| Session Title: Shaping Policy and Practice: Evaluative Contributions to the delivery of Education Technology and Professional Development in Jordan |
| Multipaper Session 507 to be held in Capitol Ballroom Section 4 on Friday, Nov 7, 9:15 AM to 10:45 AM |
| Sponsored by the Distance Ed. & Other Educational Technologies TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Audrey-Marie Moore, Academy for Educational Development, amoore@aed.org |
| Discussant(s): |
| John Gillies, Academy for Educational Development, jgillies@aed.org |
| Abstract: The Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy in Jordan has prompted the development and implementation of new approaches to professional development and the teaching of information management in classrooms. The USAID-funded Jordan ERfKE Support Program (ESP) has been instrumental in assisting the Ministry of Education to shape policy into practice through the use of a multi-step approach to evaluation. To understand the impact of ESP activities on teacher and student learning, and institutionalization of the reform process within the MoE itself, the Monitoring and Evaluation Team in Jordan developed a developmental approach, which included experimental design, case study and measurement of systems change, to show how MoE policies impacted teacher and student learning in Jordan while leading to a more systemic understanding policy implementation in the field. The approaches also contributed to MOE conceptualization of future activities that shaped on-going improvements of the interventions. |
| Contributions to Policy Decision-making: The Effectiveness of Blended, On-line learning strategies in Jordanian Secondary Education |
| John Rich, Evaluvision, drjohnrich@evaluvision.com |
| Audrey-Marie Moore, Academy for Educational Development, amoore@aed.org |
| In Jordan, the current approach to teaching the Management Information (MIS) stream curriculum is teacher-centered. The USAID-funded, ERfKE Support Program developed a series of online modules that introduced students to the same MIS concepts and facts through a student-centered, project-based learning approach. In this approach, students were guided through the process of self-selecting a profit-making business enterprise, and creating their own business plan, based on commonly used principles in the real-life business world. In the process of working through this business plan, required students to master concepts without reliance on textbooks and lecture alone. This paper will discuss the effectiveness of the approach when compared to the traditional approach; identify the characteristics of students, teachers, and/or schools that amplified, moderated, or suppressed the effect; and show how the approach and results of the evaluation contributed to policy decisions made by Ministry officials to institutionalize the approach in Jordan. |
| Evaluative Contributions to Teacher Professional Development: An Analysis of Demand-Driven Training in Jordan |
| David Balwanz, Academy for Educational Development, dbalwanz@aed.org |
| Razan Al-Hadidi, Academy for Educational Development, ralhadidi@esp-jordan.org |
| Ahmed Thawabieh, Ministry of Education, ahmadthawabieh@yahoo.com |
| This paper presentation will discuss evaluation findings that share teacher and student perceptions on the efficacy and impact of demand-driven training; the extent to which new content-knowledge and teaching strategies (co-planning, project-based learning, etc.) are used in the classroom; teacher and principal perceptions of learning team implementation in supporting teacher work and professional development, and all of the above in relation to the management and resource environments in which teachers work. The paper will also show how engagement of key Ministry personnel and the use of formative evaluation led to the evolution of the Ministry's professional development approach from a reform oriented intervention (to upgrade teacher skills for the introduction of a new curriculum) to one that could institutionalize a decentralized approach supporting the on-going professional development of teachers in Jordan. |
| Education Reform Support: Creating and Supporting Conditions for Success |
| Clive Cavanagh, Knowledge Economy Support Program, ccavanagh@esp-jordan.org |
| Audrey-Marie Moore, Academy for Educational Development, amoore@aed.org |
| This paper presentation will discuss institutionalization of reform components that include the strategies, approaches and capacities supporting the implementation of the management Information Stream (MIS) curriculum and the new professional development model for MIS teachers. To support discussion of sustainability and begin to measure the institutionalization of reform components, the ESP team used a set of rubrics to evaluate the development of institutions capable of providing technically and systematically sound support such as information systems, incentives, legal frameworks, and qualified staff members who have the ability to coordinate national priorities within the context of local and international cooperation. The framework allowed the project along with their Ministry counterparts to monitor changes in the conditions that allow for the integration of interventions ensure sustainable changes. |