| 5.3.1 NOTES ON THE
PROGRAMME As can
be seen, there was a clear focus in the programme on
developing participants' trainer skills, although time
was also given to developing their ICT for ELT skills (which
is in any case a necessary component of an ICT for ELT
trainer's skills).
As can also be seen,
sessions were run by a combination of both tutors and
participants. Volunteers from the group were asked to
prepare a number of the ICT Skills Improvement sessions,
and during project sessions the participants worked
independently, with tutors offering assistance only when
requested.
It had been intended to
provide oral feedback to those participants who ran
sessions, but in the end I decided not to do this, mainly
because it just did not feel right within the context of
this particular course. In order to give such feedback, I
felt it would have been necessary to provide support for
participants when preparing their sessions which there
simply was not time to do. However, those participants
who did run sessions received feedback in the form of
anonymous feedback sheets filled in by other participants.
This feedback was a mixture of both positive and negative
points and I think it will have been very useful to those
who ran sessions.
Although the programme
officially finished at 17.00, a number of participants
stayed behind after hours to work on their own, and many
participants also used break times to do more work.
When setting up the
projects, participants were asked to work in groups of
between 2 and 4 people, with at least 2 countries
represented in each group. They were also informed that
they would present the fruit of their week's work (even
if this was just "work in progress") on the
last day of the course. In the event, most people used a
PowerPoint presentation to do this, though one group used
a special presentation programme called KeeBoo.
6 FEEDBACK
6.1 INTERIM FEEDBACK
Anonymous feedback was
obtained from participants each day on all sessions
except for the project sessions in which they worked
independently. A simple grid was used to obtain this
feedback which looked something like this (the actual
grids used were of course bigger to provide more room for
comments):
FEEDBACK
SHEET
DAY: (eg Friday)
Session
|
Likes
|
Dislikes
|
Suggestions
|
| Title of session 1 |
|
|
|
| Title of session 2 |
|
|
|
| Title of session 3 |
|
|
|
6.2 FINAL FEEDBACK
All but two of the
participants (who had to leave early) filled in the final
feedback sheet immediately at the end of the course. The
results can be found in Appendix 1.
7 OUTCOMES
The following is a list of
the main outcomes of the workshop:
7.1 PROJECTS
Here is a brief
description of the projects produced by different groups
of participants during the workshop:
- On-line skills
inventory for false beginners in ICT. This group
produced a skills inventory questionnaire which
could be answered on-line and then submitted. The
on-line software (called Survey Suite)
automatically collates and presents the results.
- A one semester ESP/EAP
course combining content-based and task-based
learning with ICT, which could also be delivered
as a distance course.
- Guide for using
authentic materials from the Web for ELT.
- Course design
guidelines for ICT skills courses for teachers
- Portal for trainers
and teachers wishing to improve their ICT skills
- IITW website, ie a
website reporting on this workshop which may also
function as a forum for ICT trainers
There was not time during
the workshop to complete these projects, but it is hoped
that work on them will continue after the course.
Roy Cross has offered to
fund the commercial hosting of the websites referred to
in Projects 5 and 6, provided this does not exceed the
figure that was mentioned in the last session. There is
also the possibility that the portal for trainers and
teachers wishing to improve their ICT skills (Project 5)
could be linked to, or even integrated into, the British
Council's new Teach English site in the future.
7.2 ACTIVITIES MATRIX
In the national and
regional planning sessions near the end of the course
facilitated by Roy Cross, the participants identified
specific tasks they would like to work on in the coming
months. These tasks were then entered into a matrix to
help people working on similar tasks to cooperate with
each other. (See Appendix 2)
At the top of the matrix
is the type of activity participants would like to work
on. Some would like to produce a presentation for
teachers, eg on Hot Potatoes, some would like to produce
a workshop on different topics such as WebQuest,
PowerPoint, Hot Potatoes, etc, some would like to develop
entire courses for specific audiences such as IT for ESP
students or ICT for beginners, some would like to develop
materials and resources eg to support beginners courses (presumably
in ICT), some would like to develop further their own ICT
skills eg by preparing for the ECDL (European Computer
Driving Licence), and others would like to be involved in
all kinds of dissemination, course design and management.
7.3 ELTeCS BID
On the final day of the
workshop, ideas were put forward for a possible bid for
ELTeCS funds in the next round (deadline 30 September
2001). Areas of interest for such a bid were:
- Workshop focussed on
the methodology of training teachers in the use
of ICT
- Workshop to design
training materials
- Development of a
website focussed on ICT in ELT for teachers and
teacher trainers
- Research into the
effectiveness of ICT in ELT
- Design and delivery
of a distance learning course
- ICT training in
specific areas
- Funding for some sort
of co-ordinator
A number of people
volunteered to take part in putting the bid together,
namely Viera Blahova, Wojtek Drajerczak and James Thomas.
Malcolm Griffiths offered to provide feedback on any
eventual bid proposal before its submission.
7.4 INFORMAL REGIONAL
NETWORK
By the end of the workshop,
there was a very strong feeling of group cohesion and it
is hoped that this will continue when the participants
return home. Of course it is very early days, but there
are strong indications that different members of the
group will continue to co-operate, if only because such
co-operation could provide a good deal of help. The IITW
egroup provides a perfect forum for future group
communication and the sharing of materials using the
shared files and bookmarks facilities on the egroup
website. Not all members of this group are yet ICT
trainers, but those who are not clearly have a keen
interest in training.
7.5 IMPROVED ICT AND
ICT TRAINER SKILLS
Although it is very
difficult to quantify to what extent the participants
improved their ICT and ICT trainer skills, there is some
evidence to suggest that both of these were enhanced.
Firstly, both of these
areas were given a good deal of attention in the
programme (though input is not the same as uptake, of
course). Secondly, there is a good deal of evidence in
the participants answers to Questions 12-15 in the final
feed back (see Appendix 1). Thirdly, it was clear that participants
were already beginning to use some of the ICT skills they
had developed on the course, the most obvious example
being PowerPoint presentations. Finally, a number of
participants remarked to me orally how the workshop had
given them an insight into ICT course design.
7.6 COURSE CD ROM
Participants were
encouraged to bring resources and materials to the course
which they wanted to share with their colleagues in
digital form. These were copied into a shared drive
during the workshop and then copied onto a CD Rom for
everyone to take away. A similar procedure was adopted
for resources developed during the workshop itself,
digital photos taken during workshop, etc.
8 COURSE EVALUATION
8.1 MEETING OF COURSE
OBJECTIVES
In the light of the
description of the workshop above, the list of outcomes
in Section 7 and the comments from participants in the
final feedback (see Appendix 1), it seems reasonable to conclude that all
the objectives of this course (see Section 3) were
largely fulfilled.
In Section 7.4 above, it
was mentioned that one of the outcomes of this workshop
has been the formation of an informal network of
participants. Not all the participants are yet trainers,
and it is clear that some of the participants at least
will need a good deal of help and support to become
successful ICT trainers. Nevertheless, most, if not all
of the participants, appear keen to work as ICT trainers
(if they are not already doing so) and so I think it is
reasonable to assert that the first objective (To
promote the formation of an informal (at this stage)
regional network of ICT trainers) has been achieved,
at least in part.
Objectives 2-4 were as
follows:
- To explore the
desirability and feasibility of future regional
cooperation in the area of ICT training for
teachers (with particular reference to ELT)
- To consider the
desirability and purpose of setting up an
international ICT co-ordinator post to further
cooperation in this area
- To help
participants to identify individual and common
goals, at the personal, national and regional
levels and to draw up action plans
All of these items were
addressed in some detail in the sessions led by Roy Cross
in the Monday morning sessions and also brought up again
in the final round-up session on Tuesday morning when the
possibility of an ELTeCS bid was being discussed.
From the discussions, it
seems that there is keen interest from the group to
cooperate on a regional basis, both by continuing work on
the projects started during the workshop (of which all
but one involved participants from at least two countries)
and by working together on tasks such as course, workshop,
presentation and materials design as identified in "Roy's
matrix" (see Appendix 2).
It was apparent in both
the Monday and Tuesday sessions that some sort of co-ordination
for the group's activities would be welcomed by the
course participants and it was suggested that funding for
someone to take on a coordinating role might be included
in an eventual ELTeCS bid. Roy suggested that such a
coordinating role might be rotated every 3-6 months. It
was not discussed exactly how the coordinator would
coordinate.
Roy's matrix, the projects
and participants' answers to Question 14 (Two things I
will do as a result of having attended this workshop are…)
all show evidence of participants having identified
individual and common goals at various levels, from the
personal to the regional.
As far as Objective 5 is
concerned (To share information, materials and
resources), participants had a good deal of
opportunity to do this during the workshop by providing
material for the course CD ROM, by offering training
sessions, taking part in group discussions, working on
projects with other participants, sharing informally in
breaks, etc.
Objective 6 was "To
develop participants trainer skills and their awareness
of training issues". As has already been stated,
a good deal of time was given over to achieving this
objective during the workshop. Some of the sessions
explicitly addressed this area, eg "The Good ICT
Trainer", "ICT Skills Course Design" (1+2),
"ICT Training Materials Design".
But this objective was
also addressed by giving participants the opportunity to
take part in sessions run by a variety of tutors and
participants. It is interesting to note that there is now
a strong awareness in the group of the need to focus on
the methodology of ICT training, which was one of the
main requests for a follow-up workshop (see Q20 in the
feedback).
Although no formal
feedback was given to participants who ran sessions,
anonymous written feedback from all participants was made
available to them.
The final objective was
"to develop participants' ICT skills".
This objective was addressed explicitly in the ICT Skills
Improvement sessions, but also in a number of other
sessions run by tutors focusing on such topics as on-line
authoring (Hot Potatoes), use of a digital camera and
PowerPoint. The project work also gave participants an
opportunity to practise new ICT skills acquired during
the workshop.
The overall aim of this
workshop was to kick start a potential ICT trainer
training project in the ECE Region. It remains to be seen
whether such a project will in fact materialise.
8.2 FURTHER COMMENTS
8.2.1 GROUP COHESION
One aspect of this event
which was particularly noticeable was the way in which
the group "gelled" extremely quickly. There are
a number of possible reasons for this. For example,
managers were asked to nominate people according to a
clear set of criteria, including excellent interpersonal
skills and a keenness to cooperate on a regional basis.
It also seems likely that
the pre-course communication by egroup greatly
facilitated group cohesion. As course leader, I certainly
felt that I already knew the participants before they
arrived and it was just a matter of putting faces to
descriptions. It is likely that many of the participants
felt the same way. The pre-course egroup discussions also
gave me an opportunity to make very clear in advance
exactly what the course was about, to discuss the content,
find out about participants' ICT skills levels and
training experience, etc, all of which made starting the
course on the first day so much easier and less stressful.
I feel all of this would also have played a role in
putting participants at ease and helping them to settle
in more quickly.
8.2.2 COURSE INTENSITY
On the whole, participants
seemed happy with the timing, location, duration and
intensity of the event. For me it was also interesting to
note how participants had no trouble working with
computers from 9 am-5 pm, whereas a group I taught
earlier in the year who had much poorer ICT skills found
10 am-4 pm to be quite gruelling and tended to have
difficulty concentrating by the end of the afternoon.
9 VENUE ISSUES
9.1 FOOD, ACCOMMODATION
ETC
The feedback from
participants about all aspects of the non-academic side
of the arrangements was extremely positive and I think
well-deserved. The hotel were extremely welcoming and
flexible and the vouchers greatly appreciated by all (we
all received free vouchers which could be spent on food
and drink at the hotel). The food and service were very
good.
The only problems
encountered were mainly in connection with two of the
restaurants used: U Vejvodu and Jezuitsky Dvur where
overcharging and poor service were a problem. In contrast,
the restaurant Stoleti gave excellent service at very
reasonable prices.
9.2 TRAINING CENTRE
Before the workshop
started, I thought the separation of the hotel and the
training centre (the journey took about 30 minutes) would
create a lot of problems. In fact, it was much less
troublesome than I expected, though there is no doubt
that it did add some complications. I found it essential
to have a laptop computer in order to prepare sessions in
the evening and not being connected to the Internet meant
that I could not access web pages in advance.
Although it was possible
for participants to stay after normal sessions had
finished, in practice it was difficult for them to stay
after 7pm and some people mentioned this as a problem in
their feedback sheets. On the other hand, it did mean
that participants were forced to rest in the evening
which may have prevented early burn out.
The PVT Centre staff were
extremely friendly and helpful at all times and did their
very best to meet all our requirements. The technical
equipment and support were both of a very high standard
and I would certainly recommend using this centre again.
10 RECOMMENDATIONS
10.1 MAIN
RECOMMENDATIONS
- It seems to me that
having initiated this regional co-operation, it
would be a great pity if this workshop proved to
be a one-off event. I would strongly recommend
some sort of a follow up in 6 months-1 year's
time and I have set out some specific
recommendations for such an event in Section 10.3
below.
- It is highly
desirable that participants continue to cooperate
after the event. There are a number of ways in
which they could do this:
- Continue to work on
the projects they began at the workshop
- Cooperate in order to
carry out some of the tasks set out in "Roy's
matrix" such as designing a course, workshop,
presentation, training materials. For example,
several people have expressed an interest in
designing a workshop on Hot Potatoes. The
different workshops designed could be shared (for
example using the file sharing possibilities of
the egroup), adapted and piloted to everyone's
benefit.
- Materials developed
co-operatively could be published on the Web,
perhaps as part of the portal project.
- Useful bookmarks for
the portal project could be posted to the
bookmarks section of the egroup, investigated by
group members, annotated and the annotations
posted back to the group for inclusion in the
portal project.
- Share all manner of
materials and resources via the egroup
- Use the egroup to
seek and provide help, exchange information, etc
- Co-operation with the
BC's Teach English website would be a very
exciting avenue to explore for the portal project
team. I recommend they continue to work on the
portal and contact the Teach English team as
suggested by Roy after the summer.
- I strongly recommend
the group submit a bid to ELTeCS as mentioned in
the Outcomes section above.
- Given the huge and
growing importance of the issue of ICT (for ELT)
training for teachers in the region (and the
world for that matter) and the obvious advantages
to be gained from regional co-operation, I would
recommend that the British Council investigate
whether or not there would be some mileage in
appointing a regional co-ordinator for ICT. I
would see this as being something different to
the sort of co-ordinator mentioned in Section 8.1
above. What I am suggesting here is a BC post
rather than an informal arrangement.
- I recommend that
information about this course should be
circulated and published as widely as possible,
as discussed at the post-workshop meeting between
myself, Roy Cross, Malcolm Griffiths, Wojtek
Drajerczak and Abdelmajid Bouziane.
10.2 IF THIS EVENT WERE
TO BE REPEATED
If this event were to be
repeated:
- It would be highly
desirable to nominate the tutor team much earlier
so that they could work together on the design of
the workshop. I think cooperation between the
different tutors was surprisingly smooth given
that none of us knew each other in advance and
most of our pre-workshop communication was by
email. Phones and email can save a lot of time
and money, but I would recommend a planning
meeting for tutors in advance of the course (one
month before, say) in future.
- It would be helpful
to begin the pre-course correspondence (by egroup)
earlier, say 2 months before the beginning of the
event. This would give participants more time to
carry out pre-course tasks, select materials to
bring to the workshop, negotiate the course
content, etc. To make this possible, participants
would need to be nominated earlier.
- A cheaper venue (both
training centre and hotel) might be found,
probably in a cheaper city. However, quality
should not be sacrificed. The quality of the
training venue is particularly vital on an ICT
course - reliable equipment and good technical
support are essential. The venue should also be
easily accessible for all participants.
- A number of technical
questions would need to be addressed. We had
problems with the shared drive arrangements (ie
when all the participants tried to access the
shared drive at the same time then the system
crashed) and also some problems with copying
files onto a course CD ROM (some files did not
work, some of the photos could not be viewed,
some of the programs were corrupted and some of
the pages downloaded from the Internet could not
be copied because of problems with long file
names.) Both these areas need to be addressed
well in advance to avoid problems during the
workshop.
- Arrangements should
be made to make certificates available on-the-spot
at the end of the event.
10.3 IF THIS EVENT WERE
TO BE FOLLOWED UP
If this event were to be
followed up
- I would strongly
recommend a workshop focussed primarily on the
methodology of ICT training for teachers with
opportunities to undertake supported training
with feedback built-in. One option would be for
trainers to arrive and plan a course (with tutor
support) which they would then deliver in the
second half of the course to an appropriate
audience with tutor support and feedback. ICT
training materials design would be included but
improvement of trainers' ICT skills would be a
spin-off rather than a course objective. The
course which the trainers might be a basic skills
introductory course or focus on other skills such
as an introduction to the Internet, web page
development, etc.
- As a second stage, it
might be possible to set up an ICT course for
teachers as a Hornby summer school in Hungary (I
have already briefly discussed this possibility
with Csilla Hos). A workshop might be held in
advance to design the course.
11 CONCLUSION
The International ICT
Trainers Workshop appears to have been a successful event,
but it would be a great pity if it ended up being merely
a "one-off". The workshop mapped out a lot of
the territory to be covered, but in such a short course,
it was only possible to visit a few locations on the map
and even then only on flying visits.
The issue of ICT training
for teachers is one which it seems will only get bigger
and more important in the years to come. In my view, the
British Council is uniquely positioned, to play a key
role in helping regional partners to develop appropriate
and effective ICT training for teachers, particularly in
the area of ICT for ELT. I hope that the recommendations
contained in this report might provide some concrete
suggestions as to how this might be done.
And finally, I would like
to say a big thank you to all the people who made this
course possible, especially Roy Cross, Malcolm Griffiths,
Wojtek Drajerczak, Abdelmajid Bouziane, Dasa Sephtonova,
Jani Brabbs, Vera Reichmannova, Vlad'a Vokaty, Neal
Hoskins, Olga Stankova, Frauke Noelker, Angus Savory and
of course, last but not least, all the course
participants, without whom everybody else's work would
have been in vain.
Phil Brabbs.
Plzen 13 July 2001
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