Supporting teachers in Rwanda to effectively use Learning Through Play with Technology approaches: Can Professional Development make the difference?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 12
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Global Tech Sparks: Pioneering Teacher Development Across Borders

Proposal

The Rwandan government prioritizes a transition towards a knowledge-based economy with an emphasis on science and technology. To achieve this, a competency-based curriculum (CBC) for pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels was launched in April 2015. The CBC framework promotes the use of technology to support the emergence of teaching and pedagogical learner-centered approaches. To assist teachers with this transition, Right To Play implements the Plug in Play project (2021-2024), aiming to reach more than a thousand Science in Elementary and Technology (SET) primary teachers across six districts with professional development (PD) in Tinkering and Making, Coding, and Robotics.

To support the project’s implementation, the Education Development Center has partnered with Three Stones International to conduct implementation research, aiming to assess the quality of student and teacher engagement and how variations in professional development relate to teacher outcomes and project implementation. The design of the research for this exploration is framed by LEGO’s playful learning framework (LEGO Foundation, 2017; Parker & Thomsen, 2019) as well as what is known in the literature about the features of effective PD that are critical to measure (e.g., Borko, Jacobs, & Koellner, 2010; Desimone, 2009; Fishman et al., 2013; Garet et al., 2001). This presentation will focus on describing the extent to which teachers were engaged in meaningful, joyful, iterative, engaging, and socially interactive learning and how the design and content of the PD has prepared them to integrate Learning Through Play with Technology (LTPwT) approaches into their daily teaching.

We rely on semi-structured observations of trainings and Communities of Practice and post-PD interviews with a sample of 18 teachers conducted across all six districts. Reflecting on the main findings, we note that while the PD was meaningful, joyful and engaging and teachers appreciated the LTPwT approaches, considering them innovative and largely aligned with the SET curriculum, the PD had a strong focus on activities and project work. The PD thus only created limited opportunities for more iterative and socially interactive learning and teachers were not given enough space and time to reflect on how the LTPwT approaches connect to major science concepts and fit into existing SET lessons. Additionally, teachers had limited time to practice micro-teaching and thus did not always feel sufficiently prepared and confident to apply their skills in practice
During the COPs, which took place after a month of implementation, teachers discussed various challenges including fitting the content into a 80 minute lesson and the limited access to the needed resources (laptops, science kits). However, teachers had limited time to delve deeply into the solutions.

Although further classroom-level research is necessary to confirm our findings, we conclude that while the PD provided teachers with the skills and confidence to work on technology projects, the limited focus on reflective practice, iteration and socially interactive learning may hinder less confident teachers and those that work at low-resource schools from fully integrating LTPwT activities into their daily teaching. This study emphasizes the importance of considering teachers needs and context in the design of PD.

Authors

• Monica Rwabalinda, Three Stones International

• Hazel Charlotte Cox, Three Stones International

• Ilse Flink, Three Stones International

• Divine MUTUYIMANA, Three Stones International