Using Mediated Authentic Video as a potential innovative solution for training at scale: a view from Bangladesh

In this chapter we examine the common ways of attempting to provide training at scale in challenging environments, by drawing on examples from the Bangladeshi context. We will also focus on English In Action, a UK-Aid funded project supported by the Bangladesh government. This project offers a new approach to delivering in-service training to primary and secondary English teachers in Bangladesh. It has currently reached around 15,000 school based English teachers and is due to reach over 50,000 in the next two years with a cumulative student reach of over 7 million (Logframe for English in Action project, 2008) This training utilizes the teachers’ own mobile phones as a content device only which means there is no need to have a connection to the internet - or even a phone line- and where both classroom practice and a trainer [‘the Trainer in your Pocket’] can be viewed at any time. We will show that this is proving to be an effective method of training at scale in difficult circumstances, and that the growing interest in this form of training from other fields, disciplines and areas indicates how the methodology could be used for wider education benefits in a range of key areas