The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries:Findings from an Evaluation of The Intel Teach Essentials Course in India, Turkey, and Chile

This paper presents findings from case studies of the introduction of the Intel® Teach Essentials Course—a professional development program focused on integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into project-based learning—into six schools in Chile, India, and Turkey. We describe four common dimensions of change in learning environments that emerged across the countries: changes in teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes; changes in how students engage with content; changes in relationships among students, teachers, and parents; and changes in the use of ICT tools to promote students’ learning. Three of these dimensions relate to shifts in pedagogical paradigms that appear to be prerequisites to effectively using ICT to support students’ learning. Our findings indicate that these shifts must not just occur at the teacher level, but must take hold throughout the educational system and must accompany sustained investment in infrastructure, human resources, curricular frameworks, and assessment. Key Words: ICT, developing countries, education reform Submission Date: June 30, 2009; Revised: August 3, 2009, Accepted: August 5, 2009. The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 0 Introduction Understanding how technology fits into the complex realities of classrooms has been a critical factor in creating real change in schools in the industrialized nations (Cuban, 1993; Honey, McMillan Culp, & Carrigg, 2000; Somekh et al., 2003), yet little is known about educational technology projects in the classrooms of the developing world. This paper examines the influence of an information and communication technologies (ICT)-focused professional development program—the Intel® Teach Essentials Course—on classroom learning environments in six schools in Chile, India, and Turkey. Over the years, program evaluations have found that teachers across a variety of countries value their experience in the Essentials Course and report using ICT and/or making changes in their teaching practice following the program (Light, McMillan Culp, Menon, & Shulman, 2006; Light, Menon, & Shulman, 2007). However, the evaluations have also suggested that the ways in which teachers in different countries follow up vary, depending largely on factors in their school contexts. The research presented in this paper sought to examine more deeply the nature of the changes that schools in different contexts have made to integrate ICT and student-centered practices and how these changes affect the classroom (Light, Polin, & Strother, 2009). In all three countries, we found that the educators we interviewed and observed felt they had been able to implement new ICT activities and teaching approaches with their students after the Course. We also identified a consistent set of programs and policies that, combined with the motivation and skills of educators, enabled these schools to innovate. We selected the six schools in the study (two from each country) which key local stakeholders— the training agencies, the ministries of education, and the Intel Education Managers—considered The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 1 to be “good examples” of using the Essentials Course to create school-level change within their national contexts. In pursuit of the ideals established by their ministries, the teachers and administrators in these schools are attempting to transform the instructional strategies and the educational tools they use. Although each country is unique and each school is at a different starting place, all are moving toward more student-centered, project-based, and ICT-rich classroom learning activities. Across the diversity of their situations, educators in each school connected the ideas and tools offered in the Essentials Course with their own needs. From our case studies of the six schools, we identified four common dimensions of changes that are emerging to support more project-based and ICT-rich activities in the classroom: changes in teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes; changes in how students engage with content; changes in relationships among students, teachers, and parents; and changes in the use of ICT tools to promote students’ learning. Three of these dimensions of change that emerged across schools are pedagogical in nature, supporting the idea that an appropriate pedagogical context is key to successful ICT integration. Theoretical Perspective When effectively integrated into a high-quality learning environment, researchers have demonstrated that ICT can help deepen students’ content knowledge, engage them in constructing their own knowledge, and support the development of complex thinking skills (Kozma, 2005; Kulik, 2003; Webb & Cox, 2004). However, ICT alone cannot create this kind of teaching and learning environment. Teachers must know how to structure lessons, select resources, guide activities, and support this learning process; many traditionally-trained teachers are not prepared to take on these tasks. As Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000) point out, to The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 2 use technology effectively, the pedagogical paradigm needs to shift toward more studentcentered learning. This shift is not trivial or easily accomplished, particularly in countries with teacher-centered educational traditions. The literature suggests that four broad sets of changes should accompany the integration of ICT and the move toward a constructivist model of teaching and learning. 1. Changes in teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes: The literature on education reform highlights the importance of changing teachers’ beliefs and attitudes to create long-term sustainable change (Fullan, 1993). Many studies on ICT integration find that projects fall short of expectations because the educators continue working within a traditional vision of rote learning (Gersten, Chard, & Baker, 2000; Honey & Moeller, 1990; Teacher Foundation, 2005). Teachers need to believe that new approaches to teaching are effective and will make a difference for their students in order for them to continue using new approaches. Teachers’ understanding and commitment are particularly important to sustain changes in areas such as project-based learning or student-centered techniques, which require core changes to a teacher’s instructional practice (Gersten et al., 2000). 2. Changes in how students engage with content: Research in the learning sciences has established that constructivist theories of learning provide a more reliable understanding of how humans learn then previous behaviorist (Bransford et al., 2000). Studies have identified a variety of constructivist learning strategies (e.g., students work in collaborative groups or students create products that represent what they are learning) that can change the way students interact with the content (Windschitl, 2002). The The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 3 introduction of ICT into schools and project-based approaches should change how students interact with the content through new types of learning activities. 3. Changes in relationships among teachers, students, and parents: Recent studies suggest that, specifically, a supportive and cooperative relationship with the teacher can be very important for learning (Marzano, 2007). Research in many different countries has found that the introduction of technology into learning environments changes teachers’ and students’ roles and relationships (Hennessy, Deaney, & Ruthven, 2003; Kozma & McGhee, 2003). 4. Changes in the use of ICT tools to promote students’ learning: The ICT integration in developing country classrooms is challenging (Akbaba-Altun, 2006; Comenius, 2008; Grant, Ross, Weiping, & Potter, 2005; Light & Rockman, 2008; Somekh et al., 2003; Vyasulu Reddi & Sinha, 2003). A number of factors—such as teacher knowledge, time, access to ICT tools, and the alignment of ICT use with pedagogical goals—appear to help teachers integrate ICT and to support students’ increased use of ICT tools for learning (Light & Manso, 2006; Pérez et al., 2003). Overview of the Three National Contexts India Of the three countries, India is perhaps the country that has most recently begun reforms to promote new teaching approaches and ICT. Across India’s decentralized education system, national and state leaders face big challenges in their efforts to support an education system that must reach so many students (Cheney, Ruzzi, & Muralidharan, 2005; PROBE Team, 1999). Efforts to shift curricula from behaviorist approaches to learning to a constructivist approach that emphasizes the personal experiences of learners are recent (India—National Council of The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 4 Educational Research and Training, 2006; Pandley, 2007). A growing number of policies support ICT integration, but one expert review (Vyasulu & Sinha, 2003) found that there is still great variation in implementation of these policies and access to ICT is still limited for most students. Although there is variation by state, the duration of the standard school day is five hours, divided into 35-minute lessons. The class sizes tend to be large; the classes we visited ranged from 45 to 60 students. Indian teachers are expected to cover a lot of content, and the textbook often becomes the center of the learning process (PROBE Team, 1999; Rampal, 2002). The state curriculum varies, but in Maharashtra State, for example, the students have a very full schedule by the upper grades and study 11 compulsory subjects. Chile Since 1990, successive Chilean governments have pursued a consistent reform effort to modernize teaching and learning, improve and expand school infrastructure, promote studentcentered curricula, institute full-day schooling, develop a national examination, invest heavily in teacher professional development, and integrate ICT into schools (Cox, 2004; Ferrer, 2004; Valenzuela, Labarrera, & Rodríguez, 2008). The Chilean school day is eight hours, with the amount of time students spend in core areas (math, language, and science) twice that spent on other disciplines, and there is reserved time for students to engage in enrichment activities or project-based learning experiences. Class periods are typically 50 minutes, with two-hour classes in core content areas. Every school is required to have a Unidad Técnica Pedagógica (UTP—the Technical Pedagogical Unit) that provides pedagogical support to improve teachers’ practice. The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 5 Chile also has an ICT program, Enlaces (Links) that, by 2007, had provided hardware, software, and connectivity to 94% of schools in Chile and trained 110,000 teachers (Cancino & Donoso Díaz, 2004; Chile—Ministerio de Educación, 2008). Thus, most schools have a certain level of ICT infrastructure available in computer labs. Turkey Turkey has been instituting educational reforms to modernize and expand its school system and align it with European Union norms since the late 1990s (Baki & Gokçek, 2005). The reforms include the expansion of compulsory education, efforts to decrease class size, introduction of a new curricular approach and materials, the use of ICT, and efforts to provide teachers with professional development. Announced in 2005, the new curriculum draws upon constructivist pedagogical principles and the theory of multiple intelligences and promotes more studentcentered techniques—such as individual and group work—to encourage students to explore and develop skills (Gomleksiz, 2005). As Phase 1 of the Basic Education Program, 1998–2003, the government distributed thousands of computers to schools (Akbaba-Altun, 2006), and many schools now have labs. Turkey is moving toward full-day schooling, but many schools—including the two we visited— still have two, five-hour shifts because they cannot otherwise meet their communities’ demand. The demand for schools also means that Turkey has not yet reduced class size to 30 students. Nationally, the average primary school class size is 38.6 students (Otaran, Sayn, Güven, Gürkaynak, & Satakul, 2003) but in the schools we observed classes ranged from 50 to 60 students. The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 6 Overview of the Essentials Course The core goal of the Essentials Course is to prepare teachers to integrate ICT across the curricula as a tool for learning and to design and implement inquiry-driven, project-based learning activities. The Essentials Course involves teachers in a process of developing a complete unit plan that utilizes a project-based approach, engages students in a variety of ICT activities, and organizes learning around an “essential question” that guides students’ inquiry and exploration of a given topic. Teachers are encouraged to designate time in their unit plans for students to use ICT to conduct research and to create a final product to share their research findings. The Essentials Course also discusses crucial factors for creating high-quality, issues in studentcentered learning environments (e.g., classroom management issues with technology), and approaches to assessing students’ technology products. During the unit plan development process, teachers expand their technical skills and prepare to implement their units back in the classroom. This is a vital feature of the Essentials Course, as it allows teachers to experience and evaluate the new teaching approaches (Guskey, 2002). In addition to Web resources, the Essentials Course uses commonly available software, primarily word processing software and presentation software, to support students in creating presentations, Web pages, brochures, reports, and newsletters. The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 7 Core Components of the Intel Teach Essentials Course Content Structural Features • Linking ICT use to deeper learning • Essential Questions or curricular framing questions • Project-based approaches • Student created products • Internet resources • Group work • Holistic assessment strategies • 40 to 60 hour training • Focus on commonly available software • Teachers create a sample unit plan • Teachers learn by doing • Trainer is in the same school • Emphasis on building communities of trained teachers Intel, in collaboration with ministries of education worldwide, has offered the Essentials Course to more than 6 million teachers in 45 countries. The collaborative approach to course delivery is important. Although the core messages and goals of the program do not change, Intel works with the ministries and local educational experts to adapt Essentials Course materials to fit local needs; a local agency in each country implements the Course. In Chile, the ministry created a network of universities throughout the country that offers the Course in their regions, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago oversees the network. In India, the nonprofit Learning Links Foundation oversees the program in the participating states. In Turkey, the Ministry of National Education (MNE) oversees the program, and trainers are based at the provincial education directorates and in larger towns. The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 8 Methodology In this study, we used an instrumental case study approach (Stake, 1995) to examine how successful schools and teachers have been able to integrate ICT and new teaching strategies into their classrooms. This approach allowed us to work directly with schools that have been making changes, talk with teachers about the aspects of the Essentials Course that are useful to their practice, and develop an understanding of what teachers are actually able to do in typical schools in each country. During a twoto four-day site visit at each of the six schools, we interviewed school leaders, the Essentials Senior Trainer (ST) or Master Teacher (MT), technology-using teachers, students, and representatives of students’ parents whenever possible. As shown in Table 1, classroom observations of both typical classrooms and students engaged in the computer lab or ICT activities complemented the interviews. As noted, to identify a sample of exemplary schools, we gained input from local stakeholders. We requested that the local training agency, the ministries, and the Intel Education Managers in each country compile a list of schools. We asked that they exclude schools with privileged access to resources, technology, or funds. Success was defined by the local stakeholders to represent what they felt would be reasonable expectations for schools and teachers in their country. From the list of schools, the research team made a final selection of two schools in each country. To carry out the fieldwork, we collaborated with local partners. In Chile, we worked with researchers from the Centro Costadigital at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, and in Turkey, we teamed with GLOKAL Research Consulting. Unfortunately, the arrangements for a local research partner in India fell through. The Role of ICT in Enhancing Education in Developing Countries Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Education in International Development 9 Table
1:
Data
Collected
 India
 Interviews
 2
school
leaders;
5
teachers
 Observations
 5
classes
 Mumbai
 School
 Focus
groups
 14
parents;
37
students;
12
teachers
 Interviews
 4
school
leaders;
3
teachers
 Observations
 5
classes
 Village
 School
 Focus
groups
 3
parents;
5
students
 Chile
 
 Interviews
 2
school
leaders;
3
teachers
 Observations
 4
classes
 Santiago
 School
 Focus
groups
 7
students
 Interviews
 3
school
leaders;
2
teachers
 Observations
 3
classes
 Village
 School
 Focus
groups
 5
students
 Turkey
 Interviews
 2
school
leaders;
8
teachers
 Observations
 3
classes
 Ankara
 School
 Focus
groups
 3
parents;
5
students
 Interviews
 5
school
leaders;
7
teachers
 Observations
 5
classes
 Village
 School
 Focus
groups
 5
parents;
19
students