Training in ICT for Teacher Trainers

There are two major barriers to progress in ICT for teachers in Cambodia:

1) Language - This is a huge hurdle for most teacher trainers to overcome in improving their understanding by self study, in learning to use software and in using the Internet and CD-ROMs as sources of information. Estimates of the percentage of secondary teacher trainers in their colleges who can understand English are as follows:

Faculty of Pedagogy 70%
Phnom Penh RTTC 30%
Kandal RTTC 25%
Kampong Cham RTTC 25%
Battanbang RTTC 20%
Takeo RTTC 20%
Prey Veng RTTC 15%

Most of the teaching resources used for the training were translated into Khmer.

2) Lack of access to computers - While one college (Kandal Regional Teacher Training College) has 45 computers, many other colleges have only 3 or 4 so staff have little chance to practice ICT skills.

May 2003 Training Update

The training was for those who already had basic IT skills. At least one teacher trainer from each college in the country attended. Upon completion of the training the trainees were expected to pass on their skills to their peers as well as train their students in ICT. The Ministry of Education Youth and Sport has specified that trainee teachers should have 2 hours per week ICT but this is difficult for many colleges as they do not yet have enough computers. The Teacher Training Department of the Ministry plans to buy more computers soon and UNESCO Phnom Penh is in the process of securing donations of phased out equipment.

Phase 1 of training was in basic IT skills but also in how to make use of these skills in to improve professional effectiveness such as in planning, record keeping and making teaching resources. This part of the training was held at Kandal Regional Teacher Training College where there are already two computer rooms. We also made use of the recently opened Community Learning Centre in Kandal which gives free use of Internet and library to the local community. Here, trainees had practice in using the Internet. For many, this was their first time but by the end of the session they all had their own web-based email address and had sent their first email with attachment.

Phase 2 of the training was held at the Cambodia Communications Institute, University of Phnom Penh. It was for teacher trainers of secondary school teachers and concerned using ICT as a teaching and learning tool. For example, we looked at using spreadsheets to present and analyse data, how a word processor could be used in different subjects and how students and teacher could use presentation software in lessons.

Phase 3 of the training was for primary and secondary teacher trainers and concerned the management of ICT. We looked at computer room layout, computer room rules, troubleshooting common problems and how to set up a simple network.

August 2003 Training Update

The Teacher Training Department used some of the trainers trained in May 2003 to train 400 teacher trainers in the use of ICT, with a total of 16 days training for each person. Training was conducted in Kandal and Kompong Cham. The first 8 days were on basic IT skills and the second 8 days on using ICT to improve teaching and learning. The UNESCO team prepared resources in Khmer for the course, including a CD-ROM of teaching/learning resources. Pacific Tech made a donation of a Graphic Calculator for Windows and project staff are trying to find other free educational software from the Internet that is not too dependent on language.