Remote Co-teaching in Rural Classroom: Current Practices, Impacts, and Challenges

Abstract

The shortage of high-quality teachers is one of the biggest educational problems faced by underdeveloped areas. With the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), China has begun a remote co-teaching intervention program using ICTs for rural classes, forming a unique "co-teaching classroom". We conducted semi-structured interviews with nine remote urban teachers and twelve local rural teachers. We identified the remote co-teaching classes' standard practices and co-teachers' collaborative work process. We also found that remote teachers' high-quality class directly impacted local teachers and students. Furthermore, interestingly, local teachers were also actively involved in making indirect impacts on their students by deeply coordinating with remote teachers and adapting the resources offered by the remote teachers. We conclude by summarizing and discussing the challenges faced by teachers, lessons learned from the current program, and related design implications to achieve a more adaptive and sustainable ICT4D program design.