TPD-on-a-roll: Experiences from teacher workshops
‘Bittersweet’, has been the experience in our CLIx TPD workshops! Thanks to the herculean efforts of our field teams, we have been able to conduct 26 workshops across 4 states, covering all 4 CLIx domain areas. The approximate number of teachers working with us in the first year in i2C, English, Maths and Science are 550, 124, 140 and 60 respectively.
(For a preliminary analysis of confidence for this sample of teachers, please contact us at contact@clix.tiss.edu)
Mizoram Science teachers engaging with the module
Our TPD wrap-around is in the form of session plans, a weekly agenda for online discussions and a post-implementation reflection.
In workshops, teachers have made efforts to understand the rationale of the modules, gone through the same tech-enabled learning experiences as students, created activities connecting tools with textbook topics, reflected on how to facilitate student learning in alignment with the intentions of a module and finally, created and shared their CLIx class schedules and helped their peers solve implementation constraints in their own schools.
Most teachers have found CLIx to be clearly different in its ‘training’ approach, appreciated the thought behind the modules and welcomed the opportunity to work in a professional community on various platforms.
The challenges that we observed include teachers’ minimal prior experience of technology, lack of access to a computing device for practising, lack of connection with state textbook topics, a skewed ratio of around 10 computers for up to 100 students, demands on teachers’ time of the state syllabus and school schedules, large class sizes and teachers’ limited confidence in the abilities of students and themselves to ‘shift to this new method’.
The teachers’ demand for more workshop days to engage deeper and their hope of a shared understanding through collaborative practices for professional development give us the motivation to improve processes.
(Arunachal Kumar, Research Assistant, Teacher Professional Development team, CLIx)
