C4C
Cross-Country Learning Event: ICT for Education
Improving the
quality and equity of Education through integrating ICT
May 22nd - May 26th 2012, YapacanÃ, Bolivia
A Cross-Country Learning Event (CCLE) brings together
persons who are designing, implementing and working with ICT to enhance
education in different countries, and forms a perfect opportunity for
exchanging experiences, learning, and adding value to practices in this field.
The general goal of the 2012 Cross-Country Learning
Event in Bolivia is to build on the concepts and projects generated in
order to inform and inspire each other. This is expected to be achieved by
facilitating the sharing of knowledge and implementation experiences on using
ICTs to enhance the availability, accessibility and delivery of good quality
education.
The specific objectives of the workshop are:
1. Active learning on what works and
what doesn’t in using ICTs to enhance the quality of education
2. Sharing of innovative ideas and
peer advice, and identification of good practices
3. Linking and networking among
individuals, projects and organisations working in this field
4. Building on participants’
experiences to inform C4C´s practice and programmes
DAY 1 – Monday 21st May 2012
Day 1 started with breakfast together and some informal
introduction and welcome by Team from CEPAC.
We did a tour of Santa Cruz and it was lovely to move with
Cecilia, our translator. She is so full of energy and fun to be with.
We ended up with Lunch at Casa Tipica del Camba where we were treated to some traditional Bolivian dishes.
It was also birthday
time for Liesbeth of IICD. Staff of Casa Tipica del Camba surprised her with a
cake and candle alongside a happy birthday song.
After lunch, we continued with the sightseeing of the city
of Santa Cruz. This took us till about 4.30 where we embarked on the journey to
Amboro Eco Resort in Yapaccani, where the workshop will be taking place.
Just when thought we had had enough, we were ushered in to the Eco Resort with yet another package – traditional music and dance!
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Day 2, Tuesday,
Amboro Eco resort.
The official opening of the CCLE in Bolivia started with an address
from Widen Abastoflor Sauma the Director of CEPAC. He was glad that all participants were able to
make it and hopes to share CEPAC’s experiences with the use of ICTs in Bolivia
with the rest of the participants.
He mentioned that at CEPAC, they initially were worried over
technological infrastructure but after they got the Infrastructure, their need
changed and they started thinking of the content. He stated that the lesson
learnt is that the power to learn is within the human being.
He further stated that sustainability is very crucial in all
projects and that CEPAC has taken on the responsibility to measure their work
after three years of ICTs in Education.
Liesbert Hofs of IICD mentioned that for all of us, Education
holds a special place in our hearts and hopes that this platform will offer us
the opportunity to learn and share from each other. She gave a presentation on
the CCLE process.
Hendrien Maat of Edukans mentioned that the purpose of the CCLE is about ICTs
and Education and appreciates the opportunity to work with IICD. She mentioned
that Edukans has worked many years in education but ICT is now a new component.
She emphasised that though the platform is about ICTs, it is also about how to
improve the quality of education and not ICTs for ICTs.
A representative from the Bolivian Ministry of Education stated that what we really need is to work together in a network. He wished all a fruitful learning and sharing process as well as stay in Bolivia.
The ‘real work’ started with the knowledge tree.
We were
grouped to discuss among ourselves areas we considered within our projects as talents.
These skills were to be represented as leaves of the tree and then the areas we
would like to further explore and to get deeper understanding and or to learn
from others. These were to be represented as roots of the tree.
After these discussions, the various themes were
categorised.
Next was a market place. The various projects put up a good
market stand where other participants took turns to visit and to learn more
about what others were doing.
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Day 3, Wednesday
Today, we went onto the field to visit various projects. We
were put into three groups. The first group was to visit projects that were
involved in the Global Teenager Project while the second group visited the Cambio Con Obras school that is generating and digitising their own content. The third group visited
the El Caramen school.
I was part of the team that visited Cambio Con Obras school that is generating and digitising their own content.
Some of the things i found striking about the school was the
following
- Special involvement of parents in the project
- Integration of technology in the classroom
- Dedication of teachers in preparing the materials
- Sustainability due to parents' involvement
- Systematic processes used to create the materials in the school by the teachers
The day ended with some demos and presentation led by participants. I took participants through the iConnect-online platform for knowledge sharing.
