Educational Technology Topic Guide

This guide aims to contribute to what we know about the relationship between educational technology (edtech) and educational outcomes by addressing the following overarching question: What is the evidence that the use of edtech, by teachers or students, impacts teaching and learning practices, or learning outcomes? It also offers recommendations to support advisors to strengthen the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes that use edtech. We define edtech as the use of digital or electronic technologies and materials to support teaching and learning. Recognising that technology alone does not enhance learning, evaluations must also consider how programmes are designed and implemented, how teachers are supported, how communities are developed and how outcomes are measured (see http://tel.ac.uk/about-3/, 2014). Effective edtech programmes are characterised by: a clear and specific curriculum focus the use of relevant curriculum materials a focus on teacher development and pedagogy evaluation mechanisms that go beyond outputs. These findings come from a wide range of technology use including: interactive radio instruction (IRI) classroom audio or video resources accessed via teachers’ mobile phones student tablets and eReaders computer-assisted learning (CAL) to supplement classroom teaching. However, there are also examples of large-scale investment in edtech – particularly computers for student use – that produce limited educational outcomes. We need to know more about: how to support teachers to develop appropriate, relevant practices using edtech how such practices are enacted in schools, and what factors contribute to or mitigate against successful outcomes. Recommendations: 1. Edtech programmes should focus on enabling educational change, not delivering technology. In doing so, programmes should provide adequate support for teachers and aim to capture changes in teaching practice and learning outcomes in evaluation. 2. Advisors should support proposals that further develop successful practices or that address gaps in evidence and understanding. 3. Advisors should discourage proposals that have an emphasis on technology over education, weak programmatic support or poor evaluation. 4. In design and evaluation, value-for-money metrics and cost-effectiveness analyses should be carried out

When developing countries meet transnational universities: searching for complementarity and dealing with dual embeddedness

During the last two decades, a growing number of universities, mainly from developed countries, have established branch campuses in developing countries. From the developing country perspective, attracting foreign universities can help mitigate financial constraints and capacity shortages that impair the state’s ability to provide greater access to higher education, while also improving teaching and research in general. However, foreign universities may also be detrimental if they crowd-out their domestic counterparts. We explore different scenarios and policy options for developing countries aiming to attract foreign universities, building upon a review of four case studies from Chile, China, Kazakhstan and Malaysia. Our analysis illustrates how host countries can provide incentives to align incoming foreign universities to complement and strengthen the areas of weakness in their higher education systems. We also reflect on how policy-makers can deal with the challenges associated with the dual embeddedness of international branch campuses

Implementation of Emergency Remote Teaching in Chilean Schools due to COVID-19

This research emerged from the need to understand educators’ working and teaching conditions during the initial period of distance teaching implementation brought about by the need to continue education in the face of the public health emergency and the suspension of on-site classes in Chilean schools. Thus, the aim of this investigation is to explore Chilean teachers’ perceptions in relation to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) within the COVID-19 context. The methodology includes a dynamic online questionnaire to allow a large number of educators to be included in the study. Some of the findings include the substantial curricular adaptation made by teachers, the use of teachers’ own resources to contact students, the overall low level of satisfaction with remote teaching, as well as the increased working hours, and the different connectivity conditions and levels of student participation depending on the socio-economic profile of the school. The conclusions of this research are discussed from the perspective of the hypotheses presented in this study

Strategies for Bridging the Internet Digital Divide in Peru: A Benchmarking of South Korea and Chile

The Internet has become a catalyst of the global economy. Developing countries are lagging behind developed countries due to unequal access to the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs). Governments are challenged to establish adequate strategies to reduce this gap and achieve the inclusion of their citizens. In this context, developing countries could leverage on adequate Internet-gap-reduction strategies to boost economic growth and development. The present study attempts to make an analysis of the Internet-related policies adopted by Chile, which is a leading country in South America; and by South Korea, which is a leading country in the world. We gathered data from secondary sources related to the process of digitalization in both countries. The collected data was processed and a PEST (political, economic, social, and technological) analysis was conducted for Peru to determine which actions can be taken to bridge the Internet digital divide in this country. The results shed light on the complexity of this phenomenon, which depends not only on access, but also on intensity of use and skills. Implications for policy makers are discussed

Desafios e realizações do ELT em nível primário no Chile: Rumo a aspiração de se tornar um país bilíngue

This paper explores the policy development supporting the implementation of English language teaching (ELT) in Chile at primary level over the last two decades. This policy—which made English instruction compulsory for all Chilean students from fifth grade—has had to deal with a series of significant challenges since its introduction. One key impediment has been the lack of qualified teachers of English at primary school level. In addition, in a crowded curriculum, English teaching has been often allocated inadequate number of hours to facilitate successful language acquisition. Further, suitable learning resources and support materials—especially designed for young learners—have often been limited. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the broader offering of English, particularly at the primary level, has had an important democratising effect. It has been somewhat effective in allowing children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to access a global language and a potential world of opportunities previously only available to students attending wealthy private institutions. Data suggests that this policy has had some impact in establishing educational foundations for broader access to more advanced language learning for all students in Chile. However, equally it demonstrates further resources and support for teachers and teaching is essential to realise this potential. Este artículo examina el desarrollo e implementación de políticas públicas en la enseñanza del Inglés en Chile en el nivel primario en las últimas dos décadas. Estas políticas, que han hecho obligatoria la instrucción de Inglés para todos los estudiantes chilenos desde 5º grado, ha tenido que enfrentar una serie de retos importantes desde su introducción. Uno de los impedimentos clave ha sido la falta de profesores/as de Inglés calificados para enseñar en en la escuela primaria. Además, en un currículo nacional sobrecargado, se ha asignado un número insuficiente de horas para la enseñanza del inglés. Asimismo, los recursos de aprendizaje y materiales de apoyo, especialmente diseñados para los niños, han sido limitados. A pesar de estas dificultades, se puede argumentar que la oferta más amplia de Inglés, sobre todo en el nivel primario, ha tenido un importante efecto democratizador. Algunos estudios han demostrado un impacto positivo posibilitando a los niños de niveles socioeconómicos más bajos acceder a una lengua global y a un mundo de posibilidades que anteriormente sólo estaba disponible para los estudiantes de instituciones privadas. El análisis discutido en este trabajo sugiere que las políticas públicas en relación con la enseñanza del inglés a nivel primario ha tenido algún impacto positivo en el establecimiento de los fundamentos educativos para el acceso más amplio al aprendizaje de inglés más avanzado para todos los estudiantes en Chile. Sin embargo, igualmente se demuestra que es necesario incrementar los recursos y el apoyo a los profesores y a la enseñanza del inglés a nivel primario para que la implementación sea más efectiva.Este artigo explora o desenvolvimento de políticas de apoio a implementação de ensino da língua Inglesa (ELT) no Chile em nível primário ao longo das duas últimas décadas. Essa política—que fez o Inglês obrigatório para todos os estudantes Chilenos de quinta série—teve que lidar com uma série de desafios significativos desde sua introdução. Um impedimento-chave tem sido a falta de professores de Inglês qualificados ao nível de escola primária. Além disso, em um currículo cheio, o ensino de Inglês tem sido muitas vezes atribuído um número insuficiente de horas para facilitar a aquisição de linguagem bem sucedida. No mais, recursos de aprendizagem adequados e materiais de apoio—especialmente designado para jovens aprendizes—têm sido muitas vezes limitado. No entanto, pode-se argumentar que a oferta mais ampla de Inglês, especialmente no nível primário, teve um efeito democratizante importante. Tem sido eficazes em permitir que as crianças de meios socioeconomicos mais desfavorecidos tenham acesso a uma língua global e um mundo de oportunidades anteriormente disponíveis apenas para alunos que frequentam instituições particulares. Os dados sugerem que esta política teve algum impacto em estabelecer fundações educacionais para ampliar o acesso a aprendizagem de línguas para todos os estudantes no Chile. No entanto, é igualmente demonstrado mais recursos e apoio para professores e o ensino é essencial para realizar esse potencial

InfoInternet for Education in the Global South: A Study of Applications Enabled by Free Information-only Internet Access in Technologically Disadvantaged Areas (authors' version)

This paper summarises our work on studying educational applications enabled by the introduction of a new information layer called InfoInternet. This is an initiative to facilitate affordable access to internet based information in communities with network scarcity or economic problems from the Global South. InfoInternet develops both networking solutions as well as business and social models, together with actors like mobile operators and government organisations. In this paper we identify and describe characteristics of educational applications, their specific users, and learning environment. We are interested in applications that make the adoption of Internet faster, cheaper, and wider in such communities. When developing new applications (or adopting existing ones) for such constrained environments, this work acts as initial guidelines prior to field studies.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, under review for a journal since March 201

Information and communication technologies in the Chilean English as a foreign language classroom: A systematic review of the literature

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) permeated Chilean schools in the late 1990s with the implementation of Enlaces, a national program including training and technological equipment for supplying school education. Since then, the curricular relevance of ICTs has increased in Chile. Particularly, English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching has benefited from ICTs in adding interaction and using various resources in the classroom. Such importance motivated the researchers of this study to find out what has been researched about ICT in the English classroom in a Chilean context. To attain this, a systematic review of the literature from 2006 to 2022 was conducted. Data was drawn from the electronic databases SCOPUS, EBSCO, Scielo, ERIC, Dialnet, WoS, and complemented with Google Scholar. The selected studies, 13, were analyzed using a six-dimensional framework, focusing on research purpose and focus, outcomes, design and methods, publication frequency, and limitations. Our review has established that qualitative design and methods have been the most predominant approaches, focusing mainly on exploring the implementation and integration of ICTs in the English classroom, as well as examining the effectiveness of applications, websites, and ICTs tools on the linguistic attainment of Chilean school learners. This systematic review has also identified that after 2016 publications have been steady, yet the number of empirical studies exploring the topic is still limited, which constitutes a research gap that future studies could examine. It is also expected that researchers interested in the topic could try out this review in similar EFL contexts

Patriarchy, Paternity and Paternalism in Early Twentieth Century Chilean Labor History

This study compares labor histories of Chile, pointing out that some stress the importance, mining, others urban work, and still others, the role of women. It also looks at the problem of illegitimacy and the problems for children born out of wedlock to establish paternity under the Civil Code of 1854. Both secular and Catholic orphanages prepared children for domestic work. Importantly as well, the study examines the roll of women in the Chilean labor movement

Focal Spot, Fall/Winter 2002/2003

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