The Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (CETE) at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) conducted a workshop series for the Multimodal Approach to Teacher Professional Development (MATPD) project. This workshop series, which includes over 30 fellows from Maldives and Nepal, had them learning insights on action research.
To showcase project-based learning with technology on July 1, 2022, the fellows were taken to the schools involved under the Technology Enabled Learning for Teachers & Adolescents for the 21st century (#TELTA21). This project, which was initiated in November 2021 in collaboration with Capgemini, involved over 100 government schools from the M-Ward in Mumbai. M-Ward is a large area that includes parts of Chembur, Govandi, and TilakNagar.
Students engage in activities with the fellows
The fellows met and interacted with the children, who engaged them in their projects. In one such project students of Class 8, calculated the BMI (Body Mass Index) of the fellows. They measured their height and weight and used a maths equation that they had created in a spreadsheet to suggest an appropriate diet plan for each individual. Sudarsan Limbu, a fellow of MATPD from Nepal who is also a STEM teacher from Nepal said, “TELTA is giving these children a chance towards ‘authentic learning’, which we had learned in the digital badge course. In this case, the children don’t just learn the formula, they are also learning how it can be used to improve their health and work towards understanding nutrition better.”
Fellows from Maldives and Nepal
Khushi, a student, Class 8 of Shivajinagar BMC Hindi School No.1, said, “I was very excited when one of the fellows told me that in the Maldives the government gives all school children tablets.”
The students showed familiarity with Nepal and wanted to know more about the schools there. They also googled about Maldives pointing out locations and asking the Maldives fellows questions about their communities. They also bonded with the fellows on their favourite Bollywood movies and songs.
Fellows and students interact with each other
The headmistress of Shivajinagar BMC Hindi School No.1, Anuradha Surendranath, opined, “Our kids are benefiting under the TELTA programme. Having the MATPD fellows here today was wonderful, the children are getting more perspectives on the education system in other countries.”
The fellows were guided by the TELTA-21 field facilitators during their visit. The field facilitators, who are in charge of project implementation, highlighted the various aspects of the project design like project-based learning and authentic learning with technology. They also answered questions put forward by the fellows, who also asked questions about the Indian education system and gave insights into the systems in their countries.
