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GIVING THE GIFT OF LEARNING

Teacher In A Box

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INTRODUCING THE BOX

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So, what is a TIB? Well, it’s a library. An electronic library. They are all made by volunteers and we follow a fairly standard pattern. We get a recycled computer – because recycling is good. We erase the hard drive, because we don’t want to know what you did on that computer. Then we remove the old hard drive and physically destroy it for good measure. The old ones normally aren’t big enough for our library anyway. Then a new hard drive is installed with the whole library on it. This library is not just for schools. It does include educational materials that go from Foundation through to University, but it also has things for the whole community. There are modules and courses on agriculture, health, entrepreneurship, peace building – anything you can think of and then some! All of this fits into either a small desktop or a laptop. Then comes the extra part. The wi-fi router. A router is added to each device, it can’t be swapped or changed, it will only work with the one TIB. This router turns the TIB into a server for a Local Area Network. It creates its own intranet. Think about all the good parts of the internet with none of the dangers.

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Where is it?

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HOW DO WE MAKE IT HAPPEN?

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WHAT IS THE IMPACT?

The impact of a device like TIB varies depending on the situation. Each country has different needs and different levels of understanding of how to use technology. This impacts on how the devices such as TIB are able to be used. Because of this we have been engaged in a long research project around how to incorporate a large self-access teacher training package into the server. This research is in its final stages. The initial results of this are showing that having the server can impact on the teachers engagement with educational technology when certain other factors are working together. These include local resources to use the server – such as a school-based device or student devices, localized materials and engagement from the department of education. When these items are all working together student outcomes do appear to improve, as does their overall engagement with both education and the non-core education materials provided.

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How do I find out more

https://teacherinabox.org.au/
You can visit the website for extra information.

Can I see what’s on it?

https://kolibri.teacherinabox.org.au/

There is an online version, this has all the open-source material available to use.