Background
The worldwide challenges of distance learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are unforgettable to teachers and students. The unprecedented challenge caused an educational crisis and severely affected those teachers who were not equipped with the skills required for this drastic change. There is no doubt that the effectiveness of teachers is one of the key drivers of student success. Therefore, this is crucially important for global educators to engage in practices that support the continued growth and capacity building of teachers in a smart learning era to fulfill the goals of enhanced student achievement across the board. This vision is particularly critical for developing countries that lack adequate resources for professional development and tools for adequate learning.
The main driver for the enhancement of teacher competencies, quality and equity of education is Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Advanced technologies hold great capacity to push forward teachers’ skills development with the help of various resources, platforms, courses and trainings that can be offered both online and without access to the Internet. One of the most influential emerging source for professional and personal growth is Artificial Intelligence (AI). The use of AI allows to meet various educational needs in different regions, bridge competency gaps and provide learning opportunities for all students and teachers, leaving no one behind.
In this regard, UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies (UNESCO IITE) and a technology-driven internet organization NetDragon (China) combine their forces for the joint project “Building Teacher Capacity with digital technology: E-Library for Teachers”. The Project is aimed to support the ongoing growth and capacity building of teachers in the era of smart learning by fully unleashing the potential of ICT and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The key outcomes of the Project will be a platform with up-to-date digital resources and educational materials, capacity building activities for teachers, and strong partnership network. The Project will contribute to achieving SDG 4 for education and particularly meeting Target 4.c by providing teachers and teaching with open educational resources, free public tools as well as online and onsite trainings, thereby empowering teachers to deliver quality and equitable education.
Scope of Work
The Consultant shall assist the implementation partners and provide expertise in creation of the E-platform that will contain Open Education Resources (OER), training activities and will establish base for networking in order to promote teacher capacity building and enhance the very quality of teaching.
In particular, the Consultant shall:
- Develop an outline of the E-Resources platform and submit it to IITE by 12 July 2021. The outline of the platform should include the structure of all levels and description of its components and formats to present the content and ensure logical transition of the resources and activities of the platform.
- Provide assistance on quality assurance of the platform’s overall layout, flow and functionality (learning pathways, certification process and etc.). The platform should have a strong visual design including videos, infographics, etc. with a focus on key user interface and user experience interfaces. Provide recommendations on the platform’s overall layout, flow and functionality by 23 July 2021.
- Develop requirements on the materials to be provided by partners and hosted at E-resources platform, including the format and volume of files, technical specification and mode of multimedia. Submit requirements to IITE by 10 August 2021.
- Design description for development of the assessment instrument based on an online survey hosted on the platform and will be utilized to gather data from the participants and then generate an automatical report, which will act as a catalyst to improve teacher quality, promote inclusion, and enhance equity across UNESCO Member States. Designed description of the assessment instrument should be submitted to IITE by 20 August 2021 and include outline of its components, such as questions of the online survey, forms of the reports to be generated automatically based on the gathered data and operations specifications.
- Take part in preparation of the functional prototype of the platform in English language in collaboration with working group of the project, and participate in project-related discussions with stakeholders on a biweekly basis.
- Test the prototype of the platform in English language in pilot countries (including Egypt, Ghana, Thailand, Tunisia, Serbia and the Russian Federation), refine and customize the platform to country-level capacities and requirements of the target audience. At least 30 representatives from educational institutions (recommended by IITE) from the targeted countries should take part in testing of the platform prototype. Develop a report on the analyses of the piloting with identification of gaps and recommendations on its improvement, submit the report to IITE by 15 October 2021.
- Support activation by providing of supervision of all ancillary services of the platform, like chat, forum, agenda, media centre, evaluation tests, quizzes, etc.
- Prepare a report on the implemented activities and submit to IITE by 17 December 2021.
Education
A Masters or Ph.D. in the educational technology, e-learning design, teacher capacity development, distance learning or any related field.
Work experience
- Proven experience in developing online learning in low-bandwidth environments and delivering online learning.
- Knowledge of the relevant educational E-libraries/platforms/repositories/databases online.
- Proven knowledge of working on assessing E-libraries/platforms/repositories quality criteria.
- Proven experience of working on digital (open) educational resources.
- Ability to communicate and work in English with strong management skills.
Interested individuals are invited to submit their applications in English to UNESCO IITE by 25 June 2021 via email to Ms. Galina Udayadas, Programme Assistant at g.udayadas@unesco.org. The application should include the full CV, description of relevant activities and proposed budget in USD.
Please note that upon selection only successful candidates will be contacted.