The “IT and Interactive Methods of Training” pilot project for schoolteachers in the Makat District of the Aturau Oblast recently came to a close. It was supported by the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, NCOC company, and its agent company Agip KCO.

The “IT and Interactive Methods of Training” program for schoolteachers from the Makat District was an innovative and topical project that helped teachers utilize the new educational technologies at their disposal. The program used peer training methods and additional online support training to ensure that the IT knowledge gained by core trainee teachers, the “coaches,” would quickly spread to all of the teachers of the Makat District. The project was aimed at improving the quality of the teaching in Makat District public schools; ultimately, the target group was composed of the area’s middle school students.

During project implementation, a number of TOT training sessions, on-line courses and consultations were conducted to train coaches among the teachers. These coaches have, in turn, shared and continue to share their new knowledge with their colleagues. Such an approach creates the opportunity for teachers to not only gain new knowledge, but also to exchange ideas and experience in the process of developing new materials on interactive technologies for public school students.

As a result of the trainings, the teachers have gained such useful skills as how to work with interactive boards, how to design effective multimedia presentations, and how to make flipcharts. They have also learned to use such programs as Active Studio and Movie Maker. They are now able to utilize the internet more efficiently as well as to create web-sites, school papers, and electronic text-books. In short, the teachers’ level of knowledge has increased from 25% to 75%.

The Association of IT Teachers of Kazakhstan OP organization is the main partner and direct IT & interactive methods (IM) trainers, with the support of the State Institution "Republican Institution for Further Training of Management and Scientific-Pedagogical Personnel in the Education System" (RIPKSO). The president of the Association of IT Teachers of Kazakhstan  OP, Muhambetzhanova Saule, says, "With the rapid development of information and communication technologies and distance learning technologies, a teacher must be able to use both information resources and multimedia programs. They must become a guide for students to learn about information hyperspace and teach children how to effectively use information resources for their professional activities. Therefore, teachers learning the IT & IM is a priority and determining trend for  the process of education informatization".

To display the program’s accomplishments, as well as to encourage teachers to use IT & IM, the project concluded by organizing a “Best Teacher" contest. In accordance with its results, the most active teachers received prizes and public recognition. Thirteen presentation works were entered in the contest, using interactive boards, various IT programs and videos. We especially want to mention the work of elementary school teachers. Despite the fact that they do not have interactive boards at their disposal, they have demonstrated their mastery of the technology—Keldibaeva Asemgul, elementary school teacher of the Kh. Sanbaev public school, took third place in the "Best Teacher" competition. Kutkozhina Beibitgul took second place, and first prize went to Kalaganova Samal. Both of them are teachers from the Kanatbaev School.

Isanova Gulzhan (left in the picture), a program partipant and English teacher at the Sarkunanov school, was enthusiastic about the project’s benefits. "We are involved in the project for a year and during that time we received so many useful materials—how to work in Active Studio, how to make presentations in Movie Maker, and much more,” she said. “At English lessons now we often use an interactive board. We make sure we work with flip charts to construct sentences. The kids are already actively and confidently working with interactive board, because they enjoy this format of lessons so much more. For myself personally, I think participation in this project is an opportunity to upgrade my skills. I have received a lot of valuable information, and I plan to continue to learn further on a more advanced level".

In the near future, the knowledge gained by project participants will be condensed into textbook form. We would like to thank the Makat district Department of Education, which throughout the project has supported the process and provided methodological support.