During the Pandemic period from June to December 2020, Communities Alive trained over 60 teachers from 10 schools using tools provided by Google. Videos were created and links to these videos were sent out each week to teachers. The persons participating in the course were also invited to join one of several Google classrooms that were set up, where topics were discussed and short assignments given.
Drawing from this experience, we consulted with experts and have developed a new strategy, sometimes termed “flip the classroom”, which was launched in April. This new approach to learning places the onus on the student to learn on his or her own using sophisticated online tools incorporated in the LMS. Each person can learn at his or her own pace, though they will be encouraged to finish within a certain time frame. The role of the trainer is not to teach, but to address the individual questions that participants may have as they progress through the Learning Management System (LMS). This methodology allows for a much larger number of persons to be trained simultaneously, while making training more personalized at the same time.
15 primary schools were targeted for teacher training for the period April to September 2021. Over 200 primary school teachers from these schools registered and 90 completed the course. The feedback has been very positive. This program will be rolled out in stages to 118 Primary schools from January 2022.