DIL-USAID MOBILE LEARNING PROJECT

CELLPHONE DISTRIBUTION AND ORIENTATION CEREMONY NOWA

KHAIRPUR SINDH

BY: IMRAN KHAN M&E OFFICER DIL-USAID

Introduction Mobile Learning Project (MLP) is being implemented by DIL Pakistan aims at increasing the content

knowledge of 200 primary school teachers of Mathematics and English of DIL’s schools across Pakistan.

An activity of this project namely “Cellphone distribution and orientation” was carried out for DIL-NOWA

teachers in Khairpur Sindh on October 29, 2013. This was the 3rd of the series of distribution and cell phone

orientation activities to be carried out in this project. In this ceremony 38 teachers (List attached as annex

A) belonging to various DIL schools were given Nokia Lumia 520 phone. Beside the beneficiary teachers

and MLP team, the ceremony was attended by Mr. Maula Bakhsh Director NOWA and Mrs. Shireen Sial

Project Manager NOWA. A brief overview of the activity is given as follow:

Figure 1: Beneficiary teachers filling contract before receiving cellphones.

Figure 2: Manager Mobile Learning Project, Mr. Shahid Akbar briefing the participants about the aims and objectives of Mobile Learning Project.

Figure 3: Mr. Maula Bux Larik, Director NOWA Pirbhat addressing the participants.

Cellphone distribution In the first phase of the ceremony, cellphone distribution took place. A figure depicting the process of

cellphone distribution and orientation is highlighted in the following figure.

The project overview was given by Mr. Shahid, Project Manager in which he shared the project details like

its aims, objective, expected outcomes. Afterwards Cellphones were distributed among the beneficiary

teachers by Project Director Mr. Maula Bakhsh Larik and Manager NOWA Ms. Shireen Sial. The teacher

then signed written contract in which they agreed to various terms and condition. A copy of the contract

was also given to the teachers. Afterwards the teachers were given a copy of Standard operating

procedure (SOP) of the project which contained instruction on how to use the cellphone.

Figure 4: Project Director NOWA-Pirbhat distributing cellphones among beneficiary teachers.

Pre-testProject

Overview

Cellphone Distributio

n

Contract Signing

Cellphone Orientation

Post-test

conclusion

Cellphone Orientation Training After a break for lunch and prayers, the beneficiary teachers again gathered in the main hall to get an

orientation on how to use the cellphones. Mr. Wasim, the IT officer of the project gave the training. The

training included the following topics.

Figure 5: The content of the cellphone orientation training. It starts with introduction to phone, NED, and ultimately ends up with teacher downloading the prototype video lessons from the NED server.

Mr. Wasim in the beginning gave a brief introduction to the project and then carried on to unpack the

new cellphone which the teachers had just received in the morning. He made sure that teachers are at

home with using the various feature of the phone like operating, using the menus and applications

installed in it. Afterwards when the teachers were fully acquainted with using the phone, they were

practically put to download video lesson using the Nokia client app. Installed in the phone. The phone was

connected to the server using the internet facility to access the sample lessons. The Mathematics and

English teachers accessed their respective lessons and then learned how to download these lessons.

Figure 6: Mr. Wasim Khan IT Officer DIL-USAID Mobile Learning Project, delivering orientation training to beneficiary teachers.

Feedback of Teachers The teachers were asked about their feedback on the day’s activity and particularly about the training to

which gave very positive remarks. According to the teachers the getting cell phone for teaching purpose

is an important moment in their professional life and will immensely contribute in their professional

development. “Not only will it help us-the teachers, it is will have a very positive impact on our students”

according to one of the beneficiary teacher who got cellphone and training during the day’s activity. Rest

of the responses from the teachers are given in the following figures.

Figure 7: All the teacher were of the view that the training was beneficial. Also there was an option “Not beneficial” but it was not selected by any teacher.

The training was termed as being very much productive by 76% of the participants of the training while

24% of the teachers termed it as being beneficial to some extent. The options of “Average”, “need

improvement” and “don’t know” etc. were also included in the post evaluation test along with those given

above figure. Beside there was also space to give feedback regarding the training, but we did not get any

response from the teachers. In similar trainings in future we must make sure that every teacher should

give some feedback at least in one sentence regarding the training she received.

Figure 8: The resource person was rated as per given figure. No teacher of the view that the conduct of the training was “poor” or “average”. All answered by selecting options like “Excellent”, “Very Good” and good.

24%

76%

Was today training beneficial?

To Some Extent

Very Much Beneficial

29%

32%

39%

How the resource person conducted?

Excellent Good Very Good

Twenty Nine percent of the teachers rated the conduction of the training as being excellent, 39% termed

it as very good and 32% termed it as good. The option “Average” and “Need improvement” was not

selected by any of the teacher. Space was provided for the teachers to provide suggestion and feedback

regarding the training but it was not filled by any of the teachers.

S# NAME SUBJECT FEEDBACK

1 Shakeela Jiskani English I will learn those things which are difficult to me by participating in this project.

2 Saira Khilji English I want to improve my English Language skills so participation in this project will be really helpful.

3 Arifa English My students will benefit from this project, This project will be helpful to not only teachers but also the students

4 Mussarat Arain Mathematics I suggest not to take contribution from teachers. We have other expenses like I am taking admission in university and I will be happy if this cellphone is given as free. It is our right

5 Roohina IT Inshallah students' knowledge will increase through this project. I request DIL to provide IT teachers with Cellphone or Laptops

6 Sasvi English I feel very special because it is very useful to teachers to teach English to English. I shall use the knowledge gained to teach my students.

7 Shahmela English I feel good and hope to revise the training once at hope in order to better understand the using of cellphone

8 Mussarat Arain Maths It is very good step, now we shall not have to wait for a trainer to solve our teaching problems. We can get help from mobile at any time if we face difficulties while teaching.

9 Misbah Rafique English I am very happy and at the same time conscious regarding the safety of the cellphone

10 Arifa English First I was little bit worried that how to use the phone for learning but after going through the training I am thrilled to have this device

12 Aansa English I am very excited with the phone and want to learn more in order to increase my knowledge.

13 Kaneez Fatimah Mathematics It is very nice, as we do not need to travel outside our community for training, and also we can watch lessons multiple time which is not there in in-person training.

14 Rizwana Kausar Mathematics Learning has become very easy with this device. I am so excited.

15 Huma Riaz Mathematics I shall try my best to teach my students in an excellent manner with the help of this device.

16 Roohina IT Although I did not receive cellphone, but I learn a lot and being part of the project is special.

Pre and Post Evaluation A pre and post-test was carried out in order to gauge the participant knowledge regarding the project and

cellphone orientation training. The responses of the teachers are given in the following table. Some of the

pre-test question were answered correctly by majority of the teachers. This is due to the fact that this test

was administered after the cell phone distribution and before cell phone orientation. Thus teachers had

the opportunity to go get the information for the cellphone distribution event in which they were told

about the SOP and other details. From this onward, we have decided to take the pretest at the very

beginning of the ceremony so that we can get a more accurate estimate of the effectiveness of our

training.

Q# QUESTION PRE-TEST POST-TEST

1 Name of this Project? 87% 100%

2 What is primary objective of giving Cellphone to teachers? 92% 100%

3 How much increase in content knowledge is targeted by MLP 16% 58%

4 Which connectivity will you use to download videos 50% 97%

5 NED stands for 0% 63%

6 From which of given website you will download videos 8% 74%

7 Where of the following place you will go to download videos 37% 68%

8 In how many days you are required to download video lessons 26% 76%

9 Whom you will consult in case of problem with cell phone 58% 92%

10 Which of the following App will you use to download videos 13% 76%

Monitoring Notes/Lesson Learned

1. The activity started well on time and as planned although the training team arrived from

Islamabad the same day.

2. All the teachers of NOWA were present except one, which was a very good gesture on the part of

the teachers and as well as the NOWA management.

3. NOWA management had called a media team comprising of print (representing Daily Kawish and

Daily Jeejal) and electronic media personnel (representing leading Sindhi TV channels namely

Mehran TV and KTN News,) to cover the event. They interviewed the beneficiary teachers and

project team and got their views regarding benefit of the project. This kind of dissemination will

help in promoting the work of DIL and also will be attractive to donor agencies and therefore can

be replicated in other events as well.

4. The teachers were excited and participated in the distribution and training activity very

enthusiastically until the end of training in the late afternoon. We must ensure this kind of

participation from teachers elsewhere as well.

5. The training went very well, however the downloading of video lesson using the internet was

taking long time. Later on in actual lesson delivery the downloading of video lesson may be time

consuming given the slow internet speed in these areas and other rural localities. In such a

scenario we might think of other ways to deliver the lessons.

6. Some teachers were more interested in asking about saving personal data and using the phone a

as camera to take snaps etc. It was reemphasized that the basic purpose of giving cellphone is for

learning. If they store too much data in the phone, then the storage may fell less than required

for storing video lessons.

7. As the downloading was a bit slow, it would be a good idea to reduce the size of a lesson a bit,

but at the same time we make sure that the quality of the video is not affected.

8. The IT teachers who are also part of the project are also desirous of getting cellphone. Some

incentive to them in the form of training or other benefits may be useful in their full engagement

with the project.

Figure 9: Mr. Shahid Akbar Manager DIL-USAID Mobile Learning Project giving interview to Mehran TV- a leading Sindhi Channel.

Figure 10: Mehran TV crew interviewing one of the beneficiary teacher of DIL-USAID Mobile Learning Project.

ANNEXURE A: BENEFICIARY TEACHERS’ DETAILS S. No Project wise

Teacher Name Subject School

1 Maths Unnar Colony

2 Farhana Naz Maths Madeena Colony

3 Haneefa Mangi Maths Janwari Goth

4 Mussarat Arain Maths Rind

5 Shaheen Maths Izzat Machi

6 Kaneez Fatima Maths Ali Public School Kot diji

7 Rizwana Kousar Maths Kot Denal Shah

8 Naheed Akhtar Memon Maths New Bhatyoon

9 Naheed Akhtar Qazi Maths Sadar-Ji-Bhatyoon

10 Hifza Yaseen Maths Ali Abbas Burdi

11 Rakhan Mahar Maths F.Mahar

12 Kaneeza Jamro Maths M.K Jamro

13 Nadia Qazi Maths Gadeji Primary

14 Balqees Akhtar Maths M.K Mangrio

15 Bela Bihan Maths A.A Bhangoo

16 Huma Maths A.H Mungia

17 This teacher has resigned. Mobile is Handed over to Ms. Shireen Sial.

18 Azra Maths Mir Mohammad Solangi

19 Seema Maths Izzat Machi

20 Zakia Katohar Maths M. M. Katohar

21 Shakeela Jiskani English M.M Katohar

22 Noureen English Madeena Colony

23 Shahneela English Rind

24 Shazia Bloch English Ali Public School Kot diji

25 Maria Memon English Kot Denal Shah

26 Aansa English Hamid Bhutto

27 Saira Khilji English New Bhatyoon

28 Arifa Shah English Sadar-Ji-Bhatyoon

29 Misbah Rafique English Ali Abbas Burdi

30 Jameela Bhelar English Gadeji Primary

31 Shazia Kousar Mungrio English M.K Mangrio

32 Sajida Bihan English A.A Bhangoo

33 Zahooran English Mir Mohammad Solangi

34 Sassui English Izzat Machi

35 Fatima English Janwari Goth

36 Samreen Soomro English Unnar Colony

37 Fehmida Jamro English M.K Jamro

38 musrat English F.Mahar

This report and the project it describes were made possible with support from the American people delivered

through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of

Developments in Literacy and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of USAID or the U.S. Government.