SCT – Teldeniya National School

C-DELTA Implementation for Teachers and Students at the Secondary School Level in Sri Lanka  – Phase 3

FINAL REPORT

Province: Central

School: K/ Teldeniya National School

Name of the Coordinating Teacher (SCT): Ms. W.M.M.G..R.K. Wickrmamasinghe

Date submitted: 20/10/2022

Introduction:

I am Rehenika Wickramasinghe, an English teacher at Teldeniya National School. It is a 1AB school located in Central Province and the major school in Teldeniya Education Zone. This school was established in 1817 as one of the Central schools launched by Dr. C.W.W. Kannangara. The glamour of the school is further enhanced by the beautiful Victoria Lake. The studies are conducted in Sinhala and Bilingual mediums. Currently, there are about 2000 students and 115 academic staff in the school. It is also one of the schools in the Central Province which has the Technological Stream for G.C/E. A/L Grade.

I was enrolled by the Open University of Sri Lanka to follow MA in Teaching Literature in a Second Language Context (TLSC) in the academic year 2021/2022. During this period, I got the opportunity to participate in the C-DELTA program. The objective of launching C-DELTA program in our school was to make the students aware of the digital platform and introduce them into new learning materials in the digital world. The implementation of the program in our school was launched with the assistance of the principal, teachers, students and the OUSL research team.

Firstly, I was able to receive the permission of our principal in order to launch this program in the school. Next, a date was fixed for the orientation of the students. It was held in the IT lab. The students were introduced to the objectives and the benefits of this program. Also, a few students created their C-DELTA accounts and got access to the platform on the day itself. I was able to enroll a teacher to this program as well. I guided some students to complete the pre-test, modules, and the post-test. Due to Covid – 19 pandemic and poor attendance of students, it was a challenging task to get this program completed.

Activities planned and conducted:

Implementation plan  of the C-DELTA program

Date	Program
18- 04- 2022	Obtaining approval of the Principal
27- 04- 2022	Introducing the C-DELTA platform to students
27- 04- 2022, 10- 05- 2022	Registration of the students in C-DELTA platform
13- 04- 2022, 31- 05-2022	Completing the 1st module
11- 06- 2022, 31-07-2022	Complete the 2nd module
02-08-2022, 21-09-2022	Complete the 3rd module
20-10-2022	Submitting the final report

Usage of C-DELTA by staff and students:

As a teacher practitioner, I completed six modules and obtained the C-DELTA certificate with the badges. I attended on the assignments enthusiastically and did the tests several times in order to score a good grade.

I was able to register one teacher for this program and twenty (20) students on the platform. However, due to the prevailing situation in the country only seven (7) students successfully completed the three modules and received their badges and certificates. Unexpected close down of the school and the pandemic situation had a huge impact on completing the program and keeping students’ interest on the work. I have included the following charts to describe user type, gender, completion status, test score and overall competence.

Overall Competence

Certificate status- completed.

School – level integration of C- DELTA with subjects/ lessons

By doing this project, the students and teachers received knowledge on digital resources such as mind maps and creating presentations. They also gained information about internet ethics, new search engines, digital identity etc. As an English teacher, the experience I received from this program was very helpful for me. I was able to use some of the skills in the subjects of English and English Literature.

The followings presentations are created by the students for both the subjects.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1DMVh4pbeKwxixBMPQ1Z7ANEWfW4tNlst

Effects/ Impacts of C- DELTA

The C-DELTA program was very effective on students as well as teachers. The students learned how to use the internet effectively. Also, they learned how to establish a good digital identity and the concept of digital footprint. While receiving knowledge on digital usage, they also improved their communication skills and the use of English language. The students were guided and educated to use the internet in a better way. This program was useful for my higher studies as well. I applied the skills I learned from this program in creating a digital story for one of the assignments in the TLSC course. The link is mentioned below.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1lCkwKeVH070CC1k0FJUOU55BUk6xhL2G

Students expressed their reflections about the program in written comments.

Challenges faced:

• One of the major challenges in implementing this program was to allocate an appropriate time amidst the learning process.
•  Secondly, the ICT lab was not available most of the time.
•  The students were reluctant to stay after school for the orientation program due to the situation prevailed at that time. So, the orientation program was conducted during the school hours.
• Students encountered difficulties in registering in the C-DELTA platform due to poor internet connection.
• Many students did not have an email address. Therefore, before registering, I had to create their email accounts.
• I was unable to guide all the students due to various reasons such as not having internet access at home, poor attendance of the students, and close-down of the school. Only few students have successfully resisted on the platform and completed the modules.
•  Language barrier of the students.
• Some of the students had created several accounts on the platform. Therefore, it was difficult to get accurate data

Future plans:

• I wish to make use of the knowledge and skills that I gained from C-DELTA in the teaching-learning process.
• Introduce this project to other students in the school.

An Overall Reflection:

First and foremost, I am glad that I was selected to this program. C-DELTA program has opened up a new perspective on the digital world among students and teachers. Personally, I too received a good knowledge about the digital usage and it was very effective on my higher studies. I am happy to say that I was able to complete six modules and received the badges. Although, I was not able to accomplish all the objectives of this program, I am able to use some of the skills that I gained from this program to improve the teaching-learning process. I too encountered some difficulties in understanding certain subject areas in the program, but it was an interesting challenge to find the answers and score a good grade. As a suggestion, I would like to say that it may be more useful on students and teachers if the content make simplify to understand.

Annexures:

Orientation program- K/ Teldeniya National School

The list of the participants.

Consent letters received from students

DECLARATION:

I, Ms./Mr WMMGSRK WICKRAMASINGHE SCT/PCT of K/THELDENIYA NATIONAL SCHOOL Vidyalaya/College declare that I have obtained permission from the Principal of the school, and informed consent of all participants included in this report to use the photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, quotes, or any other artefact included in my Final Report submitted to the Open University of Sri Lanka, in relation to the C-DELTA Project implementation in schools.