Transcript Russia's E-Learning Support Project Michael Trucano Sr. ICT & Education Specialist The World Bank New Delhi: 28 May 2009

Russia's E-Learning
Support Project
Michael Trucano
Sr. ICT & Education Specialist
The World Bank
New Delhi: 28 May 2009
Overview
• World Bank’s largest free-standing ICT/education project
• Directly targeted 9 pilot regions, diverse, spread across
the country (29 additional)
• US$145m (US$100m from the World Bank)
• First phase (42 months, beginning 2005)
• Three target areas:
DLR, TPD, IRCs
Russian Context
Transition to market economy
had increased disparities
Decentralization
Urban versus rural disparities
Early ‘tracking’
TIMMs achievement high,
PISA achievement low
Challenges
• Ensure Russia can stay in step with
technological change and global
knowledge
• Ensure that the education system will
produce well-educated people to enable a
flexible, well-trained workforce
all of this is complicated by advances in ICTs
World Bank Involvement
Previous projects
Education Innovation Project (1997-2004)
Education Reform Project (2002-2006)
Analytical work
Reforming Education in the Regions of Russia (1999)
E-Learning Policy to Transform Russian Schools (2003)
Goals
“improve the accessibility, quality, and relevance of
Russia's general and first level vocational education,
to the benefit both of learning outcomes
(improvement in school-leavers' ability to use their
knowledge and skills in order to meet real-life
challenges)
and of labor-market outcomes
(improvement in school-leavers’ ability to find well-paid
jobs in new occupations)”
Activities
Specifically, the Project was to support:
1. DLR = digital learning resources
development of new learning materials
2. TPD = teacher professional development
support for both pre-service and in-service teacher training in
the introduction of ICT into teaching and learning
3. IRC = interschool resource centres
establishing not less than 200 resource centers to improve
access to ICT enhanced education opportunities and to
disseminate new teaching practices
Target groups
• Primary
– Students (especially rural students)
– Teachers
• Secondary
– Administrators and education sector staff
– Software firms
– Government (through better coordination and
efficiency)
Phases
• Phase I (3.5 years)
– Improve capacity to develop high quality DLR
– Improve pre- and in-service TPD in the use of ICT in education
– Network of ICT centres
• Phase II (3 years)
– Scaling up DLR dissemination throughout Russia
– Continued DLR production
– Scale up infrastructure
all of this in an environment where
ICT-related standards were not in place
Distinctive characteristics
ICT into education activities, not ICT into schools
Initial thoughts to focus on access were expanded
to include quality and relevance as well
Holistic approach
Focus on capacity building – continuous support,
technical *and* methodological
Resource centres were to provide daily assistance to teachers
(often informal)
Quasi-experimental nature
Complement and extend existing
ICT-related initiatives
Projects
Urban schools computerization project
Rural schools computerization project
Nation e-Strategy (e-government)
Goals
All towns with more than 30,000 people
connected to national fibre network
All schools connected to broadband by end of 2007
Output Indicators
1.1 The number of digital educational resources (objects) incorporated into the national educational
e-collection.
1.2 The number of sets of digital resources supporting the existing learning materials.
1.3 The number of sets of innovative e-learning materials produced.
1.4 The number of testing centers created.
1.5 % of schools in the Project regions that received new generation teaching and learning
materials developed under the Project.
1.6 % of schools in the Project regions that introduced new generation teaching and learning
materials into the curriculum
2.7 The number of training programs in the use of ICT for teaching and learning created.
2.8 The number of teachers trained in programs of developing basic ICT competence.
2.9 The number of online educators and curators trained in the area of Internet education.
2.10 The overall number of students enrolled in distance courses under the Project, including those
ones in rural areas3.
2.11 The number of instructional designers trained in development of digital teaching and learning
materials.
3.12 The number of teachers trained in IRCs to use e-learning materials created under the Project.
3.13 The number of methodologists (tutors) trained, involved in teacher training and methodological
support.
3.14 The number of students participating in telecommunication4 educational projects under the
Project, including those ones in rural areas.
3.15 The number of regions which introduced e-education programs up to 2010 (passed EAC
expertise and approved by the MOES) out of the total number of regions which received grants.
some
brief
comments
on
indicators
impact indicators?
process indicators?
behavioral changes
(global harmonization around ICT/education indicators)
Some numbers
Over 60,000 teachers trained
42 different training programs
1100 distance learning courses
510 instructional designers trained
8 additional regions successfully completed applications
to extend program to their areas
29 additional regions implemented part of the ELSP program
through competitive selection process
digital learning resources in 14 subjects
250,000 ‘information objects’ created (set to increase to 500,000)
This will surpass the numbers of non-digital information objects
Standards
New ICT competency tests for students and
teacher developed and implemented
All students in grade 9
7,000 teachers (random sample)
Goal was to raise the competencies
of teachers rated ‘low’
Results
• Rated “highly successful”
• Notable:
– Deep commitment of federal and regional governments
– Regions able to mobilize substantial additional resources
– Built on existing institutional structures (National Training
Foundation, regional institutions)
– Systemic capacity building (not just capacity of teachers)
– Strong commitment to M&E from the beginning (especially the
‘E’)
– Next stage to be fully financed by the government
Results
While addressing the global challenge of
bridging the digital divide and introducing
the ICT into the teaching and learning
process as the main factor of the country’s
global economic competitiveness,
this project managed to apply a
comprehensive and well-thought approach
contrary to popular technology-centered
models and demonstrated the added value
of ICT as an important public good.
Results
The Project facilitated synergy between different programs supporting ICT
introduction, and targeted three key elements of effective implementation of
ICT policy:
1. this project achieved a substantial change in individual behavior of ICT users –
teachers, students, administrators – as well as increased effectiveness of their
collaboration in groups in the form of innovative projects or teaching/learning
activities;
2. it substantially increased technology infrastructure both at the central/federal
level of education system and at the regional/local level, and by this provided
greater physical access to technology for users from distantly located/rural areas,
and especially– to students with special needs through distance learning means;
and finally,
3. it greatly increased for the variety of users availability of and access to highquality digital educational content, both by developing the new electronic
teaching and learning resources and providing unique access to the Russian
masterworks of literature, music and fine arts which are now a digitally protected
national heritage and would be otherwise hardly accessible to rural users. All this
unique depository of masterworks is now available to every student in the
country.
Lessons
Lesson #1
In reform-oriented projects it is important
to support a set of complementary reforms
rather than focusing only on the most
important individual elements of reforms.
The result is a far more comprehensive
impact.
Lesson #2
In addition to implementing systemic reform measures to
improve the ICT infrastructure or facilities in the
education system, it is critical to take actions which
support innovative group activities of various target
groups – teachers, students, principals, members of
local communities and experts of methodological
centers.
These joint actions, either in the form of preparation and
implementation of innovative projects, new types of
learning activities in teams – and among them ICT
intense activities - or school-local community
cooperation initiatives, among others facilitate change in
the mindset and boost the quality of learning and
teaching.
Lesson #3
A systemic implementation of reforms requires a
profound needs analysis prior to designing a
project.
This could only be successful provided:
• a long-term government reform program is implemented in
phases
• this program is supported by allocation of appropriate resources
from the state budget
• this program is backed up by coordinated efforts of all actors in
the sector.
Lesson #4
Risks associated with the need to put together
and organize large numbers of organizations
and people with own practices and procedures
can only be done if new requirements for
collaboration and coordination among all
elements in the system is developed beforehand
and systemically followed.
Communication and coordination with major stakeholders is
essential for success in education reforms
Success depended to a great extent depends upon an effective
dissemination strategy.
Lesson #5
ICT in Education is much more than installing
computers and buying software.
These make just one element and could make a
systemic impact only if the content of learning,
teaching methods, forms, as well as the whole
organization of educational institutions into selfdeveloping and cooperating networks of
innovative service institutions could generate
new quality and provide for achieving those
learning outcomes needed for the new
knowledge and information economy.
Lesson #6
Innovate to disseminate, disseminate to innovate
Grants were designed to encourage non-pilot regions to replicate
successful reforms in pilot regions.
Such grants were awarded to non-pilot regions on a competitive
basis for replicating one of the reform areas of the project (e.g.
advanced ICT training program for regional and municipal level
administrators, use of education management software packages,
implementation of Regional Coordination Centers)
Interschool resource centres network utilized as means for
permanent methodological support to teachers.
Support from mass media was important
To learn more:
Sources
• Most documentation
available in Russian
• public World Bank
documents
• Various papers under
preparation in English
• internal project
documents
• World Bank documents
• unpublished draft paper
by Juan Diego Alonso
(worldbank.org/projects)
• series of interviews with
key project leaders
Contacts
Michael Trucano
email: mtrucano [at] worldbank.org
Twitter: trucano
website: www.worldbank.org/education/ict
blog: blogs.worldbank.org/edutech