Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Teachers Training Course Highlights Interest in ICTs for Education

In a training course developed by the TDLC, teachers and instructors across Asia sat in a virtual classroom to learn how ICTs can be incorporated to enhance multicultural education. Designed to accompany Kids Initiative, a program that enables school children to conduct exchanges with counterparts in other countries through GDLN videoconference, teachers across borders showed a strong interest in new methods of education to prepare children to meet the challenges of globalization. 

The Kids Initiative Teachers Training Course was conducted from December 2007 to April 2008, covering 4 modules over 5 sessions.  The TDLC connected to sites in Vietnam, Mongolia, the Philippines (Manila and Davao), as well as Sri Lanka, with 80-100 practitioners and experts participating per session.

The course covered global collaboration through “Theme-based Sharing” and “Project-based Learning”, the two main types of sessions under Kids Initiative, offering theory and practice through lectures, discussions, and a mock session enlisting the participation of children in Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The lecturer, Dr. Christopher Tan, is an international expert on the use of technology in education.

With an audience of experts from diverse locations, the sessions proved to be an interesting opportunity to share knowledge about education in the region. Teachers seemed to agree on the need for project-based learning, and many asked how to incorporate new methods into the established school curriculum.

Teachers also had questions based on their experience: What do you do about different learning levels within the group, especially when children who do well start losing interest? How do you instruct children who resort to “cut & paste” when compiling presentations? In project-based learning, do you grade the process, or the result? Dr.Tan provided insight based on his experience conducting project-based learning projects in Hong Kong and other countries. 

After completion of the training course, participants have started discussing Kids Initiative activities in their respective countries. Mongolia has identified 4 junior high schools who plan to hold sessions on environment with their counterparts in Japan. Sri Lanka is also looking into various exchanges. Teachers exchanged information on the school calendar in their countries so that exchange sessions can be timed better. In the future, some suggested organizing a seminar for education ministry officials to mainstream their activities into the school curriculum.

For more information, please see the following program pages:
KIDS INITIATIVE
KIDS INITIATIVE Teachers Training Course