Transitioning Hands-On STEM Teacher Training in Ghana from an In-Person to Online Modality
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ABSTRACT
COVID-19 provided an avenue for teaching and learning to be done remotely, hence Practical Education Network (PEN), a nonprofit organization in Ghana, took advantage of this to transition from an in-person to online training mode. This study aimed to determine how the efficacy of hands-on STEM teacher training in Ghana compared between fully in-person and fully online modalities as well as the best practices that can be elucidated from a Ghanaian training provider’s transition between the two. In-person training content was converted into videos and PowerPoint presentations accessed asynchronously together with synchronous Zoom sessions for discussions. Between 2020-2021, two hundred and twenty (220) teachers who teach Science, Math and ICT were selected from 10 Regions of Ghana to participate across five (5) cohorts. Relying fully on locally available materials, PEN successfully implemented an online training on hands-on content, which is arguably a “pandemic-proof” approach. Results showed that teacher confidence and feasibility to implement hands-on activities increased with statistical significance and large effect size for both in-person and online training offerings. Hence, even with minimal technology, teachers across Africa could be trained online and experience meaningful learning. The key difference between the two modalities was the time involved, as the online offering was spread out over a longer period of time. This work can motivate other African education providers to pursue online offerings, as they are lower-cost, and can still be effective, despite contextual challenges.
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