FIER draws on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in an effort to reinforce the capacities of teachers and their supervisors, to the end of improving the Malian educational system. It involves 2 distinct but interrelated processes: developing and broadcasting radio programmes for teacher training, and assisting the staff of 6 pre-service training institutes to install and use technology-based learning centres in their institutions.

First, to improve in-service training for teachers already posted at their schools, the programme created 30-minute radio broadcasts that are used to help teachers assimilate student-centred theories of teaching. These radio programmes, which feature engaging characters and a range of activities like guessing games and rapid question-response segments, are broadcast to supervisor and teacher listening groups in 7 regions (Kidal, Gao, Toumbouctou, Segou, Koulikoro, Sikasso, and Bamako) and into Malian classrooms to better guide teachers in the delivery of their daily lessons. The first broadcast began in October 2005, following a process that involved formation of teams of radio scriptwriters, the hiring actors to record the radio programming, and the writing of radio scripts. The programme also distributes Freeplay radios to schools.

To enhance pre-service training, the FIER programme works with the Division de l'Enseignement Normal (DEN) - Mali's structure in charge of teacher training - to reach out to 6 teacher training institutes. This component of the programme involves installing virtual training centres on the campuses and training the professors at the institutes to use those centres to build the capacity of students who aspire to become elementary school teachers. The centres will be equipped with computers, printers, scanners, photocopiers, video cameras, and, where possible, the internet. (As of this writing, the first 2 virtual training centres are “under construction” at the Instituts de Formation des Maitres (IFMs) in Toumbouctou and Niono; 4 more will follow in institute sites yet to be selected by the DEN). The centres provide a space for up-to-date research and learning exchange on subject content, teaching methodologies, and materials. The institutions are also being provided with the means to begin a training course in the integration of the technology into their instructional cycle. A FIER team was responsible for developing these teacher training programmes and for creating the curricular and management guidelines for the use of the virtual training centres.

Education, Technology.