In-service Teachers’ ICTs Practice in Rural Primary Schools in Nepal

Author(s):

Karna Rana(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES D 03, ICT and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-22

13:30-15:00

Room:

OB-E2.16 (ALE 3)

Chair:

Javier Diez-Palomar

Contribution

There are a number of primary schools in rural areas of Nepal seeking a change in traditional form of classroom. Incorporation of digital technology in teaching and learning is one of the recent practices in Nepal to bring change in instructional activities of teachers. The Government of Nepal allocates the largest budget for education in Nepal and has emphasised the transformation of traditional form of schooling with digital technology in teaching and learning. The Department of Education in Ministry of Education and Sports, Nepal has been working with OLE (Open Learning Exchange) currently in altogether 180 primary and secondary schools in 34 districts since beginning with 2 schools in 2008 (OLE, 14 December 2015). Unfortunately a major earthquake in Nepal on 25^th April, 2015 has destroyed at least 25000 classrooms in over 8000 schools in 41 districts in Nepal (BBC, 31st May 2015). The focus of the research is also to assist with getting education up and running in earthquake affected areas.

Findings from previous research have informed my insights into embedding digital technologies into pedagogy. The literature suggests that integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as tools in teaching and learning has both strengths and weaknesses. This is especially so in Nepal where 84% land is covered by hills and mountains, and about 80% of the total population still reside in villages in rural area (CBS, 2011 published in November 2012). There lies a challenge of executing the government policy on ‘ICT infrastructure including internet connectivity, human resources, content development and system enhancement (MoE, 2013 & UNESCO, 2015)’. Somekh (2007) critically states that ICTs can be used pedagogically to transform students’ learning but teachers and students should have widespread access to internet-connected ICTs to utilise their flexible time.

Although there are many challenges in integrating ICTs in instructional activities in the classroom, their use seems unavoidable in and out of school life because the youth generation has already got those digital technologies outside school. Though the use of ICTs in classroom teaching and learning was initially introduced in British schools in 1980s (Syncap, 2015: online), it has become the need of growing generation throughout the world. Educational technology development and its influence can be observed in Nepalese educational practice too. Previous research suggests use technologies in teaching and learning may help the youth generation use them in a meaningful way. However, such use is probably more common in the urban contexts of Nepal than in the rural ones. Rural youths have less exposure to social media. Therefore, this study will explore the space of ICTs in the rural context of Nepal.

This study will explore how the primary school teachers in rural primary schools in Nepal integrate ICTs in their classroom teaching and learning plans and deliveries, why they have incorporated the technologies in their pedagogies, and how the major earthquake in Nepal on 25^th April, 2015 has impacted their use of ICTs in the schools. The research will explore challenges of merging digital technologies in classroom instructional activities and crystalize ideas of how the technologies can be effectively incorporated in teaching and learning. As a result of the impacts of the earthquakes, the research may also explore interconnections between technology and various social, economic and psychological aspects of human life.

Method

This research is based on ‘interpretive social approach’ (Neuman, 2006) that will be led by ‘participant observation and non-directive interview’ (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). The documentary evidence such as national education policy of Nepal, school reform plan, statistics of school going pupils and so on will be accounted as the baseline. For the ‘crystallization’ (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011:565) of ideas, the information obtained through documentary evidences, observations and non-directive interviews will be analysed and presented coherently. The reason behind choosing ‘natural setting (Sherman & Webb, 2005)’ or ‘natural enquiry (Denzin & Guba, 1985) is that nothing is predefined rather the events evolve in context in progressive way. The research will be guided by socio-cultural theory as Vygotsky used this analytical approach to study the interaction of the natural, individual and social forces leading to consciousness (Mahn, 1999). The approach will support the researcher to explore behaviours of the teachers, their learning and development (John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996). The conscious knowledge and skills that the teachers have acquired through the use of tools and signs to mediate pupils’ learning activities will be observed in the real classroom (ibid). Simultaneously, it is aimed to identify ICT as a part of pedagogy. For this purpose, socio-cultural approach will lead the researcher to gather perceptions, understandings and experiences of teachers about ICTs and their application. This study will follow ‘single-embedded case study’ (Yin, 2009). The three embedded cases will be in three different schools which will be selected on the basis of ‘Earthquake impact on the ICT’. The first case will be in the environment where the earthquake disaster is high; the second one will be in the context where the school is surviving without influence of earthquake on ICTs; and the third case will be in the school where the disaster has partly affected the ICTs. It is expected to select twelve primary teachers as participants that consist of four teachers from each school. At least seven classes of each participant will be observed and recorded to obtain rich information. Semi-structured interviews with the participants will be recorded on audio device. The observation will investigate the rich information as the non-directive interview will gather detail information about ICTs use. Official documents and other publications as the historical record (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2007) will be base of the research.

Expected Outcomes

This exploratory research will excavate the ground of digital technology in teaching and learning in Nepal, discover the authentic information about practice of ICTs in rural primary schools in Nepal and critically analyse the information gathered from the natural setting. The study will find out the level of use of ICTs in classroom activities. Although there might be several attempts of researches in the similar fields in Nepal, this study, a demand of new millennium and perhaps the very new in this field in Nepal, is expected to provide a space for education policy makers, educators and other stakeholders to think about 21st century schooling with digital technology. The outcomes will provide guidance for the authority of the government, school principals, teachers, etc.

References

BBC (31 May 2015). Nepal quake: Schools in affected areas start to open. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32950361 CBS (2011; published in November 2012). National Population and Housing Census 2011 (National Report), Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics, Kathmandu, Nepal. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (Vol. 6th). New York;London;: Routledge. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research (Vol. 4th). Thousand Oaks: Sage. John-Steiner, V., & Mahn, H. (1996). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework. Educational psychologist, 31(3-4), 191-206. Lincoln, YS. & Guba, EG. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Mahn, H. (1999). Vygotsky's Methodological Contribution to Sociocultural Theory. Remedial and Special Education, 20(6), 341-350. doi: 10.1177/074193259902000607 MoE (2013). Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in Education Master Plan 2013-2017. http://moe.gov.np/attachments/article/105/ICT%20MP%202013%20(Final)%20.pdf Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches. Boston: Pearson/AandB. OLE (14 December 2015). Sajha Shiksha e-pati. http://www.olenepal.org/about-us/ Sherman, R. & Webb, R. (2005). Qualitative Research in Education: Focus and Methods, Routledge Publishing Somekh, B. (2007). Pedagogy and learning with ICT: researching the art of innovation. New York; London: Routledge. Syncap (2015). ICT usage in schools – a history. http://syscap.com/ict-usage-in-schools-a-history/ UNESCO (2015). ICT in Education. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/ Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: design and methods (Vol. 5.). Los Angeles, Calif: Sage Publications.

Author Information

Karna Rana (presenting / submitting)

University of Canterbury

School of Teacher Education

Kathmandu

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