A study of the critical success factors and effectiveness of teacher training

The changing education landscape post-Covid

The COVID pandemic and resultant school closures necessitated innovative alternatives to traditional methods of teaching and learning. One effect was the redefinition of the “classroom” to include learning spaces beyond physical boundaries. Another important innovation has been in the rethinking of teacher training and development. 

To be comparable with the traditional method of in-person / face-to-face training, digital delivery of teacher training is required to leverage technology while staying true to the principles of:

– Removal of space, time, and capacity-intensive constraints

– Equal or more effectiveness in comparison to traditional methods

– Delivery at large scale

– Cost-effectiveness ^[1]

In keeping with the evolving learning landscape, EnglishHelper has approached the training of teachers in the deployment of ReadToMe^[2], in alignment with the above principles. This paper examines the approach in light of techniques deployed and the analytics used to feed into the teacher training loop to consistently increase the robustness of the process. The study also provides evidence of how the teacher training model has been successfully deployed with the measurement of effectiveness in terms of teacher feedback and desired elicited engagement.

Large-scale teacher training – An innovative approach

EnglishHelper deploys ReadToMe® in thousands of schools across India and globally. To successfully implement it at a massive scale, EnglishHelper trains teachers directly on the installation and usage of ReadToMe®. EnglishHelper has successfully trained almost 100,000 teachers (as of writing this paper) since the pandemic through virtual modes leveraging technology. The following are the critical success factors for teacher training:

– Virtual training on popular platforms: ReadToMe® teacher training sessions are conducted on popular and easily accessible online training platforms like Zoom and YouTube Live. Teachers are familiar with these platforms necessitating no learning curve to use the platforms themselves. The platforms also allow for a moderated chat box in session.

– Endorsement by public education administration officials: Officials from the public / government education administration participate to demonstrate their visible sponsorship and exert a positive influence on attendance and compliance.

– Contextualization of training: To secure and track attendance and address specific queries, multiple training sessions are conducted at the most granular geographic level, as relevant. Hence, individual sessions are scheduled for teachers from schools in specific blocks and districts Additionally, micro-training sessions like usage of ReadToMe® comprehension aids, best practices in lesson planning, frequently asked questions, and others are conducted contextual to the deployment and engagement lifecycle of the project.

– Interactive process: The in-session chat boxes become a forum for teachers to ask questions specific to their school. Other teachers share their experience with mitigating issues in answer to peer-teacher queries, as well as debating best practices. Interactions with the moderator and with each other are enriched as the sessions provide a supportive platform for discussion.

– Training through peer involvement: As training sessions are conducted, teachers install ReadToMe® on school devices and integrate it into their classes. In subsequent training sessions, teachers who have successfully implemented and engaged are identified. Some of these teachers volunteer to be co-trainers in subsequent sessions. Co-trainers serve as language interpreters who support master trainers by unpacking and answering queries in the local language. The enlisting of co-trainer volunteers fosters a sense of collaboration among teachers. It also allows teachers to demonstrate their skills among a group of their peers. This initiative has met with considerable success in the training sessions.

– Post-training support: During the virtual training sessions, numerous support mechanisms are shared to help teachers through questions that arise post-training. These include sharing resources with teachers through WhatsApp groups created, directing teachers towards the ReadToMe Teacher Dashboard for advanced and micro-training sessions, and sharing of identified ReadToMe® personnel contact information for after-training one-on-one support.

– Demystifying technology: When teachers attend the training sessions, and install ReadToMe® on their own, it helps them overcome barriers to the use of technology in the classroom and for their own professional development. Teachers own the process making it easier to form the habit of engagement with the software in class for teaching.

– Effective, efficient, and equitable: Large-scale virtual training has the obvious advantage of being cost-effective and less logistically intensive from a planning perspective. Because of the ease of access, training becomes equitable. The possibility of conducting multiple sessions allows for a single call-to-action in every session (compared to a cluttered and inundating agenda in in-person sessions that are typically pressed for time), followed up with a measurement of compliance from teachers. The training is also highly effective. Evidence of the effectiveness is presented in the subsequent sections of this paper.

Large-scale teacher training at EnglishHelper – Reach

For a look into the training sessions, please click here: Training video 1 | Training video 2

Measuring the effectiveness of large-scale teacher training

To measure the effectiveness of large-scale teacher training, we present a case study from the ReadToMe® project in Odisha. Following a successful pilot conducted in 2022, the Department of Education, Government of Odisha, in 2023, commissioned the deployment of ReadToMe® in 4000 secondary schools across 30 districts, reaching more than 1 Million students.

The large-scale training sessions undertaken for teachers from the schools achieved the following:

Training

– Attendance: Teachers were trained on the implementation and use of ReadToMe®. More than 7,800 teachers attended the training sessions.

– Training sessions: 94 sessions were conducted on Zoom. 32 of these sessions were to create awareness of the program and provide instruction on the installation of ReadToMe® on school devices amongst Principals and teachers. Advanced refresher training sessions on YouTube Live have been scheduled as of writing this paper.

Implementation

– Implementation: Teachers from more than 90% of the schools installed the ReadToMe® software on school computers. Implementation was completed within three academic weeks.

Engagement post training

– More than 60% of the schools that were trained commenced ReadToMe® classes within a week of training.

– On average, trained schools conducted more classes than schools that had yet to attend training.

– Schools begin to exhibit significant engagement within two days of attending training sessions. Graphs presented below for sample districts show a clear uptick in the number of schools engaging as well as the number of classes conducted, after the training date.

Training Assessment and Feedback

At the end of the training, teachers were requested to undertake a training effectiveness assessment and complete a feedback form. Presented below are a few takeaways from teachers’ responses:

Understanding of ReadToMe Solutions

– More than 94% of the teachers could comprehend that ReadToMe® is a reading and comprehension software that reads English text by highlighting each word.

– Almost all the teachers understood that they have to download ReadToMe Teacher Dashboard from the Google Play Store and sign up using their mobile number and the school’s UDISE code.

– 94% of the teachers also understood that they needed to download ReadToMe School Edition on their school devices after registering on ReadToMe Teacher Dashboard.

– Teachers were able to correctly indicate the steps that they would follow while conducting a ReadToMe-enabled class session.

Teacher Feedback on ReadToMe Training

– More than 90% of teachers indicated that ReadToMe® will help them in teaching.

– More than 90% of teachers also indicated that the training deck and videos were helpful.

Conclusion

Large-scale teacher training leveraging technology has the obvious benefit of saving costs and precluding intense logistical planning. Additionally, technology-enabled training helps teachers embrace technology in the classroom, instilling a sense of ownership with the solution. Training is rendered equitable, inclusive, and affordable – important success factors in the massive-scale deployment of learning solutions across a widespread cross-section of schools, teachers, and students.

Reference:

[1] https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1222894.pdf

[2] ReadToMe® is a multi-sensory reading & comprehension AI software that trains itself to read any given text.
https://www.englishhelper.com/readtome-solutions/