The role of ICT and its pedagogical contributions to education in the Dominican Republic: Advances in educational innovation for inclusion and technological literacy from the perspective of higher education institutes, policymakers, and ministries

Information and Communication Technologies offer innovative tools for inclusion and education. In the following paper, it was investigated questions related to the implementation of Information and Communication Technologies in education for the construction of knowledge and digital inclusion of populations with diverse characteristics, capacities, and disabilities in the different educational levels in the Dominican Republic. The strengths and weaknesses of the educational system was the approach of this investigation, describing the participation of private and governmental institutions in the development of educational technology.The qualitative method was used for data collection. To respond to the nature of the problem, the study used the interview as a data collection technique and as an instrument the interview script (questionnaire). The research aimed to a sample with expertise in Information and Communication Technologies as a means of learning in the Dominican Republic and then carrying out the analysis of the data through the interpretative model of qualitative research. Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies, Dominican Republic, pedagogy, innovation, Educatio

Special Education Teacher’s professional development through digital storytelling

This research presents the results of an exploration of special education teachers' understanding of how their participation in workshop-based digital storytelling (DST) would enhance their professional development concerning inclusive education. This study evaluates the usability of the Smart Ecosystem for Learning and Inclusion (SELI) platform for supporting teachers during the workshop-based digital storytelling process. We used a convergent parallel mixed-method research design approach with 47 secondary school teachers working with disabled people in the Dominican Republic. The results of this study indicated that the SELI smart learning platform had shown good usability in supporting teachers during the workshop-based digital storytelling pedagogical process. Besides, two themes emerge regarding how workshop-based digital storytelling can contribute to teacher professional development for promoting inclusive education. The resulting themes are expressing, listening, and learning through digital storytelling; and driving change with digital storytelling to create more inclusive environments. Teachers who participated in the interviews were optimistic about DST implementation. They expressed that the workshop worked for multiple ways of expression, listening from and connecting with other stories, and learning through DST. Moreover, teachers could reflect their idea about using DST in terms of its potential impact on inclusion in the classrooms for driving change, building meaningful learning, and influential practice when used in the classroom

Special Education Teacher’s professional development through digital storytelling : [Desarrollo profesional de maestros de educación especial a través de la narración digital]

Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-02-04 (johcin)</p

COVID-19, Changes in Educational Practices and the Perception of Stress by University Educators in Latin America – a Post-pandemic Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about profound changes in social and professional contexts. Schools and universities all over the world were closed to curb the contamination. In a short period, many educators were forced to reinvent their classes in a non-classroom mode, mediated by technology. This scenario of overwork can lead educators to stress, favoring distress, anxiety, and depression due to the uncertainties resulting from the pandemic and the search for new knowledge acquisition. This paper shows the research results conducted by university educators in Latin America who have been exercising teaching activities during social isolation imposed by COVID-19. The results show that with just one exception, educators from all countries reported suffering from some stress-related aspects concerning some manner to remote teaching. Higher workload perception came from women, unfolding gender inequalities amplified during pandemics. There is no clear relationship between the degree of technological expertise and stress factors, although, in general, educators use more time to prepare learning material and monitor students’ progress. Technological infrastructure was not a big concern for those educators in big cities, but some fundamental infrastructure problems were reported due to each country’s economic reality or geographic conditions.La pandemia de la COVID-19 provocó profundos cambios en los contextos sociales y profesionales. Se cerraron escuelas y universidades de todo el mundo para frenar el contagio. Muchos educadores se vieron obligados a reinventar sus clases en un modo no presencial, mediado por la tecnología en un corto período de tiempo. Este escenario de exceso de trabajo puede llevar a los educadores al estrés, favoreciendo el malestar, la ansiedad y la depresión por las incertidumbres derivadas de la pandemia y la búsqueda de nuevos conocimientos adquiridos. Este artículo muestra los resultados de una investigación realizada con educadores universitarios en América Latina que han venido ejerciendo la actividad docente durante el aislamiento social impuesto por la COVID-19. Los resultados muestran que, con una sola excepción, los educadores de todos los países informaron sufrir algunos aspectos relacionados con el estrés en relación con alguna forma de enseñanza a distancia. Las mujeres percibieron una mayor carga de trabajo, lo que generó desigualdades de género amplificadas durante las pandemias. No existe una relación clara entre el grado de experiencia tecnológica y los factores de estrés, aunque, en general, los educadores emplean más tiempo para preparar material de aprendizaje y monitorear el progreso de los estudiantes. La infraestructura tecnológica no era una gran preocupación para los educadores en las grandes ciudades, pero se informaron algunos problemas fundamentales de infraestructura debido a la realidad económica de cada país o las condiciones geográficas

Reflections on Inclusion and ICT in the context of Smart Ecosystem for Learning and Inclusion Project

Smart Ecosystem for Learning and Inclusion (SELI) Project is a consortium project, funded as part of ERANet JOINT CALL 2016/2017 with the number of ERANet17/ICT0076. In a two-year collaboration, higher educations from Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Poland, Turkey, and Uruguay worked together to create and actualize an open-access set of ICTbased approaches and conditions to support the digitization of the learning environment by providing training and improving inclusive education and across the EU and LAC regions. The project was funded by the following EU CELAC Research and Innovation funding agencies in each country: Ministry of Health, Vice Ministry of Science and Technology (MOH) in Bolivia, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Research Support Foundation of the State of Sao Paulo (FAPESP) in Brasil, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT) in the Dominician Republic, Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) in Ecuador, Academy of Finland (AKA) in Finland, National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR) in Poland, The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) in Turkey and National Research and Innovation Agency of Uruguay (ANII) in Uruguay