Equipping educators for inclusive digital teaching and learning
The LearnIn initiative
The LearnIn initiative is the regional approach of UNICEF’s commitment to Reimagine Education aimed at closing the digital divide and mobilising digital technology to improve learning opportunities for all children, with an explicit focus on the most vulnerable.
Aligned with the overall vision of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UNICEF supports the governments in developing inclusive eco-systems for digital and blended learning. LearnIn approach acknowledges the interconnectivity and inter-dependence of the different elements of a digital eco-system, such as accessibility of connectivity, devices, learning platforms, teacher capacity, policy environment and learners’ engagement.
With the generous support of the European Union, UNICEF launched a project in the Western Balkans and Turkey to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of children and their families to respond to the increasing urgency for remote and online learning through mobilizing digital technology. Improving inclusive and quality education for all children is pursued through:
- capacity development of teachers and school personnel;
- improving accessibility of the learning platforms, and
- enhancing the policy framework for digital learning.
The implementation draws on the continuous reflection and evidence obtained until now and builds on the momentum of existing initiatives on digital learning being implemented across countries.
The project builds on the close collaboration between the UNICEF Regional Office and Country Offices in participating countries and aims to identify synergies and complementarities to benefit the economy of scale.
A key deliverable developed to support the capacity development of teachers and school personnel is The Educators’ Digital Competency (EDC) Framework. The framework was developed as a common frame of reference that can be adapted accordingly to different needs across countries to support national, regional and local efforts in building educators’ digital competence.
The EDC Framework is accompanied by five packages of training materials on the following topics:
- Formative Assessment for Quality, inclusive Digital and Distance Learning during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic.
- Technology-Enhanced Teaching Competence
- Pedagogical approaches for inclusive digital and blended learning for all students.
- Your guide to selecting tools for quality and inclusive teaching and learning.
- Shifting your teaching for Digital Learning
Each training package includes a module, a manual for teachers’ trainers and a digital interactive course that could be easily integrated into other national platforms to support the development of educators’ digital-pedagogical competencies.
The training packages are available in multiple formats. An interactive design is available on Learning Passport. Countries using Learning Passport can also download the courses to their national instance. Countries with other national platforms can request access to the source files and integrate them into the existing platforms. For more information nshabani@unicef.org
