data coaching, data informed, education, Looker Studio, teachers

Overcoming the Challenges of Low-Tech Classrooms

The challenges of providing education in a low-tech environment

As an educator in large private schools, Radhika Zahedi has seen firsthand the challenges of providing quality education in a low-tech environment. Prior to the pandemic, the schools Radhika worked in relied heavily on traditional methods such as pencil and paper, and evaluations were limited to two summative exams at the end of the year. However, when the pandemic hit, the need for technology in the classroom became more apparent.

The challenges of keeping track of student goals and progress were immense, with teachers responsible for classes of up to 200 students. It was impossible to evaluate learning without the use of technology, and this is where Radhika saw the opportunity to make a change.

Infusing technology in the classroom

To address this issue, Radhika began an innovator project to infuse technology into the classroom and help teachers visualize and organize data. One of the tools Radhika implemented was Pear Deck, which allowed teachers to engage students in real-time and review their responses in a meaningful way. This helped teachers to better understand their students and evaluate their progress.

In addition to this, as a school leader directly involved in the decision-making process, Radhika also created a program-level data collection system. Her ability to have access to systems-level changes allowed them to gather data on up to 300 students. This was a major step forward in their efforts to improve teaching and learning.

Additional support for teachers

However, simply providing teachers with a dashboard to organize data was not enough. To ensure that teachers could make effective use of the data, Radhika provided additional support, such as ongoing professional development and training. They also held regular conversations with teachers to discuss their challenges and provide guidance on how to use the data to improve their teaching practice.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the challenges of providing quality education in large, low-tech schools were significant, but the implementation of technology has greatly improved the ability of teachers to evaluate student learning and improve their teaching practice. As an educator, Radhika is always looking for ways to improve and make the best use of technology in the classroom.

“Being a part of the Google Innovator program has helped me create a global community of collaborators and mentors. Having the opportunity to work with a mentor like Chris Smith provided an area for brainstorming ideas and improving my own thinking.” – Radhika Zahedi

Chris

Chris Smith is an academic data analyst in the international education field. Throughout his 25 years in education, he noticed schools and educators collecting data but struggling with being overwhelmed or not knowing what to do with the data. So, he began coaching, training, and consulting schools and educators to learn how to discover what data they actually need and how they can turn it into information that leads to insights and informed decision-making.

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