“Audiovision” for training teachers of nigerian nomadic children

According to reliable online sources for Africa, access to the Internet in 2011 was 16%, and there were 600 million Africans without access to electricity. Yet there are very few low-tech initiatives aimed at bridging this e-learning divide. One such initiative, for Nigeria, was funded by the Commonwealth of Learning in 2011/12: the use of audiovision for in-service teacher training. Audiovision (a term coined by the UK Open University in 1970) is a composite medium in which visual materials, in a booklet, are customised to integrate with audio commentary. Six audiovision packages were designed and produced in 2011, and delivered to in-service teachers in six workshops in Feb-Mar 2012. In each of the six audio recordings, the Audio Teacher (the Narrator in the recording) introduces recorded parts of a Primary school lesson conducted by a master school teacher. Listeners are directed to view visual materials related to each recorded part of the lesson. These materials consist of individual Frames (similar to PowerPoint slides), of three types: 1. Copies of the master school teacher's teaching aids. 2. The master school teacher's teaching techniques. 3. How the techniques help the pupils learn. The Audio Teacher invites the in-service teachers to reflect on the rationale for each teaching technique, as outlined in Frames of type 2, then gives his/her own opinion of the rationale, outlined in the Frames of type 3. The audiovision packages are truly composite, consisting of audio and visual materials, reinforcing each other. For such packages to be pedagogically effective, many innovative design principles need to be utilised. The paper elaborates such principles.