Interactive whiteboards in andean communities: A training model

Interactive whiteboards are an educational tool widely adopted as part of the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and cost reduction. This technology becomes more effective when teachers know and apply interactive teaching methods that can improve the results of the teaching-learning process. This research presents a training model for primary and high school teachers in Yanaquihua, Condesuyos, Arequipa. The proposed training model generated good results: teachers improved their interactive content-making skills by 29 percent. Also, 50 percent of the interactive content created by teachers is considered satisfactory quality. Only 11 percent of teachers needed to dedicate more effort to achieve the objectives. This document reports the importance, the limitations, and the results of applying the proposed training model to improve the performance and effectiveness of technologies in the classroom. Keywords-- Interactive whiteboard; training model; Andean communities; teachers’ training; interactive content.Campus Arequip

Appropriation of ICT in the educational field: approach to public policy in Colombia years 2000-2019

This work document presents an approach to the appropriation of Colombian public   policy related to the ICTs in the educational field, during the period of        2000 thru 2019. After a walkthrough to the scenario of international initiatives for the           implementation of ICTs in schools, some theoretical approaches are presented that configure what in this work has been named the field of digital appropriation in education, which oriented the analysis of data. Subsequently, the analytical results of the public policy milestone documents during the aforementioned period are presented; as well as the testimonies of stakeholders, showing an underlying instrumental digital literacy logic, subordinated to the market, that does not seem to allow the generation of digital culture from the        school. Amongst other aspects, it is concluded that, despite the investment made in connectivity and equipment provisioning, public policy has not transformed the practices of educational actors

Using and integration of ICT in a diverse educational context of Santander (Colombia)

The integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the academic context caused a change in the way teaching and learning is carried out. It also broadened the usually formal educational contexts and the way these are accessed. Nonetheless, gaps can still be found concerning the inequality in the access to ICT resources and tools and, therefore, in the universal access to knowledge and education. This paper studies the use and integration of ICT through students’ perceptions from the educational centers of the municipality of San Juan Girón (Santander, Colombia). The population is composed of 208 participants with ages ranging between 12 and 18, 59% female and 41% male. Statistically significant results were obtained concerning the use of school-owned resources and teaching methodologies. One of the most outstanding results shows the population analyzed needs to apply a new teaching methodology to promote the integration of the ICT in the classrooms in a more suitable and coherent way. Moreover, training processes and pedagogical updating are required to motivate a curricular change considering rhythms, forms, quality and different learning styles in the municipality of San Juan GirónPeer Reviewe

Educating to Compete: Pandemic-Era Patterns of Technology Incorporation in the Southern Cone

Education has become a championship match. Global competition has defined many periods in history, but in the last two decades it has emerged within the knowledge economy, shaping education systems across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the different levels of perceived educational resilience exhibited by states shaped their global competitiveness. Focusing on the Southern Cone of Latin America, this thesis explores the connection between globally competitive educational systems, access to Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and educational resilience during the pandemic through a multivariate regression model. Considering the profound disruption of education caused by the pandemic, I utilize a comparative study to explore the political history of education public policy on ICT in Argentina and Uruguay as well as how these countries handled contingency plans during 2020. In order to explain the varying levels of educational resilience that the international community perceived it is necessary not only to analyse the effectiveness of ICT-oriented responses but also the way these countries ensure education continuity for the most vulnerable sectors of the population. My findings hint at patterns of global positioning in both the degree of pre-pandemic ICT incorporation in education as well as the differentiated educational priorities addressed during 2020

The emergence and development of a regional living lab: the case of San Luis, Argentina

The article describes the results of a field research on the characteristics and reaches of the Digital San Luis Program (San Luis Digital, SLD) promoted by the provincial government and in which the municipalities have been actively involved. The paper focuses on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the social innovation processes promoted by the Provincial Government through agreements with other social actors. Through the analysis of the SLD paradigm, the paper develops the hypothesis that the Province is an actual living lab. The research methodology was mainly meta research, i.e. the integration of models, theories, data and information from various local and international sources, validated with input from field surveys made ad-hoc in San Luis province by the Provincial Directorate of Statistics and Censuses. The scope and impacts were studied in 10 municipalities of the province through 108 interviews with leaders, participants and beneficiaries of San Luis Digital: responsible for programs, employers, providers, mayors, directors of schools, teachers, members of community organizations, teachers college, students, users of cyber AUI, centres of Digital inclusion, etc., and institutions or partners or recipients of San Luis Digital programmes. After analyzing the characteristics of San Luis Digital paradigm, the article describes its achievements.Fil: Finquelievich, Susana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Investigaciones "Gino Germani"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Expanding Access and Increasing Student Learning in Post-Primary Education in Developing Countries: A Review of the Evidence

Effective, evidence-based policies on post-primary education are of vital importance as many developing countries start to the see a bulge in secondary and postsecondary enrollment, the product of the achievement of near-universal access to primary school. Finding ways to deliver and promote access to high-quality post-primary education, and to ensure that education is relevant to labor market needs, is one of the great challenges of our times. This must be accomplished in countries where governments face severe budget constraints and many, of not most, parents are too poor to cover the costs out of pocket.International reports such as "A Global Compact on Learning", by the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, emphasize providing opportunities for post-primary education as a first-tier policy challenge. In addition, there has been considerably less progress in gender parity at the secondary level. Meeting these challenges will require a combination of using existing resources more effectively -- which requires both understanding which inputs are key and which are not -- and a range of innovations that may fundamentally alter the current methods of instruction. To that end, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) has launched a Post-Primary Education Initiative intended to promote policy-relevant research on secondary and post-secondary education in developing countries, which together will be referred to as post-primary education. This paper is a first step in that process. It reviews the evidence to date on post-primary education and highlight the gaps in the literature, with a focus on identifying policies that should be given the highest priority for future researchDifferent countries define primary and secondary schooling differently, and in many countries students attend middle schools, upper primary schools, or junior secondary schools before attending secondary school. For the purpose of this review, "post-primary education" includes everything from upper primary, middle, or junior secondary school through tertiary education, as defined by the local context in different countries, including vocational school and other alternative tracks for this age group. In practice, this means that in the research reviewed, the majority of children are in 5th grade (i.e. 10-11 years old) and older.The review is organized as follows. Section II provides some background on postprimary education in the developing world. Section III explains how papers were selected for this review. Section IV presents a conceptual framework for thinking about postprimary education (PPE), including a brief discussion of measuring outcomes. Section V reviews the evidence pertaining to the demand for schooling (the impact of policies that attempt to increase the willingness of households to send their children to school), and Section VI reviews the evidence on the supply of schooling (the impact of policies that change school and teacher characteristics, and more generally how schools are organized). A final section summarizes the findings, highlighting several research gaps that should receive high priority in future research

O ensino de Inglês em escolas primárias públicas no México: Mais calor do que luz?

The national English program in Mexico was formally launched in 2009. The new program supplanted various state programs, and aimed to create a coherent, uniform curriculum that extended English instruction to all public school students across the country. The article describes the development, evolution, and changes as the program was piloted and implemented. The authors synthesize various sources to identify the accomplishments of the program and the challenges that remain. They argue that a main concern, from a policy perspective, is that the program has not been conceptualized as part of a broader coherent language education policy, and that the program has been implemented not as an education policy, but as a series administrative and fiscal actions. Hence, while the program has succeeded in expanding access to English in public schools, it has not had continuity and has been characterized by inconsistency and change. El Programa Nacional de Inglés inició formalmente en México en 2009. El nuevo programa reemplazó varios programas estatales y tenía como objetivo la creación de un curriculum coherente y uniforme que permitiese extender la enseñanza del inglés a todos los estudiantes de las primarias públicas del país. El artículo describe el desarrollo, la evolución y los cambios del programa, así como los logros que ha tenido y los retos que, de acuerdo a diversos autores, aún debe enfrentar. Los autores sostienen que el problema principal del programa, desde la perspectiva política, es que no ha sido conceptualizado ni implementado como parte de una política lingüístico-educativa más amplia y coherente, sino que ha limitado a una serie de acciones administrativas y fiscales. Por lo tanto, si bien el programa ha ampliado el acceso al inglés en las primarias públicas, ha carecido de continuidad y se ha caracterizado por su inconsistencia y falta de solidez en los cambios.O programa nacional de Inglês no México foi lançado formalmente em 2009. O novo programa suplantou vários programas estaduais, que teve como objetivo criar um currículo coerente, uniforme, que estendia instruções de Inglês para todos os estudantes de escolas públicas ao redor do país. O artigo descreve o desenvolvimento, evolução, e mudanças em como o programa era implementado e direcionado. O autor sintetiza várias fontes para identificar as realizações do programa e os desafios que permanecem. Eles argumentam que a principal preocupação, de uma perspectiva política, é que o programa não tem sido conceituado como parte de uma ampla e coerente política de ensino da língua, e que o programa não foi implementado como uma política educacional, mas como uma série administrativa e ações fiscais. Assim, enquanto o programa tem sucedido em expandir o acesso ao Inglês em escolas públicas, não teve continuidade  e foi caracterizado por inconsistência e mudança

Language Teachers and Their Trajectories Across Technology-Enhanced Language Teaching: Needs and Beliefs of ESL/EFL Teachers

In this article, we present the initial results of the first phase of our international Research Network, which sets out to revisit the current needs of language teachers in terms of training to achieve the integration of technology within their educational contexts. We focus on the type of needs and their order of priority from the viewpoint of English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers and suggest some recommendations for training programs. These data, collected via an online questionnaire distributed in several countries, were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively in relation to participants’ perceptions of needs regarding language education technology, as well as participants’ perceptions of the “ideal” teacher, and their relation to the use of technology. Results indicate that despite overall satisfaction regarding training received, many teachers mention their need for a post-training follow-up. They also express interest in developing “learning task design” skills and in exploring course management platforms such as Moodle. Furthermore, while most participants fully or partially agree with the relationship between technology and excellence in language teaching, their definition of the “ideal” language teacher rarely includes the use of technology. A shift in “ideal” teacher beliefs seems, therefore, necessary for better adoption and use of technology in language education

Community Democratization of Telecommunications Community Cooperatives in Argentina: The Case Of TELPIN

A telecommunications community cooperative (TCC) is an autonomous association of individuals, which join forces to solve common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned enterprise, democratically governed and managed. In Argentina, TCCs were created by community conscious members to fill in for the State role when it was unable to provide telephone service in remote areas, generally marginalized from services provision. In 1989, the State telephone enterprise was privatized. From 1992 onwards, TCCs replaced the large private telephone enterprises, since these were not interested in providing non profitable services in remote or low-populated areas. TCCs provide telephone and Internet services, by dial-up and/or broadband (ADSL) connections, as well as IP telephony, to their target populations at significantly lower costs than the large traditional firms (Telefónica and Telecom). Most of them offer also free community services, such as courses on information and communication technologies (ICTs), free Internet access to public schools, libraries, and public facilities (police stations, hospitals, etc.). This work focuses on a particular case study: TELPIN, the Pinamar Telecommunications Cooperative. Telpin was created by a group of Pinamar neighbors, most of them founders of the local community, in 1962. Since then, it has become the largest and most successful Telecommunications Cooperative in Argentina