Kalugala MV, Hatton

• Name of the Teacher : Ms. W.H.M.P.M.Dharmakeerthi
• Code : C-DELTA/ c/02
• Schoolo : CP/ Kalugala MV, Hatton

Kalugala Maha Vidyalaya is located in Hatton educational zone in the central province of Sri Lanka. Our school is considered as a 1c school and is given the standards of “Langama Pasala  Hondama Pasala” by the  ministry of education in 2017. The present school population consists of 700 students and 42 teachers.  When comparing our school with the other schools of the central province, we have limited infrastructure facilities in the school. Within this context, I was appointed as an ICT graduate teacher to this school in 2014.  Further, I had to teach ICT subject from grade 6- 11. Even though a large number of students were enthusiastic to learn ICT as a subject, there was a small computer lab with 8 computers.

Figure 2.2.1 – Kalugala Maha Vidyalaya

While working at the school, I registered for the PGDE programme at the Open University of Sri Lanka in 2017 to develop my professional skills.  In 2018, C-DELTA project team gave me an opportunity to join to this project as a coordinating teacher of the central province. Further, it provided me with an international research experience and motivation to develop innovative learning experiences among students as well as teachers in the school system in Sri Lanka. 

My experiences at C-DELTA Project – (Capacity building workshop-OUSL)

In 2018 the project team conducted a 3 day capacity building workshop to promote digital education environment in secondary schools in Sri Lanka.  At the introductory session, the project team leader provided a very fruitful session which helped me to get awareness on new concepts of ICT (Digital leader ship and foot print, C-DELTA platform, Digital identity, How to use internet safely etc.) During capacity building process, we were able to engage in various types of learning activities such as concept mapping, writing reflections, preparing action plans etc. She further encouraged us to integrate new educational resources (OER) in to our teaching and learning process. We were made aware what OER is and open license. After receiving broader understanding on above concepts, we were permitted to engage in the pretest activity. It was a challenging task for me to do the test within a short time period.   

Group activities created a competitive and a sharing environment which helped us to develop our cooperative learning and leadership skills. At the end of three days, I was competent to implement the C-DELTA project in my school in order to fulfill the project requirement (Self-reflection & group activity).

My Determinations

Soon after the workshop, I decided to implement some innovative activities which were related to the C-DELTA project in our school. As an initial activity, I discussed with our principal and she was very positive on this concept. Our school project team consisted of 31 students and 5 teachers as the first step.

Following activities were undertaken during the third term of the school.

• Two activities related to digital foot print and digital identity were given                 
• For the first activity, students were asked to search two characters. One was a famous character, Indian Prime Minister (Mr. Narenda Modhi) and the other was the English teacher of the school. By searching both characters, students understood that Prime minister was able to maintain a good digital foot print while English teacher had not included any information about her character.

• For the second activity, an unhappy incident which occurred in a nearby school was undertaken. Due to miss abusing social media, one student of that school had committed suicide. By using this case study, I was able to improve student’s awareness on negative impact of social media. 

After providing these learning experiences, students engaged in the pretest activity. I am happy to say that, I was also self-motivated to complete the 4 modules of the C-DELTA project. (See figure 2.2.2).

Figure 2.2.2 – Students engaging in activities

Student activities

 Figure 2.2.3 – Student project team

Successes

• Positive attitudes were made on digital foot print and identity (students, teachers, parents).
• Healthy digital practices were promoted.
• Improved the usage of ICT in learning activities.

Challenges

• Although majority of the students were motivated to engage in C-DELTA activities, they did not have email addresses.  To create email addresses, mobile network numbers were necessary. But students are not allowed to use mobile phones in the school premises. Therefore, it was a difficult task to create e-mail accounts for students.
• The students and teachers had to engage in C-DELTA activities at school premises. They did not have internet facility at home, therefore, we had to spend more time to do the pretest.
• Even though, students were tend to involve in the C-DELTA project, we were unable to provide sufficient computers and lab facilities. Therefore, I decided to restrict this project only for A/L section.
• Demographically our school is located in a rural area in the Hatton educational zone. Due to that, it was difficult to connect to internet. We had to complain to the relevant authority several times to get it fixed.
• Student were not competent in English language. Therefore, they spent more time to get the meanings. 

How the challenges are overcome

• My school principal supported me in numerous ways for the success of this project. (provided extra internet facility and free periods, encouraged the students)
• Used extra hours to complete the pretest.
• Obtained assistance from the other teachers (used their mobile phones to create students’ email addresses.)
• Complained to relevant authorities about internet connection facility.
• Used dictionaries to overcome the language barriers. 

Future plans

• Plan to promote C-DELTA concepts from grades 6-11 in the school.
• Plan to motivate teachers to engage in C-DELTA modules.