Introduction

The Ministry of Education of Ecuador implemented the PACD program between 2016 and 2018, aiming to introduce all teachers to the new National School Curriculum that was published in 2016. Building on previous blended and online programs offered through a public virtual learning environment (VLE) on the open-source LMS Moodle, the designers decided that there was sufficient experience of online learning within the teaching workforce to utilize a wholly online program across the national education system.

Thus, PACD put in place a MOOC in which 187,365 state school teachers or 90.8% of the total teacher population participated. This represented a new approach by the Government.

Key features of the PACD model

• The PACD model used a MOOC due to relative low cost and extensive reach across the country and based on learning from previous smaller scale online TPD programs.
• The Ministry of Education created a VLE called Mecapacito on Moodle for the MOOC.
• The MOOC is comprised of 13 modules, of which teachers had to take six — five general modules and one specialized module to be chosen based on eight possible teacher profiles in terms of educational level and subject area. In order to receive a 100-hour certificate, teachers had to obtain a mark of more than 7 out of 10 in each module.
• Modules included “The collaboration of teaching teams in the development of the institutional curriculum” (Module 3), “Assessment in the classroom” (Module 5), and “Cultural and Arts Education curriculum development” (Module 6), among others.
• MOOC activities were designed to be undertaken as self-study with peer support. In the program evaluation interviews, implementers highlighted that the lack of budget led to the PACD being designed so as not to need tutors to accompany the participants.

The course passing rate was relatively high at 66.5% (versus a typical international passing rate of 10-20%). This is partly attributed to the fact that the MOOC was compulsory and the resultant certification was tied to the Ministry of Education's promotion and re-categorization processes as well as to teachers' salaries. The meaningful content, high-quality supplementary materials, and the changes in teaching practices introduced were noted as program strengths. The certification element was also identified as a particular strength and provided a strong incentive for teachers.

In research conducted by SUMMA (2022) on the PACD program, teachers highlighted that PACD effectively established important conditions to begin transforming their teaching practices in relation to the new curriculum. Over the course of the program, teachers stated that they gradually gained more mastery over the implementation of the curriculum and affirmed that more daily experimentation and reflection in the classroom would have been helpful to support change in their practice. Furthermore, they stated that these experiences would have been enriched by the formation of “working teams” (a type of forum or learning community) that share ideas and experiences.

In terms of further challenges associated with the program, some teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the theoretical nature of some of the content, the top-down nature of the intervention (i.e., from the Ministry to teachers), and the resultant lack of tailoring to their specific needs, as well as desiring more practical activities to enhance application of new knowledge. Nonetheless, the program has resulted in a paradigmatic change in the way TPD is delivered in Ecuador with the government’s new approach to utilizing technology to facilitate TPD, the creation of a new online system via the VLE, and its extensive coverage across the country.

Introduction

In 2015, FIT-ED and the Department of Education co-developed a TPD delivery model as an alternative to the Department’s “workshop style” or traditional cascade model (10-day face-to-face workshop) to reach the entire teaching force of over 800,000 teachers in a cost-effective and timely manner. This ELLN Digital pilot involved 240 rural, peri-urban, and urban primary schools and reached 4,040 K to 3 teachers of early language literacy and numeracy.

The success of ELLN Digital’s 2016 pilot led to a national scale up in 2019 to reach over 250,000 K to 3 teachers in a multi-year phased roll-out. During the pandemic school year (2020–2021), the ELLN Digital model was adapted to prepare school leaders and teachers for remote learning. Two courses were created and launched in July and August 2020. Over 500,000 have taken these  courses, comprising more than half of the public school workforce.

A practice-based course, ELLN Digital combines independent learning using guided offline, interactive, and multimedia modules with classroom practice, and co-learning with peers in a school-based professional learning community. In this blended approach, teachers learn from and with standardized, quality assured course content that supports them in localizing instructional materials and strategies for their diverse learners.

Key features of the ELLN Digital model

• Teachers receive a CD, flash drive or download link of the ELLN Digital Course Package (or the Package is copied onto school and teacher devices by designated staff), and study each lesson in the courseware offline on their own and at their own pace.
• As part of each ELLN lesson, they test their new knowledge and skills in the classroom with pupils, and then meet at least every two weeks with fellow teachers (2 to 15) in a school-based professional learning community called a Learning Action Cell (LAC) to reflect on their classroom practice related to the ELLN lesson. LACs are led by designated LAC Facilitators who are teachers within the school.
• Additional expert support is provided to teachers from Division Technical Assistance Providers.
• Teachers go through this cycle of self- and co-learning, application, and reflection until the course is completed.
• Teachers who complete the course are awarded a certificate of completion and, if arranged by the Division, credits to meet the national continuing professional development requirement.
• Since the courseware is offline, lack of internet access is not a barrier to participation. However, teachers must have adequate computer time to access the digital modules, resources, and tools. Supplementary online resources are available to those with internet access.
• Readiness assessment and improvement cycles (Plan-Do-Study-Act or PDSA) were introduced to the national scale up to enable continuous improvement in the implementation of ELLN Digital at the school and division levels, maximizing impact and sustainability overall.
• The PDSA cycle coincides with the lesson cycle (learning-application-reflection), which typically takes two weeks per lesson. Teachers and the LAC Facilitator collect data on the experience of each lesson cycle through structured reflection forms for individual teachers (the Teacher Engagement Report or TER), a LAC Session Report accomplished by the LAC Facilitator, and classroom observations by the school head. The data are then analyzed by the School Head and LAC Facilitators using a PDSA form to identify and prioritize actionable problems arising during the two-week lesson cycle and the solutions to be enacted. For example, teachers might lack computer time to finish going over the self-study lessons, a LAC Facilitator might have been unprepared for the LAC session, or the School Head might have been unable to observe classes and give feedback to the teachers. In general, the problems encountered by the schools/teachers encompass issues of resourcing, administrative support, teacher-learner attitudes and practice, and teacher-learner support. Planned solutions are tested during the next two-week lesson cycle and then assessed in the course of the next PDSA cycle. School Heads, LAC Facilitators, and the teachers are thus continuously engaged in problem-solving to improve the course-taking in terms of both how it is managed by the school and the teachers’ experience of the course.
• The Division also goes through PDSA cycles where they collect evidence and feedback from teachers and school heads in order to improve support provision to course takers by Division Technical Assistance Providers.