Experience UNETE in the state of Guerrero Mexico1
Technologies and new training methods
middle school: challenges and prospects
Experience UNETE in the state of Guerrero Mexico1.
Dr. Rafael Fernandez-Flores.2
The use of computers in the educational process does he not risk
deepen the digital gap, that is to say increase the differences between those with and those without?
This work speaks of efforts in Mexico to prevent such a gap. It tells
experience to bring computers to schools in backward areas in the state of Guerrero, where there is a significant percentage of indigenous population. This program was made by CSOs (Civil Society), UNETE (http://www.uneteya.org)
working partner with three levels of government: national, local and municipal.
Introduction
The use of computers in the educational process entails the risk of deepening the digital gap, that is to say increase the differences between those with and those without. Policies and programs are to be considered to prevent this threat, which may remove more, not only do people in rich and poor, but
also in the same country, those What access to technology for those who have not.
In Mexico, basic education consists of two levels: primary education (6 years) and secondary (3 years). There are 140 000 public schools to accommodate students of this basic cycle. In the public schools formed the 90% of students in this cycle (18 million), the remaining 10% is for the private schools where there is often a technological infrastructure.
If you do not care to provide technological tools for the public schools of the first cycle, this is 90% of the population that may leave one side of the digital gap in the highest cost office for the country.
This work speaks of efforts in Mexico to prevent such a gap. It tells
experience to bring computers to schools in backward areas in the state of Guerrero, where there is a significant percent of native population. This program was made by CSOs (Civil Society), UNETE (http://www.uneteya.org), working in partner with three levels of government: National, Local and Municipal.
Mexico has experienced several years, various programs to bring technology to the classroom. A program for secondary education by means of television, "Telesecundaria", was started in January 1968. In 1985 a first program to use personal computers at school has been started by the
1 This section corresponds to an intervention by the author at the Sixth Biennial on Education in April 2004.
2 Professor at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Former Director General of UNETE. .
2
Ministry of Public Education, in September, after its initials in Spanish. This program called First Microsep was known later as Coeeba and is partially behind the current program of "red escolar" started in 1997.
Eight channels of television programming and compliance program Edusat started in 1995 to take any in the country, educational materials using satellite television. Also for secondary schools are the 21 SEC program where students would use computers as tools for the laboratory to which it is possible to attach probes. Details on the history of these programs and its
Proceedings are available in the literature (1,2)
These programs have been developed and managed by the Ministry of Public Education, SEP, with the support of public education offices of each state.3. Some of these local offices of education also have their own programs to use technology at school.
The scope and success of these programs vary and it still lacks a comprehensive assessment, although some efforts have been made (1).
Nevertheless it is possible to detect some of the difficulties that have faced these programs: What configuration to bring the classroom? Which pedagogical models to use? How to ensure the participation of teachers? What training for teachers? How to maintain and update computers? How to finance these projects?
It was also told what UNETE and from his experience gave an initial response to some of these questions (3). Here it is not to repeat them but to talk about the experience of Guerrero. However it should be recalled that the project aims UNETE public schools of basic education, that is to say the first nine years and uses "red escolar (www.redescolar.ilce.edu.mx) as a program teaching.
Description Model UNETE
The program use of computers in education led by three UNETE
Components: Equipment, Training and Services. The equipment is all that we take in the room including software.
A typical configuration of a room built by UNETE is as follows:
? 15 computers networked locally (there are also rooms with 10 and with 20
computers, depending on the number of pupils in school). In all five cases
Computers are paid by the state. Each computer has a current regulator and a
"No-Break"
? Internet connection. (There's three types: "Dial-up, DSL or Satellite by
availability on site)
? 1 Printer.
? Electrical independent of the school.
? Furniture
3 Mexico is a federation of 31 states and one federal territory named Distrito Federal or DF.
3
? Software: Collection of Ceded education (Secondary Education)
Antivirus configuration lock.
? Access to the page "redescolar" and educational programs which it
place
? In adition to the computers we also take the antennas and televisions for
receive the signal "EDUSAT", a VCR and a collection of videotapes
education. Edusat is a very ambitious program to use the television set
education. It is managed by SEP (2).
When a school is chosen to be furnished by UNETE, a teacher is designated as the hall. This teacher should be trained for 40 hours. (20 out of the use of computers in general and 20 of its use under the program "redescolar). At the end of 2003 UNETE has achieved agreement with Intel to give all teachers in schools managed by UNETE training program of its "Intel teach to the future" (4)
After the schools have started using computers, UNETE ties with them, to prevent the nightmare of "Jurassic Park", discussed later, occur. These links are intended to help schools `out using computers. For this it UNETE visits to schools three times a year. Through these visits there preventive maintenance and troubleshooting computers for small problems.
We take advantage of these visits also carry out some studies and surveys, such as those "dimensions of progress" (5) where Magister Dixit (6), about how we use computers and progress in learning students, teacher training, their opinion about the program, etc.. There is also a service help desk (helpdesk) and collateral management made by third parties.
UNETE When created, the aim was that computers can walk without problems five years after which it would replace. This replacement is in the model UNETE, accountability of government. In practice it was found that he must help the government find solutions that enables it to do, such as converting the old PCs into terminals.
The Guerrero Project
Towards the end of 2001 Play Lotto Mexico (Lotería Nacional para la Asistencia
Pública) was made available to organizations of civil society, working in health, nutrition, development and education in Mexico, the possibility of competition on access to resources for their causes. It should submit an application with the planned project and its justification. UNETE presented a folder to organize 150 schools with local networks of computers, train teachers, and carry such schools program UNETE. The answer of "Lotería" was favorable to the condition to develop the project in the state of Guerrero, for there was a government program called "micro-region (7)
aimed at tackling combat many causes and manifestations of poverty (8) in the most backward areas of the country, which only partially, the communication infrastructure, the coverage of health services and education.
The idea was to bring several organizations working in each of these topics etfaire lead their efforts in the same area to make them more effective. Here we find an important element for successful use of computers in communities, liaise with other people's needs, such as health, adult education and economic development. UNETE received 2, 000, 000 of euros
and was responsible for developing its program with 152 schools in 12 municipalities.
Guerrero is a state in the Pacific coast (the lies the famous port of Acapulco) and Oaxaca and Chiapas is a corridor with similar conditions of history, geography, population and economic development.
Montaña
alta
Costa Chica
Acapulco
Fig 1. Map of the state of Guerrero.
We went to meetings with mayors (municipal presidents) of selected populations
to explain the entire project, asking for their support and also in a
sense to have a favorable opinion. Here one finds a second important element
successful projects use technology in communities: Always have a
favorable opinion of the people of these communities in the project.
We worked in 12 communities: San Luis Acatlán, Ometepec, Teconapa, Ayutla
Azoyú, Xochistlahuaca, Marquelia, Igualapa, Tlacuachistlahuaca, Cuautepec, Malinaltepec
y Acapulco.
5
The vast majority of its locations are in the mountains and therefore have particular difficulties of access and Internet connectivity options. The distribution of rooms, schools, students, teachers and computers, by community is as follows:
Town Halls Schools Students Teachers ORDS
A San Luis 20 22 5353 231 290
Ometepec 19 19 5582 281 285
Teconapa 16 16 3330 170 230
Ayutla 15 14 4014 156 200
Azoyú 14 15 2325 144 190
Xochistlah 13 13 3109 125 200
Marquelia 13 14 2616 340 180
Igualapa 12 12 2491 123 180
Tlacuachis 12 12 2688 124 180
Cuautepec 8 8 2386 118 120
Malinaltep 5 5 1694 76 75
Acapulco 5 5 1066 55 75
Total 152 155 1943 2205 36,654
Fig 3. Table showing the distribution of schools, students, teachers and computers for the township project Guerrero.
Specific Project in Guerrero
Although UNETE now is being able to construct more schools with broadband connections (ADSL), the first schools provided by UNETE had a connection over PSTN. A Guerrero, particularly in areas where we wanted to go, we found problems for a supplier of Internet connection and so we had to seek alternatives. We found two e-México and Satmex.
e-Mexico is a project of the Mexican government to assist the administrative, health services, of education and commerce in the country (www.emexico.
gob.mx) with computers and networks of computers. One of the primary goals of this program was to provide all the capitals of municipalities with access to the Internet.
To reach a broad program of infrastructure installation was developed by them.
UNETE was by this means access to the Internet for 30 schools.
Satmex is a company that markets send signals via satellite. UNETE negotiated with a subsidiary of Satmex, Enlaces Integra, that for one year 80% of service Internet connection is not paid by the schools. The remaining 20% is paid by the ILCE (Instituto Latinoaméricanode la Comunicación Educativa), international organization which was commissioned in September to develop several projects to use technology in teaching and UNETE partners in the project.
Unless the internet connection that has been achieved only at the end of summer 2003, the project was completed in late 2002. Schools and communities have started then to use these tools. UNETE, as it does with all the schools that picture, they were visited. It is scheduled for the first half of this year, 2004, to make the study of dimensions of progress
Oaxaca
In 2003 UNETE has been the "Lotería" resources to develop a similar program in the state of Oaxaca.
Discussion
It is possible to draw some conclusions from the experience of UNETE the whole of 1500 schools that were built by the association in Mexico including Guerrero, trying to answer questions such as:
What changes in a context of globalization, the use of technologiesy raised there?
From a study led by UNETE between January and August 2002 a total of 614 rooms was found that:
For students:
60% of students use computers, 52% to support their learning subjects such as mathematics, writing, reading or science. 26% use computers for projects of "red escolar, 15% for individual projects. In 3% of cases, we can assess implementation of cognitive activities developed.
For learning environments:
47% of students do research on academic topics using the Internet, the figure is even capable of working in teams, 49.4% better express their ideas and share the lead in discussions. 7% are involved in collaborative projects having to do with other schools.
For skills:
30% of teachers do not use technology. 10% start using it with much resistance. 56.6 is still learning as'en gently used. 8% of teachers make use of so powerful technology to make plans and to support its work.
For administration:
Managers like to have a media room in 80% of cases. 66% of teachers and 75% of area inspectors have shown interest. Yet they seem to consider how technology a priority.
4 Based on the work of Cheryl Lemke: "Technology in American Schools: Seven Dimensions for Gauging Progress" (1999). PDF document at www.mff.org
5 The study was conducted in the form of questions posed to the head of the room. In this sense the results are
qualitative
For the community:
60% of parents are aware of computer programs available to their children.
21% know the media room and projects in which students work.
For the technological infrastructure:
There are 10 430 computers in 614 schools in this study, 370 085 children and 10 000 teachers. All computers were new. The report pupil / computer is 1 / 35. The 60% of schools had Internet connection .. 80% prefer transferred. 44% say they have trouble connecting. A third of schools make use "red escolar 6
For the evaluation:
Although qu'UNETE make evaluations about the schools that landscape, these assessments are confined to the more quantitative aspects such as the number of students or teachers who go to the rooms, the number of hours they spend on average etc.. (9)
There is still a culture of evaluation in schools, no clear parameters indicating what should be measured.
Along with results like those just described, we also saw that people
more interested in learning English in order to access certain content and that when computers are available to communities outside school hours, they used to communicate with immigrants. Insofar as this was not our main goal, we have not done studies showing the importance of this practice, we
nevertheless signals.
It was also noted that the existence of computers raises among the government agencies want to put their services online and pushes the improvement of community infrastructure: electrical network, street paving, etc..
What openings for new partnerships can they be identified?
The principle UNETE working is partnership with the state. During this work, particularly in the case of Guerrero was found very important alliances with computer companies and telecommunications, such as Microsoft, Intel and Satmex among others. Provided for certain state projects such as e-Mexico, allowing communities to use computers for various educational and social projects. In the case of Guerrero alliances with communities and local and municipal governments have to move the project forward quickly.
As part of its broader mission UNETE has developed alliances with desUniversités, international organizations and foundations.
What risks appear?
The biggest risk is that finding the money to purchase computers and establish networks, it does not serve them. In UNETE called this risk, the nightmare of
6 Although the main aim to develop schools with computers is to enable them to participate
projects "red escolar", they do not use computers and to support other activities
Academic developed by them. The reasons he gives for this are: Problems with connection
Internet or have missed the time of registration projects "red escolar.
8
Jurasik Park. For early in the second film of this name is seen all the teams park completely abandoned and damaged. To combat this risk UNETE has developed a series of specific actions, such as teacher training, office support (help desk), etc. ..
Another risk is the loss of local identity, to prevent it must encourage the creation of content by communities themselves. This goal is not easy to achieve.
In Mexico there is an office in September instructed to do so.
The other side of that problem poses the risk opposite: an excess of local pride that can trigger a denial of the community towards technology. A UNETE we never found the cases. One way to prevent this risk of this approach use computers not only to students in community schools but also has the general support for health programs or adult education from these networks ..
Finally, a risk is also very important to bring the resources, always
insufficient places to enable more developed by using the digital gap is widening.
References:
1. Disponibilidad y uso de la tecnología en educación básica. Elaboración de Carlos Ornelas. ILCE. 2003
2. Http://edusat.ilce.edu.mx
3. Www.uneteya.org
4. Www.intel.com/education/news&succes/trains.htm
5. Dimensiones de progreso 614 escuelas por equipadas UNETE. Rafael Baptista y Pilar Fernández. Trabajo presentado en el segundo seminario de habla hispana of the OECD in September 2003.
6. Magister Dixit. Rafael Baptista y Pilar Fernández.
7. Www.sedesol.gob.mx / programas / main.htm
8. Www.sedesol.gob.mx / Subsecretaria / prospectiva / main_medicionpobreza.htm
9. Uso de la tecnología in 212 escuelas por equipadas UNETE. Rafael Baptista y Pilar Fernández.
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