers8
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET IN TPD AT A GLANCE
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
• Flexible and powerful—can be used to
develop materials, access resources,
and communicate
• Multiple media and platforms combine
text, audio, video, animation, and
interactivity
• Centralized and decentralized com-
munication supports dissemination of
resources and essential feedback from
schools
• May enable learner-centered and ac-
tive-learning pedagogies
• Enable communication with experts—in-
cluding TPD mentors, master teachers,
and help desks
• Improve subject mastery through
Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI),
simulations, and other tools
• Provide support for collaboration—indi-
viduals, pairs, and groups of teachers
or students can use computers to col-
laborate online and face-to-face
• Support assessment and recordkeep-
ing—accredited ODL courses, electronic
portfolios, etc.
• Potential for revision and new versions
supports refl ection, self-assessment, and
other learning-related activities
• Complex tools require both time and
TPD to be effective
• Hardware, software, and operat-
ing-systems are fragile—subject to
damage by users, viruses, fl uctuating
electrical power, etc.
• Hardware and software lose value
and utility as they age—corporate
and institutional users plan on 3
years of service
• Highly dependent on infrastruc-
ture—electrical, telecommunications,
road (for repairs), and human (for
maintenance and management)
• Without support from leadership
and system-wide commitment to new
modes of teaching and learning,
impact is limited
• Provide productivity tools to write
reports, make presentations, commu-
nicate, design animations, build Web
sites, etc.
• Provide access to guided TPD resources
and collaborative environments, and
enable the creation of online communi-
ties of practice
• Enable acquisition of basic computer
skills Internet Computer Driver’s License
(ICDL), design skills (e.g., Web pages),
programming, and hardware mainte-
nance and repair
• Provide tools (e.g., spreadsheets,
databases) that promote higher-order
thinking
• Variable production
costs—new software tools
(e.g., Flash, Director, etc.)
drive down production
costs of digital content
• Variable content-distribution
costs are contingent on
Internet connectivity and
resource format
• Signifi cant installation,
maintenance, and repair
costs
• Total Cost of Ownership
(TCO) model mandates
periodic upgrades
• May contribute to overall e-Readi-
ness
• Advances in wireless, VSAT, and
other communications tools may
increase Internet access
• Advances in hardware design
may increase ruggedness and
decrease power requirements
• Mobile devices (handheld comput-
ers, phones) have potential to
change TPD-focused communica-
tions and access to resources
• Focus on tools may distract from
curriculum-centered learning
(continued on next page)
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Section 2. ICTs for Teacher Professional Development at a Glance . 9
RADIO AND THE INTERNET IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Can lead to improvements in basic skills
• Proven curricula in basic math,
language arts, health, Early Childhood
Care and Development (ECCD)
• May be implemented with or without
textbooks and other resources
• Potential to reach large student popula-
tions
• Lack of literacy skills not a barrier
• Addresses equity and access issues
(gender, ethnic, rural)
• Can combine hands-on development of
teacher skills with student learning
• Audio learning may support visualiza-
tion and concept-building by learners
• Enables instructional continuity across
grades and subjects
• Radio production skills are widespread
• Durable, survives extreme environments
and long-term use with minimal care
• Moderate infrastructure requirements
• Low technical-support requirements
• Value of content may degrade over
time—long-running programs must
evolve with schools and education
systems
• Broadcast airwaves are subject to
political and economic events
• Tendency to reinforce rote learning
models— interactivity is limited,
attention to needs of individual learn-
ers is limited
• Fixed broadcast schedule
• Linear, one-size-fi ts-all approach
• Risk of student and teacher dis-
satisfaction —including boredom, es-
pecially when lessons are broadcast
daily
• Hardware-replacement programs are
necessary: Radios and batteries may
be stolen or borrowed
• Addresses shortages of trained teachers
• Basic-skills instruction—math, health,
language-of-instruction (English, French,
etc.)
• Promotes teacher development, primar-
ily via demonstration, guided and
hands-on classroom management, and
building subject knowledge
• High to moderate content-
development costs
• Start-up includes cost of
radios, cassette players,
tapes, batteries, materials
development, and training
• Per-student recurrent costs
of large-scale programs are
very low
• Funding may combine con-
tributions from ministries of
communication, broadcast
authorities, private radio
networks, parents’ groups,
and others
• Low recurrent cost has not
ensured sustainability
• Advance research and formative
evaluation are essential for success
• Impact is increased by teacher
development, printed materials,
school site visits and other means
• May incorporate songs, use
of real-world objectives (e.g.,
pebbles or beans as math ma-
nipulatives), in-class experiments,
pair- and group-work and other
active-learning elements
• Limited quantitative evidence of
impact on teacher development
• Can be used in combination with
other technologies, such as video
or “pod-casting”—teachers may
adopt radio-delivered classroom
practices when they see examples
on video
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Using Technology to Train Teachers10
TELEVISION IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Is both powerful (moving images, audio,
etc.) and familiar
• Can be used to “bring” viewers to the
site of events and phenomena
• Helps teachers implement new tech-
niques effectively by observing demon-
strations of classroom management and
other teaching practices
• Has the potential to reach large popula-
tions of students and teachers
• Addresses equity and access issues—al-
though access requires electrical power
• Supports instructional continuity across
grades and subjects
• As a visual medium, does not guide
teacher through scripted, hands-on
classroom activities—unlike radio,
television promotes “watch and
learn,” not “do and learn”
• Involves high development costs
which may limit testing, review,
and revision before programming is
launched
• Value of content may degrade over
time—costs of revisions and new
programming are high; visual im-
ages “show their age”
• Broadcasts are subject to external
political and economic disruptions
• Television production requires sophis-
ticated skills and facilities
• Costs of production and airtime may
infl uence programming to reach
audiences outside of schools
• Fixed broadcast schedule—can be
augmented by taping
• Limited by access to electrical power
• Hardware costs for reception (televi-
sion, satellite dish, cabling) and
power generation may be too high
for poor communities and schools
• Addresses shortages of trained teachers
• Is a primary means of delivering content
and concepts to students across the
curriculum
• Used in development of teacher skills
and knowledge
• Provides views of real classroom prac-
tices and learning activities
• Provides teachers with learning
resources that show distant places,
graphical representations of concepts,
historical events, etc.
• High production costs—of-
ten US$1,000 per minute
• Commercial broadcast
rates are very high
• Local installation includes
cost of television, satellite
dish (in rural locations)
• Per-student recurrent costs
of large-scale programs
are low—but low recurrent
costs have not ensured
sustainability
• Funding may combine con-
tributions from ministries of
communication, broadcast
authorities, commercial
broadcasters, and others
• Lack of interactivity can be
addressed through a range of af-
fordable technologies—fax, email,
telephone “call-in” formats
• Impact is increased by teacher
development, printed materials,
school site visits and other means
• Limited quantitative evidence of
impact on teacher development
(continued on next page)
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Section 2. ICTs for Teacher Professional Development at a Glance . 11
VIDEO RECORDING IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Teachers benefi t from seeing other
teachers in action
• Teachers benefi t from seeing themselves
in action
• Video recordings can be used and re-
used according to teachers’ schedules
• Playback controls (rewind, freeze-frame,
etc.) enable close analysis of specifi c
events
• Video production tools can be used
locally—in schools, by ministries, etc.
• Broadcast quality video is powerful
(moving images, audio, etc.) and
familiar
• Effective learning resource for teachers
and students—can “bring” viewers
to events and phenomena to support
concept building, retention, etc.
• Value of content may degrade over
time—costs of revisions and new
programming are high; visual im-
ages “show their age”
• Video produced by foreign institu-
tions may be ineffective—teachers
may not identify with experiences
shown outside recognizable contexts
• Poor roads, lack of rural electrical
power and other challenges to
distribution in LDCs may reinforce
differences in education access
• Demonstrates new modes of teaching
and learning through views of real
classroom activities
(Lesotho video package)
• Video recording of classes shows teach-
ers their own interactions, habits, and
progress toward effective teaching
• Variable production
costs—professional
quality is high cost; local
(in-school) production can
be low cost
• Initial cost of hardware per
school is moderate
• Hardware costs are
falling—including digital
video cameras, storage
media (DVDs, hard drives),
and players
• Distribution of video content
to schools may entail low
or moderate cost
• Potential reuse lowers recur-
rent costs of large-scale
programs
• Professional-quality
resources may be available
at low cost from universities
or foundations
• Advances in digital video may
increase the value of video for TPD
in LDCs—digital video cameras,
portable DVD players
• New, powerful mobile phones can
shoot low-resolution video clips
• Compression software (e.g.,
MPEG4, etc.) makes short videos
available via CD-ROM and the
Internet
• Easy-to-use editing tools enable
moderate-quality video production
by ministries, universities, and
schools
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Using Technology to Train Teachers12
ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Anytime, anyplace—wherever connec-
tion is available
• Teachers can interact with expert teach-
ers and others
• Written communication (email, discus-
sion) can prompt more refl ective and
considered participation
• Supports a range of learning styles
• Potential to reach large populations of
teachers
• Dependent on regular access to
computers and the Internet
• Teachers must have computer,
language and literacy, and teaching
skills to participate effectively
• Many self-paced online courses
lack high-quality or interactive con-
tent—online materials merely replace
print materials
• Internet content may be overwhelm-
ing—too much and too many
choices
• Online mentoring may be less effec-
tive than face-to-face
• Multimedia and interactive course
materials require high bandwidth
and powerful hardware
• Effect of online TPD on classroom
practice is unclear
• Provides structured and unstructured TPD
to teachers
• Provides teachers access to learning
resources for use with students
• Peer mentoring and teacher communi-
ties support TPD initiatives
• Accredited TPD courses help teachers
upgrade qualifi cations
• Low costs when teachers
access free TPD sites and
content (e.g., iEARN,
CENSE)
• High costs when courses
have fees (WIDE World)
• Moderate content develop-
ment costs (online courses,
portals, and communities)
• Moderate operating costs
for facilitated courses,
portals, and communities
• In some countries, may best be
used to build capacity among
master teachers, mentors, and
teacher-college faculty
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Section 3. Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development . 15
SECTION 3
MODELS AND BEST PRACTICES
IN TEACHER PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
GUIDING QUESTIONS
What are the needs of teachers in our country,
and how will teacher professional development
(TPD) address these needs?
Which of the three models of TPD are most
appropriate to the needs of our teachers?
Which models are currently being used in our
schools?
How can ICTs improve and extend current or
projected TPD eff orts?
SUMMARY
To be eff ective and successful, teacher professional
development must be of high quality and relevant
to teachers’ needs. No amount of ICT can compensate for TPD that lacks these characteristics.
TPD is the tool by which policymakers convey broad visions, disseminate critical information, and provide
guidance to teachers. Eff ective TPD begins with an understanding of teachers’ needs and their work
environments—schools and classrooms. TPD then combines a range of techniques to promote learning;
provides teachers with the support they need; engages school leadership; and makes use of evaluation to
increase its impact. Essential techniques include mentoring, teamwork, observation, refl ection and assess-
ment. TPD programs should engage teachers as learners—typically involving the process of “modeling.”
2
When computers are involved, TPD programs must address not only teachers’ technical skills, but also their
concerns about logistics, about how to use computers with students, and about risks to their status in the
classroom. Successful computer-supported or computer-focused TPD provides teachers with hands-on
opportunities to build technical skills and work in teams while engaging them in activities that have
substantial bearing on their classroom practices or on other aspects of the school workplace.
TPD can be divided into three broad categories:
Standardized TPD
 e most centralized approach, best used to disseminate information and skills among large teacher
populations
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IN THIS SECTION
Understanding Professional Development
Professional Development vs. Training
Making TPD Effective
Building Teachers’ Computers Skills
Successful Approaches to Computers in TPD
What is Technology Integration?
Learner-centered TPD
Professional Development Models
The Cascade Model
Strengthening the Cascade Approach in Tajikistan
Addressing Women in TPD
Site-based TPD
Self-directed TPD
Web Resources
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2 Modeling is an instructional method in which teachers experience the kinds of learning that they are expected to implement in the classroom. Design of TPD
might, for example, have teachers working in pairs or teams to help build their understanding of collaborative learning.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers16
Site-based TPD
Intensive learning by groups of teachers in a
school or region, promoting profound and
long-term changes in instructional methods
Self-directed TPD
Independent learning, sometimes initiated at
the learner’s discretion, using available re-
sources that may include computers and the
Internet
Standardized TPD includes the Cascade model,
frequently used in TPD programs that involve
ICTs. In the Cascade model, one or two “cham-
pion” teachers at a school might attend centralized
workshops to build computers skills or learn about integrating computers into teaching and learning. When
they return to their schools, these champion teachers provide TPD to their colleagues that also builds
computer use and integration skills.
Diff erent approaches to TPD can complement each other, and can be implemented in a variety of forms,
enabling TPD programs to grow to reach large numbers of teachers while supporting teachers in their eff orts
to improve student learning. However, site-based TPD, since it addresses locally based needs and refl ects local
conditions, should be the cornerstone of teacher development across the education system.
UNDERSTANDING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Teachers need a wide variety of ongoing opportunities to improve their skills. TPD (also known as “in
service” or “teacher education”) is the instruction provided to teachers to promote their development in a
certain area (e.g., technology, reading instruction, subject mastery, etc.). TPD is the tool by which policy-
makers’ visions for change are disseminated and conveyed to teachers.  ough the recipient of TPD is the
teacher, the ultimate intended benefi ciary is the student. Consequently, professional development is often the
most critical component of any ICT project.
Professional Development vs. Training
Professional development is much more than training, though technology training may be one part of TPD.
Professional development—including the ongoing workshops, follow-up, study, refl ections, observations
and assessment that comprise TPD—accommodates teachers as learners, recognizes the long-term nature of
learning, and utilizes methods that are likely to lead teachers to improve their practice as professionals.
Professional development takes many forms, such as: when teachers plan activities together; when a master
teacher observes a young teacher and provides feedback; and when a team of teachers observes a video lesson
and refl ects on and discusses the lesson.  ese methods of TPD are all more eff ective models of teacher
learning than simple training.
Making TPD Effective
Eff ective TPD addresses the core areas of teaching—content, curriculum, assessment and instruction.
Regardless of whether ICTs are involved, all TPD projects should:
Address teacher and student needs via approaches that are appropriate for conditions in schools
Be long-term, ongoing, sequenced, and cumulative, providing teachers opportunities to gain new
knowledge and skills, refl ect on changes in their teaching practice, and increase their abilities over time
■
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
EFFECTIVE TPD
Highly applied, practice-oriented, participatory, and iterative:
TPD is often a process of step-by-step familiarization/mastery
via “learning by struggling”, and TPD initiatives are too often
designed to be “one-size-fi ts-all”, uni-modal (i.e., lecture-based),
and overly theoretical, such that teachers never obtain a work-
ing knowledge or practice new content/techniques.
Chris Spohr
Social Sector Economist, Asian Development Bank
Resident Mission in the People’s Republic of China
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Section 3. Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development . 17
Focus on student learning outcomes in ways that enable teachers to use their new knowledge and skills
Model learner-centered instruction so that teachers experience and refl ect on the learning activities that
they will lead
Use formative and summative evaluation for program improvement
BUILDING TEACHERS’ COMPUTER SKILLS
Many computer-supported TPD projects focus on technical concerns, to the exclusion of all others.
Underlying these projects is the assumption that learning how to use computers equals knowing how to teach
with computers.
Some degree of technical knowledge is necessary—basic keyboard and mouse skills, familiarity with the
operating system and with basic software applications. However, computers are not designed to be used as
instructional tools and most teachers need suggestions on how to use them with students. Without those
suggestions—and without sensitivity to the array of teachers’ concerns—improving teachers’ computer skills
is not likely to lead to students’ use of computers as tools for learning.
Computers raise many concerns among teachers, including:
Technical concerns (“How do I use the computer?”)
Functional concerns (“What can computers help me do?”)
Logistical concerns (“How can I use so few computers with so many students?”)
Aff ective concerns (“Will these computers replace me as a teacher? Will my students lose respect if they
think the computer knows more than me?”)
Organizational concerns (“How do I organize my classroom to support the use of computers? How can
they be used as part of what I already do in the
classroom?”)
Conceptual concerns (“How can I learn from
and with computers?”)
Instructional concerns (“How can computers
help my students learn in diff erent ways? How
can they support the curriculum? How can
they support my teaching? How should I teach
using computers?”)
Evaluation concerns (“How do I assess student
learning in computer-based projects? How does
this new way of learning fi t with national
exams?”)
Successful Approaches to Computers in TPD
To increase the likelihood of successful TPD when computers are being introduced, the TPD should be:
Timely
Teachers should learn to use computers at the point in a project when they will have access to them, not
before and not after
Job-related
All TPD, including computer-enabled TPD, should connect to teachers’ responsibilities, to their skills
and knowledge, or to desired classroom learning outcomes
Welcoming
Many adults have anxiety about learning, or about computers; initial sessions should aim to build
“computer comfort,” not high-level skills
Hands-on
Teachers should be asked to learn by doing, not to learn by listening
■
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■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
CHARACTERISTICS OF
EFFECTIVE TPD
Any proposal that starts out by “teaching people to use comput-
ers” is a dead end. What can it do for me now? How can it
reduce my costs for doing things that I do already? How does
that free up resources for other activities? How does this technol-
ogy enable those activities?
Earl Mardle
Principal, KeyNet Consultancy
Sydney, Australia
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Using Technology to Train Teachers18
Technically appropriate
Teachers should learn using hardware, systems, and applications that are the same as those they will use
in schools
TPD should also be appropriate to the conditions in teachers’ schools. If teachers will be using ten comput-
ers with 60 students (or one computer with 60 students), TPD sessions should refl ect this reality.
 ese strategies—far more than technology training in a computer lab—will result in greater teacher use of
technology at the school level. Even when they feel minimally profi cient with ICTs, teachers will use
computers if they feel some degree of comfort and confi dence, when they know how computers can improve
what they do, and when they have access to functioning equipment and support.
At the point that computers are introduced into schools, head teachers should also receive TPD that builds
their confi dence and skills. Head teachers should feel comfortable with their understanding of what teachers
are being asked to do, how students can use computers to enhance their learning, and how they too can use
computers to accomplish meaningful tasks.
Head teachers should also understand that computers are not inherently valuable.  eir worth derives from
their contribution to the attainment of measurable educational goals..
Learner-centered TPD
Whether it is intended to bring teachers to basic, intermediate or advanced levels of skill—and whether
ICTs are used or not—TPD should be learner-centered, enabling teachers to experience the types of instruc-
tion that they are asked to provide to their students. Activities model instructional approaches that teachers
can apply in their own settings, and may range from facilitated discussions to working in small groups to
project-based instruction.
Within learner-centered TPD, the voices and actions of teachers themselves, not of the TPD provider,
should be the focus, and teachers should engage interactively and collaboratively in activities that refl ect
their curricula. Like their students, teachers learn by doing—by collaborating with peers, refl ecting,
planning classroom activities—not by sitting and listening to a facilitator or following along in directed
technology instruction.
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WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION?
“Technology integration” refers to the use of computers and the Internet to support teaching and learning across the curriculum. Integrated
use of technology may involve students working with computer productivity tools to complete science projects or searching the Internet to
fi nd poetry—but it is always tied directly to student mastery of their school subjects.
Properly implemented, technology integration is the best means of building computer skills: Research in South African and Egyptian schools
indicates that students learn computer skills better when computers are used to address their own interests rather than in formal skills train-
ing.
Technology integration is not: A separate subject, a stand-alone project, a focus of study in and of itself.
Example: Students in a Computer Studies course use a word-processing program to create a newsletter. The purpose of the activity is
to build skills using the software. Students’ use of the computer is separate from their study of school subjects. They are learning about
computers.
Technology integration is: Using computers on a regular basis, for a purpose connected to math, science, social studies or language arts.
Computer use becomes a means of learning, and learning takes place through computer use.
Example: During social studies, a teacher presents students with a task—to research and communicate to the village council fi ve strategies
for keeping local water bodies clean. Students use the computer as needed to do research (perhaps with Encarta, a CD-based encyclope-
dia) and to prepare fi nal reports. They are learning with computers.
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Section 3. Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development . 19
Learner-centered TPD recognizes and addresses the constraints teachers face in their own schools. If teachers
have no access to books, TPD should help them devise strategies to develop learning materials. If teachers
have 80 students and one computer, TPD must model—not simply talk about—how teachers integrate
technology given such a constraint.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODELS
 e range of models of professional development is far more diverse than standard technology-training
workshops. TPD models can be placed in three broad categories, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Standardized TPD programs
Focus on rapid dissemination of specifi c skills and content, often via a “cascade” or “train-the-trainer”
approach
School-centered TPD
Focus on longer-term change processes, usually
via locally facilitated activities that build on-site
communities of practice
Individual or self-directed TPD
Focus on individualized, self-guided TPD with
little formal structure or support
All of these TPD models can be used in very low-
resource environments. All can be supported by
ICT—whether this involves using radio or
television to broadcast lessons, providing on-site
videotaping of teachers and classrooms, or
expanding a local community of practice through
e-mail and the Internet.
STANDARDIZED TPD
Standardized TPD typically represents a centralized approach, involving workshops, training sessions, and in
many cases the Cascade model of scaled delivery.
Standardized models tend to rely on training-based approaches, in which presenters share skills and knowl-
edge with large groups of educators via face-to-face, broadcast, or online means. Training-based models are
frequently employed to develop ICT skills such as those covered by the International Computer Drivers
License (ICDL), and sometimes to introduce the integration of computers into the curriculum—as in the
Intel Teach to the Future program.
Standardized, training-based approaches should focus on the exploration of an idea and the demonstration
and modeling of skills. When employed in accordance with best practices discussed in this handbook,
standardized approaches can eff ectively:
Expose teachers to new ideas, new ways of doing things, and new colleagues
Disseminate knowledge and instructional methods to teachers throughout a country or region
Visibly demonstrate the commitment of a nation or vendor or project to a particular course
of action
Often, however, workshops take place at one time and in one location without follow-up, and without
helping teachers build the range of skills and capacities needed to use new techniques when they return to
their schools.  ese one-time sessions can certainly help introduce and build awareness about computers,
learner-centered instruction, or new curricula. But trainings without support rarely result in eff ective
changes in teaching and learning—or in adoption of computers at the school level.
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WHAT ARE CHARACTERISTICS OF
GOOD TPD?
Realism. What is taught should be implemented, preferably
immediately. Conditions and resources needed for implementa-
tion should be achievable, e.g., student literacy, infrastructural
support. If technology support (e.g. computers) is expected to
lag training, then the program should differentiate pedagogy
from technology, message from media, ends from means, so
that teachers can start implementing the pedagogy with less
sophisticated technology or media.
Dr. Margaret Chia-Watt
Director, Educational Development
Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore
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Using Technology to Train Teachers20
The Cascade Model
In the Cascade model, one or two teachers from a school receive standardized TPD via a training-based
model and return to their schools to replicate the training that they have received—serving as “champion
teachers” or a “vanguard team.” Cascade approaches are often used to help teachers learn basic computer
skills and to integrate computers into teaching and learning.
 e World Links program typically relies on a face-to-face Cascade model: Champion teachers participate in
professional development.  ey then return to their schools’ computer labs to provide basic computing TPD
to their colleagues and serve as coordinators or managers of their schools’ computers labs.
Although the scale of Cascade-based TPD is potentially tremendous, weaknesses in the approach may limit
its eff ectiveness. Factors that impede changes in teachers’ instructional practices include:
Workshops that typically focus on helping champion teachers learn new techniques as users, without
helping them build the skills they need as professional-development providers
Strong challenges for champion teachers due to a lack of both TPD for school leaders, and programs that
motivate teachers to participate in TPD
Champion teachers who may lack the leadership, facilitation skills and mastery of the new techniques they
need to guide their colleagues eff ectively—even when time and resources are part of the overall TPD
program
Consider Using Standardized TPD When…
 e goal is to:
Disseminate information to the largest number of teachers possible
Introduce teachers to computers, the Internet, and strategies for using these tools
Build awareness of best practices
Expose teachers to new knowledge, skills, strategies and individuals
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RELIEF INTERNATIONAL – SCHOOLS ONLINE
STRENGTHENING THE CASCADE APPROACH IN TAJIKISTAN
The Cascade approach is used repeatedly in developing countries, often with little success. However, Relief International - Schools
Online’s (RI-SOL) School Connectivity Project in Tajikistan successfully used the Cascade approach to reach teachers in over 20 secondary
schools spread throughout the mountainous country.
First, in-country teacher trainers were identifi ed and received instruction in using technology for teaching through student-centered
techniques. They were assigned to one or two school-based Internet Learning Centers near their homes to provide on-site teacher support
throughout the multi-year program.
Following the initial one-week intensive workshop, RI-SOL staff traveled monthly to the schools to meet with trainees and communicated
daily via online chat to help them develop a TPD plan and practice communication, technology, and lesson planning skills. Trainers were
given autonomy to develop training programs and educational projects that provided individualized solutions relevant to their schools and
teachers, while also participating in monthly online collaborative projects between schools within Tajikistan and internationally. At the end
of the fi rst academic year, the teacher trainers conducted the subsequent training workshop for a new cadre of trainers as the program
expanded to more schools.
Teacher trainers were paid by RI-SOL according to outcomes. To receive pay, trainers had to document their work with teachers as well as
provide project results showing teacher and student achievement. These supports (ongoing TPD, monthly face-to-face meetings, constant
technology-based communication, and outcome-based pay) helped in-country trainers successfully integrate new technology into class-
rooms and curricula across the country.
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Section 3. Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development . 21
STANDARDIZED TPD AT A GLANCE
• Excludes site-based issues
• “One size fi ts all” approach excludes contextual
issues that may pose barriers to implementation in
schools
• Unless it is a series of workshops over a long pe-
riod of time, the one-shot approach of workshops
does not address the long-term, developmental
nature of learning
• Signifi cant diminishment of skills and knowledge
in the transfer from champion teacher to col-
leagues
• Format doesn’t provide follow up or support—es-
sential components for success that require
additional cost and capacity
• Evaluation and accountability are diffi cult—class-
room-based results only emerge over time, and
are outside the workshop structure
• Training facilities may not match school condi-
tions—champion teachers and teachers may not
be able to apply TPD
• Lower unit costs: cost per teacher
trained, and cost per hour of
training
• Costs include travel-related ex-
penses for trainer and participants
• Cost-effectiveness should be
measured in relation to outcomes
• Budgeting should address follow
up and support
• Electronic follow up (via the
Internet) cannnot work unless all
areas of infrastructure are sound
• Allocations must include teacher
incentives—especially when
champion teachers benefi t fi nan-
cially from additional income or
per diem reimbursements
• One-to-many format facilitates
large-scale project
• Introduces a common knowledge
base and skills to many partici-
pants
• Broadens teachers’ knowledge
by providing access to new ideas
and strategies
• “Pyramid” training structure
facilitates large-scale projects and
rapid diffusion across systems
• Can engender new alliances and
relationships among participating
teachers
• Cost-effective means of distribut-
ing discrete sets of knowledge
and skills intended to be imple-
mented by all teachers—HIV/
AIDS awareness in schools, gen-
der-equity initiatives in classrooms
Strengths Limitations Cost considerations
And when conditions are such that:
Expert knowledge is scarce or concentrated in
urban areas
Additional follow-up can be provided on-site
in schools
SITE-BASED TPD
Site-based TPD often takes place in schools,
resource centers or teacher training colleges.
Teachers work with local (“in house”) facilitators
or master teachers to engage in more gradual processes of learning, and building mastery of pedagogy,
content and technology skills. Site-based TPD often focuses on the specifi c, situational problems that
individual teachers encounter as they try to implement new techniques.
Successful examples of site-based TPD include Guinea’s FQEL project, which combines recorded versions of
the Pas à Pas, or “Step by Step,” educational radio broadcasts for teachers with face-to-face local TPD for
district inspectors. District inspectors then work with Pas à Pas teachers in schools. Namibia’s Basic
Education Support 2 (BES II) program employs a school cluster-based approach that uses observation,
assessment and video examples to help teachers improve instruction and assessment.  e Implementation
Briefs provide a fuller description of the many types of site-based professional development models, as well
as strategies for fi nding the time to provide site-based TPD.
Site-based TPD models tend to:
Bring people together to address local issues and needs over a period of time
Encourage individual initiative and collaborative approaches to problems
Allow more fl exible, sustained and intensive TPD
Provide ongoing opportunities for professional learning among a single set of teachers
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ADDRESSING WOMEN IN TPD
Just as Education for All mandates educational access for all
students, opportunities for TPD should be provided to all teach-
ers, regardless of ethnic group, geographic location or religious
affi liation. Because educating girls is critical to a nation’s
development, and because access to qualifi ed female teachers
is critical to girls’ development, female teachers should be
provided with every opportunity to continue their professional
education.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers22
However, site-based approaches are time- and
labor-intensive, which also give rise to challenges.
Site-based approaches require locally-based TPD
providers skilled in facilitation, instruction,
content, curriculum, assessment, and technology.
Facilitators also should be adept at helping teachers
succeed in low-resource environments.
Establishing and maintaining a network of such
facilitators to meet the needs of large-scale TPD
programs is challenging in any environment. In
the teacher-poor education systems of some
developing countries, this challenge is magnifi ed.
In addition, because site-based TPD extends over a longer period and takes place in many locations,
initiatives in specifi c regions may be disrupted by civil confl ict, disease (HIV/AIDS, cholera, etc), or changes
in school leadership.
Despite these challenges, site-based TPD should be part of any country’s long-term professional-develop-
ment planning for educational improvement. Such programs may be expensive while local TPD providers
are being developed. However, once site-based programs are in place, new curricula, pedagogies, tools, and
administrative practices can be introduced in a cost-eff ective manner.
Consider Using Site-based TPD When…
Changing instructional practices is critical
Plans call for a signifi cant enhancement of teachers’ subject knowledge or of classroom teaching and
learning
Objectives include ongoing growth toward overall excellence in teaching and learning
 ere is a core group of teachers from each school able to participate in professional development
Technology—television, radio, the Internet—can be used to supplement professional development
Facilitators or master teachers can be developed regionally at teacher training colleges or at schools
Site-based methods can augment and provide follow-up for standardized methods. New science units or
assessment methods, for example, can be introduced at nationwide workshops to facilitators and teachers.
 ese facilitators will then return to their schools and work onsite with their colleagues to implement the
new techniques eff ectively.
Many TPD programs cannot be neatly categorized as either standardized or site-based. In the United States,
the Applying Technology to Restructuring Learning (ATRL) project of Southwest Educational Development
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
EFFECTIVE TPD
Relevance and appropriateness: The individual teacher must
fi nd the content and delivery of professional development
relevant to his/her needs, and appropriate for the culture of the
community, as well as in sync with the goals of the school.
Dr. Shirley Hord, Scholar Emerita
University of Texas and
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
Austin, Texas (USA)
SITE-BASED TPD AT A GLANCE
• Time intensive
• Diffi cult to provide expertise to low-resource
areas, especially those impacted by confl ict or
that are geographically remote
• On-going training involves recur-
rent expenditure
• Costs include creating training
materials, and purchasing audio-
tapes, cassette players, batteries
• Must budget for transportation so
facilitators can reach schools
• More conducive to building a
community of practice
• Locally based, focused on local
needs and builds and cultivates
local expertise
• Supports sustained TPD efforts that
cultivate expertise in schools
Strengths Limitations Cost considerations
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Section 3. Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development . 23
Laboratory combined six annual workshops with monthly, school-based TPD, such as Lesson Study, peer
classroom observations, and Open Lessons.  is combined approach of standardized workshops and site-
based approaches helped teachers create learner-centered, technology-enriched activities.Self-directed TPD
SELF-DIRECTED TPD
In self-directed TPD, teachers are asked to determine their own professional development goals and select
activities that will help them attain these goals. Self-directed TPD can involve watching video examples of
classrooms, reading books on education or a fi eld of study, keeping journals, performing case studies, taking
online courses, or observing classes taught by colleagues. Many teachers already participate in informal, self-
directed TPD, by seeking out an experienced colleague for advice, for example, or searching for lesson plans
on the Internet.
Self-directed TPD places all responsibility on the teacher and requires little of the school. In many cases,
school leadership directs a teacher to develop expertise in a certain area without providing resources or
guidance. Teachers may be challenged to make use of the resources that they fi nd on their own: If a lesson
plan on plant biology uses Canadian trees as examples, a teacher needs to be able to substitute local trees in
ways that support the lesson accurately. If a project description involves “cooperative learning,” and bases
assessment on interactions within small groups, a teacher without advanced skills may make poor use of the
project. Self-directed activities are most eff ective with teachers who are motivated self-starters, and who have
already developed teaching skills and subject mastery.
For these reasons, self-directed TPD does little to promote basic or intermediate skills, and so is of less benefi t
to low-skilled teachers. Computers and the Internet can make self-directed TPD more worthwhile, but even
with ample access and connectivity, self-directed TPD works best with advanced teachers wishing to enhance
their knowledge and skills.
While teachers should certainly be encouraged to participate in ongoing, self-motivated learning, self-
directed activities should not be used as the primary means of providing TPD. Instead, they should be used
to complement and extend standardized and/or site-based TPD.
Consider Using Self-directed TPD When…
 ere are no other organized professional development options
Self-motivated and innovative individual teachers need opportunities for learning that are not otherwise
available
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SELF-DIRECTED TPD AT A GLANCE
• Teachers must have access to technology or to
other resources
• Assumes that the teacher has already developed
a high level of expertise
• Only works with teachers who are highly moti-
vated and autonomous
• Since the teacher works alone, the attrition rate
may be higher
• When technology is not working, the learning
opportunity is lost
• None to little (to school or govern-
ment). Individual assumes the
cost of his/her own professional
formation
• If teachers access the Internet at
school, learning may involve dial-
up costs and printing
• If teachers use telecenters or
Internet cafes, access costs may
pose a barrier
• Flexibility
• Opportunities for choice and
individualization
• Teacher can participate in online
communities and access resources
that would be otherwise unavail-
able.
Strengths Limitations Cost considerations
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Using Technology to Train Teachers24
Self-directed activities are part of an overall professional development program that includes standardized
or site-based TPD
Supports, incentives and structures are in place to ensure that self-directed TPD is the most eff ective way
to meet teacher needs
WEB RESOURCES
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
Educational Technology Standards
 e International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has created the most comprehensive set of
ICT standards for teachers, students, and administrators.  e standards are the product of collaboration
of more than 2,000 educators who wrote, tested, and revised learning activities and multidisciplinary
units to support classroom teachers preparing students to become technology-capable learners.  e
hands-on activities focus on subject matter and show how appropriate technology can be employed as
part of the learning experience.
http://www.iste.org (select “NETS” to go the standards section)
National Staff Development Council Standards for Professional Development
 e National Staff Development Council’s Standards for Professional Development refl ect the most
current best practices in professional learning.  e standards examine what students are expected to
know and be able to do, what teachers must do in order to ensure student success, and the ways in which
professional development must meet both goals.
http://www.nsdc.org
South African Curriculum (Wiki Book)
 is is an example of a Wiki—a Website that allows users to update and edit content collaboratively—
that contains South Africa’s national curriculum. All information may be accessed for free, commented
upon, and modifi ed as necessary.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/South_African_Curriculum
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Section 4. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
.
27
SECTION 4
TECHNOLOGIES FOR TEACHER
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT—
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET
GUIDING QUESTIONS
In what parts of our school systems are teachers
ready to develop the intermediate and ad-
vanced skills supported by computers and the
Internet?
How will computers and the Internet extend
and improve our TPD eff orts?
To take advantage of available capacities and
infrastructure, and to meet teachers’ needs,
should we locate computers for TPD in
schools, teacher training colleges, or regional
centers?
What is the outlook for gains in national
electrical infrastructure? In technical-support
capacity? How do these projections aff ect
planning for the use of computers and the
Internet?
Do other technologies, such as radio, or other models, such as site-based TPD, have greater potential to
meet our objectives?
SUMMARY
Computers and the Internet can benefi t all parts of the education system, including student learning,
teacher development, school leadership, and management. Teachers may gain benefi ts from using these tools
in the areas of content, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Computers are best used to help teachers
build intermediate and advanced skills.
In teacher training colleges, computers and the Internet can be used to increase teachers’ basic skills and
subject mastery, to provide access to resources that can later be used in classrooms, and to help teachers
build familiarity with specifi c instructional approaches. However, if teachers will not have access to comput-
ers after they are posted to schools, the cost of helping teachers acquire computer skills may outweigh the
benefi ts of computer use during their pre-service education.
In schools, computers and the Internet can serve as fl exible resources to support TPD and student learning.
Teachers can have just-in-time access to learning resources as they are preparing for lessons; can communi-
cate with mentors and colleagues as part of TPD follow up; and can enroll in distance-based certifi cation
■
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IN THIS SECTION
Potential Uses and Benefi ts
The Uganda VSAT Rural Connnectivity Project
Lessons Learned
Computers and the Internet in Teacher Training Colleges
ConnectED Uganda
Computers and the Internet in Schools
Enlaces: Chile’s Nationwide Learning Network
Impact of Computers in Schools on Teaching and Learning
Computers and the Internet in Regional Teacher Centers
The Uganda EFA Curriculum Project
Cost Considerations
Overall Costs, Enlaces
Installation, Operating and TPD Costs, Uganda VSAT
Project
Strategic Planning for Computer Support of TPD
Starting Slow: Enlaces
Focus on Primary Schools: Omar Dengo Foundation
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Using Technology to Train Teachers28
programs. In addition, as students gain computer skills, teachers can integrate the use of computer produc-
tivity tools and knowledge resources into their approach to learning in all areas of the curriculum.
Barriers to eff ectively using computers and the Internet in developing countries include poor infrastructure
and limited technical capacity. However, many of these barriers have been successfully overcome through
comprehensive project design and good management. Successful projects may minimize risk by growing
slowly at fi rst before implementation accelerates.
Several projects, including Enlaces in Chile and the Uganda VSAT Rural Connectivity Project, have
demonstrated that computers and the Internet can have a positive impact on both teachers’ practices and
students’ learning.
In regional teacher centers, computer support for TPD may off er an eff ective balance of access and consider-
ations of cost, infrastructure, and technical support. Such centers can be situated in “hub” primary schools,
secondary schools, teacher training colleges, or district offi ces, and can off er teachers opportunities to build
skills, fi nd resources, and participate in TPD. However, it is critical that TPD in teacher resource centers
remain appropriate to the conditions that confront teachers in their schools.
Capital and recurring costs for nationwide implementation of computers and the Internet are high. For
example, total funding for the Enlaces project, enabling computer access in over 5,300 schools, was approxi-
mately US$160 million over ten years. However, sustainability often poses a greater challenge: monthly
connectivity costs for schools in the Uganda VSAT Rural Connectivity project are US$305 per school, with
additional costs for computer maintenance, repairs, and replacement.
POTENTIAL USES AND BENEFITS
Computers and the Internet off er a wide range of supports for teaching and learning. Accordingly, this
section addresses computers and the Internet in three situations:
Teacher training colleges
Schools
Regional teacher centers
Personal computers are designed to empower users to fi nd or make information resources, and to communi-
cate with anyone else who uses a computer as a communication tool. When properly presented within the
context of TPD, these capacities can help teachers address many of the instructional challenges that they
face.
If implemented properly, computers and the Internet can:
Enhance student learning, teacher development, school management, and community development
Provide access to new learning resources, including content, lesson plans and assessments
Enable self-directed learning using resources from CDs and the Internet, or via online distance-learning
courses
Off er access to new learning resources, including content, lesson plans and assessments prepared by
ministries of education
Contribute to national e-Readiness
 e potential is there.  e challenges to realizing this potential in the resource-strapped environments of
LDCs are signifi cant, but they are not insurmountable.
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Section 4. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
.
29
LESSONS LEARNED
What initial lessons can be learned from the experience of the Uganda VSAT Project? Among them:
Flexibility and perseverance are critical, as unforeseen challenges will arise.
Local solutions, when available, are preferable to out-sourcing solutions internationally.
Decentralized solutions—in this case involving an independent NGO, a private-sector provider, and
school administrations with reasonable autonomy—may be most eff ective during the early phases of
ICT adoption.
 e change in regulations by the Ministry of Education and Sport (MOES) to allow schools to raise fees at
their own discretion was a key factor in the success of the Uganda VSAT project. Decentralization of
fi nancial and operational controls of schools is one means of facilitating the diff usion of computers in
schools. In Uganda, schools have been aggressive and successful in raising funds and securing donations of
hardware. As a result, AFSAT and other private-sector vendors of ICT goods and services have begun
marketing to schools directly.
 is aspect of project evolution is addressed from other perspectives in the Section 10: Eff ective Partnerships
for ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development.
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET IN
TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGES
 e design of computer-enabled TPD must be appropriate for the school environments in which teachers
are working. When computers or the Internet will not be available to teachers in schools, their use for pre-
service professional development in teacher training colleges should be shaped by this constraint.
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THE UGANDA VSAT RURAL CONNECTIVITY PROJECT:
PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF
In January 2002, SchoolNet Uganda and its partners
3
launched the Uganda VSAT Rural Connectivity project, in which 15 rural second-
ary schools were connected to the Internet by high-speed VSAT
4
terminals. Several of these school-based telecenters were the fi rst Internet
“points of presence” in their regions. The pilot project was designed to test the viability and the impact of the satellite-connected VSAT
hardware and 15-unit computers labs, augmented by teacher professional development. In Year One of the two-year project, monthly con-
nectivity costs were partially subsidized, but schools paid all other recurrent costs.
At the end of Year One, the U.S.-based VSAT service provider entered bankruptcy and ceased providing satellite service to Africa. After a
year spent developing their educational and community-outreach programs, all 15 schools were without Internet connectivity for the fi rst 9
months of 2003. Near the end of this period, an African VSAT company, AFSAT, established operations in Uganda and determined—in
part based on the example of the VSAT Project—that schools comprised a credit-worthy market for rural high-speed Internet. AFSAT began
offering lower-speed VSAT service at a reduced rate of US$305 per month.
However, AFSAT used a different frequency, requiring VSAT hardware that was entirely different from the hardware already installed in the
schools. To keep the project alive, the staff of SchoolNet Uganda re-allocated 75 percent of their salaries for 2004 toward the purchase
of AFSAT-ready hardware.
All 15 schools in the VSAT Project were again online and—as a result of lower monthly access fees—were entirely self-sustaining. In ad-
dition, these schools were joined by other Ugandan schools, many of which became members of SchoolNet Uganda. As of November
2004, 44 Ugandan schools were operating affordable VSAT Internet connections. SchoolNet Uganda has entered into a close working
relationship with the Ministry of Education and Sport, and has received grant funding from several sources to expand its programs.
3 Organizations contributing to the Uganda VSAT Rural Connectivity Project included the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports, the World Links organiza-
tion, World Bank Institute, Schools Online, and the Gates Foundation.
4 VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) refers to a satellite ground station that can be used to transmit information and communications.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers30
TPD objectives that can be supported by computers in teacher training colleges include:
Building teachers’ numeracy and literacy skills,including spoken and written language
Building teachers’ more advanced subject mastery, including understanding of key concepts
Building familiarity with approaches to teaching and learning
Providing access to information resources and tools that can be used in classrooms
Student teachers can benefi t from appropriate online distance learning courses that engage student teachers
in understanding specifi c issues in learning and pedagogy. A student teacher might, for example, complete a
course on teaching reading that describes stages in learning to read and that introduces specifi c activities for
each stage. For more information, refer to Section 8: Online Distance Learning for Teacher Professional
Development.
Connect-ED Uganda: Piloting Computer Use in Teacher Training Colleges
Launched in 2000, the Connectivity for Educator Development (Connect-ED) project in Uganda installed
computer labs and Internet connections in eight of Uganda’s 39 rural primary teacher training colleges plus
Kyambogo University (KyU). Project objectives include providing ICT training to teachers and teacher
trainers, and using Internet connectivity and new digital learning resources to enhance the teachers-college
curriculum.
In the fi rst phase of the project, tutors and teacher trainers received ICT training in the use of Microsoft
Offi ce, use of the Internet for educational research, and development of Web sites for education. Once
stationed in primary schools, however, those teachers had little opportunity to use their new skills: As of
2004, less than one percent of Uganda’s 13,500 primary schools were connected to the Internet.
Initial experience led to recommendations for a second phase of the project, in which “ICT in colleges
should be looked at as a tool for learning but not as a subject.”
5
Web- and CD-based resources were devel-
oped to support e-learning.  ese were hosted at KyU and were made accessible to the eight teacher training
colleges. Lessons now provide student teachers with access to detailed content across the primary curricu-
lum. Each topic is supported by ideas for classroom activities.
Questions for Further Discussion
Planning for the Connect-ED project should have included consideration of several questions:
Could a combination of print-based learning resources and the use of more dynamic media (e.g., video,
simulations) lead to improved learning outcomes at a reduced cost?
Could those print resources be made available to all teacher training colleges in Uganda?
How will computer-lab installations be acquired by the remaining 31 teacher training colleges?
What is the impact, if any, of unequal access to computers in Ugandan teacher training colleges?
A fi rst step in the design of a project evaluation involves identifying key questions. What questions could be
addressed to help assess the impact of Connect-ED? A sample might include:
How do the online curriculum resources aff ect learning among student teachers?
To what degree do student teachers retain subject mastery after one year in the fi eld?
Do they implement activities in their classrooms that they have encountered online?
By shifting to online distance learning as a means of delivering courses to student teachers, Connect-ED
sought to increase the value of its computer installations in the project’s Phase II. If the online courses result in
increased subject mastery among the student teachers, the return on investment in infrastructure and content-
development will be positive.
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5 Additional Internet resources were also consulted. Connect-ED is a project of the Ministry of Education and Sport, Uganda, Academy for Education Develop-
ment, Education Development Center, and Dot-EDU, funded by USAID.
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Section 4. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
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31
Consider Computers and the Internet in Teacher Training Colleges When…
Minimum capacity and infrastructure requirements can be met, including:
Stable electricity is supplied to 90 percent of the teacher training colleges targeted
Local technical support is available
Ministry or other long-term fi nancial support is available
Appropriate content is available or can be developed, including:
Interactive multimedia and simulations targeting specifi c learning outcomes
Repositories of graphics, texts, audio, and video to support independent research and lesson-plan
development
Interactive online courses
TPD addresses objectives such as:
Building mastery of key concepts in subject areas (e.g., through the use of interactive simulations)
Preparing teachers to integrate computers in teaching and learning in the schools where they are posted
Preparing teachers to access Internet content and other learning resources from their schools
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET IN SCHOOLS
In schools, computers and the Internet can take on entirely new roles in support of TPD, helping teachers
refresh or upgrade content skills, develop curriculum and assessment resources, and learn about new
approaches to instruction. When computers are connected to the Internet, teachers can share experiences
with online mentors or with peers across the country or continent.
Most initiatives placing computers in schools target students.  ese projects provide an ICT infrastructure
that can be used—and ultimately must be used—for TPD as well.
Appropriate objectives for the use of computers and the Internet in schools to support TPD include:
Providing follow-up support for face-to-face professional development
Supporting the integration of ICT and other areas of the school curriculum
In addition to these objectives, computers and the Internet in schools may also support objectives previously
identifi ed for teacher training colleges: enhancing basic skills, building subject mastery, and increasing access
to information.
Today, more than 2 million primary and secondary students have access to the Enlaces network in their
schools. Seventy thousand Chilean teachers have been trained—50 percent of all the teachers in the country.
Questions for Further Discussion
Enlaces is among the world’s most successful ICT projects in education. In considering the project’s overall
impact, key questions might include:
How well does the project serve children in Chile’s poorest communities?
What impact has the project had on the ways that teachers teach and students learn?
Although 90 percent of Chilean students are served by the project, the remaining 10 percent—often in
small schools with a single teacher and a multi-grade classroom—are those students who are far from cities,
in rural and mountainous areas that do not have electricity or telephone connections. In cities and towns,
however, Enlaces has been successfully implemented in schools in disadvantaged communities.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers32
Impact of Computers in Schools on Teaching and Learning
 e educational impact of computers in developing countries has not been extensively studied. A lack of
evaluation of, or demonstrable results in pilot phases, combined with the challenges of implementation,
create barriers to project extension, replication, and scaling.
Enlaces succeeded in the transition from small-scale pilot to national program in part because its objectives
linked directly to proposed goals for educational reform.  e project also built a network of partnerships
extending from the government, to Chilean universities, to multinational telecommunications and com-
puter companies.
A series of evaluations from 1993 to 1998 showed signifi cant changes in student creativity and reading
comprehension, but the project’s impact on teachers’ behaviors was less clear. Enlaces teachers demonstrated
improved classroom-management practices, increased comfort with the use of ICTs as educational tools, and
increased motivation to participate in TPD. However, changing teachers’ approaches to classroom activities
and student learning remains a challenge.
Quantitative analysis of the Uganda VSAT Project shows that the project has resulted in measurable changes
in teachers’ practices and in students’ learning. Teachers in schools with computer labs are:
Four times more likely to assign independent research
Four times more likely to assign collaborative projects
 e combination of factors contributing to these changes includes the computers and the Internet connec-
tion, TPD, school leadership, and changes in curriculum and assessment introduced by the Ministry of
Education and Sport.
Consider Using Computers and the Internet for TPD in Schools When…
Minimum capacity and infrastructure requirements can be met, including:
Stable electricity is supplied to 90 percent of the schools targeted
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ENLACES: CHILE’S NATIONWIDE LEARNING NETWORK
Chile’s Enlaces program, now based at Universidad de la Frontera in the small southern town of Temuco, began in 1990 in 12 schools in
Santiago. Network access in schools was provided by very slow dial-up modems that supported email only. The World Wide Web had
yet to launch.
Enlaces has a dual focus: to make ICTs an integral part of learning in Chilean schools, and to improve the performance of students and
teachers in all areas of the curriculum.
A key element in the program’s initial adoption in schools was the development of a customized user-interface, La Plaza, a cartoon rep-
resentation of a familiar town square that enabled users to launch e-mail applications, explore the network, and access multimedia CDs.
Students and teachers could achieve success before they mastered the operating system and fi le management.
TPD is provided on-site in Enlaces schools by a network of over one thousand trainers, coordinated locally and regionally by 35 Chilean
universities. At each school, TPD provides 20 teachers with:
Two-year training covering use of e-mail, the Internet, and educational and offi ce software; creation of teaching materials, and
maintenance of hardware and software
One year of follow-on technical assistance, focusing on incorporating ICT into learning and guiding the school as it develops
maintenance and management skills
In addition, teachers attend local “Education Information Technology Encounters” where they exchange experiences and identify best
practices.
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Section 4. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
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33
Local technical support is available
Ministry or other long-term fi nancial support is available
Schools are able to raise student fees to cover costs
Curricula have been reformed to emphasize:
Collaborative work by students in groups
Independent research and writing
Use of offi ce productivity software by students to directly support learning
TPD addresses objectives such as:
Preparing teachers to integrate computers in teaching and learning
Building ICT skills among teachers to support student use of computers
Establishing online mentoring and TPD follow-up
Facilitating teacher participation in online communities
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET IN
REGIONAL TEACHER CENTERS
 ere are cost-benefi t trade-off s to computer-supported TPD in schools and in teacher training colleges:
Installations in teacher training colleges may minimize costs, but may also limit access to pre-service
teachers
Installations in schools may provide access to in-service teachers and students, but involve much larger
implementations that entail high costs and high levels of infrastructure and technical support
Regional teacher centers of various kinds can serve as cost-eff ective alternatives to computer labs in teacher
training colleges and schools. Computer-supported regional centers can be located in “hub” primary schools,
in secondary schools, in teacher training colleges, or in district offi ces—or in a combination of these
facilities. Regional teacher centers can also complement cluster-based methods of TPD, such as lesson study.
 e EFA Curriculum Project in Uganda encountered obstacles stemming from inadequate TPD. Teachers
were asked to learn via “top-down” instructional methods, both in relation to ICT and in relation to
pedagogies. No eff ort was made to incorporate modeling of desired forms of learning.  ough teachers
gained skills in using computers, and gained exposure to active-learning pedagogies, they were not ad-
equately prepared to design or build learning resources to enhance instruction.
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THE UGANDA EFA CURRICULUM PROJECT:
PROVIDING ALTERNATIVE FOR ACCESS
In 2004, three schools involved in the Uganda VSAT Project served as sites for a pilot project in which 27 primary teachers participated
in over 70 hours of professional development. TPD led by curriculum-development specialists addressed:
Using computers and the Internet
Implementing new teaching and learning techniques
Developing lesson plans and learning resources
Primary schools were selected on the basis of proximity to VSAT Project schools and as a result of the enthusiasm of head teachers and
faculty. In most cases, teachers were able to walk to VSAT Project computer labs in less than 15 minutes. Over the course of the nine-month
project, the primary-school teachers averaged fi ve hours of computer-lab use per month—subsidized by vouchers from the project funders.
Participating primary schools received low-cost, battery-powered AlphaSmart keyboards to enable teachers to work without visiting the
VSAT labs. AlphaSmarts create documents compatible with Microsoft Word. In addition to using the VSAT Project labs, teachers reported
that they were able to successfully and valuably use the AlphaSmarts to develop materials for their lesson plans and student activities.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers34
 e principle of computer-supported regional teacher centers, however, remains sound. Resource-center
access to ICT for primary teachers is being tested in countries such as Bhutan, Rwanda, Namibia and
Nicaragua. Regional teacher centers have the potential to maximize access while minimizing costs, and to
help overcome inadequate infrastructure:  e 15 VSAT terminals installed in secondary schools for the
Uganda VSAT Project, for example, have the potential to provide reliable high-speed internet access to
teachers in dozens of nearby primary schools.
Consider Using Computers
and the Internet for TPD in Regional Teacher Centers When…
Local capacity and infrastructure present obstacles, including:
Insuffi cient/unreliable electrical power in rural areas
Lack of local technical support
TPD objectives include:
Providing follow-up, mentoring, or collaboration to support pre-service TPD
Providing primary teachers with access to knowledge resources and communication tools
COST CONSIDERATIONS
Capital costs for projects involving the use of computers and the Internet are high. During pilot phases, these
costs are often borne by donor agencies and other external entities. When the pilot phase is fi nished,
however, both fi nancial and technical sustainability of the computer installations can be problematic for
schools.
When projects are brought to scale, much higher capital costs are incurred by country governments and are
typically covered by loans or credits. In large-scale projects, capital costs are annualized across three to four
years—the typical corporate service life of a desktop computer.
Recurrent costs, including Internet connections, hardware maintenance, and ongoing TPD are often more
challenging and may limit project success, growth, and sustainability. Some costs are often passed on to
schools, which may require changes in fi nancing rules to meet them.
Cost information is provided for the purposes of illustration only; it should not be used as a basis to predict
costs in other contexts.
Overall Costs, Enlaces
Enlaces is funded primarily by the Chilean government, with additional contributions toward recurrent
costs by schools and communities, and signifi cant in-kind support from Chilean telecommunications
companies.
Total project funding to reach 5,300 schools is estimated at US$160 million over ten years.
Lab installations range in cost from US$5,880 in small schools to US$20,932 in large schools.
Recurrent costs (TPD, maintenance, electricity, connectivity, etc.) comprise 40 percent of annual costs.
Recurrent costs are higher in larger Enlaces schools, because these schools must hire lab coordinators and pay
for additional printing, repairs and other operational costs.
6
No information is available on the cost of
teacher training.
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6 In 1998, Enlaces-related recurrent costs per student (in other words, not including the cost of hardware) were reported between 4 and 8 percent of total aver-
age recurrent costs per student.
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Section 4. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
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35
For information about the expansion of Enlaces from 1992 to 2003, refer to Strategic Planning for Computer
Support of TPD, in this section.
Installation, Operating and TPD Costs, Uganda VSAT Project
Two-year funding for the Uganda VSAT Rural Connectivity project was approximately US$900,000. Per-
school installation costs were US$23,480. Internet connectivity and other recurrent costs were typically
met by increasing student fees.  ese increases averaged US$3.95 per term, or 3 percent of total average
fees.
Cost of TPD was US$ 15,000 per year (or US$ 1,000 per school) and included salary of one full-time
employee plus travel, communications, and other expenses. Roughly 25 percent of teachers received 200
hours of TPD each; cost per teacher trained was approximately US$80 per year.
STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR COMPUTER SUPPORT OF TPD
In developing countries with emerging economies, there have been a handful of centrally driven, large-scale
projects providing computers to schools. Some, such as the Basic Education Project in Turkey (Phase I, 1998
– 2001), have focused on providing near-universal access to computer hardware and the Internet as rapidly
as possible. In such instances, challenges can arise in several areas relevant to TPD:
Lack of locally tested, proven, and replicable models of ICT use in schools
Lack of organizational infrastructure to provide TPD
In the Basic Education Project, approximately 8,000 secondary schools received computer labs over the
course of two years. Quickly developing capacity to provide computer training on a nationwide scale is well
beyond the capacities of most ministries of education.
In most countries, providing training to even one or two school faculty “champion trainers” would
require contracting an outside organization. Providing eff ective TPD focused on sound pedagogy, in-
depth integration of ICT, and adequate follow-up poses a far greater challenge. Meeting this objective
may be beyond the capacities of even the largest private-sector providers, as well as the ministry of
education.
In Turkey, the project’s limited TPD was supplemented after several years by the Intel Teach to the Future
program. Since 2003, the Intel program has provided intensive training to more than 250 Turkish “master
teachers”; in a Cascade-model program, these master teachers have provided TPD to more than 25,000
teachers.
Several areas of inquiry may be instructive in relation to large-scale computer implementations:
What problems are caused by lag times between lab installation and participation in TPD?
How do these problems relate to the service lifecycle of computer hardware, the annualization of capital
costs, and plans for sustainability?
What lessons can be drawn for program design and scaling?
What are the pros and cons of relying on the Intel Foundation to provide all TPD for the project?
Starting Slow: Enlaces
 e launch and growth of the Enlaces program in Chile off ers an example of successful lab installation and
TPD in schools. Nationwide access developed gradually over the course of a decade.  e project demon-
strated success at both the pilot level and in several mid-level phases before funding to support participation
by all Chilean schools was committed.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers36
Initial implementation involved only fi ve schools. During this pilot phase, both the technical and the
pedagogical models were tested and refi ned. By 1994, 58 schools were included in the project. After refi ning
its models for pedagogy and TPD, Enlaces began more rapid expansion in 1996, as shown in Figure 2.
In 2001 Enlaces launched a Web-based portal to replace La Plaza in most schools.  e new Educar portal
(http://www.educarchile.cl) gives students and teachers access to a wider range of more sophisticated
learning resources, and includes separate areas for families, school administrators, and researchers.
 e gradual expansion of Enlaces enabled the program to develop TPD capacity to keep pace with the
addition of schools.
Focus on Primary Schools: Omar Dengo Foundation
Expansion of the nationwide Programa de Informática Educativa (PIE) program in Costa Rica also demon-
strates a gradual approach and reliance on a proven model. However, with fewer primary schools and fewer
barriers of geography or demographics, the growth of the PIE program is relatively constant—arriving at 90
percent coverage through gradual increases in the number of schools served. ( e substantial leap in 1998
resulted from expansion to 116 regular primary schools plus the launch of a new program to serve 69 rural
one-teacher multigrade schools.)
 e program’s small scale, relative to the size of the Enlaces program, allows specialists at the Omar Dengo
Foundation to meet all requirements for TPD.
FIGURE 2: GROWTH IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
PARTICIPATING IN ENLACES
5
58
311
2206
4052
5942
00
161
952
1263
1336
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002
Year
Primary Schools Secondary Schools
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Section 4. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
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37
 e PIE program focuses on “continuous” TPD through three complementary modes:
Yearly TPD sessions for all teachers
Mentoring and self-assessment
Bi-annual national conferences
Pedagogy focuses on project-based learning: Student “researchers” at diff erent schools and in diff erent grades
work together in teams to create reports, databases, charts, spreadsheets, concept maps, and other “artifacts”
generated by the research process.
Question for Further Discussion
Both Enlaces and the PIE program are noteworthy—and rare—examples of successful nationwide projects in
educational computing. Both projects began with signifi cant eff orts in primary schools.
What advantages do educational-computing projects in primary schools have over projects in secondary
schools? What disadvantages?
What ramifi cations do primary-school computer projects have for TPD? How might those ramifi cations
be addressed?
What skills and knowledge should be addressed by TPD to enable teachers to implement project-based
learning eff ectively?
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FIGURE 3: GROWTH IN NUMBER OF SCHOOLS
PARTICIPATING IN THE PIE PROJECT
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Year
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Using Technology to Train Teachers38
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Flexible and powerful—can be used to
develop materials, access resources,
and communicate
• Multiple media and platforms combine
text, audio, video, animation, and
interactivity
• Centralized and decentralized com-
munication supports dissemination of
resources and essential feedback from
schools
• May enable learner-centered and ac-
tive-learning pedagogies
• Enable communication with experts—in-
cluding TPD mentors, master teachers,
and help desks
• Improve subject mastery through
Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI),
simulations, and other tools
• Provide support for collaboration—indi-
viduals, pairs, and groups of teachers
or students can use computers to col-
laborate online and face-to-face
• Support assessment and recordkeep-
ing—accredited ODL courses, electronic
portfolios, etc.
• Potential for revision and new versions
supports refl ection, self-assessment, and
other learning-related activities
• Complex tools require both time and
TPD to be effective
• Hardware, software, and operat-
ing-systems are fragile—subject to
damage by users, viruses, fl uctuating
electrical power, etc.
• Hardware and software lose value
and utility as they age—corporate
and institutional users plan on 3
years of service
• Highly dependent on infrastruc-
ture—electrical, telecommunications,
road (for repairs), and human (for
maintenance and management)
• Without support from leadership
and system-wide commitment to new
modes of teaching and learning,
impact is limited
• Provide productivity tools to write
reports, make presentations, commu-
nicate, design animations, build Web
sites, etc.
• Provide access to guided TPD resources
and collaborative environments, and
enable the creation of online communi-
ties of practice
• Enable acquisition of basic computer
skills (ICDL), design skills (e.g., Web
pages), programming, and hardware
maintenance and repair
• Provide tools (e.g., spreadsheets,
databases) that promote higher-order
thinking
• Variable production
costs—new software tools
(e.g., Flash, Director, etc.)
drive down production
costs of digital content
• Variable content-distribution
costs are contingent on
Internet connectivity and
resource format
• Signifi cant installation,
maintenance, and repair
costs
• Total Cost of Ownership
(TCO) model mandates
periodic upgrades
• May contribute to overall
e-Readiness
• Advances in wireless, VSAT, and
other communications tools may
increase Internet access
• Advances in hardware design
may increase ruggedness and
decrease power requirements
• Mobile devices (handheld comput-
ers, phones) have potential to
change TPD-focused communica-
tions and access to resources
• Focus on tools may distract from
curriculum-centered learning
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Section 4. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the Internet
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39
WEB RESOURCES
Connecting Student Learning and Technology
Computers are not inherently instructional tools, and most teachers need suggestions for using them.  is
guide provides such suggestions. It is not a nuts-and-bolts manual, but a discussion about using technology
in environments that support learning, off ering suggestions for using computers as instructional tools in
environments that support learner-centered approaches. Educational computing use is examined by
application (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.).
http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/fl ash.html
Technologies for Education: Potentials, Parameters and Prospects
A joint eff ort of UNESCO and the Academy for Education Development (AED), this document provides a
comprehensive and informative compendium of information on the range of issues associated with comput-
ers in education—from policy, to hardware and software provision, content and teacher training.
http://www.aed.org/ToolsandPublications/upload/TechEdBook.pdf
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Section 5. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Radio . 41
SECTION 5
TECHNOLOGIES
FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT—RADIO
GUIDING QUESTIONS
Which of our TPD needs or goals can be met
through the use of radio broadcasts?
To what extent does our country have access to
the skills and facilities needed to produce
programming in these media? How extensive
and reliable is the relevant infrastructure?
How are these technologies currently used in
our schools and communities? How could
these programs be improved or complemented
by additional programs in TPD?
What methods and what content are appropri-
ate to meet our TPD objectives?
SUMMARY
Radio is the most widely used communications technology in many of the poorest countries of the world.
 e cost of a radio receiver is low enough to be aff orded by most communities and many individual families.
Battery-operated and hand-cranked radios can operate without grid-based electrical power, and in school
systems where skilled teachers are in short supply, radio can improve student learning while helping teachers
gain skills and confi dence. Radio is best used as a tool to guide whole-class participation and to provide
teachers with hands-on experience in specifi c pedagogies.
Over the past three decades, education systems and donor agencies have advanced radio-based instruction
beyond simple rote learning. Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) comprises a body of techniques and content
that has been shaped by research and by education policy to support active engagement of students and
teachers. IRI has demonstrated positive impact on many EFA-related indicators, such as promotion,
attendance, and dropout rates, and has been used to improve the quality of education for large numbers of
students in the absence of qualifi ed teachers. IRI has led to improved post-test performance by students and
increased motivation on the part of teachers.
With high start-up costs and moderate recurring costs, radio projects are good candidates for donor support.
But radio-based education can be disrupted by outside political and economic forces—such as re-allocation
of specifi c radio frequencies—and by the need to fund broadcasts, replace radios and batteries in schools,
and develop new course materials to avoid dissatisfaction on the part of teachers and students. In addition,
radio tends to reinforce rote learning and linear, one-size-fi ts-all approaches.
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IN THIS SECTION
Interactive Radio Instruction
Sous le Fromager: Dual-audience Direct Instruction
Educational impact of IRI
Cost Considerations
Pas à Pas: Top-down Radio-based TPD
Strategic Considerations
New Radio and Audio Tools
Web Resources
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Using Technology to Train Teachers42
INTERACTIVE RADIO INSTRUCTION
Since the mid-1970s, radio has helped teach basic skills to millions of students in developing countries.
Typically, radio is deployed to improve the quality of education for large numbers of students when a school
system faces a shortage of skilled teachers.
In some instances, such as the Pas à Pas series in Guinea, radio programming is developed specifi cally for
teachers. In other instances, IRI programs—including the Guinean program Sous le Fromager—focus on
student learning but also give teachers hands-on practice.
Radio for TPD is best used to enhance teachers’ basic skills.
Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) is a set of pedagogical practices that has been developed through over 30
years of fi eldwork and research. IRI has evolved to include—at its best—group and pair work by students,
guided inquiry, play-based learning, and other activities. Regular IRI broadcasts off er curriculum developers
the opportunity to scaff old instruction across a series of episodes and to model activities—such as short
experiments using locally available materials—that can be completed by teachers and students between
broadcasts.
Some IRI programs, such as the Guinean program Sous le Fromager, help students learn while also giving
teachers direct instruction on how to teach.  is approach, focusing on the needs of both students and
teachers, is known as “dual audience direct instruction.”
Educational Impact of IRI
IRI impact on student learning has been extensively evaluated. Programs in many countries have demon-
strated improved post-test performance by students receiving radio instruction compared to control groups
of students.
7
Studies have also shown that IRI can have positive eff ects on Universal Primary Completion
indicators such as promotion, attendance, dropout and grade-repetition rates.
As noted, IRI programs often target teacher development in conjunction with student learning—either
formally or as an indirect objective. Anecdotal evidence of impact is strong, with teachers in many programs
stating that IRI has increased their motivation, enabled them to overcome embarrassment at their lack of
subject mastery, and changed their approaches to teaching and learning. However, quantitative evidence of
change in teacher practice as a result of IRI has not been generated.
Cost for initial development of IRI programming is often high. Production costs may be augmented by costs
for supporting printed materials, TPD, ongoing program management, and evaluation. Eff ective IRI also
requires a commitment to advanced research and formative evaluation to ensure that programs are engaging
and that they lead to enhanced learning.
Recurrent costs typically include airtime, batteries, radios or cassette players, and tapes for schools. Other
common recurrent costs include print production, print distribution, and teacher development. (Some
programs publish IRI classroom materials in newspapers to reduce printing costs.)
 e fi nancial appeal of the IRI model is based on dramatic reductions in the cost per student as programs
increase their geographic coverage and as they are re-broadcast:
7 As an example of the gains reported, students receiving English in Action instruction through South Africa’s Open Learning Systems Education Trust (OLSET)
showed improvements in post-test scores that increased based on the number of lessons students had received: students receiving fewer than 33 lessons aver-
aged 6.7 percent gains; students receiving between 34 and 66 lessons averaged 13 percent gains, and; students receiving more than 66 lessons averaged 24
percent gains. However, it is critical to note that basing overall educational strategies on the results of closed post-tests may not factor in bias in testing.
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Section 5. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Radio . 43
Mental Arithmetic:  e Numbers Family, a
program launched in Honduras in 1986,
reported Year One costs per student of
US$2.94, based on 200,000 students and the
inclusion of production costs and materials-
development costs.
Costs per student for Mental Arithmetic fell
sharply in subsequent years to US$1.01.
Recurrent costs per student tend to remain stable
over the life of an IRI program.
For IRI projects with TPD as their primary focus,
however, reductions in per-unit costs will be more
limited, based on smaller target populations. For
TPD and other small-audience projects, developers
should consider reusing or adapting proven TPD-
focused IRI materials from other countries if they are available, to avoid materials development costs.
Questions for Further Discussion
 e Guinean program Sous le Fromager achieves impact among teachers as well as students, even though it
was primarily designed to improve the quality of student learning.  e Guinean TPD program, Pas à Pas,
focuses on teachers exclusively, and is much less successful.
Sous le Fromager unintentionally resulted in improved practices among teachers. In designing a comple-
mentary TPD program to consolidate the teachers’ gains from Sous le Fromager, what would be the
program objectives?
In the case of TPD radio programming such as Pas à Pas, in which teachers are addressed directly, how
could it be structured diff erently to make it more eff ective?
Strategic Considerations
Among the factors to be considered in relation to IRI are three that aff ect sustainability:
Recurrent costs
Broad estimates by World Bank researchers have determined that recurrent costs of small-scale IRI
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SOUS LE FROMAGER: DUAL-AUDIENCE DIRECT INSTRUCTION
The Guinean project Sous le Fromager—funded by USAID and administered by Education Development Center (EDC) and the Institut
National de Recherche et Action Pédagogique (INRAP)—was a cornerstone in the Fundamental Quality in Education Level (FQEL) project
(1998-2005). Sous le Fromager directs teachers to lead the class through specifi c actions that require students to respond verbally or
physically.
The program, broadcast over the course of 122 weeks, reached 25,000 classrooms—60 to 70 percent of the total primary school
audience in Guinea. In addition to actual programming, teachers receive instructional materials and detailed teacher guides to assist them
in preparing for and carrying out activities. Teacher guides used text and drawings to help teachers know what to do before, during and
after a radio broadcast.
Sous le Fromager was originally created as a tool to improve student learning in French, math, and science. However, the popular radio
program evolved into an effective tool for TPD. The project has reported that teachers increased their use of active-learning instructional
methods and improved their subject knowledge. Engaging teachers as “co-learners” alongside students, and at the same time infl uencing
teachers’ classroom practices, Sous le Fromager is an excellent example of dual-audience direct-instruction TPD.
PAS À PAS: TOP-DOWN
RADIO-BASED TPD
Pas à Pas is a weekly radio broadcast designed to help
primary teachers increase their knowledge of good instruction
and assessment. Unlike Sous le Fromager, which is entertaining,
multimodal, and an example of IRI, the Pas à Pas program is
more didactic and less interactive. Pas à Pas is not an example
of IRI.
The 30-minute program offers a simulated teaching episode
after which the “teacher” is interviewed about his/her use of
instructional strategies, formative assessment, etc. Compared to
Sous le Fromager, Pas à Pas listenership is low—30 percent—in
part because it is broadcast on Thursday afternoons, when
teachers are out of school for professional development activi-
ties, but which, in many Guinean communities, is market time.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers44
programs average 17 percent of total per-student spending in countries such as Ethiopia, Chad, Mali,
and Lesotho.
8
Total per-student spending may include teacher salaries, facilities maintenance, textbooks,
and other items included in school operating costs. Seventeen percent of total per-student expenditures,
then, may represent all funds available for educational improvement.
Limited listening time
 e use of IRI is generally limited to brief periods during the school day (or outside the school day for
teachers). Teachers and school-based resources—whether local materials, textbooks, library books, or
computers and CDs—may remain the primary means of student learning throughout the school day.
Challenges to large-scale projects
With high production costs and relatively low recurrent costs, IRI lends itself to donor funding. But
often IRI production is completed through a university or NGO, or under international contract.
Ministry personnel may not build capacity to produce IRI, and may have little motivation to allocate
funds necessary to continue broadcasting. For these reasons, IRI is often piloted successfully but not
taken to scale.
To achieve IRI programming which is successful, sustainable, and taken to scale, development and imple-
mentation of IRI planning should be coordinated with other critical components of educational improve-
ment, including teacher development and curriculum change.
New Radio and Audio Tools
To ensure that IRI reaches students in geographically remote areas, lessons can be recorded on cassette tape
and provided to schools. Recorded lessons also give schools and teachers the ability to schedule and replay
lessons conveniently.
Many other technologies are emerging with the potential to increase the impact of IRI.  ese include:
Hand-cranked radios
Radios with hand-cranked generators and rechargeable batteries extend the reach of radio broadcasting
to areas without electrical power.  e Freeplay Foundation has developed the Lifeline Radio, combining
both solar and wind-up power generation; thousands have been distributed throughout Africa as a result
of private and foundation contributions.
Digital audio
 e ability to record in digital fi les enables sounds to be recorded on many diff erent devices, and to be
easily stored, edited, and distributed. Digital audio fi les can be downloaded via the Internet (through
podcasts) or shared via email.
Audio compression (MP3, etc.)
Audio compression technologies strip inaudible frequencies out of digital audio fi les to create fi les of
much smaller size. Compression renders audio fi les more suitable for delivery over the Internet—via
audio streaming—or, via Multimedia Message Service (MMS), to mobile telephones.
Digital radio
Digital radio, or Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), has the potential to increase access to radio signals,
lower airtime costs, and expand the services that radio provides. Digital radio signals may carry any
binary-encoded data, which means that digital radios can transmit multimedia information via down-
load to computers.
Consider Using Radio to Support TPD When…
Minimum capacity and infrastructure requirements for other technologies cannot be met.
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8 The lower-income countries with IRI programs had a mean per-capita GNP of US$390 in 1993. The calculation of 17 percent of total per-student spending is
based on small-scale IRI programs of less than 100,000 students per year. Average recurrent costs were estimated to be 6 percent of total per-student spending.
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Section 5. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Radio . 45
Problems to be addressed include:
Lack of qualifi ed teachers means that classes are conducted by para-teachers, volunteers or others
Teachers lack basic skills in the language of instruction, math, or other subjects
Teachers lack knowledge of instructional practices
Students are failing to gain basic skills
TPD objectives include:
Developing teachers’ (and students’) basic skills and knowledge of core subjects
Improving teachers’ abilities to manage whole-class instruction
Increasing teachers’ use of simple interactive pedagogies such as questioning strategies
Increasing teachers’ motivation, confi dence, and/or enthusiasm for teaching
WEB RESOURCES
Interactive Radio Instruction: Impact, Sustainability, and Future Directions
Edited by Alan Dock and John Helwig, this 1999 publication, part of the World Bank’s Education and
Technology series, contains seven reports, including detailed analysis of costs of IRI programs and case
studies from six countries in Africa.
http://www-wds.worldbank.org
(use Advanced Search by author “Dock”)
Interactive Radio Instruction: Twenty-three Years of Improving Educational Quality
A 1997 analysis by Andrea Bosch of Education Development Center, this study outlines the strengths of
IRI in relation to the challenges of infrastructure and educational quality that confront developing
countries, with information about South Africa’s OLSET project.
http://www-wds.worldbank.org
(use Advanced Search by author “Bosch”)
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Using Technology to Train Teachers46
RADIO IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Proven curricula in basic math,
language arts, health, Early Childhood
Care and Development (ECCD)
• May be implemented with or without
textbooks and other resources
• Potential to reach large student popula-
tions
• Lack of literacy skills not a barrier
• Addresses equity and access issues
(gender, ethnic, rural)
• Can combine hands-on development of
teacher skills with student learning
• Audio learning may support visualiza-
tion and concept-building by learners
• Enables instructional continuity across
grades and subjects
• Durable, survives extreme environments
and long-term use with minimal care
• Moderate infrastructure requirements
• Low technical-support requirements
• Value of content may degrade over
time—long-running programs must
evolve with schools and education
systems
• Broadcast airwaves are subject to
political and economic events
• Tendency to reinforce rote learning
models— interactivity and attention
to needs of individual learners are
limited
• Fixed broadcast schedule
• Linear, one-size-fi ts-all approach
• Risk of student and teacher dis-
satisfaction —including boredom, es-
pecially when lessons are broadcast
daily
• Hardware-replacement programs are
necessary: Radios and batteries may
be borrowed indefi nitely or stolen
• Addresses shortages of trained teachers
• Provides instruction to hard-to-reach,
displaced, or home-bound populations
• Provides basic-skills instruction—math,
health, language-of-instruction (English,
French, etc.)
• Promotes teacher development primar-
ily via demonstration, guided and
hands-on classroom management, and
building subject knowledge
• Can lead to improvements in basic
skills
• High to moderate content-
development costs
• Start-up includes cost of
radios, cassette players,
tapes, batteries, as well as
development of materials
• Per-student recurrent costs
of large-scale programs are
very low
• Funding may combine con-
tributions from ministries of
communication, broadcast
authorities, private radio
networks, parents’ groups,
and others
• Low recurrent cost has not
ensured sustainability
• Advance research and
formative evaluation are essential
for success
• Impact is increased by teacher
development, printed materials,
school site visits and other means
• May incorporate songs, use
of real-world objectives (e.g.,
pebbles or beans as math manipu-
latives), in-class experiments, pair
and group work and other active
learning elements
• Limited quantitative evidence of
impact on teacher development
• Can be used in combination with
other technologies, such as video
or “pod-casting”—teachers may
adopt radio-delivered classroom
practices when they see examples
on video
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Section 6. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Television . 49
SECTION 6
TECHNOLOGIES
FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT—TELEVISION
GUIDING QUESTIONS
Which of our TPD needs or goals can be met
through the use of television broadcasts?
To what extent does our country have access to
the skills and facilities needed to produce
programming in this medium? How extensive
and reliable is the relevant infrastructure?
How are these technologies currently used in
our schools and communities? How could these programs be improved or complemented by additional
programs in TPD?
What methods and what content are appropriate to meet our TPD objectives?
SUMMARY
Television has been employed successfully in several of the largest developing countries, including Mexico,
Brazil, and China. Television’s strengths include the power to engage viewers, to present conceptual informa-
tion visually, and to show real people and environments from throughout the world. Television can support
TPD by giving teachers opportunities to observe other teachers as they implement new instructional
practices. By enabling teachers to anticipate what will happen, television reduces the risk inherent in
experimentation.
Mexico’s Telesecundaria program is designed specifi cally to provide year-round curricula to rural junior-
secondary schools, enabling college graduates with no training as teachers to guide students toward success-
ful completion by supplementing educational programming with in-class discussion, lessons, and
assessments.
With high production costs and high recurrent costs for broadcast airtime, television is most cost-eff ective
when it is used to support large-scale projects. Telesecundaria reaches 1.2 million students each year, and over
the course of its 30-year history has achieved respectable results: completion rates by Telesecundaria students
are similar to those of students in regular schools; students’ performance on exams is slightly lower than that
of students’ in regular schools.
In Brazil, both private- and public-sector channels carry educational programming that addresses vocational
training, social issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention, and ways to improve classroom instruction. Salto para o
futuro, broadcast by the government to address TPD, is watched by roughly 200,000 Brazilian primary and
secondary teachers.  e program’s goal is to guide teachers in instructional change, but results are mixed.
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IN THIS SECTION
Television for TPD
Mexico’s Telesecundaria Junior-secondary Curriculum
Brazil’s Television for TPD
Educational Impact
Cost Considerations
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Using Technology to Train Teachers50
Without close connection to the concerns of teachers and support at the school level, TPD-focused televi-
sion is more appropriate as a means to improve existing teaching and learning rather than a means to eff ect
substantial change.
TELEVISION FOR TPD
Mexico, Brazil, and China have been among the leaders in the use of broadcast television for instruction in
developing countries. Of these, programs in Mexico and Brazil are profi led.
 ree main factors defi ne the strengths and limitations of educational television:
Powerful combinations of images and information
High production and recurrent costs
Highly skilled personnel
As a tool for TPD, television is often used to show teachers real teacher-student interactions in the class-
room, enabling them to observe the management of learning activities. In this area, the uses of television
and radio for TPD can be contrasted: whereas television shows teachers images of teachers and students in
action, radio often is used to guide teachers through scripted activities.
Mexico’s Telesecundaria Junior-secondary Curriculum
Started in 1968 to address the shortage of teachers in rural schools, Telesecundaria today reaches over 1.2
million students in 16,500 schools serving grades 7 through 9—over 15 percent of total enrolment in junior
secondary school.
Teacher shortages hit secondary schools especially hard, because secondary teachers are required to master
advanced knowledge of one subject—typically language arts, science, math, or social studies. Addressing this
challenge by broadcasting educational programming throughout the school day, Telesecundaria enables a
single teacher to teach all subjects eff ectively.
Every day in Telesecundaria classrooms, students:
Watch 15-minute lessons on television, then
Take part in 35-minute follow-up activities guided by their teachers
Complete assessments of their learning
 e curriculum is focused on community-based concerns such as pollution, water issues or hygiene. Class
size in Telescecundaria classrooms averages 22 students while that of regular junior-secondary schools is 35
students.
Teachers also participate in one-week pre-service trainings and in ongoing in-service workshops that build
mastery of the curriculum and lead to improved teaching practice.  e Telesecundaria broadcasts provide
critical support for students and teachers in small rural schools.
Brazil’s Television for TPD
Both private-sector and public-sector channels off er educational programming in Brazil.  e best-known
channel, Canal futura, is funded by a consortium of Brazilian and multi-national corporations and
operated by Globo, the world’s fourth-largest television broadcasting company. Canal Futura off ers over
20 educational programs. One of Canal Futura’s fi rst education programs, A-Plus, was intended for
teachers.
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Section 6. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Television . 51
 e success of Canal futura’s education programming is based on scale. A-Plus was originally intended for
teachers, but over time it expanded its programming to reach 13 million viewers; the Brazilian education
system employs only two million teachers.
In 1996, the national Ministry of Education launched its own channel, TV Escola (“School TV”), broadcast-
ing programs via satellite on TPD and student learning.  e TV Escola program Salto para o futuro marked
its 10th anniversary of daily broadcasting in 2005.  e hour-long program presents a debate among three
experts in education focused on issues in education theory and practice. Debates—a very low-cost format—
are supplemented by short video clips that show practices and learning activities in action in real classrooms.
Teachers often view Salto para o futuro in groups at their school.  e program is interactive: During the
broadcast, teachers send questions, ideas, and opinions to the panel via fax, email, and telephone.
Educational Impact
 e Telesecundaria and TV Escola channels are both operated by their national governments independently
of commercial broadcasting. For this reason, programming can address audiences of students or teachers
that are much too small for commercial broadcasters: Telesecundaria reaches 16,500 schools, 50,000
teachers, and 1.2 million students, and Salto para o futuro reaches roughly 200,000, or 10 percent, of Brazil’s
primary and secondary teachers per year. Telesecundaria has reported the following results:
Completion rates equal to students in regular schools
73 percent of students enrolling in grade 7 at a Telesecundaria complete grade 9, a completion rate that is
5 percent lower than students in regular secondary schools.  is diff erence is not statistically signifi cant.
Student achievement lower than that of students in regular schools
62 percent of Telesecundaria students pass grade 9 reading exams, while 40 percent pass grade 9 math.
Pass rates for students in regular schools are 76 percent and 50 percent.
Telesecundarias serve rural areas, populated by poor families in which youth often work. In this context,
Telesecundaria’s completion rate is impressive. To properly assess the Telesecundaria test scores, results would
require adjustment for socio-economic status and other factors.
TV Escola: Salto para o futuro tries to use TPD-focused programming to infl uence teachers’ classroom
practices. Independent evaluation suggests that even though it incorporates interaction via fax, phone, and
email, the program may not be connected closely to teachers’ day-to-day concerns to be eff ective.
Researchers suggest that for Salto para o futuro to be eff ective, “it must advance beyond making requests or
suggestions to in-service teachers, to become linked to the educational life of the school, rather than to
proposals imposed by the central offi ce.”
9
Cost Considerations
Television production costs are high, and airtime is expensive. In 1998, production of a 15-minute
Telesecundaria module cost between US$30,000 and US$50,000 and required about 20 days to complete.
Telesecundaria re-uses its instructional programs, but still reports high recurrent costs:
Recurrent costs, over half of which are teacher salaries, are three times greater than the annualized
investment in video production.
Costs per student, at more than US$500 per year, are 15 percent higher than in regular schools.
Initial investment in program production (US$594 million) has been followed by recurring costs of
US$425 million per year.
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9 See Castro, A. M. (2002). Descentralização e Autonomia: Limites e Possibilidades de um Programa de Formação de Professores. Educação Online. Available:
http://www.educacaoonline.pro.br/art_descentralizacao_e_autonomia.asp
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Using Technology to Train Teachers52
Questions for Further Discussion
Supported by long-term commitment and resources, Telesecundaria has achieved substantial impact in
educational access and improvement. However, questions can be raised about opportunity costs and
program fl exibility:
Over the course of the Telesecundaria’s 30-year history, what other long-term capacity-building and
educational-improvement measures might have been by-passed as a result of the fi nancial and organiza-
tional commitment to television?
How can Telesecundaria take advantage of new developments in Internet access, video production and
delivery, cut costing techniques and improvements in learning outcomes?
With a substantial investment in Telesecundaria, how might Mexico’s secondary school program adapt as
the country begins to emphasize computers and the Internet in schools?
Consider Using Television to Support TPD When…
Minimum capacity and infrastructure requirements can be met, including:
Stable electricity is supplied to 90 percent of the area targeted
Design, production, and other technical skills are available
Committed long-term funding is at least equal to initial start-up and production costs
Government or commercial broadcasting networks are available, with satellite broadcasting available if
rural areas are involved
Problems to be addressed include:
A scarcity of qualifi ed teachers, especially in rural areas
A large number of students who are are unschooled or receive inadequate teaching
Program objectives include:
Changing teaching and learning throughout the entire system
Increasing teachers’ and students’ access to rich educational content
WEB RESOURCE
Providing Teacher Training through Educational Television:  e China Experience
Yidan Wang provides an overview of the context, history, and impact of China’s use of in-service
educational television to address the country’s high numbers of unaccredited and under-skilled teachers.
http://pdf.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNACH453.pdf
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Section 6. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Television . 53
TELEVISION IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• The medium is both powerful (moving
images, audio, etc.) and familiar
• Can be used to “bring” viewers to the
site of events and phenomena
• Observing demonstrations of classroom
management and other teaching
practices helps teachers implement new
techniques effectively
• Potential to reach large populations of
students and teachers
• Addresses equity and access issues—al-
though access requires electrical power
• Supports instructional continuity across
grades and subjects
• Visual medium does not guide
teacher through scripted, hands-on
classroom activities—unlike radio,
television promotes “watch and
learn,” not “do and learn”
• High development costs may limit
testing, review, and revision before
programming is launched
• Value of content may degrade over
time—costs of revisions and new
programming are high; visual im-
ages “show their age”
• Broadcast airwaves are subject to
political and economic events
• Television production requires sophis-
ticated skills and facilities
• Costs of production and airtime may
infl uence programming to reach
audiences outside of schools
• Addresses shortages of trained teachers
• Primary means of delivering content
and concepts to students across the
curriculum
• Development of teacher skills and
knowledge
• Provides views of real classroom prac-
tices and learning activities
• Provides teachers with learning
resources that show distant places,
graphical representations of concepts,
historical events, etc.
• Fixed broadcast sched-
ule—can be augmented by
taping
• Limited by access to electri-
cal power
• Hardware costs for recep-
tion (television, satellite
dish, cabling) and power
generation may be too
high for poor communities
and schools High
production costs—often
US$1,000 per minute
• Commercial broadcast
rates are very high
• Local installation includes
cost of television, satellite
dish (in rural locations)
• Per-student recurrent costs of large-
scale programs are low—but low
recurrent costs have not ensured
sustainability
• Funding may combine contribu-
tions from ministries of commu-
nication, broadcast authorities,
commercial broadcasters, and
others Lack of interactivity can
be addressed through a range
of affordable technologies—fax,
email, telephone “call-in” for-
mats—and by incorporating wait
time, discussion questions, and
facilitator directions into program-
ming
• Impact is increased by teacher
development, printed materials,
school site visits and other means
• Limited quantitative evidence of
impact on teacher development
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Section 7. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Video Recording and Playback . 55
SECTION 7
TECHNOLOGIES FOR TEACHER
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT—
VIDEO RECORDING AND PLAYBACK
GUIDING QUESTIONS
What professional-development goals will
video help us address?
What existing or planned programs for
education improvement could benefi t from
video-supported TPD?
What organizational structures, such as school
clusters or district offi ces, can assist with
sharing and use of video equipment?
To what extent does limited infrastructure, especially electrical power, pose a challenge? How might this
challenge be overcome?
If real gains in terms of teaching can be achieved through the introduction of video, what is the esti-
mated addition to the cost per teacher trained?
SUMMARY
 is section addresses the use of video recording and playback tools to support TPD, specifi cally in helping
teachers improve their instructional techniques. Video tools have been used eff ectively in many schools to
support on-site TPD eff orts and follow-up to standardized TPD.
Teachers who are asked to try new instructional techniques benefi t when they see other teachers using those
same techniques.  ey also benefi t from opportunities to review and assess their own classroom practices.
Video recording and playback tools enable both of these activities. For these reasons, video recording and
playback off er powerful support for on-site TPD methods.
 e cost of digital video tools has fallen dramatically and continues to fall, while their robustness and
versatility has increased, making them suitable for use in low-infrastructure environments. Video tools can
be shared among classrooms or schools. Ministries and schools can create their own libraries of best-practice
classroom videos for circulation and sharing.
Key considerations for success in the deployment of video tools for recording and playback center on
integrating their use into existing programs of site-based TPD or follow up, and in identifying new opportu-
nities to support teaching and learning to increase the value and cost-eff ectiveness of these tools.
Video recording and playback tools are best used to improve teachers’ intermediate or advanced skills.
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IN THIS SECTION
Video Recording and Playback for TPD
Video for Observation and Self-Assessment
Video Support for Teacher Change in Congo
New Video Tools
Strategic Considerations
Web Resource
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Using Technology to Train Teachers56
VIDEO RECORDING AND
PLAYBACK FOR TPD
10
Teachers benefi t when they see other teachers work
in new ways. When they see a teacher helping six
or seven small groups of students, or using
questions that prompt intense refl ection and
statements of opinion rather than half-hearted
right answers, they understand such practices
better.  e risk in experimenting—the risk of the
unknown—is reduced.
Whether it is used to support students or teachers,
recorded video off ers advantages that include reuse
and schools’ control of the schedule. In addition,
teachers (or students) can control the rate of
presentation (freeze-frame, play, rewind, etc.),
enabling viewing to be interspersed with discussion or specifi c sequences to be repeated.
Video for Observation and Self Assessment
Video segments of classroom activities are com-
monly used to enable teachers to watch expert
teachers and also observe their own experiments
with new instructional methods.
Video of classroom practices can be acquired from
many universities and private-sector companies,
often via Internet download. Such videos are
designed to achieve specifi c objectives in specifi c
contexts, however, and may not be appropriate for
use in developing-country school systems.
Giving teachers the opportunity to assess their own
classroom practices is another eff ective use of
video.  e Basic Education Support 2 program in
Namibia tasked circuit inspectors with videotaping
teachers’ classrooms to enable observation,
assessment, and sharing of case studies.
In sub-Saharan Africa and other regions, video has
been used eff ectively to aid teachers grappling with
new teaching modes. In 1996, schools in Lesotho
demonstrated techniques for including disabled
students in regular classes in a video series produced
by Save the Children.  e series of 13 tapes, each
SHARING CLASSROOM PRACTICE
Two-way radio, video, and other communication technolo-
gies can bring isolated teachers into conversations with a
larger community, which can be important if there is a strong
guiding structure that ensures that discussion is productive and
focused.... And there are lots of ways that visual and text-based
technologies can help capture and disseminate complex-
but-concrete images of teacher practice or student learning
processes, which can then become the basis of discussion and
analysis.... But the technology does not do much to ensure that
trainers with real expertise are leading the resulting discussions.
Katherine McMillan Culp, PhD
Senior Project Director
Center for Children and Technology
Education Development Center
New York City, USA
10 Audio recording and playback tools can also be used effectively in the classroom. Primary uses include playback of IRI lessons, whether these are recorded
by ministries of education to provide access to schools outside of radio broadcast “footprints” or by schools themselves to enable re-use. In addition, educational
organizations, such as the National Education Computing Conference (NECC), make available for purchase audio recordings of sessions from their conferences.
11 The SIEEQ project has the following implementing partners: Education Development Center (EDC); The Academy for Educational Development (AED); Intercul-
tural Center for Research in Education; International Foundation for Education and Self-Help; The Mitchell Group. Information about the project was provided via
telephone interview, August 15, 2005, with Stephanie Foerster, Communications Manager, International Education Systems Division and Kanjit Hailu, Program
Assistant, of the International Education Systems Division at EDC.
STRATÉGIES INTÉGRÉES POUR
UNE EDUCATION EQUITABLE ET
DE QUALITÉ:
VIDEO SUPPORT FOR TEACHER
CHANGE IN CONGO
The Stratégies Intégrées pour une Education Equitable et de
Qualité
11
(SIEEQ) project in the Democratic Republic of Congo
uses video to support teacher development in workshops and to
provide follow-up support for teachers once they have returned
to their schools.
Video is the lynchpin technology for improving teachers’ class-
room practices. Initial work with Congolese teachers in their
own classrooms is videotaped and edited by project personnel
to create a DVD for use in professional development workshops.
The 720 teachers targeted by the project observe specifi c
pedagogies by their peers and colleagues, and compare those
pedagogical techniques with their own practices.
SIEEQ also uses video as part of a program of intensive fol-
low-up support for teachers. When an SIEEQ team travels to
a project school, they bring a digital video camcorder and a
laptop—often charging the batteries using a car-based inverter.
They fi lm teachers working with students, upload the video to
the laptop, and share the video with the teachers, using it as a
basis for encouragement and constructive suggestions.
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Section 7. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Video Recording and Playback . 57
about 15 minutes long, guides teachers through identifying physical and cognitive disabilities, helping children
overcome them, and ensuring that the classroom remains a safe, equitable, and welcoming environment.
New Video Tools
Consumer-level video playback and recording hardware, as well as video camcorders, have been available for
several decades. Cost considerations, as a result, vary widely according to project requirements and local
availability.
Innovation in the arena of digital video may signifi cantly increase the usefulness of video for professional
development in developing countries. Digital recordings of video can be compressed, transmitted over the
Internet, via digital radio, or via telephone, and can be edited in computer workstations.
Digital video
 e ability to record video in digital fi les enables recording, editing, and storage on computers and other
devices, as well as transmission via the Internet and other networks.
Video compression (MPEG 4, etc.)
Video compression reduces the amount of data required to render images and motion, facilitating
storage on DVDs or hard drives and transmission via the Internet.
DVD
DVD technologies enable several hours of video to be stored in a durable medium that can be played on
computers with DVD drives or on standalone DVD players. Some computers also “burn” or write
DVDs.
Portable media devices
Powered by rechargeable batteries, portable DVD players (including those found on laptop computers)
and others types of portable media devices (including video iPods) can provide video to schools with
limited or no electrical power.
Digital video camcorders, digital camers, webcams and mobile phone cameras
Digital camcorders (below US$500 at present) enable video to be uploaded to computers for editing or
transmission via the Internet. (Lower-priced ‘webcams’ produce video of lower quality.) Many still-photo
digital cameras and some mobile phones now also shoot video—although quality is inferior.
Multimedia Messaging System (MMS)
Evolved from SMS (or Short Messaging System), MMS enables mobile telephone users to share audio,
video, and photos.
Strategic Considerations
Video recording and playback tools have not been used extensively to support TPD in developing countries.
However, as a tool to strengthen site-based TPD, video has the potential to be eff ective. Strategic consider-
ations revolve around several factors:
Support for site-based TPD
Video recording and playback tools are best seen as complements to site-based TPD or as follow-up to
standardized TPD. Site-based TPD can provide the structured opportunities that teachers need in order
to benefi t from observing master teachers or their own eff orts.
Managing access
Schools can share video production and playback tools. Such sharing can reinforce peer support and
collaboration. Management and accountability mechanisms must be developed to minimize theft,
misuse, and breakage.
Leveraging assets
DVD players can be used to show educational programming to students and can also be used for TPD.
Video camcorders ear-marked for TPD can be loaned out to special student projects, such as creating
video records of community elders.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers58
In all of the above considerations, the key is to identify the existing programs that can benefi t from video
support, as well as other near-term opportunities for the use of these tools, and to then determine how use of
these tools can be allocated and managed most eff ectively.
Consider Using Video Recording and Playback to Support TPD When…
Minimum capacity and infrastructure requirements can be met, including:
Stable electricity is supplied to 70 percent of the schools targeted
All hardware can be serviced within the country
Existing TPD eff orts include:
Site-based programs such as Mentoring, Lesson Study, or Open Lessons
Standardized programs that include, or will include, site-based follow up
Dissemination and delivery, if planned, can include:
Delivery of video cassettes or DVDs by postal or other means
Network access to digital video via the Internet, digital radio, or MMS
Appropriate content is available, such as:
Locally produced video
Foreign-produced video that shows teachers and classroom environments with which your teachers can
identify
Professional development addresses objectives such as:
Enhancing or changing the ways teachers manage classroom activities, such as small group work or
whole-class discussion
Providing teachers and students with powerful visual resources for learning
WEB RESOURCE
Active Learning with Technology Video Series
Developed by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, this series of ten videos provides
examples of eff ective uses of technology in classroom instruction.  e fi rst two episodes in this series
provide an overview of the role of technology in supporting student-centered learning.  e other eight
classroom episodes depict students and educators engaged with technology as part of innovative project-
based activities.  e technologies and instructional strategies employed are highly adaptable to other
content areas and grades.
http://www.sedl.org/pubs/catalog/items/tec50.html
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Section 7. Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Video Recording and Playback . 59
VIDEO RECORDING IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Teachers benefi t from seeing themselves
in action
• Video recordings can be used and re-
used according to teachers’ schedules
• Playback controls (rewind, freeze-frame,
etc.) enable close analysis of specifi c
events
• Video production tools can be used
locally—in schools, by ministries, etc.
• Broadcast quality video is powerful
(moving images, audio, etc.) and
familiar
• Effective learning resource for teachers
and students—can “bring” viewers
to events and phenomena to support
concept building, retention, etc
• Value of content may degrade over
time—costs of revisions and new
programming are high; visual im-
ages “show their age”
• Video produced by foreign institu-
tions may be ineffective—teachers
may not identify with experiences
shown outside recognizable contexts
• Poor roads, lack of rural electrical
power and other challenges to
distribution in LDCs may reinforce
differences in education access
• Demonstrates new modes of teaching
and learning through views of real
classroom activities
(Lesotho video package)
• Video recording of classes shows teach-
ers their own interactions, habits, and
progress toward effective teaching
Teachers benefi t from seeing other
teachers in action
• Variable production
costs—professional quality
is high; cost of local (in-
school) production can be
low
• Initial cost of hardware per
school is moderate
• Hardware costs are fall-
ing—including for digital
video cameras, storage
media (DVDs, hard drives),
and players
• Distribution of video content
to schools may entail low
or moderate cost
• Potential reuse lowers recur-
rent costs of large-scale
programs
• Low-cost, professional-
quality resources may be
available from universities
or foundations
• Advances in digital video may
increase the value of video for TPD
in LDCs—digital video cameras,
portable DVD players
• New, powerful mobile phones can
shoot low-resolution video clips
• Compression software (e.g.,
MPEG4, etc.) makes short videos
available via CD-ROM and the
Internet
• Easy-to-use editing tools enable
moderate-quality video production
by ministries, universities, and
schools
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Section 8. Online Distance Learning for Teacher Professional Development . 61
SECTION 8
ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING
FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
GUIDING QUESTIONS
How can the country’s educational system best
take advantage of the many international
resources in online TPD?
Are there educators in the country who are
using computers and have the skills to benefi t
from online TPD courses?
Which model—self-directed, online TPD
courses, or online TPD communities—is most
appropriate for the local situation?
SUMMARY
Online distance learning for TPD can be described
by three models: self-directed online TPD, online
courses for TPD, and online communities for TPD. Many web sites combine resources for self-directed
learning with courses, and with discussions or other community functions.
All forms of online TPD require access to computers and an Internet connection, as well as the skills to use
these. In addition, online TPD requires strong literacy and language skills. In general, online TPD may be most
appropriate for advanced teachers or as a means of providing crucial follow-up support for face-to-face TPD.
MODES OF ONLINE TPD
 e potential of online TPD lies in part with its ability to make multi-channel instruction—based on
content and on interaction with peers and mentors—available to large numbers of students while enabling
participants to remain employed. In addition, online TPD provides teachers, school leaders, and educational
specialists access to TPD resources from top-tier institutions such as Harvard University.
Online-learning approaches to TPD using these tools can be grouped into three modes:
Self-directed
Online courses
Online communities
 ese three categories are parallel to the three TPD models addressed in Section 3: Models and Best Practices
in Teacher Professional Development.
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IN THIS SECTION
Modes of Online TPD
Open and Distance Learning
Face-to-face vs. Online TPD
Self-directed Online TPD
Overcoming Challenges in Self-directed Learning:Turhan
Alnitemiz
Commonwealth Electronic Network for Schools and
Education
Online TPD Courses
Connect-ED Uganda
WIDE World
Online TPD Communities
iEARN
Development vs Recurrent Costs for Online TPD
Web Resources
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Using Technology to Train Teachers62
However, boundaries between categories of online
TPD are more fl uid: A teacher may discover a
course while at a teacher resource center (self-
directed TPD), complete the online TPD course in
six sessions, and after that sign up for the course’s
list-server discussion of classroom-management
techniques.
Face-to-face vs. Online TPD
Face-to-face TPD—as discussed in Section 3:
Models and Best Practices in Teacher Professional
Development—enables teachers to work directly
with expert guides, without barriers in relation to
technology, writing skills, or cultural values. Face-
to-face TPD is a very eff ective means of enabling
teachers to model instructional techniques.
However, it may be limited by the scarcity of expert facilitators and expensive to implement in large-scale
projects.
Online TPD relies on computers and the Internet to give teachers access to experts, mentors, and peers via
email, chat, and the Web. Online TPD also makes TPD-related content, including certifi cate-based online
TPD courses, available to teachers around the world.
Much current research suggests that face-to-face TPD is more eff ective than online TPD. However, as online
TPD becomes more widely utilized, and as new modes and resources are developed, these results may change.
SELF-DIRECTED ONLINE TPD
Self-directed online TPD ranges from preparing for a social studies class by reading newspapers on the
Internet, to surfi ng the Web for lesson plans on plant biology, to upgrading skills in a self-paced basic-
algebra tutorial.
Teachers with advanced skills will tend to be most successful in self-directed online TPD. Requirements
include:
Access to a computer connected to the Internet
Beginning computer skills, especially search skills
Advanced literacy skills
Advanced skills in a language common on the Web
Intermediate to advanced subject knowledge
Advanced teaching skills
Although computer skills and access are necessary, the primary challenge for teachers is to make use of the
resources that they encounter online. If a lesson plan on plant biology uses examples of trees in Canada, a
teacher in Zimbabwe may be able to substitute local trees in ways that support the lesson. If a project
involves “cooperative learning,” and bases assessment on small-group interactions, without advanced skills
that teacher may still implement the project poorly.
Commonwealth Electronic Network for Schools and Education
Online education portals help focus teachers’ explorations and reduce trial and error.  e Commonwealth
Electronic Network for Schools and Education (http://www.col.org/cense - CENSE) presents technical-
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OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING
Distance learning, or distance education, frequently uses the
postal service to distribute learning resources—including books,
photocopies, tests, videos—and to receive materials sent by
students, such as papers or completed tests. Computers and the
Internet may be used as well.
“Open learning” provides students with choices about where
the student is while taking the course, when the student studies,
and how fast the course is completed. In many cases, open-
learning institutions admit all students, rather than engaging in
selective admissions processes.
The two terms are often combined as “open and distance learn-
ing,” or ODL. Among the fi rst ODL institutions was the University
of South Africa, which has been offering ODL courses since
1946 and is now one of the largest universities in the world,
with over 100,000 students.
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Section 8. Online Distance Learning for Teacher Professional Development . 63
support information, hundreds of online lesson
plans, and lists of online TPD courses and
resources that can be accessed by the slow Internet
connections available to most teachers in develop-
ing countries.
Questions for Further Discussion
CENSE and other “clearinghouses” support online
self-directed TPD once teachers are connected.
Policymakers may be able to provide support that
helps teachers access these resources
Where do the teachers who already use the
Internet go to connect (e.g., school labs,
Internet cafes, etc.)?
What will support teachers’ use of these
facilities?
How can support be provided to teachers who
use the Internet for self-directed TPD?
ONLINE TPD COURSES
Online TPD courses enable teachers to benefi t
from many of the world’s great educational institutions and educators. However, to succeed a teacher must
be prepared, have access to the Internet, time to devote to the course, and a reason to complete it.
Online courses, also known as “e-Learning” courses, are distinct from other Internet resources in that they
typically involve:
Enrolment in the course, and sometimes registration at the institution that off ers the course
Structured pathways through learning resources
Periodic assessments
Course completion requirements (e.g., exams, reports, lesson plans, etc.)
Such courses may also involve fees, especially if credit or certifi cation is off ered.
Online TPD Courses vary greatly in their structure and goals. Some online courses are “self-paced,” while
others are “instructor-led” or facilitated. Online courses can address specifi c curricula and groups of teachers,
as in the Connect-ED TPD courses in Uganda.  ey can help teachers build understanding of general
pedagogical concepts and techniques, as in the courses off ered by Harvard University’s WIDE World (http://
wideworld.pz.harvard.edu/). Or they can help to build online professional development capacity, as with
EdTech Leaders Online (http://www.edtechleaders.org/) which trains educators to facilitate online TPD and
create their own online courses.
Connect-ED Uganda
 e Connect-ED project in Uganda (http://www.connected.ac.ug) has developed six TPD courses for
teachers enrolled in primary teacher training colleges. Each course is self-paced—meaning that students can
progress at their own speed through the materials. Each course features 15 self-paced units of study,
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OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
IN SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING:
TURHAN ALNITEMIZ
Turhan Alnitemiz has been teaching secondary math for over
30 years. Currently at the Isleri School in the town of Konu, Mr.
Alnitemiz is an expert teacher, having written a widely used
geometry textbook. In 1999, he decided to use the Internet
to enhance his teaching. At the suggestion of a colleague in
Istanbul, he visited the Educational Object Economy (EOE), an
online repository of free interactive simulations for educators.
12
Mr. Alnitemiz faced many barriers: a slow, dial-up Internet con-
nection, incompatibility between his older Internet browser and
the Java-based simulations on the EOE site, his limited English
skills, and the EOE’s poor cataloguing scheme. After several
months of trial-and-error, plus updates to his computer software,
Mr. Alnitemiz located an advanced simulation tool, the
Geometer’s Sketchpad, which could demonstrate the geometric
properties of different shapes to students, and the Agentsheets
application, a simple software-authoring tool that enabled him
to develop his own simulations.
Teachers such as Mr. Alnitemiz, who overcome these and other
barriers in online self-directed TPD, typically need high levels of
motivation, advanced teaching skills, and adequate technical
skills.
12 The Educational Object Economy is no longer in operation. Many interactive simulations are available free of charge from the MERLOT project, a related
repository (www.merlot.org). The Geometer’s Sketchpad is now called “The Java Sketchpad,” and is available online from Key Curriculum Press (www.keypress.
com). The Agentsheets Java authoring tool is available at www.agentsheets.com.
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Using Technology to Train Teachers64
downloadable reading materials, a glossary, and quizzes. Interactive materials in some units off er visual
demonstrations of key concepts.
However, as discussed in Section 4: Technologies for Teacher Professional Development—Computers and the
Internet, Connect-ED at present serves only a small fraction of Uganda’s 39 teacher training colleges.  e
online courses are best viewed as supplements to face-to-face instruction: Although they have quizzes
attached to the units, they do not feature enrolment functions, or assessments that determine course
completion and content mastery.
WIDE World
WIDE World’s interactive online courses (http://wideworld.pz.harvard.edu) cover math, reading and writing
instruction, advanced instructional strategies, technology integration, and other topics. WIDE World
courses are based on research by experts at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Groups of ten teachers work together in teams to download course resources, participate in online discus-
sions, post resources for others to use, and develop lesson plans. Each team is supported by an online coach.
Teachers from around the world have taken WIDE World courses. However, enrolment costs are relatively
high, ranging from US$99 for a two-session course to US$399 for a six-session course.
Questions for Further Discussion
In many developing countries, conditions for primary and secondary teachers may not permit them to
participate in online TPD courses. However, the pedagogical approaches such as those in WIDE World
courses may be of value.
What infrastructural and educational improvements are needed for teachers to participate in online TPD
courses?
Who in the school system currently has the capacity to benefi t from online TPD courses?
How can those participants capture and share their new knowledge in ways that contribute to education
reform?
ONLINE TPD COMMUNITIES
As discussed in Section 9: Implementing ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development, teachers require
interaction with colleagues and mentors if TPD is to be successful. Online communities of all types have
emerged as eff ective and—when the technology has been in place—cost-eff ective solutions to teachers’ needs
for support.
Special-interest list servers, ad hoc Yahoo! groups, and Web-based chat, forums and discussions can enable
teachers to:
Develop lesson plans
Plan online collaborative projects
Discuss pedagogy, the school-as-workplace, and subjects such as science or literature
Post experiences, lessons learned, or self-assessments
Engage in peer mentoring
 e benefi ts of these activities increase when teachers are also engaged in structured TPD programs.
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Section 8. Online Distance Learning for Teacher Professional Development . 65
iEARN
Established in 1988, iEARN (http://www.iearn.org) is a non-profi t global network in which teachers and
young people work together on projects that enhance learning and benefi t society. iEARN has served as the
starting point for integrating ICT into learning for thousands of teachers, most of whom have joined
iEARN on their own initiative. iEARN off ers resources in many languages, including Kiswahili and Arabic.
In addition to supporting collaborative projects, iEARN off ers eight instructor-led TPD courses that help
teachers enter into collaborative projects. Each nine-week course addresses a school subject, such as language
arts, science, math, or the environment, or a topic such as helping students cope with traumatic events.
Each course brings together teachers from at least 10 countries, ensuring that teachers who complete the
course have many opportunities to arrange international collaborative projects for their students.  e TPD
courses complement iEARN’s function as an online “meeting place” for teachers interested in collaborative
projects
Questions for Further Discussion
Teachers in many developing countries may lack suffi cient computers and Internet access to participate in
online TPD communities.  ey may also lack skills in computer use, communication, and teaching practice
that are necessary for their success.
However, email lists, chat and other tools off er low-bandwidth support for smaller, locally focused online
TPD communities.
How many teachers currently have Internet access and computer skills?
Are these teachers currently involved in TPD programs?
How could those programs benefi t from communication among participating teachers?
What form (e-mail, SMS messaging) should community communication assume?
DEVELOPMENT VS. RECURRENT COSTS FOR ONLINE TPD
Connect-ED demonstrates the feasibility of developing interactive online-learning courseware in capacity-
poor countries. Organizations in other countries have also developed eff ective online resources for TPD.
However, the costs of developing online TPD resources—whether a Web portal or a self-paced course—are
typically much lower than recurrent costs. An email discussion list off ers the perfect example: development
costs are nearly zero; recurrent costs for a discussion moderator, discussion archiving, and outreach are
higher. And as soon as recurrent costs aren’t met, the discussion ends.
Online facilitation is both challenging and time consuming. Research shows that the time required to
facilitate an online course is often greater than the time required to teach the same course face to face,
because students communicate more frequently and in greater detail using email.
Consider Online TPD When…
Program objectives include:
Enabling advanced teachers to improve their pedagogical knowledge and teaching practice
Enabling large numbers of teachers to achieve certifi cation via TPD courses
Providing additional support to face-to-face TPD
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Using Technology to Train Teachers66
Teachers’ capacities include:
Intermediate to advanced language, literacy, and communications skills
Beginning to intermediate computer skills
Intermediate to advanced pedagogical skills
Infrastructure includes:
Computer access and Internet connectivity
Stable electrical power
WEB RESOURCES
COL Learning Object Repository
An online database of learning content, this repository provides software for developing online resources
to Commonwealth countries free of charge. Institutions or governments can establish a shared repository
by accessing free open source software from COL’s LOR.
http://www.col.org/lor
COL Training Toolkits
In co-operation with the Asian Development Bank and the International Extension College in the UK,
COL has produced six comprehensive manuals for use in developing programs of open and distance
learning.
http://www.col.org/training/toolkits.htm
Global Distance Education Net (GDENet)
 e Global Distance EducationNet (Global DistEdNet) is a knowledge guide to distance education
designed to help clients of the World Bank and others interested in using distance education for human
development.  e network consists of a core site located at the World Bank and regional sites in all parts
of the world, addressing four key areas: Teaching and Learning; Management; Technology; Policy and
Programs
http://www1.worldbank.org/disted
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Section 8. Online Distance Learning for Teacher Professional Development . 67
ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING IN TPD AT A GLANCE
• Anytime, anyplace—in instances where
connection is available
• Teachers can interact with expert teach-
ers and others
• Written communication (email, discus-
sion) can prompt more refl ective and
considered participation
• Supports a range of learning styles
• Potential to reach large populations of
teachers
• Dependent on regular access to
computers and the Internet
• Teachers must have computer,
language and literacy, and teaching
skills to participate effectively
• Many self-paced online courses
lack high-quality or interactive con-
tent—online materials merely replace
print materials
• Internet content may be overwhelm-
ing—too much and too many
choices
• Online mentoring may be less effec-
tive than face-to-face
• Multimedia and interactive course
materials require high bandwidth
and powerful hardware
• Provides teachers access to learning
resources for use with students
• Peer mentoring and teacher communi-
ties support TPD initiatives
• Accredited TPD courses help teachers
upgrade qualifi cations
• Effect of online TPD on
classroom practice is
unclear
• Low costs when teachers
access free TPD sites and
content (e.g., iEARN,
CENSE)
• High costs when courses
have fees (WIDE World)
• Moderate content develop-
ment costs (online courses,
portals, and communities)
• Operating costs for facili-
tated courses, portals, and
communities are moderate
• In some countries, may best be
used to build capacity among
master teachers, mentors, and
teacher-college faculty
Roles in TPD & education Strengths Limitations Cost profi le Other considerations
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Section 9. Implementing ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development . 69
SECTION 9
IMPLEMENTING ICT-SUPPORTED
TEACHER PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
GUIDING QUESTIONS
What supports are in place to help teachers
successfully implement what they are learning
in TPD? Which of the critical supports
identifi ed in this section could be addressed to
improve project implementation?
Which organizations within the education
system, such as district offi ces, teacher training
colleges, or universities, can provide follow-up
support for TPD in schools?
In what ways can existing ICT infrastructure,
including mobile phones and radio, support
follow-up for current or planned TPD?
Is the technical-support capacity for ICT-enabled TPD located primarily in the private sector, in
government, or in schools? How can that capacity be augmented?
SUMMARY
Learning does not end at the conclusion of a workshop. Teachers need continuous support, including both
assistance and pressure, to implement the skills and concepts learned in professional development. Such
support should include incentives to participate in TPD and to institute new techniques as they are learned
and must include human, technical, administrative and infrastructural resources.
However, schools cannot hope to provide such support on their own.  ey need adequate resources, and
school leaders who understand the goals and challenges involved in change. When any of these supports is
lacking and when support eff orts are not coordinated, the entire investment in TPD is at risk.
 e need for on-site support is especially critical in resource-poor environments. TPD programs for poor
schools must be adapted to meet the conditions in schools, focusing only on the types of activities teachers
are able to successfully carry out. But these schools, because their need is so great, must be provided with as
many resources as feasible to succeed. Available infrastructure does not need to be “state of the art,” but it
must enable teachers to use prescribed TPD tools and resources eff ectively. And it is important to remember
that any meaningful project in TPD will confront signifi cant challenges. Incorporating ICT will address
many of those challenges but will give rise to new ones.
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IN THIS SECTION
Teacher Incentives
Supporting TPD in Schools
Follow-up Support
Follow-up and Communications
Mobile Phones as Support Tools
Support from School Leadership
Support from the Community
Community Support for IRI
Technical Support
Collaborative Support
Infrastructural Support for TPD
Web Resources
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Using Technology to Train Teachers70
 is section outlines the most critical supports needed to implement and sustain ICT-enabled TPD goals at
the school and classroom level. Additional information about understanding the change process and specifi c
instructional methodologies that complement ICT use, and the types of computer hardware confi gurations
that can best help teachers successfully integrate ICT into instruction, are detailed in the Implementation
Briefs that accompany this handbook.
TEACHER INCENTIVES
To change their practices, teachers need support, pressure, and incentives. Both intrinsic and extrinsic
incentives should be considered in the design of any TPD initiative.
Improved performance is an eff ective intrinsic incentive. Teachers will adopt an innovation when they see
that it adds value, is easy to use, and when they are provided the time and support they need for learning and
practice.
But self-motivation, without rewards for experimentation and innovation, is hard to sustain. Teachers, like
students, need extrinsic incentives and motivation to persevere in the eff ort to improve their teaching.
Extrinsic motivators can include:
Stipends for TPD
Promotion or job retention linked to TPD attendance, ICT use or innovative practices
Accreditation or certifi cation
Access to new or additional educational resources
Advancement through stages of additional TPD
Micro-credit support for purchases of computers
Merit-based pay instead of seniority-based pay (Malawi has made this change)
Rewards and recognition by school leadership, parents’ groups, and community leaders
Compulsory participation in TPD
Every TPD project plan should address incentives and teacher motivation. A combination of intrinsic and
extrinsic incentives helps teachers fi nd satisfaction in learning while reaping tangible rewards for a job well
done.
SUPPORTING TPD IN SCHOOLS
To ensure that teachers implement the innovations
learned through TPD—whether active learning or
using spreadsheets to record grades—teachers must
have support at the school and classroom level.
 ese include:
Follow-up support
Administrative support
Technical support
Collaborative support
When any aspect of this support is lacking, the
entire investment in TPD is at risk.
Follow-Up Support
Human support for TPD is critical. Teachers need ongoing access to a follow-up person, coach or mentor.
 at person should be enthusiastic about improving education, invested in the success of individual teachers
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CONFRONTING TEACHERS’
PRECONCEPTIONS
The process of educating teachers must take into account
(teachers’) prior beliefs (and) experiences…Most teachers bring
to the classroom an ingrained, long standing notion of the roles
of teacher and student, authority, and how learning occurs.
This is in constant confl ict with professional development....
Teachers experience intense confl ict as they explore alternative
approaches which sharply contrast with embedded beliefs and
values about management, curriculum, instruction (and their own
authority roles and the role of the student).
L.R. Knapp & A.D. Glenn
Restructuring Schools with Technology, p. 18
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Section 9. Implementing ICT-supported Teacher Professional Development . 71
and the TPD program, extremely familiar with
instruction, curriculum, assessment and classroom
management, and have an implicit understanding
of the challenges associated with change.
When education systems lack capable mentors or
coaches, long-term planning should identify
potential sources of such personnel—including
teacher training colleges, district offi ces, and
universities—and cultivate their capacity to
support TPD.
 e “reach” of support personnel can be extended
by the use of communications tools such as mobile
phones, voice messaging, text messaging, Instant
Messaging (IM), two-way radio, and email. In
Tajikistan, IM has been used to link teachers in
isolated, mountainous schools with Relief
International/Schools Online project staff in
Dushanbe.
Support from School Leadership
Access to an external follow-up person is critical.
But internal support—particularly the support of
school leadership—is just as important. School
leaders can provide critical internal support by:
Setting expectations for teachers
Establishing a culture and climate that encourages and rewards change and experimentation
Providing the time and resources for teachers to practice what has been learned in TPD
Demonstrating eff ective leadership, so that
everyone in the schools is working to support
change
Studies of eff ective TPD programs, such as Chile’s
Enlaces program, identify committed and capable
school leadership as the “key element” for change
and as a “considerable element” in student
achievement. ICT-enabled TPD projects, such as
LearnLink, included school and ministry leaders in
professional development to help leaders become
“champions” in the area of ICT and instruction.
TPD project planning should address ways to
“enlist” school leaders in supporting educational
reform.
Support from the Community
School leaders can also enlist family and community support for ICT in schools. Strong school-community
relationships contribute to project success by increasing their accountability. And teachers feel better about
themselves and their work and treat students better when they feel valued by the community.
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MOBILE PHONES AS
SUPPORT TOOLS
As telephone network infrastructure advances, data commu-
nications for TPD using mobile phones becomes increasingly
feasible.
How can mobile phones be used for follow-up?
Teachers can use mobile phones for ongoing communica-
tion, including voice or text messaging, with a support
person and with colleagues
A support person can use SMS (text messaging) or email-
to-SMS to send regular encouragement to teachers
Teachers can phone in to voice-to-text Help Desk services,
ask questions that are converted to text and distributed to
Help Desk experts, and receive voice or SMS responses
Audio job aids (including lesson-plan supports such as
stories, pronunciation guides, and inquiry stategies) can be
downloaded to mobile phones as MP3 fi les for use in
preparation or during classes
Short audio or video clips of class activities can be
recorded on phones, then shared among groups of
teachers and their mentors for analysis and feedback
Education Development Center is presently developing a
program in Zambia in which teachers use mobile phones to
make weekly progress reports to mentors on their use of new
science kits. Questions and comments sent by the teachers will
be recorded for broadcast in a 15-minute segment for a weekly
teacher radio program.
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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND TPD
Leadership (must be) supportive of teachers, in meaningful ways
that give teachers decision-making authority and the time to
meet together to discuss and refl ect on the goals and ways to
achieve those goals.
Teachers need coaching, for teachers like all learners (young
and old) do not get it perfectly the fi rst time.
Dr. Shirley Hord
Scholar Emerita, University of Texas,
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
Austin, TX (USA)
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Using Technology to Train Teachers72
School leaders should be encouraged to enlist
family and community support by:
Initiating outreach activities, such as visits to
the computer lab or to an IRI class
Establishing computer-lab steering committees
that include community members, parents,
teachers, and students
Off ering computer training or Internet use to
community members
Presenting TPD and ICT project information
to parents’ groups
Helping to establish alumni organizations that
support educational programs, TPD, and ICT
When schools primarily serve boarding students—
often the case in rural secondary schools—school
leadership should be made especially aware of the need to build bridges to both the surrounding community
and to students’ families.
Technical Support
Computers break down. If no one in the school can fi x them, and the closest technical support is hours or
days away, the computers are abandoned. Investment in ICT and TPD is wasted.  is is the most common
ICT tale in schools around the world.
Funding for technical support—including travel costs if necessary—should be part of any TPD program.
Many programs enlist upper-primary and secondary students as technical-support personnel. In its Kids on
the Block program, SchoolNet Namibia has trained hundreds of unemployed youth in Windhoek as
technical-support staff .  ese youth provide support for the refurbished computers that SchoolNet provides
to Namibian schools. For SchoolNet schools outside of Windhoek, however, technical support remains a
challenge, as there is no funding for travel for Kids on the Block teams.
Project planning and budgeting can improve technical support by:
Providing schools or local technical-support providers with critical spare parts (power supplies, mother
boards, hard drives, etc.)
Extending seed funding or micro-credit to start-up computer-repair businesses
Contracting existing private-sector technical-support providers
Enlisting the aid of staff at Internet cafes or telecenters
Identifying ICT projects or NGOs in other sectors—such as health or agriculture—that can assist with
technical support
Approaches should be developed based on local capacity and density of ICTs. In Guinea, where radio is
everywhere, there are plenty of radio repair shops. As computers become more common, options for
technical support will increase.
Collaborative Support
Teachers encounter barriers when they attempt innovation in their schools. To help them overcome such
barriers, and to help build internal expertise and capacity in schools, programs should include structures that
support collaboration among teachers.
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COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR IRI
L’Ecole Toguiron is a poor rural school near Coyah, Guinea.
When the school’s only windup radio broke, students were
unable to listen to the popular IRI program Sous le Fromager.
Village families collected money to replace the windup radio
with a better-quality battery-run radio-and-cassette player so the
school could audiotape the program for playback. The village
also paid for the blank cassette tapes and batteries. In other
schools, students have brought radios from home for use in
class, and parents have provided cassette tapes for a library of
Sous le Fromager programs.
Sous le Fromager is a popular learning tool but funding no lon-
ger covers recurrent costs. Community support enables students
to continue to benefi t from Sous le Fromager.
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Section 9. Implementing ICT</