Erik Jon Byker

Teaching for "Global Telephony": A Case Study of a Community School for India's 21st Century

Although controversial, perhaps no piece of legislation has the potential to transform India’s future more than the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE). Upon the passage and enforcement of RTE in 2009, the Indian government instituted a series of wide-ranging reforms to India’s education system. For example, the act mandates that all private elementary schools (Classes I–VIII) reserve 25% of their class strength to underprivileged children. Private schools have options regarding their adherence to this law. One option is to provide “Equal Opportunity Schools” where underprivileged children are provided a quality education but in a separate school building. In response to RTE, a number of private schools are considering the “community school” model as a possible way to meet the “Equal Opportunity School” provision. While many definitions exist for a “community school,” one defining feature of a community school is that it is more localized and often reflects the customs and traditions of village life. This article’s purpose is to examine a Bangalore-based private school’s response to RTE. Specifically, the article describes a case study of the creation of a community school with the mission to bridge the local and the global with the aid of laptop technology.

Examining Elementary Education Teachers and Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Related to Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK)

Self-efficacy is the belief people have about their capabilities to produce effective results related to the events and challenges that affect their lives (Bandura, Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman, 1997). Self-efficacy represents a powerful influence on the behaviors of teachers due to its impact on instructional choice, effort, and persistence. Purposeful technology integration in teaching is an example of how choice, effort, and persistence converge as teachers make decisions about the types of tools they use to support their teaching. Such technology integration brings together technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge—known as the TPACK framework. Few studies have been conducted examining preservice and in-service teachers’ self-efficacy for TPACK. This study uses a survey design to examine preservice and in-service teachers’ (n = 89) self-efficacy to integrate educational technology in their teaching practice. The study also describes and reports on ways that teacher educators support self-efficacy development of preservice and in-service teachers.

Chapter 3 The ASER “Translating Policy into Practice” Toolkit: From Participatory Action Research to Evidence-Based Action

Participatory action research (PAR) is a useful methodological framework that empowers social actors to investigate their community context. The PAR framework helps to build the capacity for social change through taking action based on evidence. Evidence-based action is central to the vision of ASER Centre, a non government organization that facilitates the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), one of the largest surveys on educational outcomes in India. This chapter describes and reports on how the ASER tools are utilized by educators and teacher candidates to translate India’s education policy into practice. The chapter examines how the ASER toolkit is used as an instrument for PAR. To do so, the chapter investigates a case study of the uses and perceptions of 62 teacher candidates on the ASER toolkit. The study’s findings reveal how the ASER toolkit helps contextualize teacher preparation through the facilitation of data gathering about and for the communities where teacher candidates are situated.