The initiative represents a new approach in which a single teacher delivers math lessons via the web to students at several schools simultaneously. According to Maria Rahamägi-Suits, project manager at Skaala Impact NGO, which supports the project, the students sat in the classroom as usual, but the difference was that the teacher was not physically present — instead, they appeared live on screen, streamed in real time from a studio.

"The teacher introduced the theory and guided students through their work, while also monitoring the classroom via video feed," Rahamägi-Suits explained.

Tallinn Deputy Mayor Aleksei Jašin (Eesti 200) said that each classroom currently also had a supporting teacher present. "The idea wasn't to replace existing teachers, but rather to offer variety and the option to participate in the project together with one's teacher. And there are no plans to replace teachers in the future either — perhaps just a few subject credits or electives at the upper secondary level could be covered this way in the near term," Jašin noted.

Feedback for the spring project

Rahamägi-Suits said she considered the spring pilot both necessary and successful. "Although we were able to involve fewer Tallinn schools than initially hoped due to a tight schedule, the pilot provided us with incredibly valuable insights we wouldn't have otherwise considered," she explained.

According to Rahamägi-Suits, most of the feedback she received came through surveys. "Many students praised the teachers and the structure of the course, but also offered great suggestions for improvement," she said. "Naturally, there were some for whom this learning format wasn't a good fit — but that's normal in any classroom," she added.

"On a 10-point scale, students gave the course a score of 7.3, which is a very good result considering that students don't typically take math courses voluntarily at school," Rahamägi-Suits noted.

Jašin said that, to his knowledge, one school that fully participated in the project found it valuable and gave positive feedback. "Honestly, several Tallinn schools that were originally planned to take part didn't join for various reasons, and quite a few participating schools were actually from outside Tallinn," Jašin said.

He emphasized that it was only a pilot project. "The goal was to involve 300 students, which would be about ten classes, but I don't think we quite reached that number," he said.

Jašin added that he was surprised by the negative media coverage and criticism from some education leaders at the end of last year. "I agree that technology can't replace teachers, and there are certainly other concerns, but this was just a test run. There was never a plan to immediately move large portions of instruction online," he said.

"Actually, I believe that as an educational innovation, this is definitely one option worth continuing to explore," Jašin said.

Rahamägi-Suits pointed out that one of the lessons from the pilot was the need to focus more not only on students but also on the support teachers in the classroom and the students' parents. "Teachers need clearer guidance on how to prepare the classroom and the technical setup, as well as how to support students who need more individualized attention," she said. "Parents need to be better informed that in addition to the live online lesson, students also have the option to rewatch explanations of theory and step-by-step problem-solving at home," Rahamägi-Suits added.

"One important piece of feedback was the question of whether the lesson has to be scheduled at a fixed time — whether it needs to fit into students' timetables in real time, or whether a recorded version would suffice," Jašin said.

Future of the project

The project was initially tested with math teachers, but according to Rahamägi-Suits, when the concept of amplified teaching was discussed at a subject associations summer school two years ago, several teachers felt that this approach could work in nearly any subject.

"We've just launched a call for applications in partnership with the Ida-Viru County education cluster Hariduskopter to find physics teachers and a supporting team who would be ready to design and deliver a similar course, primarily for schools in Ida-Viru County," Rahamägi-Suits said.

"I think it will be very interesting to see how teachers can remotely guide students through experiments in the classroom — for example — which can help tie the material more closely to students' real-life experiences," she added.

Jašin noted that Skaala Impact NGO, which supports the amplified teaching project, is actively exploring new solutions and educational innovations and is testing them in various municipalities. "The Tallinn pilot project was open to schools across Estonia, and several institutions from Ida-Viru County took part. It seems they had a positive experience," Jašin said.

"I believe the success of this project may partly depend on mindset, and we need to look more closely at how to integrate the idea that some lessons — or a series of lessons — could be conducted online with a larger group, and also at how the in-class teacher reflects on and wraps up the session," he explained.

Jašin said the continuation of the project this fall is still under discussion. "I'm not sure a new wave will launch this fall — that's still being talked over," he said.

"I think this is a topic for the future. Let's say that there are dozens of initiatives underway in education right now, so maybe not every idea takes off immediately — but I don't rule out the possibility that this one could take off later," Jašin said.

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