Grants/Furtherer our nation’s development: reducing the digital divide in Guatemala by integrating learning objectives for high school students.
Describe the project you are proposing as clearly as possible in just five sentences.
The Education in Guatemala is free and compulsory for six years. In 2010, the gross primary enrollment rate and the net primary enrollment rate are close to 75%. However, only 30% of students who begin primary school in Guatemala complete this level of education. Children who do not attend school are concentrated in rural areas, and a disproportionate number of them are indigenous. We have identify that one of the biggest challenges in Information technology (IT) is focus on the standardization an re-use of content in personal and collaborative learning. The objective of the project is to develop Learning Objects. A Learning Object is a resource, usually digital and web-based, that can be used and re-used to support learning. Learning Objects offer a new conceptualization of the learning process: rather than the traditional "several hour chunk", they provide smaller, self-contained, re-usable units of learning. They will typically have a number of different components, which range from descriptive data to information about rights and educational level. At their core, however, will be instructional content, practice, and assessment. A key issue is the use of metadata.
Detail the tangible project output (e.g., paper, blog post, written materials, video/film, etc.; this would be in addition to the final written report that successful grant recipients will be expected to deliver to CC at the conclusion of the project).
Written Report and Examples of Learning Objects. http://www.sendspace.com/file/pgmvxz
Describe the community you are targeting. How would the project benefit the community?
The technology in the rural areas for indigenous women, especially children, is inaccessible. We want to provide the teachers with Learning Objects, that have been created in their own language. We are seeking to lift up the barriers that language causes in education. If the Learning Objects are in different languages, we can reach and approach a new target of the population in the use of technology. It is also expected that the unification of these components will provide a necessary change in the classroom, by encouraging collaboration among the students and by readjusting the role of teachers from transmitters of knowledge to "learning facilitators".br />
FUNSEPA, since 2005 have equipped 658 schools with computers labs, and trained 132,682 teachers. While the MINEDUC, have equipped 3,500 public school with computers and trained 58,000 teachers, since 1999. Both projects identify a lack of material that teachers can use to teach. We want to provide teachers with materials they can use as tools for their classes. We have technicians with the resources and skills to help the teachers develop the Learning Objects. People of the MINEDUC have already started creating Learning Objects with teachers.
How will you measure and evaluate your project’s impact - on your main participants? Other contributors? On the larger community?
In the Project we want to develop 100 Learning Objectives that follow the National Standard Curriculum for high school students in Guatemala. We plan to approach the following abilities with the teachers: •Research, argumentation and organization of the written, illustrated and technology material that are going to use to create the Learning objectives. •Classify, modify and use image, sound or video with the Creative Commons licenses. •Design and develop Learning Objectives with the following characteristics: self sustainable, re-usable, interoperability, updated, of easy access and use, and systematic.
How many participants do you expect to be involved in your project? How will you seek and sustain their involvement?
We expect to have 150 teachers, that have previously been trained in our Expanding Futures project. In the process we plan to keep contact with the teachers using our different website and e-learning portals. In the meetings we are going to encourage teachers to produce and create Llearning Oobjects. They will be informed that the Learning Objects will be licensed with Creative Commons and transferred to other teaches in our trainings. We also plan to offer all the participants a development skills certificate.
Describe how your project will benefit Creative Commons' mission to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in "the commons".
With the project, we are seeking to create learning content with the Learning Objects that can be re-used by the Creative Commons licenses. The skills we are going to develop in the teachers are focus on creating new material and a complete new vision of how to teach. When we use the word new, we are thinking of: visual content, videos, different languages, how to learn it, and a pack of tools to use be used in the classroom.
Describe what technologies and tools your project will use. What kinds of technical skills and expertise do you bring to the project? What are your technical needs?
We are going to use computers and web portals that we will need to keep communication and to generate information. We expect the teachers to reach the skill to use learning contents in open standards like SCORM.
What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them?
We expect to have 3 types of challenges: first, we have to promote the training so more teachers want to participate. Second, we have to motivate teachers to adapt the content to the language and the specific characteristics of their region. Third, we have to provide the best training so the teachers generate multiple Learning Objects.
How do you plan to sustain your project after the Creative Commons funding has ended? Detail specific plans. How do you plan to raise revenue to continue your efforts in the future?
In the first meeting session we want to reach certain level so the teacher can create the learning objects.
How can this project be scalable, or have a scalable impact?
We can make a course, of how to development Learning Objects. The course can be part of our training and our e-learning portal.
What resources and support do you expect Creative Commons to provide to your project to ensure its success (if any)?
We expect Creative Commons to help us with know-how knowledge, so we can use the licenses correctly.
Describe how your organization currently communicates with its community members and network partners. (100 words)
Our Partners In order to have a lasting impact on Guatemala’s future, we believe we must work hand- in-hand with other NGO’s, government entities and private businesses. We call this a Public-Private Sector Partnership. We like to compare ourselves to the cartilage that’s nestled between the two big bones of the private and public sectors -- We are the little piece that makes them work together by facilitating communication and flexibility while at the same time preventing wear and tear. We believe that by engaging in this kind of partnerships we can all benefit by sharing our strengths, resources and knowledge, thus reaching extraordinary levels on a national scale. Technology for Education (TPE) Partnerships: FunSEPA- in charge of project execution- , runs the Refurbishing Center for the Technology for Education program, using a combination of its own funds with funds gathered from private business sectors. The National Board of Science and Technology (CONCYT) - Helps to support project execution through its Technical Aid programs. The Ministry of Education - develops and implements the new pedagogic model, which integrates the use of technology in the classroom. It also defines the policy for the selection of schools benefited with computer equipment. Additionally, the Ministry of Education helps to develop the legal structure that supports Technology for Education. The Guatemalan Telecommunications Superintendence (SIT) - as the Telecommunications market controller and promoter entity, provides technical support to the process of connection installations. It also coordinates the support of telecommunication-related companies. We also receive valuable support from other NGOs including Entrepreneurs for Education and governments such as Canada and Korea. This project is based on a partnership between The Ministry of Education , Microsoft & FunSEPA.
Legal
Yes
