DIL-USAID MOBILE LEARNING PROJECT

CELLPHONE DISTRIBUTION AND ORIENTATION CEREMONY NOWA KHAIRPUR SINDH

BY: IMRAN KHAN

M&E OFFICER DIL-USAID

Introduction
Mobile Learning Project (MLP) is being implemented by DIL Pakistan aims at increasing the content knowledge of 200 primary school teachers of Mathematics and English of DILs schools across Pakistan. An activity of this project namely Cellphone distribution and orientation was carried out for DIL-NOWA teachers in Khairpur Sindh on October 29, 2013. This was the 3rd of the series of distribution and cell phone orientation activities to be carried out in this project. In this ceremony 38 teachers (List attached as annex A) belonging to various DIL schools were given Nokia Lumia 520 phone. Beside the beneficiary teachers and MLP team, the ceremony was attended by Mr. Maula Bakhsh Director NOWA and Mrs. Shireen Sial Project Manager NOWA. A brief overview of the activity is given as follow:

Figure 1: Beneficiary teachers filling contract before receiving cellphones.

Figure 2: Manager Mobile Learning Project, Mr. Shahid Akbar briefing the participants about the aims and objectives of Mobile Learning Project.

Figure 3: Mr. Maula Bux Larik, Director NOWA Pirbhat addressing the participants.

Cellphone distribution
In the first phase of the ceremony, cellphone distribution took place. A figure depicting the process of cellphone distribution and orientation is highlighted in the following figure.
Project Overview Cellphone Distributio n Contract Signing Cellphone Orientation Posttest

Pre-test

conclusion

The project overview was given by Mr. Shahid, Project Manager in which he shared the project details like its aims, objective, expected outcomes. Afterwards Cellphones were distributed among the beneficiary teachers by Project Director Mr. Maula Bakhsh Larik and Manager NOWA Ms. Shireen Sial. The teacher then signed written contract in which they agreed to various terms and condition. A copy of the contract was also given to the teachers. Afterwards the teachers were given a copy of Standard operating procedure (SOP) of the project which contained instruction on how to use the cellphone.

Figure 4: Project Director NOWA-Pirbhat distributing cellphones among beneficiary teachers.

Cellphone Orientation Training

After a break for lunch and prayers, the beneficiary teachers again gathered in the main hall to get an orientation on how to use the cellphones. Mr. Wasim, the IT officer of the project gave the training. The training included the following topics.

Figure 5: The content of the cellphone orientation training. It starts with introduction to phone, NED, and ultimately ends up with teacher downloading the prototype video lessons from the NED server.

Mr. Wasim in the beginning gave a brief introduction to the project and then carried on to unpack the new cellphone which the teachers had just received in the morning. He made sure that teachers are at home with using the various feature of the phone like operating, using the menus and applications installed in it. Afterwards when the teachers were fully acquainted with using the phone, they were practically put to download video lesson using the Nokia client app. Installed in the phone. The phone was connected to the server using the internet facility to access the sample lessons. The Mathematics and English teachers accessed their respective lessons and then learned how to download these lessons.

Figure 6: Mr. Wasim Khan IT Officer DIL-USAID Mobile Learning Project, delivering orientation training to beneficiary teachers.

Feedback of Teachers
The teachers were asked about their feedback on the days activity and particularly about the training to which gave very positive remarks. According to the teachers the getting cell phone for teaching purpose is an important moment in their professional life and will immensely contribute in their professional development. Not only will it help us-the teachers, it is will have a very positive impact on our students according to one of the beneficiary teacher who got cellphone and training during the days activity. Rest of the responses from the teachers are given in the following figures.

Was today training beneficial?

24% To Some Extent Very Much Beneficial 76%

Figure 7: All the teacher were of the view that the training was beneficial. Also there was an option Not beneficial but it was not selected by any teacher.

The training was termed as being very much productive by 76% of the participants of the training while 24% of the teachers termed it as being beneficial to some extent. The options of Average, need improvement and dont know etc. were also included in the post evaluation test along with those given above figure. Beside there was also space to give feedback regarding the training, but we did not get any response from the teachers. In similar trainings in future we must make sure that every teacher should give some feedback at least in one sentence regarding the training she received.

How the resource person conducted?

Excellent Good Very Good

39%

29%

32%

Figure 8: The resource person was rated as per given figure. No teacher of the view that the conduct of the training was poor or average. All answered by selecting options like Excellent, Very Good and good.

Twenty Nine percent of the teachers rated the conduction of the training as being excellent, 39% termed it as very good and 32% termed it as good. The option Average and Need improvement was not selected by any of the teacher. Space was provided for the teachers to provide suggestion and feedback regarding the training but it was not filled by any of the teachers.
S# 1 2 3 NAME Shakeela Jiskani Saira Khilji Arifa SUBJECT English English English FEEDBACK I will learn those things which are difficult to me by participating in this project. I want to improve my English Language skills so participation in this project will be really helpful. My students will benefit from this project, This project will be helpful to not only teachers but also the students I suggest not to take contribution from teachers. We have other expenses like I am taking admission in university and I will be happy if this cellphone is given as free. It is our right Inshallah students' knowledge will increase through this project. I request DIL to provide IT teachers with Cellphone or Laptops I feel very special because it is very useful to teachers to teach English to English. I shall use the knowledge gained to teach my students. I feel good and hope to revise the training once at hope in order to better understand the using of cellphone It is very good step, now we shall not have to wait for a trainer to solve our teaching problems. We can get help from mobile at any time if we face difficulties while teaching. I am very happy and at the same time conscious regarding the safety of the cellphone First I was little bit worried that how to use the phone for learning but after going through the training I am thrilled to have this device I am very excited with the phone and want to learn more in order to increase my knowledge. It is very nice, as we do not need to travel outside our community for training, and also we can watch lessons multiple time which is not there in in-person training. Learning has become very easy with this device. I am so excited. I shall try my best to teach my students in an excellent manner with the help of this device. Although I did not receive cellphone, but I learn a lot and being part of the project is special.

Mussarat Arain

Mathematics

Roohina

IT

Sasvi

English

Shahmela

English

Mussarat Arain

Maths

Misbah Rafique

English

10 12

Arifa Aansa

English English

13

Kaneez Fatimah

Mathematics

14 15 16

Rizwana Kausar Huma Riaz Roohina

Mathematics Mathematics IT

Pre and Post Evaluation

A pre and post-test was carried out in order to gauge the participant knowledge regarding the project and cellphone orientation training. The responses of the teachers are given in the following table. Some of the pre-test question were answered correctly by majority of the teachers. This is due to the fact that this test was administered after the cell phone distribution and before cell phone orientation. Thus teachers had the opportunity to go get the information for the cellphone distribution event in which they were told about the SOP and other details. From this onward, we have decided to take the pretest at the very beginning of the ceremony so that we can get a more accurate estimate of the effectiveness of our training.

Q# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

QUESTION Name of this Project? What is primary objective of giving Cellphone to teachers? How much increase in content knowledge is targeted by MLP Which connectivity will you use to download videos NED stands for From which of given website you will download videos Where of the following place you will go to download videos In how many days you are required to download video lessons Whom you will consult in case of problem with cell phone Which of the following App will you use to download videos

PRE-TEST 87% 92% 16% 50% 0% 8% 37% 26% 58% 13%

POST-TEST 100% 100% 58% 97% 63% 74% 68% 76% 92% 76%

Monitoring Notes/Lesson Learned

1. The activity started well on time and as planned although the training team arrived from Islamabad the same day. 2. All the teachers of NOWA were present except one, which was a very good gesture on the part of the teachers and as well as the NOWA management. 3. NOWA management had called a media team comprising of print (representing Daily Kawish and Daily Jeejal) and electronic media personnel (representing leading Sindhi TV channels namely Mehran TV and KTN News,) to cover the event. They interviewed the beneficiary teachers and project team and got their views regarding benefit of the project. This kind of dissemination will help in promoting the work of DIL and also will be attractive to donor agencies and therefore can be replicated in other events as well. 4. The teachers were excited and participated in the distribution and training activity very enthusiastically until the end of training in the late afternoon. We must ensure this kind of participation from teachers elsewhere as well. 5. The training went very well, however the downloading of video lesson using the internet was taking long time. Later on in actual lesson delivery the downloading of video lesson may be time consuming given the slow internet speed in these areas and other rural localities. In such a scenario we might think of other ways to deliver the lessons. 6. Some teachers were more interested in asking about saving personal data and using the phone a as camera to take snaps etc. It was reemphasized that the basic purpose of giving cellphone is for learning. If they store too much data in the phone, then the storage may fell less than required for storing video lessons. 7. As the downloading was a bit slow, it would be a good idea to reduce the size of a lesson a bit, but at the same time we make sure that the quality of the video is not affected. 8. The IT teachers who are also part of the project are also desirous of getting cellphone. Some incentive to them in the form of training or other benefits may be useful in their full engagement with the project.

Figure 9: Mr. Shahid Akbar Manager DIL-USAID Mobile Learning Project giving interview to Mehran TV- a leading Sindhi Channel.

Figure 10: Mehran TV crew interviewing one of the beneficiary teacher of DIL-USAID Mobile Learning Project.

ANNEXURE A: BENEFICIARY TEACHERS DETAILS

S. No Project wise 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Teacher Name Subject Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Maths Handed over to Ms. Maths Maths Maths English English English English English English English English English English English English English English English English English English School Unnar Colony Madeena Colony Janwari Goth Rind Izzat Machi Ali Public School Kot diji Kot Denal Shah New Bhatyoon Sadar-Ji-Bhatyoon Ali Abbas Burdi F.Mahar M.K Jamro Gadeji Primary M.K Mangrio A.A Bhangoo A.H Mungia Shireen Sial. Mir Mohammad Solangi Izzat Machi M. M. Katohar M.M Katohar Madeena Colony Rind Ali Public School Kot diji Kot Denal Shah Hamid Bhutto New Bhatyoon Sadar-Ji-Bhatyoon Ali Abbas Burdi Gadeji Primary M.K Mangrio A.A Bhangoo Mir Mohammad Solangi Izzat Machi Janwari Goth Unnar Colony M.K Jamro F.Mahar

Farhana Naz Haneefa Mangi Mussarat Arain Shaheen Kaneez Fatima Rizwana Kousar Naheed Akhtar Memon Naheed Akhtar Qazi Hifza Yaseen Rakhan Mahar Kaneeza Jamro Nadia Qazi Balqees Akhtar Bela Bihan Huma This teacher has resigned. Mobile is Azra Seema Zakia Katohar Shakeela Jiskani Noureen Shahneela Shazia Bloch Maria Memon Aansa Saira Khilji Arifa Shah Misbah Rafique Jameela Bhelar Shazia Kousar Mungrio Sajida Bihan Zahooran Sassui Fatima Samreen Soomro Fehmida Jamro musrat

This report and the project it describes were made possible with support from the American people delivered through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Developments in Literacy and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of USAID or the U.S. Government.