THE 4 MODULES - A DANISH MODEL FOR TEACHER TRAINING IN IT

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THE 4 MODULES
A DANISH MODEL FOR TEACHER TRAINING IN IT.

by
Lektor cand.mag. Lis Kornum
Christianshavns Gymnasium
DK-1422 Copenhagen k.

BACKGROUND.

In Denmark a major national programme for in-service teacher training in IT is now finished. Like in most other countries such initiatives have been tried previously, usually with less noticeable effects than might have been expected, or at least hoped for.

This time the structure was carefully planned, in order to attract also those teachers who had until now declined to touch the machines.

The target group for the programme was "Gymnasium"/upper- secondary teachers of all subjects, who all have a 6-7 year university education in two subjects as their background.

ORGANISATION.

At a "Think tank" meeting as early as 1993 the Danish Ministry of Education had gathered national and regional administrators, organisations involved with IT, the Gymnasium Teachers' Union, IT experts etc. After several days of intensive discussions, in groups as well as in plenary sessions, a working group with representatives of all the involved parties was formed with the objective of elaborating a model for an up-to-date in-service teacher training in IT.

Since the plan was very ambitious and would cost a lot of both time and money it was important to establish a cooperation between the national and the regional administrations and organisations.
Although Denmark is a small country its geography with the numerous islands makes domestic travel both time-consuming and expensive.

So a basic principle for the whole programme was that the practical implementation of the programme should be organised by the regions, but that the contents of the 4 modules should be elaborated and supervised nationally.

Each region was asked to appoint an overall coordinator for the programme who should be responsible for the contact to the Ministry of Education as well as to the IT experts employed as instructors. Parallel to that each subject, 25 in all, was asked to appoint a national contact person whose task it was to furnish the practical organisors with names of resource persons within their subject.

CONDITIONS.

From the very start the Gymnasium Teachers' Union made it a condition that the programme should take place within the working hours and that it should not cost the teachers anything. Much of the frustration of former IT courses has been due to the fact that the teachers have been forced to attend these courses in their spare time and at their own costs.

The costs were shared by the ministry, who paid for the meetings and education of the instructors plus the elaboration and the publication of the teaching materials, and the regions who paid for the instructors' and the teachers' time and transport.

Each subject was asked to appoint some IT experts who would then be responsible for elaborating the teaching materials and for carrying out the courses.
Here the coordinating group, of which I was a member, got our first shock: many subjects found it difficult, if not impossible to find enough persons with sufficient IT-knowledge to run such courses.

The Ministry reacted quickly - we were in this stepp'd in so far ..... - and found money for a number of pre-training/preparation/ planning meetings for the group of instructors of each subject. Here the more experienced so-called IT experts could help the others familiarize themselves with the different types of software, CD-ROMs and telematics tools that they would have to present at the teacher training courses.

PRODUCTION COURSES.

The coordinating group soon realised that if these 4 modules should be successful it would be necessary to have, not just qualified instructors, but also up-tp-date teaching materials of high quality, seen from both a pedagogical and a technical point of view. Publishers, IT-organisations and computer firms were contacted and asked to donate materials for free to be used at the courses. They were very cooperative realising that this would be good publicity, which proved to be true.
The ministry reserved a small sum to buy CD-ROMs from abroad, especially for languages.

Nine IT experts from each subject were then invited to participate in a production course of 3 days at a well-equipped centre. The aim was to produce curriculum-relevant IT teaching material to be used at the regional courses.
They were asked to bring all relevant materials that they themselves had access to, besides all the new IT materials that we had managed to get.

In spite of the advanced equipment at their disposal the production groups encountered many of the problems that the average teacher is faced with if he/she wishes to use computers in his classes: The printers broke down, the design and paint software didn't function properly, there were difficulties with the communication lines , the machines were all gathered in one room instead of being spread out into the group rooms etc. But problems can be solved, and the enthusiasm was great, so after having worked both day and night for three days the groups managed to elaborate a number of almost finished teaching modules for the courses. Among the areas that were integrated into the language teaching materials can be mentioned:

traditional courseware, e.g. "drill & kill exercises" in grammar that many students still like to use
concordances
CD-ROM, for explicit language training as well as for information retrieval and cross-curicular projects
exercises in creative writing using the wordprocessor, e.g. in connection with the written exam, where Danish students are now allowed to write on the computer
telematics, e.g. email, conferencing, databases

This material was published by the Ministry, one book for each subject. This book was then sent to each teacher to study before they participated in the courses. Rather than being a manual on how to operate the hardware and the software these handbooks contain examples of the pedagogical applications of IT in the different subjects and suggestions for further exploitation of the more advanced tools. They are all in Danish!

The problem with these handbooks that look very nice and solid, bound in different colours, is that they become outdated very quickly. And although the whole text exists on disks the ministry has not found the time or money to update them. A proposal to just print them in A4 loose-leave books, so that outdated pages could be replaced quickly, never got through.

THE FOUR MODULES.

An important principle for the first three modules was that the number of teachers on each course should not excede 20. So there had to be several parallel courses, particularly in Module 3.

Module 1.	An elementary hands-on course at your own establishment. A half day (= 4 hours), organised by the local IT responsible. For teachers of all subjects to become acquainted with their own equipment and software. Those who considered themselves too advanced for this module could be excused.
Module 2.	A course in wordprocessing, file transfer, spreadsheets, report writing and creative writing. A half day (= 4 hours). For teachers of all subjects - for their own use and to use with students in classes. Organised by the local IT responsible plus an external instructor. NB. The local IT responsible was paid for organising these two modules!
Module 3.	A full day course (= 8 hours) in subject related materials: courseware CD-ROM Databases Communication Run by outside instructors at a regional, well-equipped centre. Teachers of the same subject from the whole region then met at these courses and had the opportunity to exchange experiences, didactical as well as technical, and perhaps to arrange future cooperation.
Module 4.	An "inspiration" course for either a whole school or a whole region. 4 - 8 hours. Run by outside experts, the number depending on the number of participants. Crosscurricular projects were presented, future perspectives discussed, plans for collaboration and policies for the acquisition, maintenance and exploitation of new IT material put forward. The model for this last day varied considerably. A number of schools choose to gather all their teachers for a whole day, to discuss future initiatives with the administrators and outside experts. Certain regions assembled all Gymnasium teachers (usually 800 - 1000) in a conference centre where the day consisted of plenary presentations, parallel workshops with experts, ending with a plenary discussion and recommendations to the decisionmakers.

PROBLEMS.

In Denmark a major national programme for in-service teacher
Some of the problems we encountered in the course of this programme have already been touched. Many of them were expected, others came as a surprise. Some of these were:

The lack of qualified instructors for each subject was probably the biggest problem. In spite of the above-mentioned pre-training meetings for the instructors, many felt very insecure having to run a module 3 course - 8 hours - at an unknown centre. We tried to build an infrastructure, so that regions could employ instructors from that part of the country, who might be familiar with the course centre or, if not, go there before in order to organize the practical details. But this was not always possible, so a rather small group of "real" experts from each subject ended up running most of the courses all over the country.
Another problem was the lack of sufficient copies of the relevant software, especially CD-ROMs. There were so many courses that it was often impossible to send the materials after one course in time to have it installed for the next. So as one of the instructors I have often had to arrive at the centre very early in the morning in order to install the last things. Very stressing!
A major problem which took us by surprise, but which might have been expected, was the communication gap between the local IT-responsible at the various centres/schools and the outside instructors. Sadly enough many teachers have in the past years been scared away from using IT by tough computer guys who considered the computer room their private domain.

I myself could write a thick book about my experiences as an instructor, although I thought in advance that nothing more could shock me from that direction. The worst were not the competent, arrogant persons - there were a few women among them too - but those who thought they knew it all, but who were in fact not very familiar with neither the newest CD-ROMs and what kind of hardware they required nor the different standards for communication. So those instructors who weren't "experts" when we started the four modules simply had to become so the hard way, in order to survive these courses.
Technical problems could of course not be avoided, particularly as regards the access to Internet. The instructors had to prepare a number of alternative solutions, screendumps, downloaded databases etc. so we could work off line if necessary. Sometimes such breakdowns could even be turned into valuable pedagogical debates, concerning the limitations of technology and various strategies to save the situation if the same happened during a lesson.

EVALUATION.

There are still a few regions who have not yet run Module 4, but the working group found it important to have an evaluation while the courses were still fresh in the participants' memory. As the number of teachers has been so large, it has been impossible to have everybody answer the evaluation sheets. So people have been selected at random to a certain extent, ensuring that all regions and all subjects were represented.

Also the instructors have been asked to evaluate the four modules seen from their point of view.

Although the evaluations differ considerably according to region, subject and personality, there are certain common features that might be useful for potential organisors of similar programmes.

The most negative remarks concerned the two first modules. Many teachers complained about lack of information about these locally based modules, and lack of interest shown by the school administration. Some teachers had in fact missed these two first basic courses - with the effect that they had not profited enough from the two last courses.
This can be also be seen in the instructors' evaluations, where the difference in the qualifications of the participants made it very hard to run particularly Module 3. Stories which are funny afterwards are not so funny for an instructor who rushes around to satisfy 20 different requests/demands. Like the teacher who was told to press "Enter" and then meticulously spelled out "Enter" via the keyboard and complained that nothing happened. And another who was told to click with the mouse on an icon and then lifted the mouse to touch the screen where the icon was.
Module 3 with the subject related material got the best evaluations, in spite of the numerous technical problems. Many teachers found it reassuring that so-called experts could also have problems, and that it was not the end of the world - you just had to have alternative solutions ready for emergencies.
The most positive fact was that the later courses got much better evaluations than the first - from as well participants as instructors. The development goes so fast in the world of IT that many of the problems encountered at the first courses had been solved at the time of the last courses. There is now much more software of quality available, internet has become easier, and the equipment has improved considerably.
Almost all the evaluations ask for a follow-up to the four modules. Now the teachers really feel ready to start using IT in their classes, and they fear that they may forget what they have learned, if there is no follow-up.

RESULTS.

Among the results of the four module programme can be mentioned:

Creation of electronic conferences for each subject on the national educational network. These conferences have, in a very short time, become extremely successful, and information about all aspects of teaching, learning, materials, methodologies etc. are exchanged among a rapidly growing number of teachers.
Most associations have their bulletin board and/or webpages where you can find information on seminars, new regulations etc., and this again leads to a - badly needed - closer contact between the different educational sectors and systems.
Increased interdisciplinary collaboration. For years this expression has given many teachers a bad conscience - everybody recognized that it was desirable, but the practical obstacles were considerable. Now the internet as well as CD-ROMs offer numerous possibilities of cross-curricular cooperation, and language teachers can participate in a great variety of interesting projects.
Increased interest in participating in international projects. Here again the internet and telematics facilitate the communication with other countries, both for teachers and for students. So for instance the EU's Comenius programme which supports collaboration among European schools has quickly become popular in Danish gymnasiums.
Creation of "study groups" for teachers in IT. The Danish Ministry of Education supports so-called "study groups" in all gymnasiums. A number of teachers, from the same or from different subjects, decide to form such a group with the purpose of studying a certain educational theme or area for a year. The ministry then pays a consultant/expert to supervise and help the group with materials and perhaps give small lectures if desired. This year the demand for IT-consultants has exploded, and I for instance have 6 schools that I must visit 3 or 4 times this year in order to present new materials, show them ways of integrating IT pedagogically in their lessons, discuss different working methods etc.
Since all gymnasium teachers - in principle - have now been through an in-service training in IT and are all obliged to integrate it in their curriculum, every gymnasium must now allow students to write their written exams on a computer.
The schools do not have to provide every student with a computer from the school - the schools simply do not have that amount of computers. But the students are allowed to bring their own computers to the examination room, where the IT responsibles will make sure that they do not contain programmes not permitted at the exam, e.g. grammar checkers etc.
Obviously this is a heavy workload for as well the school administration as the IT responsibles. Besides many students protest that it gives the more computer literate students an unfair advantage.
On the other hand students who are used to writing their assignments on the computer find themselves at a great disadvantage at the exam, if they have to write with a pencil on paper. So every subject has set up working groups whose task is to propose new exam forms, where students will be allowed to use the tools they are used to, and where perhaps creative and logical thinking will be rewarded as much as the knowledge of facts.

CONCLUSIONS.

Among the recommendations of the working group, put forward in a final report, are:

The decisionmakers must facilitate the access to IT for the average language teacher, both as regards the necessary equipment and the necessary time.
More emphasis must be put on the integration of IT in as well initial as in-service teacher training, in order to ensure a sufficient number of qualified teacher trainers.
A connection between theory and practice, research and experience must be ensured, and a sound infrastructure established so that certain areas and teachers are not more privileged than others.
The educational sector must influence and cooperate with the commercial sector to make them produce software where the emphasis is on the pedagogical and didactic aspects and not on the technical possibilities.

In the past couple of decades language teachers have seen much educational software of various quality and success. Different applications have reflected different pedagogical concepts and methods, from simple instructions and drills to experimental software strongly appealing to the creativity of the learner.

The fast evolution of society, i.e. the changes in technology, economy and culture, are increasing the demands for further education and training. The traditional educational institutions are not able to handle these demands exclusively by traditional means, the main problem being that the channels which we normally use to pass on new information and knowledge are turning out to be insufficient. So self-access multimedia packages, telematics and distance teaching and learning are becoming important educational tools. The pedagogical and didactic exploitation of these new tools represent a challenge to teachers who have been trained in more traditional ways, as not only new electronic materials, but also new teaching methodologies, new curricula, new compendia and new books must be developed.

Judging from the Danish experiences most language teachers are now willing to integrate the new technologies in their methology. So with the necessary training foreign language teachers will be able to add an inspiring and important dimension to the more traditional classroom practices.

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