Data Collection for Midline Study (25.04.17 – 08.05.17)
A midline study for assessing the impact of CLIx intervention in the academic year 2016–17 was recently undertaken in Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Rajasthan. The purpose of this exercise is to understand the change in the knowledge, skills, behaviours and practices of students, teachers and principals in selected intervention schools with regards to digital literacy, access and use of technology, pedagogic practices and beliefs about the use of technology in education. Based on the extent of intervention in the past academic year, 20 schools were identified for the study from among the treatment schools sampled for the baseline. Of these 20, 5 schools were from Chhattisgarh, 6 from Mizoram and 9 from Rajasthan.
Students completing the Student Questionnaire in Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh
Data was collected using six tools. The survey tools were a subset of the questionnaires used during the baseline study, and the items were selected based on two considerations: (1) what had been offered to the schools through the CLIx intervention and (2) inputs from the domain teams. Student general questionnaire and student learning assessment tests were conducted using the conventional paper–pen method. Each teacher had to fill in two tools – ageneral questionnaire and a domain-specific questionnaire for English and maths teachers. Principals filled in a single questionnaire. The questionnaires for teachers and principals were administered digitally using the Open Data Kit (ODK) as was done earlier during the baseline study.
The research team, along with field team members, visited the schools for data collection between 25 April and 8 May to utilise the days when schools were open in the new academic session. In the middle of hot summer in northern and central India, schools were open. In Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, student attendance in some schools was very poor since the academic year had just started. In five to six schools, student tools would have to be administered when the sampled students return to schools after the summer holidays in June. Platform data was also collected from schools so as to understand student engagement with CLIx modules.
Data for approximately 300 students, 37 teachers and 17 principals was collected during these midline study visits.
(Archana Mehandale, Team Lead and Professor, Ananya Chatterji Swamy, Junior Research Associate and Arundhati Roy, Research Associate, Research team, CLIx)
