Computers to Educate
With the participation of the Department of Communications and Education (SENA - Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje Regional Antioquia), private enterprise, and the Canadian Government, the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia heads the programme Computers to Educate (Programa Computadores para Educar). This initiative collects computers that private or public organisations, or Colombian citizens, no longer use for reconditioning and delivery without cost to schools in all regions of Colombia. Objectives include:
- improving education in Colombia
- facilitating the young generation's access to new information and communication technology (ICT)
- contributing to the formation of a cadre of youth prepared to face the challenges of the present world
- diminishing the gap among those with access to resources and technological benefits and those without.
Communication Strategies
Since the year 2000, when Computers to Educate was officially launched, communication campaigns have been carried out in an effort to make students and teachers aware of and interested in learning with computers. Communication channels have included television announcements, entertainment-style events, a colourful and interactive website (in Spanish only), and posters. The private organisations that support the programme do so not only by donating computers or software but also by engaging in these educational and promotional activities.
Along these lines, in an effort to ensure that the technology will have a positive impact on education, organisers have developed a process to train and advise the institutions' beneficiaries. Over a 16-month period, communities are guided in the development of curricula that integrate the use of computers with the academic programmes and everyday life. With the support of universities and specialised programmes, organisers strive to make the provision of computers a basis for the development of complementary initiatives. The idea is that providing schools with access to the Internet supports learning by permitting access to educational resources in the form of research materials, educational software, online libraries, and interaction with students and professors in other institutions around the world.
Along these lines, in an effort to ensure that the technology will have a positive impact on education, organisers have developed a process to train and advise the institutions' beneficiaries. Over a 16-month period, communities are guided in the development of curricula that integrate the use of computers with the academic programmes and everyday life. With the support of universities and specialised programmes, organisers strive to make the provision of computers a basis for the development of complementary initiatives. The idea is that providing schools with access to the Internet supports learning by permitting access to educational resources in the form of research materials, educational software, online libraries, and interaction with students and professors in other institutions around the world.
Development Issues
Education, Children, Youth, Technology.
Partners
Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Aerolíneas Tampa, ANDI, Sun Microsystems, Saferbo.
Sources
Computers to Educate website (in Spanish only).
Placed on La Iniciativa de Comunicaci
Comments
- Log in to post comments