12:30 – 14:00 (BST) 17:00 – 18:30 (IST)
In this presentation, we explore what we can learn about routes to achieving successful teacher professional development (TPD) at scale.
About this event
In this presentation colleagues from The Open University UK and Tata Institute of Social Sciences India will explore what we can learn about routes to achieving successful teacher professional development (TPD) at scale from our experience of introducing digital badge technologies into existing TPD programmes in India. We will frame digital badges as just one example of newly emerging technologies that have affordances compatible with moving teacher learning into an expanding digital space and the scaling of assessment for, as and of teacher learning. We will draw on data from surveys, interviews, and user logs to tease out key perspectives of wider relevance.
Ongoing TPD gives teachers the opportunity to improve, adapt and innovate their classroom practice throughout their careers. The disruption of existing beliefs and practices can be disorientating, yet it can also create a productive dissonance that opens new conceptual spaces for individuals and those who plan and manage TPD. Existing TPD models in low- and medium-resource contexts are frequently challenged with respect to rigour, the ability to authentically assess practice, and a stubborn structural incompatibility with digital scaled delivery and support.
In India alone, it is estimated that over 400 million hours of TPD will be required to meet the aspirations of the 2020 National Education Policy. Such challenges are echoed globally and represent the need for a step-change in thinking and practice around technology-mediated TPD across interconnecting scales and geographies, and the role of assessment in teacher learning within such provision.
Our presentation draws on research undertaken by academics at The Open University UK and Tata Institute of Social Science India in a series of joint enquiries that started in 2019 (Phase 1 report: http://oro.open.ac.uk/75653/) and that most recently has featured a state-wide initiative in Assam utilising digital badges to support course design, learning and formative feedback, recognition of achievement, and the sharing and celebration of success.
After briefly setting the scene, a series of ten-minute interconnected talks will explore:
- The use of digital badges as a strategy for teacher learning at scale.
- The value and significance of local context, enablers and challenges.
- Potential benefits to teacher learning from the implementation of digital badges to including greater authenticity, transparency, personalising TPD trajectories, greater inclusivity, and the broadening of options in peer and distributed assessment.
- Contributions to developing frameworks for the implementation of TPD at scale in the Global South.
These talks will be interspersed with facilitated discussions involving delegates and the panel of presenters. The event will close with some concluding remarks. Presenters at the event will include members of the project team: Dr Simon Cross, Dr Amina Charania, Prof Freda Wolfenden, Dr Lina Adinolfi, Sohini Sen, and Durba Sarkar.
The event is presented by The Open University, UK and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai in partnership with TPD@Scale and will be hosted by The Open University UK. It will last approximately 80 minutes.