The Disconnect between Digital Literacy Application and Learning Plan Preparation by Teachers

Introduction
Learning plan is one novelty of the new SHS/SHTS/STEM curriculum yet to roll out in all public SHS/SHTS/STEM schools in the 2024 academic year in Ghana.

Roll out of a New Curriculum
In Ghana, secondary education is undergoing transformation at a large scale. The Ministry of Education and its agencies -NaCCA and GES – and partner organisations such as T-TEL are set to roll out a new SHS/SHTS/STEM education in the 2024 academic year. Ahead of the roll out, the partner agencies are preparing the teachers who are critical mass of implementers of the new curriculum in various aspects of the curriculum implementation to avoid the repetition of some previous mistakes. Since the middle of the year 2023, teachers have been holding Professional Learning Community [PLC] sessions at the school levels. Already, the schools have completed Handbooks one and two of the PLC sessions.

Departmental Professional Learning Communities [DPLCs]
As pedagogies direct contents delivery, the focus of handbook two was mainly on innovative pedagogies and how teachers could use them in the implementation of the new curriculum. In the handbook three, the schools are now doing what is called, Departmental Professional Learning Communities [DPLCs]. Two distinct features of the DPLCs are the fact that they are done on departmental basis and they are hands-on. That is to say that unlike the PLCs which saw the teachers meet on whole-school or school-wide basis to be taken through some interactive and standard topical issues by trained facilitators, the DPLCs allow the teachers to meet at their departmental levels to share ideas and carry out hands-on learning plan preparation. The departments will now be called learning areas.

Learning Plan Preparation by Teachers
In the DPLC, teachers in the same department meet at a central point.  General Science teachers meet together while all Home Economics teachers also meet at their departments. Teachers who teach Visual Art, Physical Education and Health as well as Performing Art, previously Music also meet as a department. At these department-based meetings, teachers undertake hands on learning plan preparation on their individual laptops. This is a complete departure from the old lesson note preparation which was paper and pen focused. It is also different in the sense that the learning plan preparation unlike the lesson plan is more collaborative with the key element of peer reviewing and feedback collection and management. There is, therefore, the introduction of quality assurance in the preparation of the learning plan unlike the lesson notes of old.

More about Departmental Professional Learning Communities [DPLCs]
It is a trite knowledge that the DPLCs have started in almost all targeted schools. Unlike the PLCs, the DPLCs are recording relatively higher attendance in the sense that the DPLC is more hands-on. There are, however, some lingering issues worth addressing. The learning plan (a completed plan ready for teaching) comes in the form of a pre-populated template in each subject area. This means that some parts of the learning planner (partially populated plan) are pre-populated for the teachers. The teachers are, however, expected to populate some critical areas such as essential questions, starter, teacher and learner activities, Depth of Knowledge [DoKs] and a lesson closure.

Evidences of Challenges Teachers Face in the Preparation of the Learning Plans
My observations at a handful of schools in at least two regions as well as anecdotal evidence shared by some professional colleagues in other regions, however, reveal that while teachers are passionate about the DPLC sessions, some are struggling with crafting essential questions for instance. Others too find it difficult to differentiate between RPKs and starters, so they do have some challenges in producing starters. There are those who are finding it difficult to churn out activities even though the activities are part of the key notes on differentiation which are pre-populated. In short, some if not most teachers are unable to populate at least one week’s learning plan at each DPLC session.

Dearth of Digital Literacy Knowledge among some Teachers
While these challenges are in a way expected because the learning plan preparation is relatively new to teachers, the challenges in a way expose some other issues. One key revelation is that there is paucity in digital literacy and its application among a section of our colleague teachers. The challenges in completing the templates show that some of our colleagues are either not familiar with the use of digital literacy skills such as AI applications, prompt engineering and resource location or they are unaware that these skills could be applied in the preparation of the plans. My experience has shown that the former is more of the case in a lot of the schools.  In some schools, some teachers have neither heard of AI nor have the App on their phone. With this gap in knowledge and application, it is abundantly clear that there is a disconnect between learning plan preparation and digital literacy skills among some of our teachers.

About GSET and its Activities
This is where the Ghana Society for Education Technology [GSET], Ghana’s leading EdTech Start-up with multiple partnerships and landmark educational impacts and solution-driven policies and interventions come handy. With a presence and footprint in all 16 regions, GSET organises in-person digital literacy workshops for teachers at all the levels. Led by its Regional Coordinators and the CPD Department, GSET also organises weekly and monthly webinars for teachers and school leaders. These webinars which are mostly facilitated by carefully selected resource-persons most of whom are practitioners and policy influencers cut across digital literacy and ICT integration to embrace EdTech related policies.

GSET Digital Literacy Interventions Across the Regions
Having identified this literacy gap, GSET has begun rolling out intervention workshops for the teachers at the SHS/SHTS/STEM schools to help build not only their digital literacy skills, but to also equip them with the relevant skills in populating the learning plans. These interventions have already commenced in all the regions. Specifically, the Society has begun equipping teachers in the preparation of learning plans in regions such as Volta, Oti and Eastern with plans to roll it out to other regions.

GSET Workshops are Fee-free
The good thing about GSET workshops is that they are free. Teachers and school leaders do not have to pay anything to host or attend the sessions to acquire relevant cutting-edge, innovative and scalable knowledge. The school leaders only need to arrange with our Regional Coordinators or our Headquarters for us to visit the school.

Mind-Blowing Testimonies by Beneficiary Teachers
Already, the teachers who have had the privilege of attending the sessions on digital literacy use in the learning plan preparation are giving mind-blowing testimonies of the impact it has made on them. In one school, a teacher remarked, “so this thing exists before we were suffering to populate the learning plans?” Another who was so excited told his headmaster, “Master, on behalf of my colleagues, we will like to assure you that come next academic year, even if you want the learning plans daily or weekly, we shall produce them.” Another teacher who teaches in one of the category ‘A’ schools, but who struggled initially in populating the learning plans, exclaimed in excitement, “Ahh, so the thing [learning plan preparation] is so easy before…” A lady English Language teacher in her early thirties said, “Mr (name withheld), I can now do it.” Four teachers who teach Economics lament, “Ignorance is not good oohh,” after they were exposed to the use of digital literacy skills in the crafting of essential questions and other features of the learning plan preparation.

Conclusion
The anecdotes above reveal something intriguing, but worrisome about the situation in our schools. The implementation of the new curriculum hinges so much on digital literacy and ICT applications, but this cannot be possible if the teachers who are the direct agents of the implementation of the curriculum are not themselves equipped with these skills. It also underscores the point that some teachers do not know that AI tools and other digital platforms can aid their learning plan preparation and assessment needs. It for this reason that EdTech organisations such as GSET must uptick their free-bono activities in the schools with the collaboration of school administrators and policy makers in order to build the digital confidence of our teachers.

The writer, Nicholas M. Gborse, is a practising teacher, policy enthusiast, Blogger and the Regional Coordinator for the Volta and Oti Regions.

He may be reached via volta@g-set.org.