Resource Centre Training Model

American India Foundation (AIF) in association with the School and Mass Education Department, Govt. of Orissa, is piloting a integrated Digital Equalizer (DE) "Resource Centre Training Model" in 104 schools in Orissa, spread over 6 districts, for the academic year 2010-2012.

AIF started with the DE Program in Orissa with 10 Secondary Schools in 2004 and has covered 160 schools, as of now as part of the classic model, where teacher training is conducted at the school level, by AIF trainers who also double up as monitoring experts. Each of the trainers typically visited a school once a week which was a mandatory requirement. Student training in each of the school was conducted by a facilitator, who happened to be a school resource. 

The typical problems faced as part of the classic model, was that a lot of training time got wasted and the sequencing of the training modules disturbed, because of the day to day contingencies at the school level such as - leave, exams, other work which are treated as urgent justifying the teachers absence from training, sports, annual functions, holidays and simple lackadaisical attitude on the part of the headmasters and the teachers, which was further compounded by teacher shortage, which has become endemic in nature. Over and above this the District Education Authorities had little understanding of the program due to their absence of knowledge on computer fundamentals and consequently failing to appreciate, the subtle issues surrounding the effective integration of technology in teaching. 

The current "Resource Centre Training Model" addresses these issues through a centralized training of teachers, as part of a carefully planned out module, integrating techno-pedagogy, which will be conducted at selected "Resource-cum-Training Centre's" and an apex level "Resource-cum-Training Centre" set up in SCERT, to train the administrators of the School and Mass Education Department, District Education Functionaries and Teacher Educators. A joint monitoring strategy has been worked out to prevent transmission loss.

The current model thus not only addresses the earlier shortcomings as far as teacher training at the school level is concerned but also builds up the capacity within the system, by training the critical functionaries and teacher educators. This combined with a rigorous monitoring structure from the Department down to the school level, will go a long way in embedding the program within the existing system thereby making it sustainable. 
To read more on the new model try out the link below:
http://rapidshare.com/files/409158662/Resource_Centre_Model.pdf 
Subrat
26th July 2010