A Review of a shift from traditional pedagogy in Nepali Rural Primary Schools - Rural teachers’ capacity to reflect ICT policy in their practice byKarna Rana, Janinka Greenwood, Wendy Fox-Turnbull, and Stuart Wise.

 

Introduction

The Government of Nepal has planned to use ICT as tool in school education all over Nepal. Government has not provided any resources for ICT development in school. NGOs are providing Assistance in developing ICT infrastructure and training. School in capital especially private school has been using ICT in education, but most of the public school did not.  Nepal Telecom data shows that internet users are growing every year. It proves that digital access is growing in Nepal. Therefore, possibility of ICT use in education is growing in Nepal. This article shows study result about use of ICT tools in education by rural primary teachers. This study conducted school and class observation and teachers interview of 5 rural school as well as document analysis.

ICT infrastructure

ICT infrastructure means sufficient computer, internet availability, multimedia, skilled teacher etc. The unreliable internet and old slow computer can hamper ICT use. Also teacher training to integrate ICT in teaching activities is also important. ICT facility also need to focus skill and knowledge of teacher and students’ need to create a learning environment.

ICT and pedagogy,

ICT in education does not mean just to use ICT tool. The use of ICT in teaching activities must be able to connect with knowledge construction. ICT make it possible to learn beyond the class room. Learning can learn on their own at suitable places.  ICT use by teacher increased student learning activities and student participation.

The role of ICT knowledge and skills,

Teacher training must include ICT training to enable it to apply in the classroom. Therefore, teacher training course should include technological skill. Lack of ICT knowledge make difficult to integrate current technologies such as internet, computer games and apps in learning and teaching.

Digital resources in the schools,

The participated schools in the study were provided with XO laptops provided by NGO which contain digital resources for major subjects. The devices are available in the school lab which can be used for teaching learning. But devices are insufficient for large number of students. Also, internet is not available, XO laptop does not contain the features available in other normal laptops available in the market, and XO laptop did not contain specific content, which limit its use in school.

 

Teaching with digital technology and textbooks,

The participants used both digital and text books in teaching. Text book were used in regular classes and digital device give complimentary material. Digital devices, which contains wide range of material which help children in further practice and self-learning. Overall teaching is found to be more effective.

 

Teachers' perceived preparedness,

There is not initial training on ICT is provided to teacher. Teachers were provided with training by NGOs that supported for providing ICT infrastructure. Teacher learning about use of laptop, find contents which are already available in laptop and use them. Therefore, teacher could not advance beyond they got from training to use in daily life and create own materials for teaching.

 

Teachers' perception of their practice with digital devices

The use of digital devices shifted traditional way of teaching to student centered learning. It provided opportunities for self-learning and collaborative learning. Use of these devices developed friendly relation between teacher and student. It also shifted role of teacher as facilitator.

 Teacher's Practical Challenges in Class

Digital contents are random on the computer. Teacher need to prepare well before class. Internet is not available. Also two school had withdrawn all devices and stopped the use of technology in teaching and learning activities. NGO taught teacher only required to use digital devices. It has limited their learning use of computer.

However, lack of government plan for providing training to teacher, lack of ICT infrastructure and lack of pre-service teacher training on ICT etc indicated that ICT use in education is not sustainable as mentioned in National curriculum framework.

 

Reference

Rana, K., Greenwood, J., Fox-Turnbull, W., and Wise, S., A Review of a shift from traditional pedagogy in Nepali Rural Primary Schools - Rural teachers’ capacity to reflect ICT policy in their practice, International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2018, Vol. 14, Issue 3, pp. 149-166