Presentation 3: Can automated, remote support from tablets improve coaching, teaching and ultimately learning outcomes – lessons from Sierra Leone

• In Event: The Present and Future of Technology-Supported Teacher Coaching

Proposal

In Sierra Leone, teacher quality and learning outcomes are currently very low. Many teachers are not formally-employed and a significant proportion have never received professional training. The on-the-job support to teachers is limited, especially for isolated rural schools and this constrains the ability of teachers to improve their practice. Even when coaches or supervisors visit schools these officials are often a product of the same system and so the sharing of new ideas or good practice is limited. This paper explores whether digital tools, specifically the Tangerine:Coach, can help overcome some of these limitations, using automated technology to improve coaching, teaching and ultimately learning.

In 2018, the Leh Wi Lan program, which supports all junior and senior secondary schools in the country (over 1,500), started to explore whether digital technology could help overcome some of the barriers outlined above that teachers and school supervisors face in rural Sierra Leone. The Tangerine:Coach platform was chosen because of its functionality that allows remote support in the form of embedded lesson plans and automated feedback in response to classroom observations. Coaches who visit all Government and Government-assisted secondary schools nationally use their tablets to record lesson observation data. These tablets are programmed to provide automated feedback based on how coaches answer questions in lesson observation forms. This feedback ensures that target issues, such as the use of lesson plans, inclusive practice and active learning in classrooms are discussed during coaching sessions and can help bring new ideas into these discussions. Remote updates to the automated feedback can help switch the focus to different areas of inclusive teaching practice on a regular basis.

The tablets have been in use for over a year and this paper will share some of the findings in terms of what has been learnt. It will consider the improvements in coaching and teaching that have been seen, for example a greater than 10% increase in the fidelity of lesson plan implementation. It will also consider how the approach is being made more sustainable by moving towards tablets in each school and not in the hands of occasional visitors. It will also consider the potential negative impacts of such a structure and automated process; does the technology take over and limit the potential for lesson observers to respond to the specifics of what they see?

In addition to the impact on coaching and teaching, the lesson observation data collected has been generating new insights at classroom level for district education managers and national policy makers. This in turn can support better instructional leadership and education management at all levels if used effectively.

This presentation will explore the impact this technology is having on education in Sierra Leone consider potential future expansion and explore the limitations to support provided through digital, automated applications.

Authors

• Daniel Waistell, Cambridge Education

• Caroline Jordan, Cambridge Education

• Moi Sellu, Cambridge Education