UNESCO Bangkok in Thailand implemented a three-year project to create a conducive environment for ICT integration in education, focusing on students’ use of technology for learning.

Supported by Korean Funds-in-Trust, this project spanned seven countries, namely Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China.

The project, named ‘Facilitating Effective ICT-Pedagogy Integration Project’, successfully improved teachers’ capacity on integrating ICT effectively, gathered leaders’ support for whole-of-school strategy, gave rise to communities of practices, and promoted knowledge sharing and collaboration across countries.

UNESCO Bangkok attributed the success to the project’s sound design and regular improvements, local partnership and support, priority on pedagogy, as well as good understanding of local needs and context.

Some of the challenges encountered by the team included cultural and language barriers, motivation for new ways of teaching, absence of learning indicators and lack of leadership.

The team plans to expand the project by producing and sharing more relevant resources while working closely with the current network of stakeholders and partners.

The team will also launch the second phase of the project, titled ‘Supporting Competency-Based Teacher Training Reforms to Facilitate ICT-Pedagogy Integration’. It will focus on influencing policy discussions and working with governments to transform teacher training in the area of ICT-enabled teaching.