The key competencies as defined in the UNESCO framework provided Guyana education officials with an international framework to use as a starting point when developing local variations of ICT in education curricula that had emerged independently at both college and university levels.

Similarly, the advocacy and communication and M&E strategy documents developed in Guyana were responses to the ministry’s need to encourage adoption, reward participation, and coordinate communication by all stakeholders, and later evaluate the success of the programme. These strategy documents again provided a framework for ensuring the coordination of all ICT in education endeavours and their evaluation.

4.2 Scenario 2: Need for Institution-Driven Change

This second scenario might arise when institutional leads want to revise teacher education, possibly either within the framework of a national strategy or on their own initiative. This toolkit would provide assistance to these individuals who wish to include ICT “know-how” and understanding in the training of both pre- and in-service teachers.

The UNESCO ICT-CFT, championed above as a framework for ministry officials responsible for curriculum revision, can also work as a framework for college and faculty staff desiring to develop specific competencies in their pre- and in-service teachers. The competencies described within the framework are an excellent resource from which to choose what needs to be emphasised within any professional development programme. It is important that all subject teachers appreciate the beneficial role that ICT can play in the teaching of their subject.

The curriculum mapping template is a tool principally for course designers, and is thus useful for any staff tasked with either developing a new course or revising an existing one. Balancing credits, time and significant outcomes or objectives is always a tricky task, and this template allows an overview of what is deemed important and how those competencies/knowledge might be achieved.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as in Samoa, the lack of human capacity to first develop a fully operational ICT in education course and then find instructors for both the pre- and in-service teacher training was seen as the largest hurdle. The toolkit, containing a fully fleshed-out course, copyrighted with an open license permitting repurposing, is a boon to those institutions facing similar concerns. They simply need to adapt the ICT in Education for Teachers course, either the pre- or the in-service version, rather than developing one from scratch. This course also contains facilitation notes for instructors to ease their training of new personnel for the task.

4.3 Scenario 3: Need to Ascertain Success

Whether teacher training is organised by the ministry or by an institution, the role of the researcher is paramount to understanding both the context in which one is working and the extent to which certain activities can be considered effective. The toolkit has something for this group too. The baseline surveys were developed for the Guyana Ministry of Education, who wanted to describe the current context prior to the development of their ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers. The surveys were used to collect data from schools, HE institutions and the ministry. However, they can be used and adapted to new circumstances, based on the needs of the entity coordinating the research.

The Basic ICT Readiness Test was developed for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where the Ministry of Education was in the process of enrolling candidates for the CCTI course and/or the ICT in Education for Teachers course, but was concerned to ensure that the correct candidates were selected from amongst in-service teacher applications. Again, this research/selection tool can easily be adapted for new needs and different courses.

Introduction
Toolkit Directory
Defining the Value Proposition
Where the Tools Come From
An Overview of Available Tools:
- ICT Competency Framework
- Surveys
- Professional Development Strategy
- Curriculum Map Template
- ICT Readiness Assessment
- Course Materials
- Advocacy Strategy
- Monitoring & Evaluation
Using the Tools
Deployment Scenarios:
- Need for Govt. Frameworks
- Need for Institution Driven Change
- Need to Ascertain Success
Conclusion
 
Appendix A:
Approach to Curriculum Revision
& Materials Development
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