IET Technology Coffee Morning: English in Action: using mobile phones to support professional development in Bangladesh

Abstract:

Going to scale: 6 months into the upscaling of English in Action: using mobile phones to support professional development for five thousand teachers a year in Bangladesh

The role of ICT for supporting international development, and particularly improving education within the schools of LEDCs, is often promoted, but widely contested.

Whilst there is now a growing body of 'mLearning' literature promoting the use of mobile phones within such a setting, the actual usage of such devices is often seems closer to m-administration (reminders of activity timelines, re-arrangements of meetings, or gathering data) using SMS messages, or else depends upon highly sophisticated handsets and software that are out of the reach of most LEDC teachers. There are few examples within the literature, of low-cost mobile phones being used to effectively supporting teacher professional development or classroom practice in LEDCs.

In this session, we will explore two questions: how 'basic' low cost mobile phones might serve as tools for professional development and classroom practice, and the extent to which this can be used to address issues of 'transmission loss' (or more accurately, the loss of fidelity to professional development activities) within large scale professional development programmes, where teachers are very likely to be lead through programmes by relatively inexperienced local facilitators or trainers.

Presenter: Tom Power (FELS)

Location: Jennie Lee Building Main Ambient Lab Ground Floor

Date: 3 October 2012

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