ICT training of maestros of primary schools located in Barrios Carenciados in Argentina. A twofold challenge: How they can master new ICT technologies and transform the way they teach

Abstract

Internet access is becoming available in many schools of Argentinás educational infrastructure. This represents a challenge for the primary school teachers. They have to teach children digitally motivated, visually stimulated and socially connected yet most teachers have been exposed very little to ICT technologies. An important task is how to train these teachers that not only need to master the new ICT tools in very short time but also transform the way they teach, guide their students and interact with their communities. Schools in poor neighborhoods (barrios carenciados) unfortunately do not receive the full capacity that todaýs technology can provide, nor in resources or support. This makes the challenge particularly difficult and their training should prepare them for this situation. In this paper we describe the work of two years in Escuela 502, where we have implemented state of the art multimedia laboratory in order to research possible alternative training methodologies. We describe results from the innovative experiences obtained and point that online learning technologies can serve as a powerful and cost effective tool to carry out teachers training. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.