Schools Online project

1. General Reference

   Name of PVO: Madad Azerbaijan (MADAD) and Relief International - Schools Online (RISOL)
   Project Title(s): Azerbaijan Teachers Professional Development Program
   Primary Donor: Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation (OSI-AF) - Azerbaijan
   Secondary Donor(s): Global Catalysts Foundation (GCF)
   Reporting Period: January 31, 2004 - April 30, 2004
   Date of this Report:May 4, 2004
   Drafted By: Samir Mammadov
   
   

2. Summary of Project Status

   Madad Azerbaijan (MADAD) and Relief International - Schools Online (RISOL) in collaboration with Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation (OSI-AF) - Azerbaijan and Global Catalysts Foundation (GCF) initiated Azerbaijan Teachers Professional Development Program (ATPDP) designed to enhance teachers' skills in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) integration through team-work and hands-on practice.

   The overall goal of RI-SOL/MADAD Teachers Professional Development Program is to professionally empower and enable teachers to effectively integrate ICT into teaching and learning through the following specific objectives:

   1. Adapt SOL's Teachers Professional Development (TPD) curriculum to the local context (in Azeri language) jointly with the Curriculum Development working group of the Ministry of Education (MoE).
   2. Establish a Teacher's Training Center (TTC) in Baku. The facility will be used for trainings, workshops, conferences and other teacher development related events.
   3. Develop a team of 10 Master Trainers (MT) capable of training teachers and educators in effective use of technology in teaching and learning.
   4. Assist Lead Teachers (individuals trained by Master Trainers) in training of Azeri teachers and students in basic computer skills, fundamentals of the Internet and new approaches to learning and teaching through the use of ICT. Lead teachers (LT) will conduct their training sessions at the TTC, Community Information Resource Centers (CIRC), and computer centers of their schools (in case such centers exist or would be established within other projects).

   To date, RISOL/MADAD has completed the adaptation of SOL's TPD curriculum and presented it to the MoE for their review. The TTC in Baku has been refurbished, supplied with the necessary equipment and connected to the Internet. The selected MTs attended one week training session on the integration of ICT into the education. Two of these MTs have delivered week long training to 10 LTs in the region of Sheki.
   
   

3. Detail of Project Activities
   
   
   1. Project Implementation
      

      TPD Curriculum
      Having discussed the SOL's TPD curriculum with the working group of the MoE, Mary Burns, an independent consultant from the US (CV attached) contracted by MADAD, worked on its adoption to the Azeri content. After its translation into Azeri language, the curriculum was presented to the MoE for their final review.

      TTC equipment
      RI-SOL/MADAD equipped the TTC with the new furniture, computers/peripherals and provided 24-hour Internet connection. Currently, the center has shelves containing a large number of books, periodicals and brochures, computer desks, chairs, 10 computers, a server, scanner, digital camera, copier and a laser printer.

      Teacher Training Implementation
      A joint committee consisting of RI-SOL/MADAD and MoE representatives has selected 12 MTs for the training session conducted by the international consultant in Baku TTC. These MTs in their turn will train about 100 Lead Teachers (LTs) in the effective use of technology and Internet in education. The training session for MTs took place at the TTC in the second week of January delivered by Mary Burns, the same consultant who had worked on the adaptation of the curriculum (see above). In March, two of these MTs, Zarifa Rustamova and Sadig Mustafayev in their turn, have delivered a training session to 10 local teachers in the region of Sheki. These LTs were selected based on the teacher selection criteria set by RI-SOL/MADAD (See: Appendix 1).

      The participating teachers comprise the group of LTs who will train Azeri teachers and students in basic computer skills, fundamentals of the Internet and new approaches to teaching and learning through the use of ICT.

      The Sheki CIRC was utilized for the TPD training course, where the participants had access to the all required resources. This center was established under the CIRC four-year program designed and implemented by MADAD, and supported by the OSI Azerbaijan and GCF. Since the program was proposed to revitalize Azerbaijan's public libraries as vital community institutions, MADAD planed to grow the CIRCs into the development hubs that will provide a diverse range of services including adult education, teacher training, youth development activities such as life skills training, child care facilities, and other activities determined in partnership with the communities.
      
      

   2. Monitoring
      

      Permanent an on-going basis monitoring throughout the life of the project is implemented by the Project Coordinator.

      RI-SOL/MADAD is also monitoring the progress of MTs and LTs following course completion to evaluate the success rate of trainings sessions held by these groups.
      
      

   3. Significant Field Trips and Meetings
      

      Before starting the project implementation RI-SOL/MADAD representative met with the Minister of Education and members of the working groups responsible for Education Modernization project to discuss SOL curriculum and TPD project. The Ministry was very supportive of RISOL/MADAD's activities planed within the project. However, due to the bureaucratic chain within MoE, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between RI-SOL/MADAD and MoE describing both parties' responsibilities within this and other educational projects implemented by RI-SOL/MADAD was signed only in early May.

      Another meeting was held with the new Minister of Communication and IT. During the meeting, RI-SOL/MADAD was promised to get a free of charge leased line Internet connection for the TTC in Baku, all of the 10 CIRCs in the regions, as well as any future Internet connectivity related projects in Azerbaijan. Accordingly, another MoU will be signed with the Ministry of Communication and IT (MCIT) describing the ministry's contribution to RI-SOL/MADAD's projects.

   
   
4. Challenges/Successes

   The main challenge faced by the project is the delay in signing the MoU between the MoE and RI-SOL/MADAD, which caused subsequent delay in implementation of training sessions for LTs in the field. Also due to the academic overload, the teachers were unable to attend the trainings during February - March and therefore, the first training took place in April. Nevertheless, RI-SOL/MADAD plans to conduct the rest of the training sessions throughout summer holidays (June - August).
   
   

5. Consultants' Activities

   Mary Burns is an independent consultant contracted by RI-SOL/MADAD to adopt existing SOL TPD curriculum to Azeri content (CV enclosed), who has about 20 years of experience in education and integration of ICT. She conducted a 6-day training course for MTs in Baku in January of 2004 focusing on the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, FrontPage, Paint, Adobe Photoshop and Internet Explorer for a variety of educational purposes. Additionally, she urged participants to make presentations using the aforementioned programs, Inspiration being one of them while concentrating on the 4 main components of held activities, i.e. culture and history survey, economic survey, physical survey and digital landscape.
   
   

6. Planned Activities
   1. Publish the translated and adopted version of the SOL curriculum.
   2. Conduct trainings for 90 Lead Teachers in the regions of Baku, Ali-Bayramli, Ganja, Guba, Lenkaran, Barda, Shamaha and Ujar utilizing CIRCs in the above-mentioned regions.
   
   
   
7. Achievements

   The TTC is used for the training sessions, workshops and other education and ICT related activities. The MTs have been selected and delivered a training session by an international consultant in January of 2004. Two MTs have conducted training to the 10 local teachers thus developing a group of LTs, who will train Azeri teachers and students in basic computer skills, fundamentals of the Internet and new approaches to teaching and learning through the use of ICT.

The purpose of the Professional Development Workshops is to prepare teachers to effectively integrate Information and Communication Technologies into their daily work. To a great extent the success of the workshops is measured by the rate at which trainees share the newly acquired skills with other colleagues in their schools, as well as how well technology is accepted by other educators and integrated in school life in general. RISOL believes that teachers who meet the following criteria will be best suited to participate in the workshops and subsequently to conduct similar training and offer support for other teachers. However, they can be reviewed and tailored to fit each school's individual needs.

A person best suited to participate in the Teacher Professional Workshops will:

• Work at the school as an educator/teacher for the full school year
• Be committed to improving the learning capacity of students
• Be open-minded to new teaching and learning methodologies
• Be willing to integrate collaborative projects and project-based learning into daily teaching
• Be willing to share the obtained knowledge with other teachers by conducting training sessions, consultations, and other forms of assistance and collaboration
• Be comfortable working as mentors and coaches to other teachers
• Be willing and able to contribute substantial amount of time to this project
• Be willing and able to prepare several brief reports throughout the year

Please note that:

• It is recommended that the teams from each school be inclusive of teachers who teach different disciplines.
• Technical and computer skills are NOT mandatory, with the exception of the technical coordinator
• Knowledge of English is NOT mandatory, but would be an asset.