A Study of the Influence of Teachers’ Engagement with EnglishBolo on use of ReadToMe® Solutions in Class
Background
The Government of Andhra Pradesh plans to introduce English as the medium of instruction in all government schools. With this objective in mind, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has introduced ‘Anglodayam’, an initiative to implement EnglishHelper’s multi-sensory AI reading & comprehension solution, ReadToMe®. EnglishHelper and Schoolnet are implementing ReadToMe® Solutions in residential Gurukulam schools governed by the Tribal Welfare and Social Welfare departments of the Government.
The project has been jointly sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Intel India.
As a part of the solutions available under this project, teachers from the Tribal Welfare and Social Welfare schools undertake EnglishBoloTM, a program designed to improve their Spoken English skills. EnglishBoloTM is a 100-day program that offers technology-enabled blended learning. Each learner under the program undergoes a course of 100 Learn Yourself Lessons and 10 online, live trainer-facilitated classes.
This paper examines the impact of teachers’ engagement with EnglishBoloTM on their usage of ReadToMe® solutions for students in class. The study focuses on the teachers from, and classes held in Tribal Welfare schools to examine the impact.
Engagement of Teachers
A total of 388 teachers representing 139 schools of the Tribal Welfare department spread across 13 districts, undertook EnglishBoloTM. Of the 388 teachers, 65 teachers (representing 52 schools) teach English and the remaining 323 teachers teach subjects other than English, as elicited through telephonic conversations with them.
Completion rates of EnglishBoloTM among the teachers were significantly higher than industry averages with 71% of English teachers and 51% of the teachers teaching other subjects completing the program. These are remarkably high considering that the typical completion rates of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) range from 0.7% to 52.1%, averaging at 12.6% [1-2].
Thus, English teachers demonstrate significantly higher engagement with the program, compared to other subject teachers.
Teachers’ Distribution by Subject taught and Completion of EnglishBoloTM:
| Subject Taught | Number of Teachers | Teachers completing 100% of EnglishBoloTM | Teachers completing 75% or more of EnglishBoloTM |
| English | 65 | 46 (71%) | 52 (80%) |
| Other than English | 323 | 165 (51%) | 172 (53%) |
| Total | 388 | 211 (54%) | 224 (58%) |
Distribution of Schools based on Whether English Teachers participated in EnglishBoloTM:
| Subject taught | Number of schools | At least one Teacher Completed 100% of EnglishBoloTM | At least one Teacher Completed 75% or more of EnglishBoloTM |
| English Teacher underwent EnglishBoloTM | 52 | 34* | 43 |
| Only other Subject Teacher underwent EnglishBoloTM | 87 | 64 | 70 |
| All Teachers | 139 | 105 | 118 |
EnglishBoloTM Program Completion and ReadToMe® Use in Class
We examined the average (mean) number of ReadToMe® classes per school taken by teachers who underwent EnglishBoloTM. The classes were conducted from August 2021 to January 2022 through a period of intermittent school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and scheduled holidays. We then looked for trends in the average as they would relate to the following:
– Does the average number of classes that teachers conduct with ReadToMe® differ based on whether teachers complete EnglishBoloTM?
– Does it differ based on whether English teachers undergo the program?
– Does it differ further based on whether English teachers complete the program?
To identify a trend, we compared each of these averages with the average number of classes when all teachers undergo EnglishBoloTM.
In the graph below, the light area indicates the number of schools falling in each of these examination sets. This establishes that there is a sizeable base for meaningful comparison. The bars indicate the average number of classes per school conducted using ReadToMe® in the period under examination.
From the graph, it is evident that usage of ReadToMe® in class increases with increased engagement with EnglishBoloTM. Additionally, usage is remarkably higher when an English teacher undergoes EnglishBoloTM.
Conclusion
Teachers undergoing EnglishBoloTM exhibit significantly high engagement with the program. Higher engagement with EnglishBoloTM is related to higher use of ReadToMe® solutions to teach in class.
In particular,
i) English teachers demonstrate higher engagement than other teachers with EnglishBoloTM.
ii) English teachers who engage with EnglishBoloTM show higher usage of ReadToMe® in class.
References
[1] Katy, J., “Massive open online course completion rates revisited: Assessment, length and attrition”, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, http://dx.doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v16i3.2112
[2] A Study of Engagement Rates of Learners in EnglishBolo™, 2021, https://www.englishhelper.com/resources/research-center/2021/07/16/a-study-of-engagement-rates-of-learners-in-englishbolo/