Continuous teacher training is the beginning of a true educational transformation, especially in a region like Latin America, where only 33% of high school students had internet access at school (2018)according to the PISA report (International Program for Student Assessment).
In Ecuador, according to the Ministry of Education, one million basic education and high school students (out of 4.3 million) do not have a mobile device, computer or internet at home. And only a third of the 12,863 fiscal and fiscal educational units in the country have access to the internet.
While the connection arrives, there are ways to continue with digital education, and one of them is the proposal ProFuture, from Fundación Telefónica and La Caixa, designed to develop digital skills for the 21st century. It has its own platform with resources that can be customized to the local reality, while the problem of lack of connectivity is solved, since most of the content is available offline.
Mila Tonarelli, global manager of Innovation and Product at ProFuturo, explains that they have digital products and tools for the beneficiaries: teachers, managers, students, government entities and agencies. “Our challenge is to guarantee that the platforms comply with all the standards of quality, digital security, accessibility and educational parameters, and that they are designed and offered very close to the objectives of each operation, in more than 40 countries (in Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia), in four languages (Spanish, Portuguese, English and French)”; this includes an extensive portfolio for offline use.
What are the key skills for children, from the perspective of ProFuturo? Digital skills, computational thinking, mathematical thinking and collaborationlists Tonarelli, who is a specialist in distance education management. “They are not the only ones we develop, but they are the ones we pursue.”
The selected schools have certain characteristics that interest the program. One of them is the openness to innovation, a team involved in this subject, with some experience in the use of technology, that can coordinate the work in the school. In addition, they are looking for a stable faculty. “This is a factor that facilitates success, but each country defines and designs the selection of schools.”
When ProFuturo arrives in a new region, it communicates with local stakeholders, ministries of education and allied entities, and a deployment schedule and an operation model are designed, which will be different in each country. The school is now accompanied in a hybrid way by a tutor who, in person, will support the evolution of the plan; also, virtual training for managers and teachers.
“This constant training process is an important lever of the program, because in addition to information, a series of work tools are offered for that teacher, for their own planning and to use together with their students”, explains Tonarelli. “There is a classroom management platform, another for computational thinking, another for learning mathematics which takes a lot from artificial intelligence, and an important feat of hardwareof which ProFuturo donates a part, plus equipment that already exists at the school.”
What is a quality digital education?
Tonarelli explains that, in this scenario, teachers should be able to improve their planning and teaching by gathering information and making data-based decisionsas well as exploring the potential of multimedia and transmedia content, and of interpreting the different languages of these products to work with their students and take advantage of their continuous professional development.
“Teacher training is key to generating the best learning in children; This is something that all the literature on education emphasizes, and we have it very well identified: the teacher needs to continue developing and understand his role in this 21st century education, to have support, to be empowered, to learn among peers”.
The next October 26, at 10:00 Ecuadorthe event will take placeLearning and digital transformation in Latin America”, managed by the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), ProFuturo and the World Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report). The data presented at this conference will serve for the development of the 2023 GEM Report.
Ministers of education, experts and representatives of international organizations and civil society will share evidence-based examples of the challenges and opportunities for the use of technology in education in the region. The 90-minute meeting will be in a hybrid format and It can be followed live through the YouTube channels of ProFuturo, the OEI and the Unesco GEM Report.
But there is also room for other experiences. This year, ProFuturo presented a new curriculum based on Project Zero, an initiative related to arts education emerged at Harvard in the late 1960s. The original project, called Zero, was created by Professor Nelson Goodman, teacher of Howard Gardner, the developer of the theory of multiple intelligences. The goal is to teach thinking, questioning, exploring, asking questions and contrasting, as well as making thoughts visible verbally or in writing.
How to access free resources? In it Profuturo website There are several hours of courses in innovation and ICT, active methodologies and digital skills, available in Spanish. There are also educational resources for working with students on exact sciences, natural sciences, language and literature, art, philosophy, special education, languages, technology, religion, and other topics.
And there is the ProFuturo Observatory, with information on the main educational trends and challenges, in articles, documents and video, as well as an inventory of the most innovative educational platforms and resources in mathematics, literacy and science on the market. (F)
Source: Eluniverso
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